How are Sonus Faber Palladio speakers different from regular SF speakers ? ...

[joeinid]

And are they still available?

 

[VT Skier]

Limited edition, no longer available new, with a different lacquer finish, different wiring, different crossover and maybe a different maple wood (?).

About twice as expensive ($30+) vs. used Strads ($15ish). Not sure how they differed sonically as I never heard them.

Howie owned a pair, so hopefully he will chime in, or Bill (Metaphacts), if he posts here.

 

[Mike]

My friend bought a pair of the Strads. Guys who heard my regular Strads and his Palladio Strads, say its no contest. He has Pass XA amps - similar to what I used. I hope to hear them myself soon.

 

[joeinid]

Thanks!

I remember Howie owning a pair. I'll have to ask him.

 

[LL21]

My friend bought a pair of the Strads. Guys who heard my regular Strads and his Palladio Strads, say its no contest. He has Pass XA amps - similar to what I used. I hope to hear them myself soon.

Fascinating...I have heard they are faster/cleaner but still voiced like an SF. Is that anything like what your friend who owns Palladio's said?

 

[Mike]

Fascinating...I have heard they are faster/cleaner but still voiced like an SF. Is that anything like what your friend who owns Palladio's said?

Yes. We shall see. Ironically, he wanted the Alexia's, but the dealer in Florida was impossible to work with.

 

[The Sandman]

Limited edition, no longer available new, with a different lacquer finish, different wiring, different crossover and maybe a different maple wood (?).

I'd be interested if anyone has documentation of this. I did a fair bit of research about it and all I could come up with from both the SF site and all others was that the differences were virtually all cosmetic - here's the official SF description:

Andrea Palladio limited edition : due to the 500 Anniversary of the Andrea Palladio’s birth (he’s a famous architect of 16th century), we dedicate a limited edition of our Homage line.

We will produce:
25 pairs of Stradivari
50 pairs of Amati
100 pairs of Guarneri

The finish is in natural maple lacquered with metal parts (binding posts and labels) in silver/palladium rhodium and not in gold as in the standard version. The face plug of the bass for Amati and Stradivari is made in Vicenza Stone. The base stone for the stand Guarneri in Vicenza stone.

The only listed differences that could be considered to be more than cosmetic are the different metal in the binding posts, or perhaps the Vincenza stone woofer caps have some beneficial effect on the tone. Otherwise, it all seems cosmetic. Furthermore, it makes no sense at all that SF would spend the time and money necessary to R&D wiring, crossover, or driver changes for such a limited run. For a long time the Strad was the SF flagship and had they come up with ways of improving the sound in the Palladio I can't imaging that some or all of those improvements would have found their way into the Strad (without the cosmetic bits).

So again, I'd be very interested in any information about undocumented changes SF made to the Palladia versions of the Stradivari, Amati, or Guarnari.

 

[LL21]

I'd be interested if anyone has documentation of this. I did a fair bit of research about it and all I could come up with from both the SF site and all others was that the differences were virtually all cosmetic - here's the official SF description:



The only listed differences that could be considered to be more than cosmetic are the different metal in the binding posts, or perhaps the Vincenza stone woofer caps have some beneficial effect on the tone. Otherwise, it all seems cosmetic. Furthermore, it makes no sense at all that SF would spend the time and money necessary to R&D wiring, crossover, or driver changes for such a limited run. For a long time the Strad was the SF flagship and had they come up with ways of improving the sound in the Palladio I can't imaging that some or all of those improvements would have found their way into the Strad (without the cosmetic bits).

So again, I'd be very interested in any information about undocumented changes SF made to the Palladia versions of the Stradivari, Amati, or Guarnari.

Was the original Strasd made from pure maple slabs? The Guarneri and Amati were. But the Stereophile review says, "The main enclosure is constructed using a wood laminate, with constrictive damping inserts in between additional front-panel layers of laminate, in the style of the Amati Homage, which was built of stacks of solid maple." That could make a difference as well.