Rosso Fiorentino Arno 40 Review
I am a fan of Rosso Fiorentino speakers, I can admit that without reservation. Until now, they have only selected and purchased chassis, but now they can use their own. So, do the speakers sound even better?
Francesco Rubenni, the head behind Rosso Fiorentino, is a fine man, as fine as his speakers. The mere appearance of the slim columns makes designers’ hearts beat faster and fully delivers on the promise of noble Italian craftsmanship. The speakers are slim and slender above all to minimize edge diffractions and avoid interferences. And one should not be deceived by their slim appearance; each Arno40 weighs almost 40kg. But before I delve deeper into the Arno40, I want to briefly highlight the identity of this company, which couldn’t be more Tuscan, as it is located just a few kilometers outside of Florence.
The namesake is the painter Giovan Battista di Jacopo, born in 1495, with the artist name Rosso Fiorentino. And there lies the brand core of the company: works of art from Tuscany. I have already had the pleasure twice with Rosso Fiorentino speakers: the Elba 2 and the Certaldo S2. And now the Arno40 stands before me, taking another step forward. By the way, you don’t have to go far from Rosso Fiorentino’s company building to reach the eponymous Arno River. It is, after the Tiber, the most important river in central Italy and flows right through Florence. Incidentally, the addition “40” refers, quite unromantically, to the internal volume of the speaker. And of course, the entire production takes place in the region.
Finally
After years of trials and prototypes, Rosso Fiorentino can finally present their own chassis with the Arno40. They are built by an Italian manufacturer, and Rosso even supplies parts for them. Do I now have to fear that the sound I’ve grown to love has gone down the drain on the highway of innovation? Of course not, because fundamentally, as Rubenni wrote to me, the chassis have the advantage of higher efficiency and greater load capacity. This results in an even more lively sound while retaining the tonal character. That relieves me already. This continuity is made possible by a fantastic concept called “Sala del Rosso,” a large room in a historic Florentine castle that can be adapted for measurements, listening sessions, or live concerts.
There, all team members and friendly musicians contribute to development and fine-tuning. I know few companies that do it even remotely like this. Specifically, the magnets of the mid-woofers are made of ferrite; their 38mm large voice coil is mounted on a Kapton carrier. The coating of all membranes was developed with an Italian specialist who works for the automotive and optical industries. The goal is to prevent them from breaking up and to achieve different damping between the front and back. Additionally, the material should be long-term stable and both acoustically and visually effective and appealing. I’ll come to the functioning of the four approximately 15cm diameter mid-woofers in a moment. The 28mm silk dome was directly scaled down from the large Siena and adapted to the conditions of the Arno40. It works with an aluminum voice coil and a neodymium magnet. At the front, there is a shallow waveguide that contributes to the balanced radiation pattern and the great dispersion behavior.
Music
Mark Hollis
Self-titled
Emmylou Harris
Wrecking Ball
Björk
Vespertine
Donny Hathaway
Self-titled
Bugge Wesseltoft
Live at Villa Belvedere
Companions
Turntable: Transrotor Massimo Nero with Studio 12 tonearm and Figaro cartridge
Integrated amplifier: Soulnote A-3
Phono preamplifier: Exposure XVN
Competitors
Speakers: PS Audio Aspen FR10
Measurements
Measurement Technology Comment
The Rosso Fiorentino shows itself in the measurement lab as a perfectly tuned specimen with a very linear sound pressure curve, which is also very broadband. The reflex system is tuned to a low 37 Hz, whereby there are actually two reflex systems, one each for the lower woofer pair and one for the upper mid-woofer unit. The crossover frequency to the tweeter is quite low at just under 2 kHz, which is possible thanks to the large 28-millimeter diaphragm. The speaker is also quite level-resistant and has very low distortion; here, there is unreserved praise from the measurement department.
Cabinet Rosso-Style
That the Arno40 comes across so light and airy is due on the one hand to its slim design, but also to the elegant base on which they rest and are decoupled from the floor via spikes. The spikes, like all other metal parts, including the speaker terminals, are manufactured by Rosso Fiorentino themselves, which you can see and feel. The terminals are made of copper and anodized with gold and palladium to keep them endlessly contact-capable. Engineer Rubenni has a background in recording studios and emphasizes neutrality. But his neutrality is that of an Italian, perhaps also that of a Tuscan, meaning it seems different to me than that of a Swiss or Norwegian.
By that, I don’t mean bone-dry, but a lively, let’s say friendly neutrality that breathes. But don’t get me wrong, the enclosures of Rosso Fiorentino speakers do not resonate, and for that, he uses a very effective CLD technique (Constraint Layer Damping). He combines materials with different resonance behaviors to minimize vibrations. For instance, the baffle is made of aluminum and houses the chassis, which are mounted there with rubber buffers. Their magnets are also firmly fixed to braces, achieving further effective resonance control. The body is made from very special high-density fiberboard (HDF) with embedded marble particles (!), a rubber layer, and additional aluminum plates. There are also optional carbon or leather inlays and a wonderful soft-touch lacquer.
But these materials are connected in such a way that each enclosure appears as if made from one piece, true craftsmanship indeed. And of course, you don’t see any screws from the front, because the baffle with the chassis is screwed to the rear panel using long steel screws. This additionally stiffens and calms the enclosure and is another fine-tuning element. This continues with the damping materials, as fibers of different densities are used there as well, doing their job precisely at certain points. In the damping zones for the mid-woofers, he also works with air cushions that are supposed to act like resonators. You see, someone here means business and doesn’t work with banal tricks to achieve his goal.
Loading Principle
This continues in the design of the rear loading chambers as well as the crossover, both according to Rubenni quite unique, because he knows of no commercial speaker manufacturer who does it this way—I don’t either. All four mid-woofers are identical, but only the one directly below the tweeter practically acts as a midrange driver, although it’s a bit different, but more on that in a moment. The other three are connected in series, but only the bottom two share a chamber, which is tuned with an aluminum bass reflex opening towards the floor. The third woofer shares its chamber with the mid-woofer; their bass reflex opening is placed at the back at the height of the tweeter.
Since the uppermost mid-woofer has no high-pass filter, it has the potential for greater excursions in the low frequencies than usual. But since it shares a chamber with the woofer below it, it practically acts like a passive bass, thereby reducing its low-frequency excursion again. Electrically, this also affects the two lower drivers and contributes to the balanced sound. The Arno40 is a 2.5-way speaker and, as always with Rosso, does not use off-the-shelf crossover designs; it is rethought for each speaker. The crossover is built, among other things, with Clarity Caps made for Rosso and in-house coils.
Specs
- Manufacturer: Rosso Fiorentino
- Model: Arno40
- Price: From 12,000 Euro
- Distribution: WOD Audio, Nidderau
- Website: www.wodaudio.com
- Frequency Response: 35 Hz – 25 kHz (+/-3 dB)
- Impedance: 8 Ohm (Minimum 4.8 Ohm)
- Efficiency: 90 dB (2.83 V / 1 m)
- Weight: Approx. 38 kg
- Warranty: 2 years
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 248 x 1130 x 383.5 mm (including base and spikes)
Conclusion
The brand-new Rosso Fiorentino Arno40 speakers mark another highlight of the Tuscan manufacturer. They are nothing less than masterpieces.
In the Flow of Sound
Every time I hear a Rosso Fiorentino speaker, I consider how I can justify buying it, because I want to have them all. And that’s a completely honest statement because their incredibly harmonious, homogeneous tuning simply excites me. And it doesn’t matter at all what music I play. With “Cocoon” by Björk, I get perpetual goosebumps. Her voice reaches nuances I don’t hear otherwise. The electronic tinkering of Thomas Knak sounds so analog, so smooth and exciting that I can’t get enough of it. The tension in this music and its inherent emotionality reach me in a uniquely gentle and direct way that touches me likewise. And yes, the extension in the treble, the richly colored midrange, and the clean, very deep bass also tick all the audiophile criteria. I get a constant grin with Taj Mahal’s crooner record “Savoy”; his voice, actually the whole man, stands so present before me that I almost startle. With Donny Hathaway, his infinitely sad delicacy appears to me as fragile as never before, and when Emmylou Harris sings “Every Grain of Sand” by Bob Dylan, I could swear that at that very moment she is the best singer in the world.
by Christian Bayer
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