AXPONA 2010

Sonist's Affordable High-Sensitivity Loudspeakers

By Jason Victor Serinus • Posted: Mar 9, 2010

Sonist of Studio City, CA was touting the premier of the Recital 3 all-wood floorstanders ($2195/pair), with a lower-price black textured finish model ($1795/pair) also available. . Featuring a 6" woofer and ribbon tweeter, the 8 ohm speaker has 93dB sensitivity, and a frequency response of 45Hz–40kHz. Audience and Cardas parts point to high quality. Shown next to the larger Concerto 3 ($4195/pair with all-wood cabinets, otherwise $3495 and reviewed by Art Dudley in April 2009), the Recital 3 is an 8 ohm, 95dB-sensitivity speaker with a frequency response of 30Hz–40kHz. Current production of the Concerto 3 has fixed the cabinet resonance problem JA found in our review.

With their source a Cary 306 Pro SACD-CD player ($8000) and two diminutive, single-ended Glow amps, the 5Wpc Amp One ($684) on the Concerto 3 and the prototype 7Wpc, 822 ($795) on the Recital 3, the system did a good job with low volume, less complex music. I wish I could have heard the Sonists with their usual coupling, the wonderful deHavilland amps.

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Comments
Neil's picture
Submitted by Neil on March 9, 2010 - 6:53pm.

The 5 watt Glow on the 95 db Sonist Concerto 3 is actually a nice sounding combo.. and as Jason alludes to above, the Sonist can make real good use of higher end gear as well. The new Recital 3 is such a nice speaker that loves tube amps and is cost effective too! Made in the USA...for more info: Sonist.comclearsoundaudio1.com glow-audio.com-Anyone that heard them have thoughts/questions?

Jonathan Cohen's picture
Submitted by Jonathan Cohen on March 9, 2010 - 7:04pm.

Great set up. The amps were good enough for my ears. I'm considering Sonist as a future loudspeaker purchase.

Jose Sevilla's picture
Submitted by Jose Sevilla on March 10, 2010 - 9:08am.

To my ears the concerto 3 were the best sound for the money at the show!...they even sound better than some other staff costing a few times this kind of money!

Aston Wright's picture
Submitted by Aston Wright on March 12, 2010 - 11:55pm.

I thought the Sonist/Glow/Cable Research Lab room was the best value system of the show. Those Sonist speakers are amazing. Excellent sound for the money!

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