Sonus Faber Lumina II - Review & Measurements by Erin

[Thomas_A]

Thanks for sharing - every time I try to read an Erin's review, it reminds me how much I like @amirm's approach. With the panther and the summary and the price, pref. score also if @MZKM was available, I can form an opinion about the speakers (care / ignore).
Don't get me wrong, Erin works are valuable, but it is usually too technical for someone who not so enthusiastic like me. I hope he will change his formats to make it more accessible.

Note though that Amirs recommendations are based on measurement, listening tests and the overall "feel" of the tested speaker or headphone. It can measure and sound fine according to his standard, but still not get a recommendation.

 

[CleanSound]

And BTW, Sonus Faber is Jay Iyagi's (Danny Ritchie's friend, also snake oil YouTube reviewer) favorite speaker brand. He speaks very highly of Sonus Faber. Anyone who thinks highly of these speakers loses credibility.

 

[GXAlan]

Doesn’t this look like a LS3/5a with more bass and more treble tilt?

Maybe the Batman signature has something that people subjective like?

 

[Beave]

Measured by a user here (@HelloHell) a few months ago:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...faber-lumina-2-near-field-measurements.42647/

 

[Beave]

It appears they use first order electrical crossovers for the woofer and and for tweeter (ie, just an inductor for the woofer and a cap for the tweeter). Very gradual slopes with lots of overlap between the drivers from about 1kHz to 4kHz.

 

[sweetchaos]

These are US$1300/pair.

Add $100 and you get much better options:

Bookshelves < US$1,400/pair:

Name	PS	PSwSub	LFX
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-LX	6.8	8.6	38
Kef R3 (Amir) (Erin) [Discontinued on Feb 2023, replaced by R3 Meta]	6.6	8.3	37
Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 V2 (Erin)	6.4	8.4	42
Philharmonic Ceramic Mini (Erin)	5.9	7.9	42
Revel M16 with sealed port [readme] (Amir)	5.9	??	??
Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 (Amir)(Erin)	5.7	7.8	43
Kef Q350 (Amir)	5.7	7.5	38
Revel M16 with open port (Amir)	5.6	7.7	45
Kef Q150 (Erin)	4.9	7.0	45
Polk Audio Signature Elite ES20 (Amir)	4.8	6.7	39
Arendal Sound 1723 Bookshelf S THX (Erin)	4.8	7.6	62
Arendal Sound 1961 Bookshelf (Erin)	4.4	7.3	68

update: HIGHLIGHTED in RED = options at US$1400/pair

Erin's calculated PS is 2.8, ouch!

 

[Beave]

Picture of the (minimalist) crossover, courtesy of this website: https://www.hifi.blog/sonus-faber-lumina-ii-and-sonus-faber-lumina-v/

 

[VintageFlanker]

He speaks very highly of Sonus Faber.

What he doesn't speak very highly of anyway?

Add $100 and you get much better options:

Or better options for even half that 1300$ price.

The recently measured Ascend Sierra-1 V2 just blows it out of the water for 350$ less. None would look as cool tho.

 

[kemmler3D]

These are US$1300/pair.

Add $100 and you get much better options:

Bookshelves < US$1,400/pair:

Name	PS	PSwSub	LFX
Ascend Acoustics Sierra-LX	6.8	8.6	38
Kef R3 (Amir) (Erin) [Discontinued on Feb 2023, replaced by R3 Meta]	6.6	8.3	37
Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1 V2 (Erin)	6.4	8.4	42
Philharmonic Ceramic Mini (Erin)	5.9	7.9	42
Revel M16 with sealed port [readme] (Amir)	5.9	??	??
Elac Debut Reference DBR-62 (Amir)(Erin)	5.7	7.8	43
Kef Q350 (Amir)	5.7	7.5	38
Revel M16 with open port (Amir)	5.6	7.7	45
Kef Q150 (Erin)	4.9	7.0	45
Polk Audio Signature Elite ES20 (Amir)	4.8	6.7	39
Arendal Sound 1723 Bookshelf S THX (Erin)	4.8	7.6	62
Arendal Sound 1961 Bookshelf (Erin)	4.4	7.3	68

Erin's calculated PS is 2.8, ouch!

Shoot, not to mention genelecs right...?

 

[moonlight rainbow dream]

Hmm, I'm very interested in this because I have had a set of Lumina V towers in my family room system for over a year now. I've heard that people find the Lumina speakers bright, now seemingly confirmed by these measurements, but mine just don't seem bright at all to me in my room. If anything, the tweeters seem tame to me and I find myself wanting more "air" and clarity to the highs.

Now, there may be a couple reasons for that impression. First, I do have age related high frequency loss. And, secondly, my family room is fully carpeted, has curtains on the rear windows, has a large heavy L-shaped sofa, and is open to the breakfast area and kitchen. So a lot of the high frequencies may be lost to those factors.

Also, I do not get much of a sense of imaging or sound stage from them, sitting 10 feet away. Would the dispersion data correlate with this?

Bite the bullet and buy a calibrated measurement microphone (umik-1 is like 100 usd). There is no quicker and more sure way to know exactly what is going on and all your other setups will benefit too. Just to be sure though, have you confirmed that the tweeter is working? Now that I see that the speaker uses very shallow crossover slope, it actually might not be obvious if it's not working. The tweeter may have blown (it's not very well protected by the minimalist crossover) or the jumper/link on the terminal is missing/loose.

 

[kemmler3D]

It appears they use first order electrical crossovers for the woofer and and for tweeter (ie, just an inductor for the woofer and a cap for the tweeter). Very gradual slopes with lots of overlap between the drivers from about 1kHz to 4kHz.

Sounds like a "sophisticated" way to produce a wack-a** response like you see here...

 

[tktran303]

“it is usually too technical for someone who not so enthusiastic like me. I hope he will change his formats to make it more accessible.”

 

[Tangband]

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Sonus Faber Lumina II 2-Way Bookshelf Speaker Review

Sonus Faber Lumina II 2-Way Bookshelf Speaker Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

PS: A very coloured speaker line indeed, according to these measurements and ones from Stereophile. It confirms what I've personally heard in this Lumina family: just treble heavy, even off-axis.

Clearly tuned by ear with an electrical first order crossover. You get bad frequency measurement results with such a crossover.
The creator of the speaker might also have a mild hearing loss because of high age ? ( can explain the bright tuning, perfect for people above 50 …. Maybe the target ? )

Its also clear that Sonus faber , with this particular speaker, dont care about diffraction.

 

[renaudrenaud]

And BTW, Sonus Faber is Jay Iyagi's (Danny Ritchie's friend, also snake oil YouTube reviewer) favorite speaker brand. He speaks very highly of Sonus Faber. Anyone who thinks highly of these speakers loses credibility.

Clowns. How is it possible to waste time with these (pretentious) guys?

 

[Purité Audio]

Sonus faber is a ‘myth’ product, heavily marketed over here by Absolute Sounds who were the big U.K. ‘High-End’ distributor.
They are sold everywhere in the U.K. for most retailers marketing easily trumps sound quality when it comes to choosing inventory.
Keith

 

[Bogda89]

I listened to multiple sonus Faber speakers. Bright with no bass...

 

[CleanSound]

Clowns. How is it possible to waste time with these (pretentious) guys?

I know, it is indeed a waste of time.

However, let me offer this. To understand a con man, you have to spend time with a con man, to study them, to understand how they deploy trickery and manipulate phycology to prey on victims. Such understanding is important so that one is armed for self defense against more sophisticated con men.

Not to mention, there is a entertainment factor to watch these con men execute their con.

 

[Tangband]

Sonus faber is a ‘myth’ product, heavily marketed over here by Absolute Sounds who were the big U.K. ‘High-End’ distributor.
They are sold everywhere in the U.K. for most retailers marketing easily trumps sound quality when it comes to choosing inventory.
Keith

Probably true. I remember when they had their breaktrough, very nice loudspeaker cabinets and very positive reviews in all hifipress, followed by massive marketing in said papers. This was before internet was dominant.

The sound was always a dissapointment for me at hifi shows, probably in some part because the agents didnt know how to do the loudspeaker setup for best sound.

At this time there were also coming ultra expensive cables on the market…..

 

[Purité Audio]

We sold a Grimm set-up to a chap who had the original Stradivari , they seemed pretty decent when we compared to the LS1s.
Attractive speaker especially in grey.
Keith

 

[renaudrenaud]

I know, it is indeed a waste of time.

However, let me offer this. To understand a con man, you have to spend time with a con man, to study them, to understand how they deploy trickery and manipulate phycology to prey on victims. Such understanding is important so that one is armed for self defense against more sophisticated con men.

Not to mention, there is a entertainment factor to watch these con men execute their con

Surely I am too old to spend my time like this. I prefer to read the measurements, compare, order, wait, receive and do it again few months later.