Set-up
Contents
We place the Sonetto on our Isoacoustics Aperta stands and for the first time we experience a problem with this working method. Because the loudspeaker gets narrower towards the back, we have to see how we can get the cabinet stable on the stand. Luckily there is just enough width at the back to be able to install everything neatly. However, this loudspeaker is visually at its best in the matching Sonus Faber stands. We slightly rotate the speakers to get a tight stereo image.
Music
We start with a beautiful recording of Wynton Marsalis from 2004. “Magic Hour” is the kind of album on which everything is right and where the musicians make the best of themselves. Marsalis masters the trumpet like no other. In 1997 he was even the first jazz musician ever to receive the Pulitzer Prize for music. Throughout the Sonetto I you will hear all possible facets of this wonderful instrument. The music sounds crystal clear and flawless. Because of the equally pure control of the Bryston, we are talking about purity squared here. Pretty addictive.
Since we hear so much detail through these Sonetto’s we decide to impose some electronic albums. Think Boards of Canada, Mouse on Mars and Plaid. Plaid is and remains our favourite when it comes to electronic music. The album “Spokes” is full of nervous EDM tracks but the Sonetto’s effortlessly keep up the pace. We enjoy ourselves to the fullest and hear small accents that used to pass us by. A cliché perhaps, but we’ve played this album countless times and now we’re discovering new things. Extraordinary.
Ex:Re is a project by Elena Tonra, the frontwoman of the London band Daughter. Her solo album of the same name has the same fragility we find on Daughter, but here the songs are a bit more experimental. Her voice sounds as enchanting as ever and stands beautifully in the middle of the stereo image. She sings quite close to the microphone which makes the recording sound quite spicy, but the sharp sounds are neither turned on nor obscured. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. The stereo image is not extremely wide in our room, but the sweet spot is for us alone. Pretty selfish indeed.
