Strads!

[PMCH]

Dave, my room is 15' x 22' and from 9' to 17' tall. I have the speakers 8'6" apart, tweeter to tweeter. They are a distance of 8'9" to my ears, so almost equilateral. They do disappear in my space. All the best with your set up.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by PMCH

I have my Strads set up with basically no toe in.

Originally Posted by PMCH

I have the speakers 8'6" apart, tweeter to tweeter. They are a distance of 8'9" to my ears, so almost equilateral.

Paul, I'm guessing geometry was not your first love. Per your first post, it's impossible to be anywhere near an equilateral triangle (equiangular) with your speakers set up the way you describe.

They do disappear in my space.

which goes back to my previous post about excessive toe-in

[PMCH]

I am bad. I meant that I am close to equal distant between, the distance between my speakers and speakers to listening position. That is my preference. I did move my chair back and forth, not the speakers to arrive at this positioning.

[80B]

Congratulations Dave. Strads are a pinnacle, especially demonstrated by the fact we are writing about them well after they've been out of production.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by PMCH

I am bad. I meant that I am close to equal distant between, the distance between my speakers and speakers to listening position. That is my preference. I did move my chair back and forth, not the speakers to arrive at this positioning.

no...no...no, as a fellow upstate NY'er I'm sure you're 'good' !

I understand your positioning, room size along with associated acoustic anomalies play such an important role as well as individual tastes / preferences

[daveneumann]

Originally Posted by 80B

Congratulations Dave. Strads are a pinnacle, especially demonstrated by the fact we are writing about them well after they've been out of production.

Thanks, someone once described them as "speakers for the ages". Guess I'll be testing that out! Even though technology and design may have moved forward in the last 10 years, good is still good!

[daveneumann]

Originally Posted by PMCH

Dave, my room is 15' x 22' and from 9' to 17' tall. I have the speakers 8'6" apart, tweeter to tweeter. They are a distance of 8'9" to my ears, so almost equilateral. They do disappear in my space. All the best with your set up.

Thanks Paul, this is very helpful as a general guide. Other than adjusting the toe in, I too hope to make final adjustments by moving my seat. The bass is absolutely dialed in so I don't want to screw that up while trying to get them to disappear.

Oh darn...more listening to do today!

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by daveneumann

How about an all expense paid trip to Louisville? It's a great time of year to be here and we have great restaurants.

Hi Dave,

Strads will always have a place in my heart.

Thanks for the invitation. I would love to visit Louisville but that is not in the Cards (see what I did there?). All of the speakers I set up these days are Wilsons.

Enjoy your Strads. Don't give up until you get them perfect. They are a speaker for the ages!

Bill

[daveneumann]

Originally Posted by metaphacts

Hi Dave,

Strads will always have a place in my heart.

Thanks for the invitation. I would love to visit Louisville but that is not in the Cards (see what I did there?). All of the speakers I set up these days are Wilsons.

Enjoy your Strads. Don't give up until you get them perfect. They are a speaker for the ages!

Bill

Thanks Bill, love the pun on "Cards"...wish they were worth talking about!

Things are improving with very minor tweaks to positioning. I reduced toe-in slightly and moved my listening couch closer by a couple of inches. The result was surprisingly good! The soundstage opened up, yet with very solid center fill images. I am more immersed in the music. Importantly, the speakers are less present in the soundstage. I'm sure it's not the perfect positioning yet, but it sure sounds pretty great.

[RLF]

Originally Posted by daveneumann

Thanks to Ivan's wise counsel, and that of others here, I traded my Amati Futuras for Strads. Got them set up yesterday using the SF process, but will probably be tweaking for a while. They sound great. Initial impressions are much bigger presentation, deeper more tuneful and dynamic bass, same beautiful midrange as what I was used to, and greater treble extension and clarity.

The presentation is different with maybe less pinpoint imaging and the speakers don't "disappear" like my old ones. But overall I am a very happy camper and glad I made the move.

Yes I traded 3 year old speakers for a pair that's nearly 10 years old, but I think this will be it for a good long while. At least in terms of speakers...

Originally Posted by RLF

Dave,

Congratulations on your new Stradivarius speakers. Needless to say, I am a bit jealous even though I’ve never heard the Strads except briefly at shows. I currently own the Amati Futura and even though I’m very happy with them, after reading all the positive reviews about the Strad, I wish that I would have been in a position to audition them when they were still in production. By the time that I got my wife to let me buy a new pair of new speakers, the Strad was already out of production and not available at my local dealer. Incidentally, my dealer carries both Sonus Faber and Wilson, but they highly prefer Wilson in their top-of-the-line stereo setups. SF is mainly relegated in their lesser Home Theater rigs. I have to admit though that I’m not a fan of the new SF Tradition series and neither my wife or I care about Wilson even though they are highly regarded. Oh well, I guess that it’s different strokes for different folks.

Again, super congratulations on your new purchase

Dave, Thanks to your thread here and other’s influence including Ivan’s, I’m going down the same path that you did by replacing my Amati Futura with Strads. Of course, as with with any purchase; especially large speakers, there is a bit of trepidation.

Ivan located a mint pair of late production red violin Strads for me which will be delivered and setup next month. Can’t wait