Che sorpresa! There I was expecting delivery of a pair of small, bookshelf loud-speakers and the courier made me sign for two outrageously large cartons, both of which were so heavy that I had to get a trolley to move them off the stoop. How on earth could either of these cartons contain a pair of small bookshelf loudspeakers?
Once inside, I opened the smaller of the two cartons first, which revealed the Sonus faber Electa Amator III loudspeakers I had been expecting. So what could possibly be in the larger box? Had the distributor also sent me a second, larger pair of loudspeakers to evaluate? A few moments with a box-cutter revealed that the larger carton contained a pair of stands — stands that I later discovered were designed specifically for use with the Electa Amator IIIs.
Originally released in 2018 at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fair (where they picked up a ‘Best of RMAF’ award), the Electa Amator IIIs were designed to commemorate Sonus faber’s 35th anniversary, because despite all the loudspeakers the company has built since that time, it is on record as stating that it was the original Electa Amator (released 1987) and Electa Amator II (released 1997) that contributed most to the company’s international success, and that this new ‘small but precious speaker’ inherits characteristics from both those models.
Sonus faber was founded by the
