Kharma Midi vs. Sonus Faber Stradivari Amati

Greg, Regarding orchestral music you are right. But, room size,other gear in system, etc. are also important issue.
My friend bought Strad based on same findings as yours.
I heard Strad in a smaller room and it overpowered it easy in midbass.
Just out of pure curiosity-what speakers do you have(and rest of the system)?
Cheers!

Branimir I can well imagine a small room w/out treatment would invariably excacerbate those Audio technology units the Strads are using. Even with treatment, one probably wouldn't be able to keep the spkrs spaced out enough to clear the sound...

As to what I'm using at the moment:
Spkrs: I have Genesis, open baffle (2way+1), & single driver spkrs (i.e. 3pairs). All of these are paired to separately powered bass/low-bass units ("+1"). I use 1 Bass unit per channel, open baffle, two drive units/channel. The Genesis have their own servo units & bass amp.
I use no real "sub" woofer, I cut @ ~25 Hz.

-Amps: main amp is a Symphonic Line class A"Kraft" Stereo. For the lower freq (i.e. to ~80Hz) I use a stereo Vincent something or other 150/channel (cheapo) or an old Pass (expensive and on loan).
-No preamp: I use a transformer volume control (Stevens & Billington) and relay source switching.
-Phono (Riaa) is a big Clearaudio, can't remember what they call it.
-Cdp: a Symphonic Line "Reference"
-Analogue: Simon Yorke TT/Pluto arm, Clearaudio Discovery and old Ortofon 3000 cartridges.
-Old analogue Nad tuner.
-Multiplayer: a Philips 963 modded
-Stands, bases, supports, wires, are all made by me. Alternative wires are Nordost "Valhalla" (spkr & IC) and a "Valkyrie" or s/thing, IC.
BTW, the room is reasonably sized @ ~45m2.
Cheers!

FWIW, I auditioned both extensively with the same electronics (Goldmund) in the same room...They're both fantastics, but ultimately I selected the Kharmas, for two reasons...

1) IMO, the Midis are much more room friendly. You have alot less to do to get them sounding right in most rooms.

2) IMO, the Strads appeared to colour music a little more than the Midis do. Things sound richer than in real-life (though in a pleasing way of course ;)

Ultimately, IMHO, theres no right or wrong choosing between these. Just a matter of your personal taste perference.

Regarding the various other comments about the Midis above... make sure you're auditioning a well burned-in unit, a pair that has at least about 4 months of daily use on them... otherwise you're not truly hearing what these speakers are capable of (probably true of most speakers, but the Midis especially because of their 2 Nomex Kevlar bass drivers requiring lots of time to loosen up).

IMHO, they're far from uninvolving and strident and among the most neutral/realistic sounding speakers around. Definitely agree that they need good amplification (I've got them paired with a Boulder 2060).

Anupmc,
Thanks for your answer. It helps to hear it from someone who listened to both of them under the same conditions, in the same room.
I see there are opinions swinging both ways, toward Kharma, others liking more Stradivari. But what's interesting even if Kharma Midi's were more reflecting your taste, you didn't feel that Midi smoked Sonus Faber big time. You felt it was just a preference of sound, not a great gap in their accomplishments... if I understood you correctly. Since Midi's are twice as expensive as Stradivari, it's a huge statement. It may point out how reasonably priced Sonus Faber speakers are, or that Kharma's are outrageously expensive. What the truth is, is hard to say for someone not involved in this business.

Yes, you understood me correctly :-)

That said, IMO, the actual street price of the Midis reflect its value more accurately...

(Hint: Look at the 2nd hand prices of both... uplift from there to guage what their best street price might be ;-)