Amati Homage vs Stradivari?

jkirk

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2015
5
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NorCal
Hello,

If anyone can post some thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.. I'm a happy Amati owner looking at a pair of the Stradivari's.

Thanks in advance..

jk
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Hi Jkirk,

Great stuff. I owned the SF Guarneris original and then the Strads, and have heard Electa Amators, Extrema, all the Homages, all the various generations of the Homages, the Aida...ok...big SF fan, 'nuff said.

Relative to the SF Amati Original (which one do you own?), i found the original Amati treble a bit more forward (not unpleasant and sometimes preferable on things like movies where every bit of talking/high-end detail can help). I found the Strad (imho) to have a very complete, full balance that is really satisfying when playing full-scale orchestral in a way that i could not get the Amati to do. I am sure it CAN be done, but the dealer and i did not get it to match the Strads.

The Strads balance is more similar in some respects to the original SF Guarneri, but now with a very full, complete bottom end. But a note here...the amplification has to be high-current stuff (or whatever the tech-folks would say drives bass drivers and controls them)...to get the bass as tight, disciplined and yet supple as the treble/mids. You can get wonderful sound out of midpowered tubes, but i think when it came to my own CJ MV60...there was a world of improvement (imho) when i subsituted the Gryphon Antileon 100watt Pure Class A amp.

Overall, i have always been a big fan of SF, and when i went thru the various options from my Guarneris, i was fortunate to come across a great deal on the Strads and was exceptionally happy with them. I told my dealer the day i took the Strads i knew of only one speaker for which i would trade them back in...and 12 months later, as you can see by my signature, he found them and did a great deal for me (cashless trade other than shipping).
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
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La Jolla, Calif USA
A little insight into the size of your room would be helpful. The Strads need a fairly large room to do their thing. Generally a little larger than what will work for the AH's. If you have the room, then IMO the Strads are a pretty nice upgrade. IME, the Strads image better...throwing a larger and more precise stage, they are more accurate in the bass and drop down further than the AH's. I think overall the Strads are the best large speaker to come from Franco...and that is a saying a lot. If I had the room, they would definitely be on my short list.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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almaaudio.com
+1 for the Strads.
 

jkirk

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2015
5
1
233
NorCal
To all, thanks much for the replies.

DaveyF, my room is about 18 x 25'. My listening couch is about 15 feet from the speakers.
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,376
2,497
1,398
To all, thanks much for the replies.

DaveyF, my room is about 18 x 25'. My listening couch is about 15 feet from the speakers.

Great potential for Strads...good luck. It is my favorite speaker by Franco Serblin when he was SF...i have not heard the Ktemas. I feel like for the speaker it is, the Guarneri is more special...probably SF's masterpiece when running SF...but just in terms of pure all-out performance, i have to give it to the Strad.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
181
458
La Jolla, Calif USA
Agree with Lloyd. I have not heard a better speaker than the GH's in a small room ( i agree also that they are Franco's masterpiece when at SF)...in a much larger room ( which the OP certainly has) the Strads are going to be better than the stand alone GH's and the AH's.
 

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