Tweaks to Add A Little Treble Emphasis...

per the great suggestions here, i spent some time tonight with speaker placement and most importantly how my JL Audio Sub was integrated with the Stradas and was able to improve the tonal balance tremendously. it's quite remarkable how little changes can impact things - note to self, the best placement of one speaker may not be the best for another!

i don't think i'm there just yet, as i'd like to tip up the treble just a touch more and add and a some forwardness, especially where vocals are concerned. With the Cubs, the performers were right in front of me; the Stradas are a little more recessed. The soundstage is ENORMOUS, but doesn't come forward like the Wilsons did.

are there way to affect the forwardness of a system? i don't know what contributes to that...

working on the forwardness of vocals, i just tweaked the equalizer in the playback software i'm using (i always leave this off, but for testing, i was curious) and found that by bumping the 110-220 hz zone just a touch, i was able to make the vocalists much more forward sounding.

makes perfect sense, actually.

is there a way to accomplish this with tubes, IC's, or PC's??

With the Cubs, the performers were right in front of me; the Stradas are a little more recessed. The soundstage is ENORMOUS, but doesn't come forward like the Wilsons did.

Srosenberg (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

I would consider that what you're hearing is a fundamental difference in the sound of the two loudspeakers, and that you may not be able to make the Stradas sound like the Cubs no matter what tweaks you employ.

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I agree with Tvad regarding the inherent differences in sound among loudspeakers. I've known some that have "built in" crispness or sizzle, top end rolloff, a forward or a distant perspective, relatively flat or 3-dimensional soundstage, etc. This can be said about other kinds of components as well. Nevertheless, there are numerous instances where fine tuning and mixing/matching can and do render desired changes or improvements.