Which Amplifier for Sonus Faber Olympica 3 Speaker

DTC this may be true for the cheaper SF's but doing some more searches reveals the opposite, that the Olypia 3 are really a 3ohm design and has 2.6ohm dip at 103hz.
And at 81hz it has an EPDR of just 1.7ohm load to the amp.

Sorry but this model is a b***h to drive and needs big amp/s with good current delivery that can nearly double the wattage all the way to 2ohms, "if" you want to hear the best out of these speakers. .

Just look at the lab report from Miller Audio Research Labs in the link
http://www.absolutesounds.com/pdf/main/press/05:14_SF_OlympicaII_HIFINEWS.pdf

Cheers George

For what it is worth, I enjoy my Concerto Grand Piano speakers paired with an Anthem 225 Integrated.

May not be in the same league with other gear mentioned, just an opinion. The GP's have sounded lackluster with some of my gear /cable combos.

The Anthem brought out the best as did Morrow SP4 cable.

My apologies if my comments were off topic.

Kind regards

George - the review is useful. Thanks. What has typically made SF hard to drive is not just the impedance but also the phase angle. The Miller report does comment that the phase angle is well controlled, so the speaker may not be as hard to drive as the impedance along would indicate. This would be consistent with the fact that the Cremona M is much easier to drive than the Cremona. And the Olympica is the follow on to the Cremona M.

I agree that I would be careful with a lower power amp, but the Miller comments seem to indicate that a monster amp may not be needed to drive the speakers.

Unfortunately, I do not know enough about the amps the OP is considering. The Hegel 300 is 250 watts at 8 ohm and 430 at 4 ohm. Does not double down but it may well have high enough current to drive the Olympica. I would not dismiss it, especially given the Miller comments.

That's what I said, out of the two the Hegel is the better option, but now that the test state the speaker is really a 3ohm design and has is a 2.6ohm load for the bass(100hz) and an amp sapping EPDR of 1.7ohms at 81hz
Then even this amp though it will sound fine, will most probably not get the best out of this SF Olympica speaker.

It sounds like the OP is into intergrateds, these two from a quick look I did would be better options for these speakers, and I dare say there will be many others.

Simaudio Moon Evolution 700i

Krell FBI integrated


Cheers George

I use the Luxman 590ax for my
SF Olympica 2 speakers. They sound excellent with this class A 30wpc integrated amp.