Rosso Fiorentino Elba Gen 2- a champagne speaker on a beer budget

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I first got this pair in at Capital Audio Fest last year and had little time to really explore their abilities until December and January. They had a relatively strong showing at CAF, but once I got them home, I realized how great these speakers were. These are speakers that can truly compete with speakers twice their price. Today, Zero Fidelity posted his review of them and its about as 'rave' as a review gets from him.

What makes them so great? They're fantastic all-around speakers, but what really sets them apart is their ability to project information into space. You not only get depth, but you get the information reaching out to you in layers. This is a strength in all Rosso Fiorentino speakers, but its still shocking to me that Francesco was able to accomplish this feat in a pair of mid-sized floorstanders at this price.

Retail on a pair in black is $4,500.

 

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Another review has come out on these.

https://www.thesoundadvocate.com/2020/04/rosso-fiorentino-elba-ii-loudspeaker-reviewed/

 

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Yet another rave review - this time it almost ended in a reviewer purchase. I can't stress enough how good these are at even twice their price. Texture at the right frequencies, wide and deep soundstage, full bodied images, and the ability to truly reach out in front of the speakers and wrap around the listener.

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/rosso-fiorentino-elba-ii-loudspeakers-by-greg-simmons/

 

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We had a request to match a blue wall with the Elba 2 in a leather finish. I think they got it as good as it could get...

Even on the Elba, custom finishes are welcomed.

 

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The Elba 2 has made the most wanted components of 2020 for Stereo Times.

http://v2.stereotimes.com/post/most-wanted-2020-page-4

Rosso Fiorentino Elba II Loudspeaker($5,000 reviewed here): I reviewed a lot of great equipment in 2020 but there can only be one winner, and the component I most wanted to keep in my listening room this past year was the Rosso Fiorentino Elba II loudspeaker. This handsome two-and-a-half way floor-stander required time and an open mind to really understand its virtues. It also required getting past my own reviewer’s prejudices: the Elba II is not the last word in liquidity or infinite resolution in the hi-fi sense as we often currently understand it. Nevertheless, I ultimately found it to be one of the most satisfying pair of speakers I’ve listened to in my room. I wrote, “Its ability to unearth the beauty in great music was exemplary: dynamic, exciting and satisfying.” A narrow impedance band makes it a stable, easy speaker to drive, and fit and finish is first rate. There’s no question that the Rosso Fiorentino Elba II offers its own, unique, even mildly startling perspective – at least initially - on music reproduction, but once I got used to it, its ability to deliver a compelling musical experience quickly became it’s defining musical characteristic. An impressive effort all the way round. (Greg Simmons)

 

[sbnx]

Congrats.

 

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Some more accolades - HiFi Live of Spain gave the Elba 2 the Value for Money Award 2021.

 

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The Elba 2 graces the cover of the latest Absolute Sound, reviewed by none other than Robert Harley. His review is on point and overwhelmingly positive. It also made the Editors Choice 2021 prior to review.

 

[sbnx]

Congrats Skip. I have always liked the Rosso Fiorentino sound. I still remember a few years ago when you had two rooms at LSAF and I was rocking out the elba in the room that your "assistant" was monitoring. You came running in like the speaker was going to break. It wasn't even breaking a sweat.

 

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Congrats Skip. I have always liked the Rosso Fiorentino sound. I still remember a few years ago when you had two rooms at LSAF and I was rocking out the elba in the room that your "assistant" was monitoring. You came running in like the speaker was going to break. It wasn't even breaking a sweat.

Thanks! These gen 2 are a completely different monster. In fact, those changes are all across the board on the new Rosso lineup. Francesco has in some cases gone back to the basics and experimented with some design and component choices that buck the trend. The result is what Robert Harley calls a 'low self-noise'. In his words, the music dissipates into space the way it should versus disappearing into a greyish cloud of nothingness.

If I remember that year, I think I had it on the little iFi Stereo 50 and was likely scared of that little 25 watts of el84 power more than the speaker itself.

 

[sbnx]

Skip, could you share some of the technology in the Ebla 2? How is the crossover design? Using good caps and inductors? How about how the cabinet is designed?

 

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I don't know what I can or cannot share, but I can say the overall design is very similar to the original series, but he found fairly inexpensive ways to improve the electroacoustics thereby improving dynamics, and allowing the speakers to get out of the way of the music more. Their ability to convey space and realistic timbre are the two key factors that make them game changers at the $5,000 price point. They are also still hand-assembled in Italy and there is a lot of pride of ownership in them.

With the Prestige and Reference lines, cabinets were redesigned. With the Siena 2, the only thing that is similar is the general form factor and the revelator midrange. It has been redesigned from the ground up and is a true flagship product. Price on that unit also increased from $25k to $35k so it has stiffer competition, but I think the Siena 2 is much more competitive at its higher price than the Siena 1 was at $25k.

 

[sbnx]

Got my digital copy today. Very nice review. I think this is the most complementary statement that could be given. "The Rosso Fiorentino Elba 2 isn’t a great loudspeaker for the money. It’s a great loudspeaker, period"

 

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