Sonus Faber 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 ?

Entdoc,

The point I was making is that the matching of the speaker to the room is so critical that it can swamp the difference between a higher price (and presumably better) model in a manufacturer's line and a lower price model. In one setup, I thought they sounded very good, so I am not putting down the Elipsa at all. This is just a cautionary message about expecting bigger, "better," more expensive not working out to one's expectations. In the problematic room for the Elipsa, I have also heard the Anniversario and the floorstanding Liuto; my order of preference is Anniversario, Liuto, and Elipsa. I helped with the setup, which was done using the Sumiko method.

Of course I know the "theory" that the large baffle makes them suitable in a small room. In this particular room, that was NOT the case. The Elipsas were well broken in. The electronics could of have part of the issue too (run with Reference level Naim electronics and with custom pushpull 300B tube amps and custom 6sn7-based preamplifier). It could be the case that the Liutos match better with the Naim gear that I heard them played through, again illustrating that system matching concerns are a BIG factor. All of the rooms I heard the Elipsa in were not acoustically treated, all were in somewhat open floorplan rooms. Music used was primarily jazz and classical. Volume levels were never very high.

Larryi listen to the Elipsa's with Mcintosh and you may fall in love with the sound.