Thanking my pal Frank who hosted for some weeks these seldom seen speakers...
Handmade in Northern Italy out of a local, solid volcanic stone called "euganean trachyte", the density and weight of a granite, they are both impressively looking, irregular and (apparently) raw, like a speaker made by Fred Flinstone himself... yet...
My pal Antonio, yours truly, Frank, our host and landlord, soon joined by the speakers makers, Michele Gastaldello, the stone carver and business partner of Dipl. Ing. Giacomo Munari of Stone Speakers, enjoyed a nice listening session and most of my questions and curiosities were answered.
The bass-reflex enclosure is carved by hand in two halves shells, then joined together... two rear round ports make the speaker to "breathe".
Morel carbon-fiber mid-low and dome tweeters are used and sensitivity is 87 db/W/m on 5 ohm.
Crossover point, 12 db/octave, is at 3200 hz.
Weight is an impressive 50+ kilos each and the two shells joint is hidden by a classy genuine leather strip whose color can, of course, be custom chosen.
Cost is around € 12.000/pair, including the dedicated stand.
... and what about sound?
Well... easy said: rock steady;-)
The sound is solid... ok, will stop easy referring to building material;-)
Sound is detailed of a pellucid neutrality, absolutely not coldish... must say the enclosure is SO vibes-free we sort-of over-appreciated the merits of the nice Morel's components and the 2nd order crossover using top of the line Jensen caps and Jantzen Wax-Coils' foil inductance-coils.
We listened to "Uncle" by Art Ensemble of Chicago, a fantastic live recording where incredibly raucous baritone saxes and assorted percussions and double bass and trumpet give the perfect playground for a serious tasting of the whole system and speakers capabilities...
Antonio and myself had this very same music only a couple of hours before at my place through my own Gotorama and Garrardzilla, so a comparison was possible and easy done: highs of Venetia 478 by Stone Speakers are extended and silky also if someway lacking the authority of what we experienced earlier...
For the price, up to par with level of workmanship and - most of all - of performance, you get a definitive speakers with a decent WAF (wife acceptance factor) as they reminds to me to Ron Arad's Day After concrete turntable - i.e. an artwork more than a piece of audio gear... and the neutrality of the speaker itself allows a wide palette - i.e. - a plethora of ancillaries matching to get the sound of choice.
I strongly encourage everyone who sort-of fell in love for these weird, cool looking proudly hand carved and made stuff, to get in touch with Giacomo or Michele to arrange for a demo or news about nearest audio show.
In the meantime, I wish to these young, passionate people to succeed as they well deserve.
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