SONUS FABER AIDA-FROM THE FUSION OF “TRADITION” AND “TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION”COMES THE BEAUTY OF A NEW ERA.
Like “Aida”, the greatest expression of Verdi’s talent, which represents a wonderful blend of the tradition of Italian melodrama and innovation through abandoning conventions, so too is the new Aida project a blend of tradition and innovation. A synthesis that expresses beauty. The thirty year tradition of Sonus faber is condensed in this new and extraordinary project. It is our core values that gather the fruits of our labours in the progress made throughAmati Futura and Guarneri Evolution. They marked important milestones and are crowned by an even deeper awareness of the roots of Sonus faber. This experience has lead us to enhance the best elements of our traditional approach, such as the knowledgeable use of natural materials for the transducer membranes, regardless of the trends and fashions of the moment, thus reinventing the pillars of our identity.

THE "STEALTH REFLEX" SYSTEM
The “Stealth Reflex” system, deriving from “The Sonus faber”, is an innovative and patented “para-aperiodic” interpretation of the tuned load. Besides allowing for reduction in the dimensions of the acoustic volumes, providing greater extension in low frequencies response and dramatic containment of every form of distortion, it also eliminates spurious wind noises, typical of traditional reflex systems, thus also substantially contributing to the correct reproduction of silence.

The Tuned Mass Damper
Metal and the idea to mould it represents the “new material” that allows Sonus faber to exceed itself. The upper and lower “Dampshell” in Aida, which is made up of the incredible “Bow spring”, two elements obtained from the full turning of massive slabs of avional, (in the case of the “bow spring” we must also consider an advanced process of controlled bending), were designed to operate as collectors of vibrations and, thus, substantially contribute to the attainment of excellent reproduction of silence. The new “Anima Legata” was specifically designed for Aida. It consists of an “anti-vibration axis” in a non-magnetic steel alloy which binds the inner driver chambers for front-main emissions. The tension is optimised in traction, speaker by speaker, using a dynamo-meter device. The “Anima Legata” conveys the spurious oscillations towards critical nodal points where a differential frequency dual “Tuned Mass Damper” is positioned, a device used in the record high skyscrapers in the world and F1 racing cars which dissipates, by oscillating in “anti-phase” direction, the remaining micro structural resonances, thus carrying out a thermal-kinetic conversion of residual micro vibrations.

THE "Z.V.T. BOW SPRING" SYSTEM 
The perfect reproduction of silence, however, cannot be obtained by solely developing and devising a totally inert acoustic case: the management of the interaction between the speaker and the environment must be addressed as well. This is why Aida is mechanically decoupled from the floor through the patented system “Z.V.T.”, Zero Vibration Transmission. This system is specifically optimized and implemented suspension with a hybrid system called “Bow Spring” which uses a folded “crossbow” in controlled flexibility and progressively yielding elastomer. This system not only totally reduces the transmission of spurious vibrations into the the listening environment and blocks the adverse phenomenon such as acoustic feedback, but also allows the infra-woofer to function freely in a “ground-effect”.

ELECTROACOUSTIC PROJECT 
Aida is a 3.5 way floor speaker, in the shape of a “lyre”, divided into separate tuned chambers. It takes advantage of sound field shaper technology, a new optimised system for the decoupling of speaker/floor “Z.V.T.” (Zero Vibration Transmission) “Bow Spring”, a new dual kinetic-thermal conversion system for the removal of residual vibrations “T.M.D.” (Tuned Mass Damper) as well as para-aperiodic tuning system “Stealth Reflex”.

THE SILENT CASE 
Aida’s case is a complex system that inherits its structural concept directly from “The Sonus faber”. The dual “waved” curvature typical of the shape of the “lyre” creates a geometry that, compared to previous solutions, substantially increases structural strength and guarantees exceptional management of the energy produced inside the acoustic chambers by the drivers. The complex damping system adopted further removes any possible final resonance: both the internal walls and the outside “wings” have dual curvature in multi-layered cross-veined okoumè plywood and are technically implemented through a decoupling system consisting of a foil in a viscous-insulating material, thus making use of the “constrained layer damping” technique to the fullest. The “acoustic environment” of each single transducer is then optimised to as close to theoretical perfection as possible: on one hand specific reinforcing structures are strategically placed within each individual acoustic space and, on the other, each one of these is insulated with different materials, from open cell thermoplastic foam to fibrous materials, similar to the felt used in pianos, selecting the most appropriate material or materials for each specific application.

THE ACOUSTIC CASE
With this simple statement we want to reiterate that the total credibility of music reproduction implies the perfect reproduction of one of its essential components: the space between one note and another, that is to say “silence”. In electro-acoustics by “silence” we mean the removal of all vibrations and spurious sounds that can contaminate the purity of the musical message. Correct reproduction of silence should be, therefore, the final frontier for a state of the art speaker system. The best way to achieve this objective is to painstakingly focus on the design and development of the acoustic case, implementing tested solutions in order to eliminate all vibrations and spurious noises that damage the integrity of the sound.