Напольная акустика — Sonus Faber SUPREMA

The Suprema is a complete loudspeaker system from Sonus faber, shown at CES in January 2024 to mark the Italian company's 40th anniversary. It is sold as Suprema 2.1 at USD 680,000 or Suprema 2.2 at USD 750,000, and the system consists of two main columns, subwoofers and a dedicated electronic crossover, and each part is specified to work only with the others.

Key specs that matter

Each main column is a 4.5-way sealed design. The front carries a 20 mm silk super tweeter, a 38 mm silk tweeter, a 165 mm dual-motor midrange, a 203 mm low-midrange and four 203 mm dual-motor woofers. A rear array with a 28 mm silk tweeter and a 101 mm midrange radiates backward. Front crossover points are 360, 430, 1,700 and 6,700 Hz, and the rear section crosses at 500 and 2,300 Hz. The front response is 45 Hz to 40 kHz and the rear 500 Hz to 20 kHz. Sensitivity is 91 dB, impedance is 4 ohms and amplifiers of 100 to 700 W are specified. Each column measures 1,905 x 650 x 880 mm and weighs 110 kg. The passive sealed subwoofer uses two 380 mm carbon fibre sandwich cones, covers 16 Hz up to a variable 30 or 80 Hz, has 92 dB sensitivity at 4 ohms, needs 500 to 2,000 W, and measures 1,451 x 850 x 595 mm at 105 kg.

Engineering and use context

The electronic crossover is a fully discrete analogue active design that can run in stereo or mono, with four balanced and four unbalanced inputs, six balanced and six unbalanced outputs, a consumption of 30 W, and a 110 x 451 x 424 mm chassis weighing 17 kg. It divides the signal between the main columns and the subwoofers ahead of the power amplifiers. The rear-facing tweeter and midrange add sound radiated behind the column in the upper range. Sealed enclosures are used for both the columns and the subwoofers, and the dual-motor drivers use two magnet systems per cone. Above the highest front crossover point, the super tweeter covers only the top octaves, beyond the range of the main tweeter. The midwoofer flower petal flange developed for the Suprema later appeared in the Sonetto G2 range.

Pairing

The Suprema requires multiple power amplifiers - one set for the main columns and separate high-power amplification for the passive subwoofers - all driven from the Suprema crossover. It is intended for very large dedicated rooms.

Alternatives

The Sonus faber Il Cremonese ex3me is a far smaller 3.5-way floorstander from the Reference range, 1,449 mm tall and 84 kg, made in 50 pairs.