The rooms in our house are small enough to make it difficult to get the best out of dipolar or bipolar speakers. So when the power supply on one of my Quad ESL-63 speakers blew, I figured the best thing would be to look at forward radiating speakers. The Quads should have a lot of space, and did in my old house. In our current house, which is larger but with no large listening area, I was never able to get the best out of them, particularly on piano recordings. Since I have a big subwoofer, a Paradigm PW-2500, and listen at moderate levels (usually well under 90 dBa), I decided that small monitor speakers would be sufficient and cost effective. The Stratus Minis have not disappointed me.
I made up a short list of speakers to audition, based on expectations, local availability, and reviews, but of course, I was open to listen to other speakers I came across. We had to do some traveling due to a family emergency, but this did provide an opportunity to listen to a number of different speakers.
The list of contenders below does not include all those I auditioned by any means. It shows ones I did like a lot, and excludes a couple I tried at home which did not work so well there. They by no means had the same balance but all had a smooth neutral sound and a wide soundstage. Since I liked them all, I simply cut the more expensive ones from the list. This left the B & W 705 and the PSB Stratus Mini. The Stratus Mini seems somewhat more laid back (this is a good thing to my mind) and I judged them to be more forgiving of some poor recordings. The Stratus Minis go deeper in the bass They were also cheaper and available from a local dealer, making it any easy decision.
I found the Stratus Minis played all types of music very well, whether male and female vocals, chorus, piano, small ensemble or full orchestra. Male vocalists such as Roger Whittaker, the Clancy Brothers, and Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) come across as natural and neutral. Diana Krall (Love Scenes) and Patricia Barber (Modern Cool) are very well reproduced. My brass recordings on the Nimbus, Vox, Telarc, Columbia and other labels sound great, very natural.
The Stratus Minis throw a wide and deep soundstage with big orchestral and choral works such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Leibowitz on Chesky) and the Berlioz Requiem (Shaw on Telarc) , not emphasizing one part of the frequency range more than another. Choral reproduction is superb, and my Mozart’s Requiems with Colin Davis and Peter Schreier sound about as good as I have ever heard them.
Piano reproduction is very good, whether with superb modern recordings such as Earl Wild’s Chopin Ballades and Scherzos or older recordings with Horowitz and Rubinstein.
Transient response is superb on guitar. Sharon Isbin’s renditions Bach Lute Suites and Michael Hedges dynamic Aerial Boundaries are quick and clean with no overhang. To show the quick and clean transients from the midbass to the high frequency, I have found nothing better than David Chesky’s Club de Sol with all sorts of drums, cymbals and things making tinkly sounds. The Stratus Minis handle the difficult transients in medieval or renaissance instrumentals on my Nimbus, Naxos and Vox recordings using metal stringed harps, anvils, bells, and so on.
Some recordings which sounded problematic over the Quad ESL-63s such as famous recording of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances on Naxos, sound fine with the Stratus Minis. An old favorite, Bach’s Magnificat in D with Felix Prohaska on Vanguard, sounded rather harsh with the Quads but is quite acceptable with the PSB’s, which are smoother in the upper mids and treble. Indeed, I am finding that most recordings sound better in our room with the Stratus Minis than they did with the Quads. This is especially true for piano recordings. It really is a first class speaker. No speaker, of course, sounds best on every recording, but with accurate ones, a little adjustment of the balance with tone controls can help many recordings sound fine. I have the Quad “Tilt” control, which is even better.
The Stratus Minis are more accurate than the Quad ESL-63's. Indeed, most recordings sound even better with them in our room than they ever did with the Quads. Some few do not, but that is to be expected with a change in speakers. They play beautifully and do not add any obvious coloration to the sound. I thoroughly enjoy listening to music with them.
The Stratus Minis provide a wide and deep soundstage with many recordings and seldom call attention to themselves. They are a very neutral speaker with a wide and even horizontal dispersion and with vertical dispersion as good as most. They need to be placed about 25 inches off the floor. They can actually bolted to the PSB M2-Si stands which I bought, which is very convenient for moving them around.
I found the best location was about a foot and a half from the back wall, facing the sofa. The subwoofer is in the left rear corner beside the sofa. The left channel speaker is a foot and a half from the outside wall, which has a large picture window with heavy curtains on the sides which can be drawn. This seems to gives the smoothest reproduction of male voices and the smoothest transition to the subwoofer. The right channel is about 4 feet from the side wall, because there and opening to the stairs and the hallway there and people need to walk through there. The speakers are about 7’ apart, centre to centre, and about 10’feet from the listening position.
An alternate position is to put the speakers beside the picture window, with the left speaker by the subwoofer and beside the sofa about 3 feet from the wall, and the right channel about 4 feet from the half wall. The speakers are about a foot from the outside wall in that position, about 8 feet apart and still about 10 feet from the listening position. It is slightly better this way, I think, but not nearly as convenient. Fortunately, the speakers and stands (which are bolted together, as I said) are relatively easy to move, not being all that heavy.
A picture and description is available on the PSB web site:
http://www.psbspeakers.com/s/StratusMini.html
John Atkinson did his usual useful set of measurements in his review of the Stratus Mini, which can be found on the Stereophile site. PSB informed me that there has been a minor change in the crossover since then.
http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/629/index4.html
ADVANTAGES
Smooth, neutral sound.
Wide and deep soundstage.
One has the impression of listening to the recording rather than the speakers.
Good bass response to below 40 Hz, sufficient for most music.
Easy to integrate with a subwoofer.
DISADVANTAGES
Relatively low voltage sensitivity and minimum impedance.
Needs an amplifier good with 4 ohm loads.
Will not play super loud (for those who need that).
Bass falls off below 40 Hz, but that's what subwoofers are for.
OTHER SPEAKERS OWNED
Kef 104aB
Quad ESL-63
AUDITIONED (serious contenders only):
Totem Mani-2 Signature
Paradigm Signature S2 (and the big S8, which I just had to hear)
B & W 705
Dali Helicon 400
Sonus Faber Concerto Grand Piano
PSB Stratus Mini
