Preview: Sonus faber Maxima Amator Loudspeaker

Sonus faber’s Minima Amator, designed for use as either a bookshelf or stand-mounted loudspeaker, debuted back in 1992. Early in 2020, an updated version joined the company’s Heritage line with a “II” appended to its name, priced at $4000 per pair or $5500 with stands. Now, as 2020 (finally!) starts to wind down, the Italian high-end manufacturer is introducing an entirely new speaker, the floorstanding Maxima Amator. TAS has been loaned one of the first production pairs—serial number 0003, to be exact—and although they’ve been in my system for only a few days, accruing the recommended 80 to100 hours of break-in time, early indications are that they’ll manifest the virtues of other Sonus faber loudspeakers, old and new. The Maxima Amators have a retail price of $15,000 per pair.

I still have a great deal to learn about the Maxima Amator’s design and sonic performance, but I’m ready now to pass judgment on their appearance: The speakers are absolutely stunning. The enclosure is built with 1″ (25 mm) slabs of solid walnut and the front baffle and rear panel are covered in soft leather. The plinth to which the loudspeaker comes attached is a gorgeous piece of black marble with extensive white, tan, and brown veining. It is very difficult not to touch these things, to caress them, when you walk past.

The Maxima Amator stands about 42 ½” tall without spikes, and weighs 83.7 lbs. Like the Minimas, the new loudspeaker is a 2-way bass reflex design. The two models have the same 1.1″ silk dome tweeter but the midrange/woofer is larger in the Maxima, a 7″ driver rather than a 6″. A single port is located at the top of the rear panel and near the floor is a single pair of binding posts. Frequency response is specified as 35Hz–35kHz, with a sensitivity of 88dB. The Maxima Amators are a nominal 4-ohm load for an amplifier.