When I read hi-fi magazines I usually blow right past reviews of uber expensive equipment.
I don’t really care what’s going on with gear that nobody can afford.
I made an exception this weekend when the beautiful Sonus Faber Amati G 5 was reviewed in the Brit Hi-Fi News (Aug ‘23).
Amati G5 at $36k per pair is gorgeous. I don’t sell Sonus Faber, but respect that the finish of their cabinetry is elegant.
Once we look past the pretty face, there are some interesting choices they’ve made, along with some scary test results.
SF has opted for a textile dome tweeter along with paper midrange & woofers. The designer says it was a curve ball to return to these materials after moving ahead to polypropylene in Amati 3.
Well, if you like the sound better, by all means, go back to what you used a decade ago. Ya gotta go with what you think sounds best. Yet almost everyone in our industry has moved on from these materials.
Flat out concerning is… the speakers measured 2.36 ohms at 93Hz. The subsequent EPDR measures .86 ohms (!!) at 75 Hz. Yep, under one ohm.
Further, it measures under 2 ohms from 55-110Hz. Above 10kHz, it falls below 2 ohms yet again.
It is interesting, maybe a little frightening, to know that your 200×2 amp into 8 ohms, may only produce a scant percentage of that power into the frequencies that this speaker presents. Will your amp even avoid destruction (!!) driving a challenging load like this? Heaven forbid… you wanna turn it up a bit and have some fun!
The mag had nice things to say about the Amati sound. What amps did Hi-Fi News use to test these speakers? Constellation Inspiration Monoblocks. A pair of these boys runs about the same price as the speakers. Uber priced speakers need uber price amps apparently. Well…maybe not.
Never under estimate the Bryston 4B Cubed power amplifier, $7500, rated 300×2 into 8 ohms. When tested, it did 360×2 into 8 ohms and 575 into 4 ohms. The mag didn’t test continuous power into 2 or 1 ohm. But it did test dynamic power into 8/4/2/1= 450/850/1.52kW/2.09kW. The Bryston 4B Cubed is indeed a remarkable performer that sounds great and comes with a 20 year warranty!
Hot off the presses is the Hegel H600 integrated, $12k, rated 301×2. This dynamo delivered into 8/4/2/1 ohms: 315/600/1.24kW/2.3kW. Here’s a high end integrated that is up to the task.
I looked up tests on a well thought of competitor, the Mark Levinson 5805 integrated amp, $11k, rated 125×2. It clipped at 133.5 into 8 ohms and 210 into 4 ohms. Into 2 ohms it drops to 200w. While these specs are just fine, remember that Amati G5 (and some other very high end speakers) present tall mountains for your amplifier to scale.