Sonus Faber's Aïda

Not being fully up on the names of the various Sonus Faber speakers, I asked one of the reps the name of the giants on demo. "Ida" was his answer. Come again? "Ida! Sonus Faber gives their speakers names that have a musical connection, like the titles of operas." But how could that be? The only remotely relevant opera connection that I'm aware of for "Ida" is Gilbert & Sullivan's "Princess Ida," and somehow I doubt if the Italian designers of Sonus Faber speakers would name the speaker after this not-all-that-popular English operetta.

And then I got it. The speaker was named after Aïda, pronounced "eye-ee-duh," the well-know opera by Verdi. I guess the rep was not an opera fan.

With that out of the way, I was able to enjoy the Aïdas ($130,000/pair), driven by four Simaudio 880M monoblocks ($21,000 each). Paradoxically, they did not sound like giant speakers—which I think of as a positive trait, and difficult to accomplish, especially when the speaker has multiple drivers, front and back, like the Aïda.

Source : stereophile[dot]com