Arnaldo Lombardi's
System
Date of "Visit":
23 July 2001

"Re-Visit":
02 June 2002


the system


the electronics


Sonus Faber Minima Amator

 

e-mail to:
Arnoldo Lombardi


I live in Rome (Italy) which is one of the most beautiful and oldest city of the world.

My audio passion started 10 years ago. I still live with my parents, and therefore I haven't got WAF problems, but parents problems (PAF)!

I needed to find a place to listen to music in peace, then I chose the library of our house as the most convenient location. There I spend most of my spare time.

The room isn't very large (3m X 6m), but my little speakers are very suitable for the size of my listening space. And the sound is very sweet and pleasant. While studying the science of acoustics at the university I learned the extremely important role of the room treatment.

Then on the empty spaces of the walls I placed carpets designed like framed pictures. This modification gave more control to the low frequencies.

I first had a Musical Fidelity "A1" amp (which was very good as a starting point), a Teac VRDS-7 CD player and Opera speakers. This system was good but not as sweet as I like.

Then I upgraded the system by adding a D/A unit, the Audio Alchemy V 1.0 and MIT cables. This gave a sense of air around the instruments and the singers.

A few years ago I changed everything in order to improve the detail, sound stage and in particular the sweetness of the voices. I bought my whole system from only one dealer, in fact it was very hard to select and listen to many systems, but at the end I was very satisfied with the result. I think that it is very convenient to buy all the components from one single shop as it gives you the opportunity to listen to the complete system before buying it.

Now I'm looking forward to move to a new and bigger flat with my future wife. You will then think that I will have to deal with WAF issues, but you are wrong: we plan everything together.

I listen to: 40% Jazz-Blues, 50% Rock-Pop-Wave-Dub, 10% Classical music.

The CD's that I use for system evaluation purposes:

  • Donald Faggen "The night fly" (Sound-bet)
  • Diane Shure GRP (For the Voices)
  • Pink Floyd "The Wall" Remastered (For SoundStage)

System's Components
 

CD Drive:

Audio Analogue "Paganini"

Preamp:

Audio Research "LS 7"

Power Amp:

Counterpoint "Solid ONE"

Speakers:

Sonus Faber "Minima Amator"

Stands:

Sonus Faber

Interconnects:

MIT "Terminator 3"

Speaker cables:

MIT "Terminator 5"

AC Cords:

"Merlino" by TNT-Audio (Home Made)

Arnaldo's comments about his System:

AA: "Arnaldo, how would you describe your system's sound?"

AL: "My system's sound is very sweet and detailed." 

AA: "Do you think there is room for improvement?"

AL: "I think that it is impossible to get more from a room full of books and carpet. The best would be to have a larger room and a new pair of speakers." 

AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?"

AL: "Yes, I'm planning to buy a Krell amp, (probably KST 100S)." 
 


B&W 802 Matrix III's


Audio Analogue "Maestro"

 

"Re-Visit" Notes (02 June 2002)

As I said before, I bought a new power amp, but this is not all. Because of my new very large dining room, where I will move my system in about two months, I had to buy a new pair of speakers. As a matter of fact the little ones that I had owned were not good enough for the bigger room. It is physically impossible that 13 cm woofers can reproduce bass frequencies adequately, especially in such a large room.

Here are my new items:

* The speakers: B&W 802 Matrix III.
* The Amp: Audio Analogue "Maestro" Gran Integrated.

The amp looks vaguely reminiscent of a mid nineties Krell power amp, but it is not the type of heavy weight amp with lots of muscle that it appears to be. It has ample power reserve, but it is rather using it to support the music where necessary.

The speakers are very transparent, more then the "Minima Amator", the low frequencies extension are well controlled and defined especially the mid-lows. Thanks to the new power amp I have a great control. Now unfortunately the system can't express its real quality but in a few months I will move it to the living room and it will sound much better, I hope.

This for me is the end, I'm going to listen only to music and perhaps buy a new Hi-End CD-Player waiting the end of the war between SACD and DVD!!

 

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