The Sonus Faber Sonetto V is an elegantly designed high-end speaker with plenty of accolades under its belt. This pair of premium floor-standers not only look stylishly good but sound exceptionally good as well. For such remarkable and beautiful speakers, they certainly need equally impressive amplifiers to match with them. We are planning to share with you a list of the best amplifiers that you can pair with the Sonus Faber Sonetto V so please continue to read on.
There are a few main factors to consider and one of them will be the price point of the amplifiers, as we shouldn’t just go with 5 digits amps blindly. We should also learn more about the Sonus Faber Sonetto V such as their sonic characteristics, strengths, and limitations (if any). With more data, we will then be able to find the right amplifiers to match with the Sonetto V and let us start right away.
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Sonic Characteristics and Merits of Sonus Faber Sonetto V
It is a pair of towering floor-standers that you would want in your listening room, they just look so exquisite and high-end. The Sonus Faber Sonetto V will even enhance your home interiors with its elegance and stylish design. They also emit a certain level of assurance that they can deliver powerful sound with their 4 speaker drivers. There are two 7″ (180mm) aluminum cone drivers, with a 6″ (150mm) midrange made with special natural fiber and right at the top will be the 29mm silk dome tweeter. The bass port is located at the bottom of the speaker cabinet which allows more flexibility when placing them nearer to walls. We will suggest having a carpet or at least the same floor surface below the speakers.
The Sonus Faber Sonetto V frequency response is impressive, it is 38Hz to 25kHz, and there is a high probability that they do not need any support from a subwoofer. The speaker sensitivity is 90dB which is good but when we look at the nominal impedance, it is rated at 4 Ohms. With the recommended amplifier power starting from 50 Watts to 300 Watts, it shows that the Sonus Faber Sonetto V requires a powerful amplifier to drive them. The amps will need to be able to drive 4 Ohms impedance speakers and just to be on the safe side, their power outputs should be at least above 100W per channel (RMS).
The Sonetto V easily fills the listening room and the soundstage is larger than expected. Extending away from the speakers, with amazing depth and satisfying height. The stereo imaging of the Sonus Faber Sonetto V is equally amazing, allowing us to immerse into the sound field with rich musical details surrounding us. The bass performance is agile and precise, giving us that sense of music presence. The low-ends are delivered in a sure-footed way and the deep bass are produced with prominence. There’s really no need to add in a subwoofer unless your music involves instruments that hit below 38Hz.
The soundstage is really extraordinary, the highs and mids are great as well. It reproduces vivid and natural-sounding vocals with intricate details such as taking a small breath. The sonic reproduction of the instruments is very detailed as well, the picking of the guitars, the tapping of the drumsticks, the clashing of the cymbals, all sounded realistic and intricate. The overall sound reproduction is smooth and clean, never once sounded harsh. The highs are extended and quite sweet-sounding, even when been push to high volumes, it does not sound overly bright.
At this price range, the Sonus Faber Sonetto V can easily be one of the top few speakers, not to mention, one of the most beautiful. The music presentation of the Sonetto V speakers is incredibly detailed and has plenty of subtleties to further create that realism, and with some tracks it actually made us feel we are in the concert hall listening to the musicians. The Sonus Faber Sonetto V deserves to be paired with the best and now with this information gathered, we can finally share with you the list of matching amplifiers that you can go for to partner them with your Sonetto V floor-standing speakers.
Sonus Faber Sonetto V Specifications
- Speaker Type: 3-Way (down-firing bass port)
- Drive Units: 29mm silk dome tweeter, 6″ (150mm) midrange driver, two 7″ (180mm) aluminum cone drivers
- Frequency Response: 38Hz–25kHz
- Recommended Amplifier Power: 50-300 Watts
- Nominal Impedance: 4 Ohms
- Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 90dB
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 1072mm x 258mm x 409mm | 42″ x 10″ x 16″
- Weight: 22.6kg (49.8lbs)
Best Amplifiers to match with Sonus Faber Sonetto V
The Marantz PM-KI Ruby is an integrated amplifier expertly tuned by the legendary Marantz sound master Ken Ishiwata and along with his team, engineered probably one of the very best Marantz amps. The overall sound reproduction is very detailed and includes subtle musical nuances which are clearly produced. The open and warm sonic characteristics fit well with the Sonus Faber Sonetto V speakers, delivering a sweet and smooth sound quality that is pleasing to the ears. You can crank up the volume without fear of harsh sound quality that might ruin your music listening experience. Vinyl enthusiasts should really hear them out with their favorite records too.
More Information at Amazon – Marantz PM-KI Ruby
Going for HiFi separates will be an amazing idea, and Parasound will be one of the best choices to go for. The Parasound amps are solid performers and are sanely priced as well. For the preamplifier section, you can check out Halo series P 6, a 2.1 channel preamp with a plethora of features. Coupled with the matching power amplifier, the Parasound Halo 21+, an extremely powerful 2 channel amp that uses high bias Class A/AB operation which can easily drive your Sonus Faber Sonetto V floor-standers. The Parasound amps are well-suited and also complement the Sonetto V sonic capabilities of reproducing large-scale soundstage with astonishing musical presence.
The award-winning McIntosh MA352 will be an excellent hybrid integrated amplifier to pair with your Sonus Faber Sonetto V, giving you the best of both worlds. The solid-state amp of the MA352 is more than enough to make your Sonetto V speakers sing and the sonic prowess of the vacuum tube preamp will make your speakers sound beautiful. The large and spacious soundstage that both HiFi components produced is breathtaking, the lush details and the clarity of the music subtle nuances are flooding our ears in a well-organized manner without any congestion. The bass reproduction is palpable as well, which makes the McIntosh MA352 really well match.
Having a tight budget? Then check out Peachtree Audio Nova300, it is a modestly priced integrated amplifier with high power outputs which is rated at 450 Watts per channel in 4 Ohms. The Nova300 is definitely sufficient enough to really drive the Sonus Faber Sonetto V floor-standing speakers. The level of sonic performance you get from this wonderful integrated amp is well worth every penny. It also comes with a plethora of features that provide even more value to its users and at this price point, we really got nothing to complain about. It will be well worth your time to hear them out.
More Information at Amazon – Peachtree Audio Nova300
If price is not an issue, you might want to go for Pass Labs preamps and power amps combination. The Pass Labs XP-12 will make an excellent preamplifier and along with the matching Pass Labs XA25 power amplifier that has 50 Watts per channel into 4 Ohms of Class A sonic purity. Your Sonus Faber Sonetto V will be driven with high-quality power, delivering sweet and musical warmth that vividly recreates the musicians onto the wide spacious soundstage. Where you can’t help but feel the performers are right here with you in the listening room. If possible, you should get even higher Pass Labs power amp models such as the XA60.8 mono-block amplifier.
Other HiFi separates you should check out will definitely be McIntosh but of course, you will need a high budget. For more sanely priced preamps and power amps, we will Wyred 4 Sound that uses ICEPower amplification technology (Class D). They have both the power and musical grace to match with the Sonus Faber Sonetto V floor-standing speakers without breaking the bank. If you prefer modestly priced class AB power amps, the already mentioned Parasound will be a good place to look as well as Emotiva which is also well-recognized by audiophiles.
More Information at Amazon – Wyred 4 Sound mAMP Monoblock Power Amplifier
To Sum It Up
There’s really no need to integrate an active subwoofer but to improve and produce the bass response of 38Hz and below then it will be a different story. We will recommend checking out Rythmik Audio F12SE which is an audiophile-grade 12″ sealed subwoofer very suited for music performance. The amplifiers listed are some of the very best to match with the Sonus Faber Sonetto V and you should audition them first before making your final decision.
