Sonus Faber Extremas

[RDSChicago]

Has anyone ever listened to Extremas? I just scored a pair and was wondering about amplification. Some say they are difficult to drive and need a huge amount of power and current. Would love to hear thoughts from anyone who has experience with them. They are inbound arriving later this week. Here are a few photos. Thanks!

 

[StevenZ]

Can you explain why there are little heat sinks on the back?

 

[Kpatch]

Can you explain why there are little heat sinks on the back?

I know it has to do with the capacitor-free xover but those more knowledgeable than I can explain the why.

 

[RDSChicago]

Can you explain why there are little heat sinks on the back?

From an interesting recent review comparing the Extremas to modern speakers:

“Next to the radiator’s control is a small heatsink. Why does a passive set of speakers need a heatsink? The Extrema has a kind of crossover design we’ve never come across before. While its use of a gentle first-order filter is relatively uncommon, it’s the lack of capacitors that provides the real talking point here.

Sonus Faber’s engineers wanted to avoid these components to improve clarity and transparency, and so, instead, they ended up using an inductor in parallel with the tweeter rather than the usual capacitor in series. For everything to work properly, a resistor is required in the circuit too, but it needs the heatsink to cope with the power demands. We never felt the heatsink getting hot during use, even with the speakers pushed hard.”

Here’s a link to the review:

That Was Then... Sonus Faber Extrema

We step back to 1991 with these classic Italian standmounters

www.whathifi.com

 

[doglv]

I lived with some Eggleston's for a while which had the same Dynaudio Esotar Tweeter. Dramatically different speaker but that tweeter was awesome. Maybe too awesome if you know what I mean.

I doubt it was due to the tweeter but those speakers loved da watts. A 600 watt Mac was a dream match. Now I have 6 watts... go figure.

I always thought the Extrema's were just about the coolest monitors out there. Should be fun.

 

[prime minister]

From an interesting recent review comparing the Extremas to modern speakers:

“Next to the radiator’s control is a small heatsink. Why does a passive set of speakers need a heatsink? The Extrema has a kind of crossover design we’ve never come across before. While its use of a gentle first-order filter is relatively uncommon, it’s the lack of capacitors that provides the real talking point here.

Sonus Faber’s engineers wanted to avoid these components to improve clarity and transparency, and so, instead, they ended up using an inductor in parallel with the tweeter rather than the usual capacitor in series. For everything to work properly, a resistor is required in the circuit too, but it needs the heatsink to cope with the power demands. We never felt the heatsink getting hot during use, even with the speakers pushed hard.”

Here’s a link to the review:

That Was Then... Sonus Faber Extrema

We step back to 1991 with these classic Italian standmounters

www.whathifi.com

Damn. I never knew that. Now I REALLY want a pair!

 

[JimPA]

I know it has to do with the capacitor-free xover but those more knowledgeable than I can explain the why.

According to the Stereophile review the speaker uses a first order crossover.
There is a capacitor in series with the tweeter.
index.html

This crossover begins with the design approach adopted for the system, namely the use of first-order rolloff slopes of 6dB/octave; a single reactive component is used to divide each driver's working frequency range. This appears to be an attractively simple concept requiring just two components: an inductor in series with the low-frequency driver to roll out the high frequencies, and a capacitor in series with the tweeter to roll out the mid and bass. Advantages include a complete absence of electrical overshoot or ringing, a smooth load impedance, and, with suitable drivers and an appropriate physical alignment, a close approach to minimum-phase performance.

 

[Anton D]

I want Extremas.