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Sonus Faber Olympica III, Olympica III Nova

Greetings;
Was curious about the latest model "Nova" compared to its predecessor. Warmer, brighter, cooler, softer, bass dynamics, etc;
I usually listen at medium levels, (about 85 dB average) and prefer a relaxed kind of sound with dense tonal colors, layers of detail, and a lively but not in your face amount of high frequency energy. I really like a pure midrange and one that is not recessed in the mix but decently projected out in the room; It’s definitely nice to be able to hear what great electronics are capable of- not muted too much, but also not super bright like the whiteness and brightness levels are cranked to the max on flat screens;

I know, I know, I need to go out and hear these myself but:
A: Covid
B: Room acoustics and electronics usually very different at dealers and are nearly impossible to gauge

So, this forum seems to be a good option to get some basic thoughts and feelings.
Synergy with a Luxman 509X and D08-u would be an extra bonus :)
I’ve heard some descriptions of this newer line (the non nova and nova) of Sonus Faber ranging from "dull", "boring", to "spectacular", "beautiful"; etc... very hard to get a basic read;
I have no issue with doing some work to get a set of speakers to sound their best in a new environment, but some speakers just can’t be helped and fall into the "danger" category - meaning expect significant churn from sources to amps and cables to get them to sound good;
Personally, I’ve never warmed up to horns and something about metal tweeters bothers me; I suppose I prefer a more relaxed style of presentation. I definitely don’t like (for more than a few songs) high-energy-in-the-presence-region speakers, such as Focal Sopra No2, Dynaudio Confidence 30, Klipsch Forte III; These are all very fine and excellent speakers in their own ways with plenty of pros (and some cons), but on average this style of sound becomes fatiguing to me if I play music other than acoustic jazz, bluegrass, Diana, Barber, perfect recordings, you know the standard fare audiophile type music;
Thanks for your time and thought.
audiopacer

Showing 2 responses by arafiq

arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,729 posts
 
Back in October of last year, I heard Olympica 2 and 3, as well as their Nova counterparts. To be very honest, I struggled to tell the old lineup from the new Novas ... that sounds redundant :)

If anything, I think the Nova has maybe a slight edge in higher frequency extension which makes it more modern sounding. I actually preferred the warm’ish nature of the old ones, and ended up buying Olympica 2 (non-Nova), and spent the savings on room acoustics and cabling. I run these with Luxman 590AXII which I preferred over 509.

More recently, I purchased a pair of Harbeth M30.1s and compared it with the Olympica II -- same room, same equipment, same cabling. To make a long story short, the Harbeths are more musical and do not give up anything (okay, maybe the Olys have slightly better dynamics) to the Olympicas. Based on your preferred genres, I strongly urge you to try out Harbeth 30.x or HL5+.
arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,729 posts
 
@audiopacer -- congratulations! And welcome to the Harbeth family. I was so impressed by the M30.1 that I replaced my Olympica IIs with the SHL5+ as well, although mine are the regular (non-XD, non-anniversary) version. IMO, for your taste in music (which is very similar to mine), there are very few speakers that can give you what the Harbeths can. 

Also, the synergy with Luxman is outstanding as it compliments the Harbeth sound so well. What stands are you using with the speakers?
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