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I've been in love with Sonus Faber loudspeakers for a long time.

I fell in love with Italian design and craftsmanship many years ago when I had the good fortune to live in Italy for three years. One can't help but gain a deep appreciation of Italian art and architecture when living and working in the land that gave birth to Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci, where the town of Cremona is famous for that epitome of musical instruments, the Stradivarius violin, where Rossini and Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini wrote some of the most enduring music of the classical world. Where Ferrari has a justifiable claim as the pinnacle of automotive achievement.

And Sonus Faber reigns supreme as the most beautiful sounding and finished speakers in the world.

Until now I had to content myself with brief indulgences at audio shows and too short visits at dealers' showrooms. I was lucky enough to hear Sonus Faber's penultimate model, the Aida, on annual visits to Scottsdale AZ over the years. I was struck by the lightning bolt, but a new pair was always out of reach. I had to make do with virtually feasting on Ivan's beautiful eye-candy in his original Aidas of March thread.

However, yesterday a dream came true.

I found a pair of Aidas from a reliable seller based in the UK and after some back and forth, made an offer that was accepted. Serendipitous in that he had shipped a large pair of speakers to the Seattle area two years before, he was able to recommend a reliable Customs clearance agent to expedite them into the US port of entry and make sure they were trans-shipped to my home.

Yesterday after an interminable weekend in my garage, my Aidas were finally set up in my living room and I spent a ten-hour marathon luxuriating in the most beautiful music I've ever had in my home in the nearly fifty years of my love affair with music.

Here are the first set of pictures: