Hello Readers: I am Bruce Abar's father, and it has come to my attention that he has been swamping this site with reviews. I wish to inform everybody that he is a 13 year old boy who doesn't even own a stereo , let alone a $1500 pair of speakers. Please ignore his delusional reviews. I'm sorry if anybody was duped or influenced by the ramblings of a teenager.He is being punished for his actions and cut off from any internet access.

I've auditioned speakers in the $1500 to $2500 price range off-and-on for the last two years. The Stratus Gold is what I chose, so that is somthing of an endorsement. Other contenders were from Snell, NHT, Paradigm, Audio Physic, and several well-respected brands.
The Stratus Golds do so many things right - they have wide frequency response with a very flat, uncolored curve over most of that range. They don't beam at any particular frequency, which is a problem I found with many other models I listened to. They play both loudly, but with low distortion at any volume I've tried. They image at the correct size, not voluminous or pinpoint, but realistic.

Very important to me (and very difficult to find these days), they play equally well with both rock and classical music. So many speakers I auditioned would sound great on a classical piece, and then anemic and closed-in on a rock or R&B tune. Many others performed exactly the opposite. These speakers convey the full power of both an orchestra at triple-forte or a modern rock band at full tilt.

Also, the amount above may be the Canadian price, but the list in the US seems to be $2100. I was able to buy a pair for about 20% less than that. I'll be going back soon for the C5 or C6 center and the Alphas for the rear. Recommended!

Accurate sound at any level, great price, very smooth midrange, plays all types of music very well.

Aesthetically, but i'm reaching on this one.

I just don't get it. Why do some reviewers have to waste their time and ours giving their reviews which make know
sense at all. I know that these speakers are not the be all
end all, but when you compare price and sound they just can't be beat, of course that just my opinion and about 92%of the other reviews. I am a lover of music except maybe
heavy metal, but even that would probably sound good. If you are in the market for a well balanced speaker give these a listen, and you be the judge.


The Review Police

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy

Smoothness, clarity, extended mid-range and highs, tight bass. Excellent imaging and soundstage. Great with Jazz,
Pop, Classical and especially vocals (Diana Krall)

None

My listening room is 12 x 17 x 8 ft ceiling. I don't understand why others feel a lot of power is required since my amp is a tubed 20w per channel push pull design. The Stratus Goldi's can be played "very loud", which is an enjoyably loud level. True, I can't pop out my windows with ear splitting sound but still, plenty of volume to satisfy probably most listeners.

I have had all the speakers listed above at my home and none have the presence, smoothness, clarity and rich sound character as the Stratus Goldi. Soundstaging is deep and wide with precise placement of instrumentalists and vocalists. Diana Krall sounds absolutely delicious and natural with no coloration. Guitar, piano and sax are rich, smooth and also very natural sounding. I listen to Jaxx, Classical, Pop and vocals. The Stratus Goldi's can do it all with accuracy and beauty and mine sounded great out of the box (5 weeks ago). Break in seemed short to me and after the first week they just sweetened up even more and have been that way since.

Like another reviewer here who gave a tip on where to buy,
I made my purchase through Len Gerling at 604-859-4200.
This may sound hypocritical or contradictory but while I believe in supporting local dealers, for obvious reasons, the deal I got was just too much of a savings to overlook.

The Goldi's, with their aluminum tweeter, tend a little toward the bright side however my room is very "lively" with little in the way of sound absorbing or diffusing
furniture. Just added drapes which tamed the highs and opened up the soundstage more. I plan on building tube traps (2) and reflection panels (2) for the side walls and fully believe I am in for an even better treat from the Stratus Goldi's. In fact I'm certain of it and can't wait till I complete the project. This is something that I would do with any speaker brand, but if I don't, I am still in listeners heaven with the Goldi's.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour 3.0 and 3.3, Paradigm Studio 80, Soliloquy 5.3 & 6.3, B&W Nautilus 804

Tonal balance, low-distortion, power handling, frequency response.

None. Considering the price, these speakers are the most astounding bargain in hi-fi.

These speakers are the culmination of years of experience by a dedicated designer using the facilties of the Canadian NRC and the double-blind listening protocol developed there.

In my room, 22x13x8, my Golds are flat at 25 cycles and down two DB at 20 cycles. A pair of Golds can play at just under 130 DB endlessly. Your ears will be ragged shreds in seconds but the the Golds will still be playing.

If you've read the reviews in Audio, Stereophile or Sensible Sound you already know that the specs for these speakers read more like those for an amplifier than for a loudspeaker. They have vanishingly low distortion--harmonic or IM--at 100DB--which is very loud.

The only mod I've tried on my Golds is adding a pair of Velodyne subwoofers. On paper, the addition of the Velodynes reduces distortion in the subterranean bass and extends the frequency response to 16 cycles. But the improvement is only audible on recordings with organ pedals on 32 or 64 foot principals.

If you are in the market for full range speakers I recommend the Stratus Golds without any reservation. But the Pardigm 100s are almost their equal--the Golds have a more refined sound on classical music and lower distortion. The Celestion A3s are excellent too. B&Ws sound great but are too expensive. Speakers, after all, are made of wood, wire and other readily available materials. Computer modelling of speakers has been mature for 25 years. If B&W can get the prices they do, more power to them.

And don't get misled by disquistions on amplifiers. Any high quality, full frequency speaker is going to require a healthy amplifier to make it perform. That's true for Golds, Paradigms, B&Ws, Celestions, etc. But good high power amplifiers are available at reasonable prices. You wouldn't buy a Ferrari and then expect it to run well on lighter fluid.

Don't be put off by the screeds written by ignorant loud mouths. The notable speaker companies all make excellent products. Speaker quality across the board has improved significantly during the last 10 years.

The most worrsiome issue with speaker selection is room problems. The Golds with their very even horizontal and vertical response are extremely room-friendly. Just set them up two feet from the front wall and start listening.

My Theils are a different animal. They are designed around accurate waveform reproduction and even power distribution. As a consequence, they have a very bright high end. I understand later models of Theil speakers have tamed the treble.

After listening to the Golds for several years, I think the only speaker I consider its superior and worth purchasing is the Waveform Mach 17. But it costs $8,500 and requires 6 channels of amplification. I have only a handful of recordings that I think would benefit from the upgrade.

Other equipment:

Head
Two ears
500 live concerts

Similar Products Used:

Thiel 3.5, Celestion 100s, KEF 101s

Best sounding speaker in this price range and below.

None

This is my second review. It not that I didn't believed in speaker and cable break in period.. I didn't think I would notice. I had these speakers for about 3 months and they are sounding better. The sound was great when I first played them, I don't know if its the speaker break in or the cable or both. I am using MIT 3's.

Similar Products Used:

Tested B&W and Paradigm's in this price range. PSB Silveri. Paradigm a close 2nd.

Gold/i is THE best value in stereophile class B speakers. Supremely clean mids; airy and open highs; a what a bass kicker (not boomy, cheap bloating bass -- but the real thing -- DEEEEP and CLEEEAN)! Of course, bass is most room-dependent, so one must play with it a bit to achieve optimal result. A bit power hungry, but even at low volume it still sounds marvelous. Imaging is comparable to some hi-end mini-monitors!Three thumbs up for PSB if I have a thrid hand!

I am surprised at reading some of the lower scored reviews about these speakers. I work at a stereo store and psb golds are one of our product lines. We've run them through all sorts of amps, and amps by preamps, for demonstrations.
These have been on mid level amps to high end. The golds nail all frequencies on all types of music. Low end, middle and high frequencies are all very precise and extremely clean - even on mid level amps. Also THX demos their systems with these speakers. So whoever would like to give these speakers any rating lower than a four (even a four?) is an ass. If you disagree with me, give the guys at THX a shout and tell them your beef.

Seamless and neutral. The Golds play loudly without compression. Honest, musical and tuneful bass. The midrange and highs blend perfectly. Great soundstage for a speaker with a fairly large front baffle.

Binding posts are cheesy compared to the rest of the speaker.

Quite likely the best value in the audio world!!! I wonder how many people who give these speakers bad reviews might truly benefit from a good, professional ear cleaning.

Similar Products Used:

ADS towers.

Full Range, total control

heavy (94lbs) with the packing it ends up exactly 8' when lifting the box over the speakers.

Ability to play ANYTHING well when setup properly. I use them from HT to Stero listing.

Allsion Kruse (forget about it) sweet smokey voice with strong base. noting is lost.

Offspring- any, play it as loud as you want to, nothing comes apart or out of place. This also applies to the 1812 stuffs with cannons.

Listing to these speakers with your own material with an amp able to drive 4 ohms cleanly.

Allen Parsons Project material is accuratly and cleanly reproduced.

Similar Products Used:

The execelent usual suspects in the 2K range