Funny how speedreading can let one down. Happens to me all the time! 
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Welcome to the forum Struts!
Could you please share any thoughts/listening notes about the FS Ktema and what you compared them to before purchasing? I still own the SF Guarneris (original Homage, from 2005!), and have been considering the Ktema for some time…
Thank you!
R
Many thanks @keiserrg!
And thank you for asking. I’ve had the Ktêmas just over 10 years now and as the Swedes say my memory is “good but short”. But a few random points in an attempt to provide some kind of answer:
- The speakers I has immediately prior to the Ktêmas were Verity Audio Parsifal Encores. However before that I owned a pair of SF Electa Amators (curse myself for selling them) and before them a pair of Minima Amators. So it is more than fair to say I have a soft spot for the SF house sound and particularly the “silky” smooth highs from those soft dome tweeters.
- I didn’t really make any head-to-head comparisons, I heard them at a friend’s house and fell head-over-heels in love with them. His system is still one of the best I have ever heard, with top flight ancillaries in a large acoustically treated room and a result of a 40-year evolutionary journey consistently and relentlessly pursuing his sound ideal. I bought mine shortly after Franco passed away, knowing they would be the last speaker he ever designed. Thinking back I was also swayed by the fact I had a Devialet D-Premier at the time and this was the amp Franco was himself using to drive them in his office/studio in Vicenza.
- They sound just glorious to my ears. Smooth, liquid, organic, musical. Nothing sticks out, nothing seems out of place. Powered by my Nord Three amp** they play to realistic levels with very good dynamics. They sound beautiful at low levels and can make you jump out of your seat in the crescendos. For piano, which I listen to a lot, they are a match made in heaven. They are so resolving that it is easy to hear the difference, for instance, between a Steinway and a Bösendorfer. In my system/room they play down to 25 Hz (see below for the measurements I just sent to Mitch for him to build my FIR filter with) and ignoring the room modes that I am hoping to banish with the DRC the bass is tight and controlled. The only fly in the ointment for me is I have never got close to the sound staging of my friend’s system in my room. Mine lacks depth and the width doesn’t extend beyond the speakers. His is as big as the recording captured, the room literally just disappears. I am hoping DRC will take me closer to this since Mrs Struts is not so amenable to room treatments.
- We are building a new summer cottage on the island of Gotland and my plan is to have a pair of Accordos (or Guarneris) there. I just don’t see any need to change.
- Final point, today these cost £25,000, or less than €30,000. To my mind that makes them a stone cold bargain. I have a friend with Aida 2s (>€100,000) and without any disrespect to him it just seems silly to me. In my opinion there are many products, particularly speakers, priced to sell in the far east where more expensive seems to automatically be considered better (I have heard this from several, mainly US, high end manufacturers). It just seems to me that Franco never fell into that trap. They are the pinnacle of his career, the best speaker he was able to design in his lifetime, yet I can afford them and I own them! They are very likely my end game speakers. I am really looking forward to hearing what more Mitch can squeeze out of them!
Anyway, I hope you are able to audition them. If you love your Guarneris I honestly can’t imagine you not falling for the Ktêmas exactly as I did!
** I also think the Nord (or the Eigentakt modules it is based on) are an absurd bargain and perfectly capable of driving the Ktêmas which dip to 3.2Ω at 27Hz and need a bit of current. Part of me lusts after some audiophile jewelry like my friend’s Pilium or a pair of d’Agostino mono blocks but I can’t afford them. Luckily for me the Nord is affordable, utterly transparent and a match made in heaven with the Ktêmas!
Cheers from NYC to Sweden! : )
Thank for all of these details and for sharing your journey Struts. I will respond to your DM to continue the conversation.
Another great play date this afternoon with T and his younger brother J. A music scholar, journalist and Bach expert of rank, albeit without his elder brother’s merits as a musician. We spent four hours playing everyone’s test tracks submitted for the event.
Two conclusions from all of this:
- The system is sounding really good with the latest (V3) Mitchco filter iteration. Really good. Have no idea how easy or difficult it is to refine a FIR filter to this level of performance (I decided I just don’t have the time to learn it and try) but Mitch does it really well, is affordable, and is a pleasure to work with.
- And here’s the really interesting thing. After T’s last visit I had reset the output level on the Bartók to 2V. Had intended to check the input sensitivity on the T2 just to make sure I am not overloading it but not gotten round to it. Anyway, the session started with listening to J’s tracks, none of which I was familiar with. I thought they sounded OK, but there was a hard edge to them which made it very difficult to relax and enjoy the music. T was silent but I could see the telltale signs of pain on his face. Anyway, after 5-6 tracks he politely asked if we could switch back to 6V. Instant relief! In the context of this system and the diminishing returns curve I have been pursuing this was a major difference, like a change of DAC or amp. Strange. I doubt it is an inherent difference between the 2V and 6V stages in the Bartók (although it could be?), so I assume it is to do with the matching of the output of the Bartók with the input of my Nord 3 (input sensitivity 2.52Vrms 10.24dBu into 8Ω, input impedance ~50K㏀). But whatever the explanation is this was not subtle, and flies in the face of the conventional wisdom iiuc?
I had another one of those funny dreams last night 
. I dreamt that my display looked like this…
But what does it mean???
Anyone out there any good at interpreting dreams? 
Yes I am a specialist, don’t worry, it just means that you dream of a Vivaldi set up…
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Thank you doctor! You can DM me your invoice (sorry, how much did that consultation cost?)
It is free for the dCS forum members 
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Yes, but what is that yellow object at the top left corner of the display ( looks to me like a psychedelic slice of toast and when I pass my cursor over it a tag is generated reading " Mullet 1"). Or is me hallucinating ?
The yellow thing is just a very blurry reflection of a lamp in the background. In my dream (ahem) the Bartók still has its display film on so the reflection is distorted and it looks a bit like a lava lamp. But you might be onto something…
Have you been a norty horsey and bought a Vivaldi Clock?!
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That feeling when you go to bed looking like Bela Bartók and wake up with a mullet?
I think I’ve been “Levethaned”! (What do you say @glevethan?). And it’s all your fault Benjamin! Mrs Struts wants words with you - and I’m warning you, she’s fetching her hairbrush!
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Disappointed that nobody got it on the first clue…
Although @ChrisK was pretty warm and he wins the prize for round one.
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I think the best part about Christmas is definitely the presents. Especially the ones I get for myself because I seem to have an amazing ability to guess exactly what I want!
But I still love opening them slowly to try to guess what is inside…
I can’t decide which bit I enjoy more, the giving or the receiving. What about you guys?
Apexed Bartok AND Vivaldi clock? Wow please share your impressions. You must have been a very good boy this Christmas.
Is it a brand spanking new clock or did you buy the one from France by any chance?
A lot of Apex feedback on this forum suggests the 2V is better than the 6V setting when Apexed.
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Very Interesting. Thanks August!
Unfortunately after all the unpacking, figuring out all the connections etc. I have been travelling and otherwise busy. I really haven’t had time for any critical listening which is incredibly frustrating. We’re having a load of guests this afternoon so I’ll be tied to the galley all morning and will only be able to start critical listening for the first time tomorrow once we’ve cleared the wreckage.
First impressions are of course wow! but I will certainly get back to you with more than that.
Please remind me, what does your system look like? Have you posted it here? If so, can you give me a link?
I have posted some pictures of it, no topic of my own though. Currently:
Vivaldi DAC non-apex
Pass XP-12
Pass XA 25
Wolf von Langa Son
I also have a Pass INT-25.
I sold my NWB and Paganini transport in the hope of going to the Vivaldi upsampler and/or transport but this is yet to happen. First need to sell one of the amps and hope a good used deal comes by as I never buy new and current Vivaldi pricing is prohibitively expensive for me at least.
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Got it, I remember seeing pictures which piqued my interest as I had never come across the Wolf von Langes before. dCS and Pass seems to be one of the classic combos, I am a huge fan of Nelson Pass.
I’m with you. Feel like one of the guys in short pants here compared to some of the big boy systems! But I am getting such fantastic fidelity from my system that it would be ridiculous to complain, and I always have the excitement of knowing it can be made a little bit better and planning my next move. I’m not done yet and I probably never will be. It’s the journey for me, not the destination!
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