I’ll tell you what I do not wants a set of active, wireless, high-tech speakers. I don’t want big, ugly, black, futuristic plastic chunks with fixed metal dust-catcher grilles cluttering my small London flat.
What do I want? Why, not much. I just want what you see above: beautiful, real wood enclosures with teardrop removable grilles. I want hi-fi quality silk dome and paper pulp drivers and all the connections on the back (including HDMI and optical for my TV plus a switchable line level input for my turntable) in something that looks for all the world like a heritage set , passive, beautiful bookshelf speakers.
And Sonus Faber hears me! The company that makes the excellent one-box Sonus Faber Omnia system, as well as an outrageous 21-speaker setup in a Maserati Grecale (oh, and a premium 12-speaker in-car system that knows when you have the roof open) is back with a set of speakers that does everything I could wish for And looks understated, compact and classic in my humble abode.
The Vicenza-based audio leviathan calls Duetto “a versatile hi-fi system” and the Italian company isn’t kidding. Although the Duetto is primarily designed as a passive speaker system (see the lute-shaped wooden cabinet; the elegant and custom-designed heat sink to ensure the rigidity and musicality of the cabinet while avoiding internal resonance), these heat sinks two amplifiers in each speaker. – a 100W Class AB amplifier powering the 0.7-inch silk dome tweeter and a 205W Class D amplifier driving the 5.25-inch paper-pulp mid/bass driver.
So they are active speakers – each driver gets its own special amplifier and you don’t have to buy a separate integrated amplifier or pre/power amplifier combination? That’s right, but we’re not done yet. Not by a long shot.
The top of the cabinet features the leather-finished ‘Senso interface’, which allows users to control speaker functions such as volume, input selection and connections. And there is a lot to say about those connections.
Duetto is WiFi certified and has all digital connections to popular audio streaming solutions including AirPlay, Chromecast, Tidal, Spotify, Roon ready and Bluetooth.
TV users can connect them via the HDMI and optical digital input; Vinyl enthusiasts can take advantage of the built-in moving magnet turntable input, which is also switchable for line-level sources.
Setup is done via the new Sonus faber app and UWB (Ultra Wide Band) technology promises to prevent latency and interference in the connection between the two speakers.
Opinion: If you want the best of both worlds, Sonus Faber is second to none
What this proposition is, friends, is a high-end stereo system that combines 40 years of stunning passive speaker design with the latest in modern wireless streaming technology, and then tops it off with built-in active amplification (note the difference; not ‘powered’, as that would mean that one amplifier is put into a main speaker to control them all. They are active, that is, each driver gets its own special amplification).
And yes, you will have to pay for everything. Sonus Faber’s Duetto speakers are beautifully finished in a walnut or graphite wood veneer finish and the pair will be available from November 2023 through authorized Sonus Faber dealers for £3,490 (which is approximately $4,259 or AU$6,685 when on sale and before shipping or import duties).
And those Duetto standards are not included. They’re sold individually for £649 per pair – which works out to around $795 or AU$1,245, excluding associated import duties and, of course, shipping costs.
Some of the best stereo speakers we’ve tested don’t need a separate amplifier to power them (see the Q Acoustics M20 HD and Ruark MR1 MkII for starters) and while Sonus Faber’s beautiful Lumina I features in our roundup, are that a passive proposition and one without wireless streaming or Bluetooth capabilities.
Here you get the beauty of a classic, historic set of bijou Italian speakers, but with wireless wizardry and power hidden under the hood. It’s rare and to me it’s beautiful. Not since the launch of the Cabasse Rialto last year have I been this excited about a set of compact, high-quality active speakers. And that says something.