Sonus Faber Olympica G3

The story of Olympica is inseparable from Vicenza and from Andrea Palladio, one of the most important architects of the Renaissance. The city is home to the Teatro Olimpico, Palladio's final work and one of the most striking examples of architecture built around proportion, perspective, function and theatrical illusion. Sonus Faber has always liked references of this kind - at times, one gets the impression that the Italian brand does not simply design loudspeakers, but looks for a cultural justification for them. With Olympica, however, this does not feel like philosophy added after the fact. The asymmetrical, lute-inspired cabinet, hand-finished wood, leather, aluminium and carefully judged proportions create a design language that is very difficult to mistake for anything else.

In the third generation, the characteristic silhouette remains, but almost every detail has been refined. The cabinets still have an organic, slightly asymmetrical shape, which is not only visually distinctive but also helps reduce internal resonances. Sonus Faber has paid particular attention to materials and finishes. The speakers are offered in walnut and wenge, with natural wood combined with leather and solid aluminium details. One of the most eye-catching details is the handcrafted 45-degree herringbone wood veneer, inspired by the Stradivari loudspeaker. In an ordinary loudspeaker this might look like decorative excess, but in a Sonus Faber it feels almost like part of the company's DNA. This is a brand that has always wanted audio equipment to be something you also want to look at.

The most important changes, however, sit beneath that beautiful and very Italian exterior. Olympica G3 draws on solutions developed for the flagship Suprema system, and at the heart of the new architecture is the Camelia midrange driver. The name is not accidental - its shape is inspired by the geometry of the camellia flower. That may sound poetic, but the aim is very concrete: to reduce unwanted resonances and achieve a cleaner, more transparent and more natural midrange. In the technical specifications, Sonus Faber describes the unit as a Camelia Paper Cone with a copper cap, while the press materials also point to the use of fibre materials and a fabric surround intended to improve speed, control and linearity. And because the midrange is the area in which Sonus Faber has traditionally felt completely at home, it is hardly surprising that this is where the company wanted to do something special.

Another new element is the Organic Basket, a driver chassis inspired by the structure of a honeycomb. Its role is to improve airflow and mechanical stability. Combined with an advanced aluminium phase plug with damping-ring technology, it is intended to reduce compression, turbulence and distortion, improving dynamics and clarity. In the Olympica III G3 and Olympica V G3, Sonus Faber also uses a dedicated sealed chamber for the tweeter and midrange, damped with a specially shaped cork structure. That feels very Sonus Faber: a natural material used not because it looks nice in a brochure, but because it helps control resonances and reflections in one of the most sensitive parts of the frequency range. Cork may bring to mind a wine bottle more readily than advanced acoustic engineering, but sometimes precisely such details decide whether a loudspeaker merely performs correctly or really disappears from the room.

The collection consists of five models, allowing users to build either a classic stereo system or a more elaborate home cinema installation. The Olympica V G3 is the largest floorstanding model in the range, a three-way design intended for larger rooms and systems where scale, dynamics and full-range performance matter. It uses a 28-mm DAD Arrow Point extended-frequency silk tweeter, a 16.5-cm Camelia midrange driver with a paper cone and copper cap, and three 16.5-cm paper-cone woofers. The crossover points are 370 Hz and 2390 Hz, frequency response is rated at 37 Hz - 40 kHz, sensitivity is 90 dB, nominal impedance is 4 Ω and recommended amplifier power is 50-400 W. Each speaker measures 117.4 x 42.4 x 52.9 cm and weighs 44 kg. It is a full-size loudspeaker that needs space and capable electronics, but it also makes clear that the new Olympica is not just a cosmetic update.

Below it sits the Olympica III G3, also a three-way floorstander, but slimmer and easier to accommodate in a typical living room. Its driver layout is very similar to that of the larger model, except that the bass section uses two, rather than three, 16.5-cm woofers. This means a 28-mm DAD Arrow Point tweeter, a 16.5-cm Camelia midrange driver and two 16.5-cm paper-cone bass drivers. The crossover points are 365 Hz and 2460 Hz, frequency response is 42 Hz - 40 kHz, sensitivity is 90 dB, nominal impedance is 4 Ω and recommended amplifier power is 50-300 W. The cabinet measures 110.4 x 37.6 x 45.9 cm and weighs 35 kg. On paper, it looks like the model that should retain much of the character of the flagship Olympica V, but in a form better suited to normal, if still rather ambitious, interiors.

The Olympica I G3 is the bookshelf model, although the word "compact" should be treated with some caution here. The speaker itself measures 21 x 37 x 37 cm and weighs 11 kg, while with the dedicated stand it becomes a 105.2-cm tall system weighing 27.2 kg. It is a two-way vented design with a 28-mm DAD Arrow Point tweeter and a 16.5-cm midwoofer with a paper cone and copper cap. The crossover is set at 2300 Hz, frequency response is 57 Hz - 40 kHz, sensitivity is 87 dB, nominal impedance is 4 Ω and recommended amplifier power is 30-250 W. Interestingly, even the smallest model in the range uses four binding posts, labelled for Hi and Mid-Low sections, which suggests that Sonus Faber has not treated it as a decorative afterthought.

For home cinema systems, Sonus Faber has prepared the Olympica Center G3 and Olympica Wall G3. The centre speaker is a three-way vented design with a sealed midrange chamber. It uses an 18-mm DAD Arrow Point tweeter, a 10.1-cm Camelia midrange driver and two 16.5-cm paper-cone woofers. The crossover points are 600 Hz and 2900 Hz, frequency response is 58 Hz - 40 kHz, sensitivity is 90 dB, nominal impedance is 4 Ω and recommended amplifier power is 50-300 W. The cabinet measures 70.5 x 22.5 x 42 cm and weighs 21 kg, rising to 37.9 kg with its dedicated stand. The Olympica Wall G3, meanwhile, is a slim two-way sealed on-wall speaker, using a 28-mm DAD Arrow Point tweeter and a 16.5-cm Camelia driver. Its frequency response is 78 Hz - 40 kHz, sensitivity is 89 dB, nominal impedance is 4 Ω and recommended amplifier power is 30-200 W. Each speaker measures 56.2 x 30.8 x 21.5 cm, weighs 9 kg and is supplied with a mounting bracket, so the on-wall model is not merely a catalogue filler, but a real tool for building an elegant surround system.

The positioning of the new Olympica is interesting in itself. Sonus Faber is clearly not trying to make it a cold, laboratory-style series governed only by measured parameters. The word "beauty" appears repeatedly in the company's materials, along with the belief that sound and form should not be separated. It is easy to smile at language like this, because few companies can talk about loudspeakers with such solemnity, but in the case of Sonus Faber there is a certain consistency to it. These loudspeakers have always been something between an instrument, a piece of furniture and a functional object. The new generation of Olympica tries to preserve that romantic side of the brand while adding acoustic solutions from the upper reaches of the catalogue, more contemporary details and a more carefully developed driver architecture. The Sonus Faber Olympica G3 collection is available now, priced at €27,000/£25,000/$30,000 per pair for the Olympica V G3, €21,500/£20,000/$24,000 per pair for the Olympica III G3 and €12,000/£10,000/$13,000 per pair for the Olympica I G3. The Olympica Center G3 costs €10,000/£9,300/$10,500, while the Olympica Wall G3 is priced at €7,000/£6,500/$8,000 each. Info and photos by Sonus Faber.