Floorstanding loudspeakers — Sonus Faber OLYMPICA NOVA III

The Olympica Nova III is a slim passive floorstanding speaker from Sonus faber and the middle tower of the Olympica Nova line, placed between the Nova II and the Nova V. Nova marks the second generation of the 2013 Olympica family, whose defining step was the use of drivers developed entirely by Sonus faber. Wenge and walnut finishes are offered.

Key specs that matter

Sonus faber builds the Nova III as a 3 way design in a Stealth Ultraflex full para-aperiodic vented enclosure. Treble comes from the 28 mm H28 XTR3 silk dome with a neodymium cup design motor. The 150 mm M15 XTR2-04 midrange has a voice coil of CCAW wire built to be free of eddy currents, and two 180 mm W18XTR2-08 woofers share the bass duty. The filter hands over at 250 Hz and 2500 Hz. Published figures are 32 Hz to 35000 Hz, 90 dB SPL for 2.83 V at 1 m and 4 ohm nominal impedance. Amplifiers of 50 W to 300 W without clipping are suggested, and the long-term maximum input voltage under IEC 268-5 is 22 Vrms. Height, width and depth are 1105 x 376 x 460 mm, and the net weight is 33 kg per speaker.

Engineering and use context

The cabinet sides, baffle and top are natural wood finished by hand and mounted in a solid die-cast aluminum plate. Leather of Italian origin is hand applied in the Vicenza factory around the tweeter and midrange, a grouping Sonus faber names the Voice of Sonus faber, and around each woofer as a decorative ring. The Damped Apex Dome (DAD) structure places local damping on the dome apex, where soft domes tend to move out of phase, and has been redesigned as one aluminum die-cast part carrying arch and ring together. Inside the midrange cone is an air-dried, unpressed mix of cellulose pulp, Kapok, Kenaf and further natural fibers whose uneven density reduces cone resonance. Each woofer cone is produced in Italy as a sandwich of two cellulose pulp layers around syntactic foam. The walls are formed from eight layers of bent wood, like the Homage Tradition and Reference collections, and braced by ribs inside.

Pairing

The port uses a solid extruded aluminum profile modeled on sea waves to control air speed and cut turbulence in the duct. Paracross Topology in the crossover reduces susceptibility to RF interference, and the filter uses capacitors customized for Sonus faber. Solid aluminum bottom plates with steel spikes carry the cabinet.

Alternatives

The Olympica Nova V sits above it in the Olympica Nova range with three woofers in a taller cabinet.