Classy Italian floorstanders that have plenty of charm
Floorstanding stereo speakers | £2499 | whf.cm/LuminaV
What is it that you want from your speakers? Are you after the most analytical boxes you can lay your hands on, or is it the most engaging musical experience that matters most? In our experience, these two things don’t always equate. Sonus Faber’s new Lumina V floorstanders land squarely on the musical side of things; and that’s fine by us.
Lumina is the Italian brand’s entry-level range and includes two standmounters, two floorstanders and a matching centre speaker. There isn’t a subwoofer dedicated to the range but the company does make a number of suitable offerings that can be used.
The Lumina V is the largest speaker in the range, but despite its generous proportions – 105 x 28 x 37cm (hwd) – it doesn’t unduly dominate a room.
Distinctive and smart
Aesthetics have always been a key part of the Sonus Faber DNA, and that remains the case here. The price point dictates that there isn’t scope for the company’s usual highly sculptured cabinet designs, but these Lumina V floorstanders still look distinctive and smart. There are three options for the plywood front panel. It can be covered in classy real-wood veneer – walnut or wenge – with maple inlays, or painted gloss black. The rest of the cabinet is made of MDF and covered with a faux-leather material, bar the back panel, which is painted satin black.
The combination of colours and materials is unusual, but it works – giving the speakers an air of elegance most rivals lack. But there is more here than just a pleasing appearance. Look inside and you will find that the tweeter and midrange are built into their own ‘lute-shaped’ enclosure, which not only reduces the build-up of standing waves but helps the rigidity of the cabinet.
The Lumina V are three-way speakers. The tweeter is an unusually large 29mm soft-dome design. What looks like a conventional phase plate is actually part of Sonus Faber’s Damped Apex Dome technology, often referred to as DAD in the company’s literature. This is claimed to improve the phase behaviour of the diaphragm by damping the centre of the dome. The 15cm midrange and dual 16.5cm woofers all make use of a paper/natural-fibre cone material, but in the case of the low-frequency drivers there are two paper/natural-fibre layers sandwiching a syntactic foam. A large downward-firing port, which exits through the plinth, tunes the lows.
The four drive units are linked by a carefully calibrated crossover that seeks to
