Which Amplifier for Sonus Faber Olympica 3 Speaker

fortitudefive

Hi, $5k for an integrated, look at used Gryphon Diablo 120 or 300 or new Parasound Halo Integrated Hint 6 or even the older Halo Integrated which both have dacs in them. Both of these makes have bi-polar output stages and can come "close" to doing the doubling act down to 2ohms.

Cheers George

fortitudefive
picked up a pair of SF Olympica 3s and am running them currently with a primaluna dialogue 2 integrated. Is this an ok match or should I be looking to upgrade soon?

Read what I’ve said and showed here, and the other posts around it I made.
You will see that the Prima Luna has no chance of getting the best out of these speakers.
https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/683963

Cheers George

Although the Olympica II looks similar the lack of another bass driver could make it an easier load in the bass compared to the Olympica III.

The Lux 590 class A intergrated is a nice amp and it looks like it can push current as well, as from what I've seen it can do 30w into 8ohms and double to 60w into 4ohm and maybe double again into 2ohm.
This is the kind of amp that is great for bad loads, like the Olympica III and should sound great up to a given volume level because of it's low wattage.
See it's not really about the watts, it the ability to double those watts for each halving of impedance.

I think I said it before one of the best amps for doing this is the old 25w (yes only 25w) Mark Leveinson ML2 monoblocks, they can give out big current, as they double watts to 1ohm (200w)

http://www.wtconcept.com/levinsonml2/

Cheers George

DTC this may be true for the cheaper SF's but doing some more searches reveals the opposite, that the Olypia 3 are really a 3ohm design and has 2.6ohm dip at 103hz.
And at 81hz it has an EPDR of just 1.7ohm load to the amp.

Sorry but this model is a b***h to drive and needs big amp/s with good current delivery that can nearly double the wattage all the way to 2ohms, "if" you want to hear the best out of these speakers. .

Just look at the lab report from Miller Audio Research Labs in the link
http://www.absolutesounds.com/pdf/main/press/05:14_SF_OlympicaII_HIFINEWS.pdf

Cheers George

I can't find impedance/ phase graphs on yours but:
Typically the Sonus Fabers I've seen the impedance and phase graphs of have been very difficult in the bottom end to drive, even though they are efficient.
They have needed amps that can do good current delivery, that is almost double their watts each halving of impedance from 8ohms to 4ohms to 2ohms 100w 200w 400w you get the idea.
Here linked are just 2 Sonus Fabers read the first few parragraphs and look at the first graph.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-cremona-loudspeaker-measurements

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-amati-futura-loudspeaker-measurements

Quickly looking at the two amps you mentioned neither are going to do your speakers justice, the Hegel 300 is probably the better proposition, as it has bi-polar output devices which will try to do the doubling trick.
But even it looks a little light on if your Sonus Fabers are anything like the others to drive.

Cheers George

That's what I said, out of the two the Hegel is the better option, but now that the test state the speaker is really a 3ohm design and has is a 2.6ohm load for the bass(100hz) and an amp sapping EPDR of 1.7ohms at 81hz
Then even this amp though it will sound fine, will most probably not get the best out of this SF Olympica speaker.

It sounds like the OP is into intergrateds, these two from a quick look I did would be better options for these speakers, and I dare say there will be many others.

Simaudio Moon Evolution 700i

Krell FBI integrated


Cheers George