News: Sonus faber Il Cremonese Ex3me Speakers
New special edition Il Cremonese ex3me uses new speaker technologies for absolute neutrality
Just 50 pairs of the new Il Cremonese ex3me are to be handmade in the Vicenza factory (£48,500) sonusfaber.com
22nd September 2020, Vicenza, Italy: Sonus faber has launched the Il Cremonese ex3me, a tech-rich £48,500 floorstander limited to just 50 pairs, which advances the original thanks to a range of innovative new speaker technologies.
The original
Il Cremonese was introduced in 2015 with the intention of completing the company’s
Homage Collection and was named after a traditional Italian violin, the Il
Cremonese, the most famous among the master Antonio Stradivari’s creations. Instead,
due to its performance, the Il Cremonese joined Sonus faber’s flagship Reference
collection.
Crucially, the
Il Cremonese developed into a vital internal tool within Sonus faber’s Vicenza
factory, becoming a reference for the development of several technologies, due
to its innate versatility and neutrality. The move led to the idea of using the
Il Cremonese as the foundation for a unique loudspeaker system, one characterised
by new technical features with a specific performance target: absolute
neutrality.
Enter the
new Il Cremonese ex3me, which combines elements from the original
project, including the midrange and bass drivers, with further solutions
derived from Sonus faber’s 30th-anniversary celebration concept
speaker, the ex3ma.
Several new
design solutions have been incorporated into the Il Cremonese ex3me, which will
have a limited production run of just 50 pairs, embellished by the return of a
traditional Sonus faber finish: the classic ‘Red Violin’
Il
Cremonese ex3me notes for editors
- · Incorporates several new speaker
technologies to achieve absolute neutrality
- · Special edition limited to just 50
pairs worldwide (£48,500)
- · Proprietary drive units deliver the
‘Voice of Sonus faber’
- · Advanced Beryllium DLC tweeter:
supreme accuracy, free from distortion
- · Bass drivers: two 180 mm units placed
in their own independent acoustic chamber
- · Nanocarbon fibre ‘infra-woofer’ low
bass drivers resist flexing for optimum delivery
- · Romboidal Diamond Design five-sided
cabinet strengthened by two Dampshelves, machined from solid aluminium billet
for ultimate rigidity and low resonance
- · Zero Vibration Transmission system
decouples the speaker from the floor
- · Handcrafted in the Sonus faber
factory in Vicenza, Italy
- · Legendary Sonus faber artisan design,
peerless build and natural sound quality
- · Sonus faber DNA: made-in-Italy
excellence since 1980
- · The return of a traditional Sonus
faber finish: the classic ‘Red Violin’
- · The original Il Cremonese is the
reference speaker within Sonus faber’s tech labs
Il
Cremonese ex3me in detail
Tweeter
Inspired by the
ex3ma concept, the Il Cremonese ex3me benefits from an advanced Beryllium DLC
tweeter. Thanks to its formidable physical characteristics, beryllium has
unique characteristics in terms of transparency and micro dynamics. A special
DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) treatment enhances the mechanical nature of beryllium
for optimum sound quality, while leaving its mass relatively unaltered.
A layer of
DLC is deposited on the diaphragm surface using chemical vapour deposition. The
process changes the colour to black and gives the beryllium an amorphous nature
with diamond-like strength. The treated diaphragm benefits from increased rigidity
with a nearly unperceivable resonant frequency (above 35 kHz), making it
capable of extremely fast (accurate) sound, plus unrivalled detail and air, free
of coloration.
Its powerful
neodymium magnet and the Ergal (aluminium alloy) rear decompression chamber is CNC
machined from solid billet and guarantees extreme dynamic linearity and maximum
resolution.
Midrange drivers
The dedicated
midrange driver remains similar to the original to preserve the iconic ‘Voice
of Sonus faber’ presentation. The 180 mm midrange units feature a proprietary
cone manufactured according to the classic Sonus faber recipe: an air-dried,
non-pressed blend of cellulose pulp, Kapok, Kenaf, and other natural materials.
The treatment guarantees a natural sound with increased transparency and
greater detail.
The drive
unit’s neodymium magnet motor system is completely eddy-current-free thanks to
a copper Faraday ring, strategically placed in the gap. A 1.5-inch (38 mm) voice
coil made from copper-clad aluminium completes the configuration.
Bass
drivers
The Il
Cremonese ex3me benefits from two 180 mm bass drivers placed in an independent
acoustic chamber, acoustically amorphous and fitted with downward-firing
‘Stealth Reflex’ ducts. The drive unit cones feature a sandwich membrane made from
two sheets of Sonus faber’s cellulose pulp with a layer of advanced (rigid) syntactic
foam in between them; this construction technique provides maximum coherence
with the mid/high units and ensures, speed, rigidity and low mass within the
driver. The cones are mounted on Sonus faber die-cast aluminium baskets,
designed for structural rigidity and maximum ventilation to the moving parts.
Ultra-low
frequencies
The two side-firing ‘infra-woofers’ featured in each loudspeaker are bespoke for the Il Cremonese ex3me. The diaphragms are made from nanocarbon fibre, used not only for its incredible structural rigidity, but taken from the midrange driver in the ex3ma: the project that gave the name (and inspiration) for the Il Cremonese ex3me. The tri-laminated
The crossover
network
The Beryllium
DLC tweeter and the midrange units are governed by a totally redesigned mid/high
crossover network, using non-inductive resistors and air-core inductors, plus high-quality
Mundorf Evo Silver Oil and Evo Gold Oil capacitors, known for their supreme
performance. The entire crossover network implements Sonus faber’s proprietary Paracross
Topology: a special circuit making the crossover less sensitive to radio frequency
interference, lowering the noise floor.
The design
The overall
aesthetic design of Il Cremonese ex3me does not stray from the original model,
except for the tweeter, which diverges from the iconic ‘arch’ of the D.A.D.
system, in favour of the protection grille surrounding the Beryllium D.L.C.
dome.
The styling
maintains the ‘Romboidal Diamond Design’ and the five-sided cabinet breaks the
classic rules of a lute or lyre shape. Taking inspiration from the shape of
Sonus faber’s Lilium collection, the Il Cremonese ex3me has cleaner lines with
a more ‘edgy’ design aesthetic. Maintaining the absence of parallel walls
ensures that the acoustic characteristics are not compromised by standing waves
or internal reflections.
The solid
cabinet is further strengthened by two ‘Dampshelves’, machined from solid aluminium
billet, forming the top and bottom of the cabinet. These structural elements
increase rigidity and lower the resonance that contributes to the attenuation
of spurious noise which can contaminate the purity of the musical message.
Spurious
micro-vibration is grounded to the ‘Zero Vibration Transmission’ system which mechanically
decouples the entire loudspeaker from the floor using a combination of metal
and elastomer isolation components, inside a multi-part coaxial spike assembly,
called ‘Silent Spikes’, which results is an audible improvement in transparency
and dynamics.
Price and
availability
The Il
Cremonese ex3me is available globally now; UK October
Price: £48,500
Sonus
faber is distributed in the UK by Fine Sounds UK
T: 01592
744710
W: finesounds.uk
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