Sonus Faber Elipsa

Paladin, would you say that the bass is generally improved in the Elipsa compared to Amati? I have lived happily with the Cremonas for 5 years, but consider to upgrade either to Elipsa or Strads, because from what I understand, the eliptical shape tolerates "smaller" rooms, and the Amati needs more amplification than the two others...
Any views are most welcome !

I just read Stereophile review of the Elipsa ... such luke warm review with concern on the bass. However I disagree with the reviewer regarding too much treble.

I have had SF Cremona, SF Amati's and SF Elipsa in my 2 channel room. I have Mcintosh MC501 amps so power is not a issue. My room is 15 x 17 . The SF Elipsa sound the best. They have terrific 3 d imaging, nice articulate deep bass even at lower volumes. I had to turn the Cremona's up to pretty loud levels to get bass out of them, so I added a JLF122 sub., this kept my happy for a while. The SF Amati's sounded the worst in my room and I took them back to the dealer the next day, the bass was boomy and bloated sounding. The SF Elipsa to me is the true sweet spot in the speaker line; you really do not need anything better than this in my size listening room.

I've heard the Elipsa in several different setups and it sounded radically different in each. It is a speaker that seems a bit demanding, in terms of location and setup. It sounded quite good in one setup, so so in another and quite bad in a small room (a difficult room for any speaker). In the small room, the MUCH cheaper Liuto floorstander sounded much better. This does not mean that the Liuto is in any way a "better" speaker; it happened to be a better match.

I have heard the Stradivari in two friend's system. While the systems and rooms were quite different from that where I heard the Elipsa (so my judgment is more an educated guess than anything else), the Stradivari seems to be a warmer sounding speaker with nicely saturated sound (rich in harmonics) while the Elipsa is more harmonically thin sounding side (more like the modern audiophile ideal). I would NOT consider the Elipsa a smaller version of the Stradivari. The Anniversario is much closer to the sound of the Stradivari than the Elipsa.

Larryi

I disagree with just about everything you said regarding the Elipsa. The shape of the Elipsa makes them easier to place near walls not harder. The Elipsa is not hrmonically thin. It sounds like you did not spend much time listening to the Elipsa . The Elipsa sounds better to me than the Amati's . The Elipsa should not be compared to the Strads which are twice as expensive. Someone looking to buy in the Elipsa price range is not looking at the Strads in the same way a Cremona purchaser is not looking at the Amati's. I am just curious if the Elipsa you heard were new or broken in ? What were the electonics hooked up to the Elipsa's ? What kind of music were you listening to ? Were the rooms treated ? It makes no sense that the liuto sounded better than the Elipsa, what volume were you listening at ?