Paolo Tezzon has left Sonus Faber


The man behind Sonus Faber, responsible for the "new" Sonus Faber sound which I believe brings them huge success has left the company few months ago. He worked alongside Franco Serblin and successfully continued the Sonus Faber DNA.

However, I don't think this was a smart step and I believe Fine Sounds UK goes the wrong direction.  I really like the company and I do own Olympica II speakers which are great but I don't see any bright future here. Who knows, time will tell ...

celestial__sound

@craig  I think your description of the Franco designed SF's is not accurate at all. Sure, they can be made to sound as you describe, but they typically are more musical and, IME, preferred by a lot of folks to the later designs. 

A 'warm syrupy' sounding tube amp (not sure what that model that is??) would be far from what most people think of the old Homage line, if they are set up correctly and demo'ed with the appropriate gear. 

Op, 

Try to listen some of his speakers that were made under his new name and company (Franco Serblin) and compare them to similar models od SF.

For example Ktema vs Amati Futura or some other in that price range or even better, some 2 way design like Lignea or Accordo vs similar SF design.

Looking forward to hear your impressions.

I have had three SF speakers over the years (Olympia III, Amati Tradition and now Il Cremonese).  I gather that the old AF speakers were warmer, less articulate, less "open" than the newer models.  I sense the comparison would be a warm, syrupy tube amp vs a class A SS amp. I can attest that the Amati Tradition (newer design) and the Il Cremonese (not revised in about 7 years) are extremely accurate with respect to timbre and particularly strings.  They are very articulate without being clinical  like a Wilson, and cohesive.  The Il Cremonese has very clear, distinct bass that is again timbre correct say for a tympani or double bass. The treble in all their newer models is excellent.  The Il Cremonese's treble is airy, sparkly without brightness or harshness.  Of course, with respect to design, esthetics, they glean compliments from everyone, even non-musical, non-audiophile visitors. It will be interesting to see how they evolve forward.  The homage and reference lines may not change significantly in looks, and perhaps not even that much in electronics.

Franco was able to bring a lot of coherence into his designs, more so IMO than Paolo. Franco also had a great ear for what the sound of a natural 'unamplified' instrument sounded like. This was one of Franco's greatest strengths, and which I think very few designers can compete with him on. Franco also was more into the 'traditional' look of his speaker designs, wherein I think Paolo is more of a contemporary designer. 

@alexatpos I never had the chance to listen to the old franco models execpt once (cremona m) but that was very limited experience. I'm curious what magic older sonus faber had that the new models hadn't 

Well, aldo he made just three models under his name with new company, I must say that I prefer his recent (Franco Serblin) work more than any of the new stuff that SF made. Somehow, the SF did not feel like the genuine SF once was, aldo they stll made some fine speakers

Those Sonus Faber Lumina, both 1 & 2, are beautiful. Not certain if he had something to do with their design or not.