James Severt reviewed our Olympica Nova II high-end loudspeakers, appreciating both their design and performance and focusing on the research, the design and the extreme craftsmanship that characterize the product and guarantee a high quality natural sound full of details.

Design

Olympica Nova II speakers have been appreciated for the quality of the materials and their refined aesthetic. In his detailed review, James Severt wrote very nice words: ” Whatever finish you choose, you won’t be disappointed by the fit ‘n finish, because it’s outrageously good. The words ‘fine furniture’ are bandied around a lot when it comes to hifi loudspeakers, but close inspection usually reveals that they’re merely puffery. That’s not the case with the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova II cabinets.”

A small criticism to the string grille of Olympica Nova II: ” Although this ‘grille’ looks absolutely superb, it does not really fulfil the traditional role of a loudspeaker grille, which is to protect the drivers from dust and from ultra-violet radiation as well as provide some physical protection for those drivers…” but this choice was made, as the author wrote, to not modify the frequency response and dispersion.

Indeed:” Sonus faber’s grille will have absolutely no affect on sound quality at all!

Listening

It’s not just the design. Severt’s most appreciated compliments concerns the listening test:

“It was as if the speakers didn’t exist, just the musicians. I have experienced this before, of course, but rarely so perfectly from such large multi-driver loudspeakers…”

“It was the sonic equivalent of a hologram.”

“It was time to once again listen to The Köln Concert. I can’t say that the sound was like being there, but it was certainly the next best thing… ”

Conclusions

“Sonus faber’s Olympica Nova IIs are classy speakers, in the very nicest sense of that word.

I don’t think you will find any other pair of speakers that will look better in your living room (unless it’s another pair of Sonus fabers), and their sound quality is everything you could want—and more—from such modestly-sized cabinets.”

Read the full review here.