The Italians are at it again. And it’s only Tuesday. Grazie amici. Siamo molto fortunati per questi primi regali. We love Italian loudspeakers, shoes, rifles, cars, and food. All kidding aside, Sonus faber have announced two new additions to its award-winning Lumina Series with the Sonus faber Lumina II and V speakers.
We were incredibly impressed with the Lumina I which we reviewed last year and we wondered if a larger bookshelf loudspeaker was on the horizon which would offer greater scale and deeper bass response. The Lumina I have rather potent low end performance for such a small bookshelf speaker but it looks like Livio Cucuzza has been busy.
The Sonus faber Lumina II standmount loudspeaker joins its smaller bookshelf sibling, the Lumina I, with a much larger cabinet, enabling its 6-inch mid-bass driver more room to move more air.
The Lumina II is still a relatively compact loudspeaker that will work as a bookshelf speaker, on a pair of stands, or even as the rear channels in a home theater system. The Lumina II will retail for $1,200/pair.
Sonus faber Lumina V
The Lumina V are a significant upgrade over the existing Lumina III both in terms of its size and changes to the design. The new model will retail for $2,800 USD/pair.
The Lumina V boasts several key design elements, including the lute-shaped mid/high internal chamber: a unique feature created by Sonus faber and a central characteristic for the brand since its inception in the 1990s. The chamber apparently maximises structural rigidity and the acoustic performance of the midrange while simultaneously reducing standing waves.
The Lumina V also benefits from the manufacturer’s so-called hybrid IFF crossover. According to Sonus faber, the mid/high crossover network combines Interactive Fusion Filtering, introduced in the Maxima Amator, with Paracross Topology, where reactive components (capacitors and inductors/coils) are placed on the negative rail of the circuitry.
The benefit here is a reduction in the drivers’ back EMF (Electro Motive Force), which should allow them to operate in a more “organic way” while simultaneously lowering the crossover’s sensitivity to radio frequencies.
The Sonus faber Lumina II and V are constructed with a multilayer wood front baffle available in three finishes, walnut and wengè with maple inlays, plus piano black, the cabinets are finished in black leather.
We were huge fans of the wengè with maple inlay finish on the Lumina I which look far more expensive than they actually cost.
Both are available now and join the Lumina I standmount, Lumina III floorstander and Lumina Centre I centre channel speaker bringing the current Lumina range to five models.
