Olympica: three generations, 2013 to today

A loudspeaker line that lasts is a line you can trust. Sonus faber has made the Olympica since 2013, through three generations, and each one was well received in its day. This page follows the collection from the loudspeakers that came before it to the ones in our showroom now. If you bought an Olympica ten years ago, it is also a reminder that you chose well. Click any photograph to see it larger.

Before Olympica: the Cremona

The Olympica did not come from nowhere. From the early 2000s Sonus faber’s middle collection was the Cremona, a family that brought the lute-shaped cabinet of the Homage loudspeakers to a wider audience. The Olympica took its place in late 2013. That story has its own page: The Cremona line, 2002 to 2013.

2013: the first Olympica

The name comes from the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the theater Andrea Palladio designed a few miles from the Sonus faber workshop. The collection was a turning point for the company in one particular way: it was the first Sonus faber line whose drive units were designed entirely in-house. The cabinet kept the curved, lute-like form of the earlier loudspeakers but made it asymmetrical, with walnut sides, a leather-covered front and the string grille that has been a Sonus faber signature for decades.

There were three models at the start: the stand-mounted Olympica I, and two floorstanders, the Olympica II and the Olympica III. Their prices in 2013 were $6,500, $10,000 and $13,500 a pair.

What the magazines said then

“A glorious speaker that is in itself a musical instrument!”

Matej Isak on the Olympica III, Enjoy the Music.com, December 2013

“Its beauty is unmistakable; and its sound is distinct, yet excellent.”

Doug Schneider on the Olympica III, SoundStage! Hi-Fi, late 2013. His full review that December gave it a Reviewers’ Choice award.

ToneAudio titled its review of the Olympica III “Going for the Gold”. Reviewers of the time also noticed a change of direction: this was a more neutral, more open Sonus faber than the warm loudspeakers of the 1990s, without losing the natural tone the name stood for.

2019: Olympica Nova

Six years on, Sonus faber renewed the whole collection and called it Olympica Nova; nova is simply “new”. It was first shown in the autumn of 2019. The family grew to four main models, the Nova I, II, III and V, with center and on-wall loudspeakers beside them, in walnut or wenge.

What changed was mostly out of sight, and it came from the collections above.

• The cabinet. Walls built up from layers of wood, with aluminum plates top and bottom, sharing a good deal with the Guarneri Tradition of the Homage collection.
• Stealth Ultraflex. The port became a slim aluminum extrusion running down the back edge of the cabinet. It lowers distortion and makes the loudspeaker less particular about the wall behind it.
• The midrange. Built in Sonus faber’s own workshop, with a cone of air-dried, unpressed pulp.

What the magazines said then

“Beautiful, alright, but beauty is way beyond skin deep.”

Andrew Quint on the Olympica Nova III, The Absolute Sound, 2020

“One of the classiest packages available.”

What Hi-Fi? on the Olympica Nova II, review, 2020

Stereophile reviewed the Olympica Nova I in March 2020. Larry Greenhill placed it in a line of Sonus faber two-way monitors that runs back to the company’s first loudspeaker, the Minima. The review is still online.

2026: Olympica G3

The third generation was announced in Vicenza on June 30, 2026. This time the new ideas came down from the very top, from Suprema, the flagship system Sonus faber uses to develop what the rest of the range will later receive.

• The Camelia midrange. The paper-cone midrange first developed for Suprema, and the heart of what Sonus faber calls its voice.
• A cork-lined chamber for the midrange and tweeter in the two floorstanders, which absorbs energy inside the cabinet instead of returning it through the cone.
• The DAD Arrow Point tweeter, a 28 mm silk dome.
• A herringbone veneer, laid at 45 degrees, taken from the Stradivari.

There are five models: the Olympica I G3, the Olympica III G3, the Olympica V G3, the Olympica Center G3 and the Olympica Wall G3.

“Sophisticated sound, classy build and unfussy nature.”

What Hi-Fi? on the Olympica G3 III, review, 2026

What has not changed

Put the three generations side by side and the family is plain. The cabinet narrows toward the back like the body of a lute. The front is dressed in leather and the sides in real wood. The grille is a row of elastic strings. The drive units are Sonus faber’s own, and every pair is built in the workshop outside Vicenza. Each generation took its new ideas from the collection above it: the first from the Homage loudspeakers, the Nova from the Guarneri Tradition, the G3 from Suprema.

If you own an earlier Olympica

You own a loudspeaker that the best magazines of its day admired, from a line its maker has kept alive and improved for more than a decade. It is still that loudspeaker. Many owners keep theirs for a very long time, and we are glad to help with placement, amplification or a fresh pair of ears on the system around it. If you are curious what the G3 adds, we will set up a pair for your visit so you can hear the two generations for yourself.

We have known the collection from the beginning. The first Olympicas stood in our showroom when they were new, as the Cremona and the Venere had before them. Our own history with the line is told in Pearl Audio and Sonus faber: more than twenty years.

Start with a call

Call (503) 222-2599 or write to sales@pearlaudio.com. Tell us what you own and what you listen to, and we will take it from there.

See also: The Cremona line, 2002 to 2013 · Pearl Audio and Sonus faber: more than twenty years · Sonetto G2: what came down from Suprema · What amplifier suits a Sonus faber.

An Olympica taking shape in the Sonus faber workshop. Sonus faber photograph.Click anywhere to close The Olympica Nova collection in walnut, 2019. Sonus faber photograph.Click anywhere to close Fitting an Olympica Nova cabinet by hand. Sonus faber photograph.Click anywhere to close The Olympica V G3, 2026. Sonus faber photograph.Click anywhere to close Olympica G3 at Pearl Audio, summer 2026.Click anywhere to close