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Audiophile High End Amplifiers
Sonneteer?
Who are Sonneteer? would you like to know? read on to find out just
who they are and also let us look a bit more closely at the Sonneteer
range of hifi audio products.
Firstly get comfy, sit back and lets take a step back in time and have a little look at the history of the British High-End brand Sonneteer.
A little sonneteer history
Let us travel back to 1994, not that long ago, as a British high end
company, Sonneteer have epitomised the best in high quality, high
technology hifi. As a British, high end hifi manufacture, Sonneteer
was founded by Remo Casadei and Haider Bahrani in 1994, but the story
doesn't start there. It all first really began in 1988 when on their
first day at Kingston University Remo and Haider bumped into each
other on the Electronics Engineering Degree course. The natural greeting
formalities of the odd swear word and sarcasm the start of a friendship
was cemented.
Haider had a band and Remo wanted to be it's manager. Out of this
'Fine Thang Musico' emerged as little bit of business for putting
on shows.
This hopelessly fumbled through their student days making them a little
bit of beer and kebab money, but no more.
In his final year Haider designed an amplifier for his final year project. He really just wanted it for himself and use it while playing guitar and recording his fine excuses for songs(ehem). Remo on the other hand was a bit of an aspiring audiophile and 'borrowed amplifier and showed it off to his hifi junky friends.
"We are going to start a business" cried Remo. Haider
looked at him in horror and faked a mild grin and went off to do a
little bit of work in the music business and then an MSc. In the mean
time Remo wasn't giving up and went on to turn Haider's semi cooked
design into something that could be respectably presented to the public
at large. "OK, OK! what the heck", Haider cried and so Sonneteer
was born. Oh that first amp, is now know as the Campoin, yes that's
right, the Sonneteer Campion was born to the world
and what a little beauty it proved to be.
From hear on in, everything was team work. Not one design out of the
Sonneteer stables doesn't feature the paw prints of both Remo and
Haider, the audio world was about to sit and and take note because
over the next few years Sonneteer were to weave their magic many a
time as each and every new product was greeted with great applause.
Sonneteer have a very simple motto behind their thinking, "At Sonneteer, we design products that we can live with in out own homes. If we don't like it we wont expect anyone else to. It is that simple".
So that begs the question, just what made Eden Audio want to distribute Sonneteers products in Spain? The answer is really quite simple, you know sometimes you hear something, you smile to yourself and give the nod of approval, well that's just what happened when it came to the sound of Sonneteer, there was a magic, something that clicked that just said, I want that sound. That sound was made by a small little integrated amplifier that went by the simple of name of Campion, it was in fact the first ever Sonneteer product to hit the market, the Sonneteer Campion had be born and it was here in Eden Audio.
Sonneteer Campion......in the begining
How do you know when something is right? The answer is simple, it never changes. That's just what happened to the Sonneteer campion, it was made just right, the basic design and looks are the exact same as to what it was when the Campion first saw the light of day many years ago, a true testament to this legendary design.
The
Sonneteer Campion has been the main stay of the Sonneteer
product line over the past ten years. It has established Itself as
the Classic esoteric British amplifier with a renowned build and sound
quality that speaks for itself, the reviews though have helped. A
solid state line integrated amplifier with a class A/B output stage
in mode using Bipolar Junction Transistors.
It has 5 inputs and one line level output. Two of the inputs (CD and DIR) are passive with the remaining three active suiting low output program sources like tape machines and some phono stages. The Campion has a medium gain phono stage in place of one of the active line inputs as standard. This is suited to medium to high output cartridges.
Technical Specifications:
Power: 33watts C, 55watts A into 8ohm
60watts C, 100watts A into 4ohms
Inputs: 5 @ 10k
Audio Outputs: 1 x line,
Speaker Out: 2 sets.
THD+N: 0.005% @ 1kHz Full power
Weight: 10kg C, 12kg A.
Other: MM phono on Campion. On line 2.
Reviews: “...the Campion worked wonders, delivering near studio
definition...”
”Transparency is to a high order, with an excellent portrayal
of three-dimensional depth...”
Shortly after it's release the specialist audio press from around the world began singing the praise of this remarkable little amplifier. The Sonneteer Campion was creating it's own tsunami in the world of amplifiers, it was causing quite a scare to the big boys that this small, new, and young outfit could produce such mature sounding amplifier at the very first attempt, how on earth were the boys from Sonneteer going to be able to better it?
Sonneteer Alabaster......and it was good
The gauntlet had been thrown down, just how on earth were the boys from Sonneteer going to be able to improve upon the remarkable Sonneteer Campion? Back to the drawing board Remo and Haider went as they set about their new creation.
The Sonneteer Alabaster, was a more powerful line integrated amplifier that was launched late 1996 to even greater acclaim than the Campion ( it seems like yesterday). Like a mature wine the Alabaster still dazzles new markets winning Product of the Year 2006 Award from Polish Hi-Fi i Muzyka magazine. A true testimony to excellence.
The
Sonneteer Alabaster is not just the Campion with
more welly. With its greater power output and a more refined and detailed
sound the Alabaster is suited to the, no compromise, serious music
lover. Aesthetically the Alabaster has a slightly thicker front panel
than the Campion (5mm as opposed to 3mm) and another set of binding
posts on each channel to accommodate bi-wiring.
-Specifications-
-Power output (RMS): ~55W into 8 ohm ~100W into 4 ohm
-Number of inputs: Five+Line out.
-Number of speaker term: Four pairs
-Musicality (Sound quality): Excellent!
-Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.005% @ 1kHz (Full Power)
-Dimensions: (HxWxD mm) 70 x 430 x 280
-Net. Weight: Approx. 12Kg
At this point in time Sonneteer were cruising, they had managed to build a reputation of producing superbly musical amplifiers at price points the were previously unachievable, High-End sound quality a prices everyone could afford, these two amplifiers from the Sonneteer stable were real thoroughbreds.
The next amplifier from the boys at Sonneteer was a surprise for all as it was a comlete change of direction in the technology employed this time around by Sonneteer. For the new model Sonneteer decided the use Tripath Class T digital technology to produce the new an exciting Sonneteer Bronte.
Sonneteer Bronte.....worlds first digital amplifier
The Sonneteer Brontë digital amplifier is the first affordable, high end consumer amplifier to employ class T digital technology. Digital means that you get more power from a small box and a lot less heat while improving on reliability. This level of efficiency allows most of the energy that is normally wasted to heat in conventional class AB amplifiers to be transferred to the loudspeakers. This also means that the Brontë is suited to home install situations where heat is a problem due to stacking multiple amplifiers under the stairs for example.
The
Sonneteer Brontë was in it's day exceptionally
well received by the audio critics including an editors product of
the year from Gramophone magazine and Best
Buy of the Year 2005 Award from HiFi Review Magazine. Rave reviews
from countries as far apart as the Netherlands, Russia, Japan and
Thailand and also the British publication Hi-Fi+ ranted more than
positively about the amplifier.
Let us chalk up yet again another success story for Sonneter who clearly by now had proved their point that when it came to designing top audiophile quality amplifiers they were on top of their game....but even more was to follow.
Sonneteer Orton.........the stuff of dreams
By this time in their history Sonneteer were firmly established as
a leading British based Hi-Fi manufacture, they designed and built
their amplifiers in the UK, review after review sang out praises about
the sonic prowess of each one of there creations, the word had spread
throughout the audio community about this small but ever growning
brand.
But Sonneteer were not content to sit on their laurels, as electronic
engineers the "what if'?" started to tick in the back of
their minds, not content with already three top selling amplifiers
a new page was about to be turned in the Sonneteer history book.
The Sonneter Orton was aimed at the top end of the market, the Orton
integrated amplifier is the most ambitious hi-fi audio amplifier product
from Sonneteer to date. The Sonneter Orton is the result of several
years of research and development and carries all the
hallmarks of a Sonneteer product with a few innovative features built
in
If
your looking for a divine sounding top end integrated stereo amplifier
then you owe it to yourself to give some time to the Sonneteer Orton.
It's a real star in the amplifier world leaving the competetion in
its wake with it transparency, sweetness and beautiful refinement.
It comes with a remote control, superb styling, and that unmistakeable
sonneteer sound quality.
The Sonneteer Orton. Welcome to the high end at a very affordable
price point.
Just read below some of the comments from the specialist audio press regarding Sonneteer amplifers
“The Brontë CD player performs quite admirably, ... with very clean delivery and dynamic range making for a thoroughly natural all round sound that is always inviting, ... ”
Hi-Fi +, January 2004
“...able to deliver the smallest nuance of a voice or solo instrument as well as it does the full force of the symphony orchestra .... the Sonneteer always seems to have power in reserve, and can play music extremely loudly without any signs of stress or distortion.”
Gramophone, December 2002
“The Brontë exhibits many of the hallmarks of an 'audiophile' valve amplifier, despite incorporating up-to the minute technology “.... “Expressive to the point of sounding haunting ...voice was accompanied by a rich sound of piano to terrific effect”
Hi-Fi Choice, November 2002
“We can say, finally, that the digital amplification technology is now mature and as achieved a level of performance that can compete with the good analogue amplifiers.”
Portuguese Audio magazine 2002
“.... the sensation of amplitude and of a musical “generosity” difficult to beat.”
Portuguese Audio magazine 2002
“ ..... it outstandingly demonstrated clarity ..... has it’s own uniqueness both physical structure and sound character ..... it is truly outstanding ”
GM 2000 magazine (Thailand), June 2002
“...... Sonneteer .... has a reputation for solid, well-engineered equipment ...”
Gramophone, January 2001.
“ .....it sounds pretty damned fine and will dazzle the neighbors with its good looks. ”
Stuff magazine, December 2000
Why not contact us at Eden Audio, contact us here to let us help you with anything to do with Sonneteer amplifiers. We can recommend what speakers work well with what Sonneteer amplifiers, we can make cable recommendations and general set up advice to help you get the best from your Sonneteer. For example we like to use the oyaide range of cables as we feel these really match nicely.
Do
you have any other questions regarding Sonneteer? why not ask them
on our hi-fi forum?