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Sonus Faber Il Cremonese
A Tribute to History and Innovation
The result of both scientific research and deep passion, Il Cremonese pays tribute to Antonio Stradivari’s classic violin.
STRADIVARI’S MASTERPIECE
Il Cremonese is an homage to Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari’s greatest creation. Celebrated for his relentless pursuit of acoustic perfection in string instruments, Stradivari’s 1715 masterpiece, named “Il Cremonese”, remains unmatched. This exceptional instrument stands out for its rich and balanced sound, characterized by a powerful Sol chord and remarkable agility - a testament to Stradivari's enduring legacy in the world of music.
HISTORY, REMADE
Il Cremonese’s form brings together technological innovation and unique design, while paying homage to a centuries-long tradition of Italian violin-making. Its cabinet features fine non-parallel walls with Avional surface treatments, an alloy commonly used in aircraft and aerospace industries. The rhomboidal diamond design optimizes the structural solidity of the wood cabinet while creating clean and elegant lines.
ACOUSTIC PERFECTION
Each transducer’s acoustic environment is meticulously designed to deliver flawless sound. Every volume is insulated with individually-selected materials - from open cell thermoplastic foam to fibrous materials similar to those used in pianos - to optimize the performance of each application.
IL CREMONESE’S STRIKING FINISHES
A harmony of Sonus faber’s signature natural materials
FORM AND FUNCTION
Innovative design concepts, created by Sonus faber’s Research & Development team, enhance both the sound and beauty of Il Cremonese.
Rhomboidal Diamond Design
The innovative "Rhomboidal diamond design" enhances wooden cabinet structural integrity with a unique, recognizable diamond shape inspired by Lilium. It introduces clean lines and an elegant, minimal, sharp design.
Damper Shelves
The "Damper Shelves" in Il Cremonese, created from Avional alloy slabs, collect vibrations to eliminate spurious sounds, ensuring the purity of the musical message.
Intrawoofer Design
To reproduce lower frequencies, Sonus faber developed the SW 22 XT-08, featuring a potent 220 mm infra-woofer with a 2.5" long stroke voice coil and an ultra-dynamic magnetic motor for exceptional performance.
DAD Tweeter
The DAD 28 XTR-04 "Arrow point" tweeter combines the timbre of classic dome drivers with the advantages of a ring tweeter. It uses a "Damped Apex Dome" to prevent resonances and control diaphragm movement at the soft dome's apex.
WATT RECOMMENDS
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Professional Reviews 94/100
Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
94/100
Build Quality
96/100
Value for Money
92/100
Sonus Faber Il Cremonese couples room-filling, controlled bass with richly lifelike voices and a seamless, immersive soundstage. Enjoy The Music found its dense, stable images musically convincing across genres, while Gramophone praised its natural low-end authority and exceptional driver integration. This is reference-scale Italian craftsmanship with genuine emotional pull.
What Reviewers Are Saying
Pros
Controlled, room-filling bass reaches deep without boom and integrates superbly into the midrange.
Expansive soundstage with dense, stable images that convincingly occupy space.
Highly realistic vocal and acoustic-instrument reproduction, supported by a seamless full-range presentation.
Exceptional cabinet engineering, with isolated driver chambers and extensive resonance-control measures.
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Cons
The presentation can be intense, with the tweeter occasionally sounding more prominent than ideal for treble-sensitive listeners.
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 94/100
Reviewers describe an expansive, highly resolved and emotionally involving presentation that remains coherent across a broad range of music. Its particular strengths are room-filling yet controlled low frequencies, natural vocal realism, and an unusually convincing ability to disappear behind a large, stable soundstage.
Bass
96/100
Gramophone found the low end natural, controlled and room-filling rather than boomy, with bass that made a subwoofer largely unnecessary. The transition from lower bass into the midrange was also singled out as superb.
Mid
94/100
Gramophone praises the midrange for rendering human voices and acoustic instruments with exceptional flattery and realism, describing Johnny Cash as vividly present in the room. Enjoy The Music likewise found the speaker deeply musical and involving across genres.
Treble
93/100
Gramophone calls the silk-dome tweeter exceptionally expressive, athletic and detailed. Enjoy The Music heard a small caveat: its intensity can sometimes make the tweeter feel more prominent than ideal.
Soundstage Imaging
96/100
Enjoy The Music heard a stage extending from sidewall to sidewall and from the rear wall toward the listener, with dense, stable images that occupy believable space. Gramophone similarly praised precise sound placement and the seamless integration of the individual drivers.
Dynamics
89/100
Enjoy The Music characterizes the Il Cremonese as an intense, modern loudspeaker, while Audiophilepure associates its presentation with propulsive dynamics and crisp leading transients. The reviews provide less detailed discussion of large-scale headroom and behavior at extreme playback levels.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
96/100
The Il Cremonese earns repeated praise for its craftsmanship and ambitious cabinet engineering. Enjoy The Music highlights extensive resonance-control measures, isolated driver chambers and a structurally substantial enclosure, while Gramophone calls it the fullest realization of Sonus faber craftsmanship.
Value for Money
92/100
At $50,000 per pair, the Il Cremonese is unquestionably a luxury purchase, but Enjoy The Music calls it "something of a bargain" at roughly one-third the price of the Aida II for listeners seeking its particular virtues. That comparison presents it as a compelling option within Sonus faber’s own reference-level range.
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- 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
- A Tube High Fidelity — online and in-store — Almere, Flevoland, Netherlands (website)
- Absolute Sound (SG) — online and in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
- Acoustic Designs Inc. — in-store — Scottsdale, Arizona, United States (website)
- Ahead Stereo — in-store — Los Angeles, California, United States (website)
- Alpha High End — online and in-store — Brasschaat, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium (website)
- Anquan — online and in-store — Glika Nera, Greece (website)
- Arctic Audio — in-store — Fargo, North Dakota, United States (website)
- Area 51 Audio Visual Engineering — in-store — Tucson, Arizona, United States (website)
- Area Hifi — online and in-store — L'Eixample, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain (website)
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