Sonus Faber is indeed ac qontroversal brand!
I allways herd perplexo sayng that high frequencys is to hard, and só on...
In my opinion sonus faber is one of the best speakers manufacturer in the world.
Not all the modelos but, almost them!
Concerning Electas, they play wonderfull , with my triode Class A single ended amplifier with only 10watt.
high's mid's and bass are there, only web they are, they are soft and transparent.
Violins sounds excellent, piano also, and guitar is a must, and bass is allways there.
In my system i dont hear the speakers, but a beautiful stage with all the detailed sounds.
Requiem from Mozart is fine for them, as Diana Krall, as well Enrico Rava, and Vivaldi!
Construction is Superb, woofers from Áudio Technology, and Dynaudio Esotar.
These are 8 ohms speakers with 6db slope first order crossover.
They need some space in the room, arround 40m2 that's a fact!
I've heard many others speakers, but few play lide Electas.
There's no perfect speakers, neither other Audiophile device, just good sound that's what we heard!
So If you can buy this speakers, buy it!
Fashions comes and goes, good Things alwayes stays.

Best listenings....

Paulo Leite
phaseoneh10@me.com

sondstage,bass-mid-high's ,beautiful looks and build quality.

none

i have been using my electa's with a audiolab 8000s amp and an arcam alpha 6 cd player with very good results. they sound very sweet with excellent bass extension for there size. i must admit i went for them at first because of there looks and bwfh acceptance factor but i will now be buidling a more apt system around them.

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proac studio 100 proac response 2's

Good all around speaker
Nice woodwork with solid wood cabinet

Sound is not big and does not have "air" in the voice as many big speakers
price

Bought my speakers from a private owner. Almost 15-years old speakers but in very good shape. Excellent woodwork, stiff cabinet. Price included also original walnutmade feets. Sonus faber electa has used in this model Danish dynaudio esotec elements (modified). Freq. rate is promised to be 50hz-20khz +-3db. That is easy to believe. Bass is deep when you think about the size of the speakers. The sound is not "huge" and most metallica enthusiasts will find better speakers in this price class for sure. Electa sounds best with elegant recordings with only few instruments. I´d describe the sound round and smooth. Piano, violin, latin guitar, Eagles, Dire Staits etc most well recorded discs sounded all right. In my listening room i´m sitting near the speakers. When i listened electas at the previous owners residence, there was more space in the room and the amplifiers+ cables+cd-players were at high end level, electas sounded even better. So if you have space and lots of money to spend to other equipment, you get more out of electas. But in the other hand you can find better sound for a tiny room with less of money. But not with the great look of these ;-)

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Gradient speakers

smooth and detailed highs good impact beautiful construction wonderful midrange

bass is less well defined, but I'm using low powered amps so it might be due to that

I recently acquired the SF Electas from Audiogon. This model of SF speakers haven't been as common as other SF models. These are fine speakers. The mid range and highs are detailed and clear without being harsh such as the ProAc Response 1S speaker I used to have which could be a little harsh. The Electas don't have this problem at all. The bass goes lower than I've been used to and this is welcome. The bass doesn't seem to match the quantity and quality of the mids and highs but it is very good. These speakers demand high caliber audio components upstream to sound their best. I'm not sure why a couple of the other reveiwers had such a hard time with these speakers. It demonstrates how important it is to audition before you buy.

Similar Products Used:

ProAc Response 1S

Superb Walnut Construction.

I've recently looking for a pair of shelf speakers to match my Audiolab 8000M. With a limited budget constraint, I was able to match my entire Audiolabs with the Sonus Faber Electa. I'm only into Contemporary Jazz and Audiophile recordings ie. Sheffield Lab, FIM, Chesky, DMP, etc. With the price tag of RM 3,800 for a brand new pair of speakers, I guess it really sounds good (musically) both on vocals and acoustic guitar. Fyi, my current set-up consists of: Audiolab 8000CDM Audiolab 8000DAC Audiolab 8000Q Audiolab 8000M @ 4 (bi-amping) QED Silver Spiral speaker cables XLO Pro Interconnects Audioqest Power Cord

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ProAc Tablette 2000 Signature ProAc Tablette Reference 8 Signature EgglestonWorks Isabel B&W CDM-1NT Sonus Faber Concerto Sonus Faber Electa Amator

Classic Faber design, balanced sound stage, enjoyable for HT

Undefined bass, very bright, terrible coloring of the midrage, so-so dynamics, unnatural sound, sounds bad with any amp I tried.

The Electa's are without doubt one of SF's greatest failures in recent years. I had very high hopes of these speakers based on a positive experience with Fabers, and was actually quite pleased with the way they sounded in the showroom. However, it only took me a few days to realize their terrible shortcomings. It starts with a midrange that seems to impress you at first, but becomes extremely irritating after a while. The lows are out of focus, no matter where I placed the speakers, but it becomes worse as they become closer to the walls. The highs are too bright and very unnatural at times. I did like the stage these speakers set in front of you, which seems to be very balanced and accurate. Using these speakers for home theatre actually hides their weaknesses and provides you with an excellent experience. But again, for critical listening of high quality material, it is very evident that these speakers are certainly two or three levels lower than what they promise to be. Don't be fooled like me and trust the name and a few hours of random listening. Listen to them with the music you know best and make sure you are able to withstand that terribly undefined bass and that over-emphasized howling midrange. The design is surely beautiful and at least I am at least happy about their build quality, but as soon as I can afford it I won't hesitate to get rid of them and buy something better (and maybe even cheaper). Just to get an idea, I use a Meridian 502/557 (pre/power combo), which should be more than enough to provide these speakers with anything they're up to.

Resolution Scale Dynamics Clarity and Natural Sound not to mention great build and fantastic finish

take a while to set up

I first heard sonus faber speakers a while back partnered with copland electronics and was very impressed by the sheer musicality of the sound. I bought the minuetos but could not afford the amp at the time and the speakers whilst good did not quite live up to the dem in my system so i changed them. A while later I got the copland amp and have been on the hunt for a pair of minuetos but to no avail. Whenipurchased the electas my first impresions were not great very boomy base and the top end was a little flat causing a muddling of the overall sound. I had paid (for me ) a lot of money and wasbegaining to regret the desicision after a few hours adjusting the positioning overa period of 3 weeks or so i began to get glimpses of what these speakers were capable of and when i finaly found the right positioning wow. I have been guilty in the past of listening to the equipment rather than the music perhaps something alot of us do especialy when you have forked out a lot of hard earned money on a product. This has now changed I enjoy my music again from rock through to folk. THE Sheer resolving power of the speakers is great voices are natural guitars sound like well real guitars the treble is sweet and crisp and the base is deep and tuneful. Im shure that if you had better electronics the performance of these speakers would be even better , however i do not feel that i need to upgrade as i am very happy enjoying my music again. A very heartfelt thankyou tothe guys at sonus faber they really do get it right withtheir products. Oh and by the way the speakers are stunningly beatiful and well made I think the guy who wrote the poor review above must have been poking the drivers with a stick or something to break them. Anyway if you get the speakers do spend time getting the set up just right a few mm is all thats needed to get you right into the music. Partnered with Copland AMP Meridian CD and Dac Transparent cables.

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Pro ac super towers B & W 801 Raurk Sonus Faber Minuetos

LOOKS LOOKS LOOKS

Power Hungry

Its ELECTA, not ELECTRA; First generation SF falls between ELECTA AMATOR and AMATOR. Wood floors, 20 ft. ceilings bring out the best in these little beasts. Absolutely, positively must be biwired to fully realize its potential. Sounds Big. Like the proverbial "good wine" these sweethearts sound better every day. Have had a number of amplifiers including Goldmund in this system but none sound as good as the current ubiquitous MAC INTEGRATED! Interestingly,SF recommends at least 100 watts of valves. However, I cant imagine anything sounding better than the MAC. Maybe its those tone controls. Other Stuff includes a CARY modified ROTEL CD PLAYER (tube output) and a Magnum
Dynalab Tuner as well as SOTA STAR SAPPHIRE. I know all of this gear is a bit "dated" but I just cant bring myself tamper with the synergy.

I can see why SF has a near cult following of their stunning products. If the new products are anything like these wonderful musical speakers, I cant recommend anything SONUS FABER enough.

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NONE

The highs are occasionally crispy.

You can prepare great pizzas on the speakers' cabinet.

Just about everything: the lows are blurry, the mid-range is JBL-sounding and the soundstage is poor for this price tag.

I was extremely disappointed by these speakers, just about from any angle I look at it.

I ordered them from Italy after having great experience with Sonus Faber's other speakers. At first I thought my pair were malfunctioning, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. I exchanged my pair but the same audio performance appears on the other pair as well. If there is a malfunction then it is somewhere on the Electa production line.

Not that these speakers don't sound good for 300 pounds, but they happen to cost about seven times more than that, and there is simply no justification in the world for that.

The lows sound so blurry, especially within the 120Hz-250Hz range, and the mids sound like they are coming out straight out of JBL multimedia speakers. They simply shriek and leave you with no option but to suffer. This all becomes very evident on rock music. On classial music, and jazz, the aural damage will be decreased, but by no way will you enjoy their sound.

The highs are also disappointing after a while of listening, especially because of the lack within the 17KHz-18.5KHz range, which any audiophile shall notice.

The soundstage is very limited compared to the price tag, and I can name around a dozen other speakers that sound better than this Electa pair, and cost a third of it, if not less.

However, we haven't yet reached the bottom of the curve.
The reliability of the Electa is by far their lowest point.
My first pair not only sounded bad but broke apart after three weeks. My second pair sounded just as bad, and needed a twister reinstallment after a month, since the tweeter managed to jump out of its place (only the lord knows how).
This was the last straw and a week later these speakers were returned, and I got a partial refund.

Right now I'm using Sonus Faber Concert Home speakers and they sound a lot more pleasing than the terrible Electa.

Don't fall for Eleta's trap: bad sound, bad reliability.
Especially don't by them as a 2nd hand owner. They seem to break apart pretty quickly...

i bought this at very high price US$2000
because my listening area is so limited, it produce very un reasonable bass.

now i dont know what to do.

since it has to be put near the corner, anyone can suggest me some better speaker which can place close to the corner without giving too much bommy bass?

anyway..it looks good..but i think i paid too much...hahahha...