Songs Faber Olympica III

chipcarterdc,

I was also thinking of getting these speakers,
untill actual owners show up to respond to your questions; here are a couple of reviews if you haven't seen them before:

http://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/801-sonus-faber-olympica-iii-loudspeakers

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/sonus-faber-olympica-iii-speakers/

Hope that helps.

chipcarterdc... Congrats on your purchase.I own them and without a doubt... the Olympica III’s are a truly wonderful speaker system.

My setup was easy. I pulled them out from the front and sidewalls in my space and have the ports facing inward. Why inward? That’s just where I started and have seen no need to face them outward. I have them positioned about eight feet from the front wall behind the speakers and about six feet from the sides.This gives them plenty of room to breath. Of course,if you have them set-up close to the sidewalls, I would be inclined to face the ports inward so as to not have the bass energy inner acting with side wall room boundaries. Sound pressure effects to close to any boundary can cause non-musical bass response. "Experiment in your space for sure."

For my setup I used a laser for the utmost in precise positioning from the speakers to my listening chair/ears. Having the speakers the exact same distance from your ears will pay off big time,but not absolutely mandatory,it seems the III’s are not real fussy in this regard as some speakers can be...but do experiment,its worth the hassle. When they are dialed in properly its easy to know... by the superb image and sound-staging,which,by the way,the SF III’s are champs at. I also use the spikes[as per designed ] on concrete flooring,mandatory for best sound. Also, I recommend bi-wiring them if at all possible. I have tried jumpers and imho, bi-wiring is the way to go.

Above all else...have fun.

PS  Another great review!

http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/sonus_faber_olympica_iii.htm

Thanks for all your responses!

FYI, I started with the ports facing outward just because that's how they happened to be arranged when I brought them downstairs to the listening room.  I plan to leave them this way for a couple of days; then switch to having them facing inward; then see which way sounds best.  Anything in particular I should be looking for in terms of how inward v outward would affect the sound?

Note that my listening room is pretty compact, so they're currently about two feet our from the front wall and two feet from each side wall. 

Also, a question: did yours come with different height spikes? The instructions say the smaller spikes should be place in the rear and the larger spikes in the front, in order to give the speakers a slight upward tilt.  However, my spikes are all exactly the same size...

Yes,the cones/spikes should be different lengths as you stated.Shorter ones rear and longer ones front. Seems odd you received all the same length seeing the speakers were designed to upslope rearward...

Check spike length for  both speakers; could be one speaker has all the short spikes, the other all the long ones. 

Speaking of long, I am really longing for a pair of olympicas to replace my Cremonas.