[Airborn]

Anyone know what happened to the Strata Mini review by Six Moons?  Quite a while ago I saw the Strata Mini listed as an upcoming review and then it just disappeared without explanation.  Any word on what happened?  I know Srajan, Mark and Sean all check this Board, so I thought I'd ask here.

[Srajan Ebaen]

Paul Candy was scheduled to do this but it seems that demand for this speaker has been so high, a review loaner pair hasn't materialized yet. But I'll check with Paul to see what's been communicated to him re: status. Perhaps Sean Parque over at AV123 can chime in as well seeing he had this assignment on the books and probably knows best. 

[TONEPUB]

Srajan:

I know this is off topic, but how is your wife feeling?  Everything ok?

[Srajan Ebaen]

It's been three months since the op and she's completely off the beta blockers and blood thinner you have to take while the body accepts the new valve. For all intents and purposes, she's back to normal safe for bone pain where what was cut is still healing, and of course there's nerve damage across your chest where they saw you open and cut through layers of nerves. That could take a year to fully recover, for the bone pain to completely subside and for nerve tissue to regrow and reconnect.

On topic, Paul just confirmed that he "gave up" on the Strata Mini assignment so it has, for all intents and purposes, been cancelled due to unavailability - which is a good thing for Mark & Co., suggesting that they sell all of these they can make.

[csc]

Does anybody know anything about a pending Soundstage review?  They have measurments listed, but I have not seen a review, which seems odd.

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/speakers/av123_strata_mini/

[Airborn]

Srajan,
Thanks for the quick reply and that's great news about your wife. I know the Strata Minis are in great demand;as asatisfied owner I feel lucky to have a pair after reading your post. I enjoy Six Moons reviews, so I thought it would be interesting to see if your publication's review matched my impressions of these speakers.

[Srajan Ebaen]

My pleasure. And yes, we're thrilled to bits about the medical situation. If the docs are right, my wife's got 20 years she otherwise wouldn't have had. Apparently it was quite common in her generation to misdiagnose pneumonia in teens and have rheumatic fevers attack the heart and cause this valve defect which eventually causes leakage issues as one ages.

Enjoy your speakers. Reviews can be a bit of add-on fun but the most important thing is, you've found something that works for you so don't get sidetracked now by strangers telling you things 

[Airborn]

So true about not getting influenced by the opinions of others in this hobby. I rtespect the members of AC more than any other forum, so when there was a recent series of negative reviews about the Strata Minis, I was a little bit at a loss, since the impressions were so contrary to my listening experience. But the more I learn the more I realize its all about system synergy. I guess I was just looking for a little validation from the experts at Six Moons!

[TONEPUB]

Wow, who was so negative about the Stratas?

They are very impressive speakers for the money....

[Srajan Ebaen]

Each time a speaker comes with an active bass system, there's plenty of opportunity to go too wild on the controls and muck things up higher in the frequency response. The Avantgarde Duos I owned were very critical in that regard and errors made with the crossover and level control on their subs were nearly always the culprits for inferior sonics. And you really could screw things up to where those speakers sounded nothing like $20K contenders. But that wasn't the fault of the speaker.

Not sure whether that's entirely applicable for the Stratus since I haven't spent any time with it but from experience with other actively powered bass systems (Zu for example), I'm pretty sensitive to how *very* small adjustments can either lock things in or screw 'em up...

[zybar]

So true about not getting influenced by the opinions of others in this hobby. I rtespect the members of AC more than any other forum, so when there was a recent series of negative reviews about the Strata Minis, I was a little bit at a loss, since the impressions were so contrary to my listening experience. But the more I learn the more I realize its all about system synergy. I guess I was just looking for a little validation from the experts at Six Moons!

I don't think it was a series of negative reviews...rather it was a single mixed review over at Sound and Vision.

The very loyal AV123 forum members didn't take kindly to the negative comments in the review and a little episode transpired.

The Sound and Vision review was the only one that wasn't positive to very positive as far as I know.

George

[Airborn]

Actually, I wasn't referring to a professional review.  Instead I was referencing the views expressed here at AC in this thread:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=41254.0

As I have received lots of great advice from the members of AC and I respect their opinions, I was surprised to see impressions of the Strata Mini so contrary to my own experience.  I don't doubt the results, as mentioned above, system and room no doubt have major effects.

[mlschifter]

Hello All...

Greetings from Asia...

First - and most important Srajan - please send my very best... Concerned and worried to read all of this...

Second... I think we can send a set of Mini's out ASAP... I will let Sean know... sorry for the delay - just trying to fill demand as you know...

Third... I will have to read the other referenced thread... I have not done so...

Fourth... the mixed review was from a fellow from the S&V forum... very nice chap actually... just likes a very different "sound" than what we put forth with our Mini Strata...

Wishing everyone here all the best...

mls

[Airborn]

Professional and courteous as always, Mark. I love my Strata Minis and certainly didn't intend to stir things up for you with this thread. I'm also enjoying my SP3 tube integrated and CD-5 player with the Minis, so I have an all Onix 2 channel rig right now. Great synergy. I look forward to the Six Moons review.

[Srajan Ebaen]

Hey Mark, good of you to check in. I'll let Paul know to expect a note from Sean. Swell, I know he was keen on getting his mitts on a pair. Paul is our resident 'gimme goose bumps but leave my wallet alone' guy so the whole Strata Mini concept has his name all over it. 

[JLM]

Speaking of leaking heart valves, I got one (from my mother).  She passed last year from other issues, but it was discovered due to my condition starting with a routine EKG test and the general practice nurse who knew what she was looking at (previous GP docs just srugged off previous EKG reports stamped "abnormal").  Unfortunately by the time we looked back at mom she was inoperative with congestive heart failure (a continual build up of fluid on the lungs).  But as I think back, her mother also had a weak heart and needed oxygen to sleep before dying during my childhood.  Very few of the women in my mom's family made it to their 70s, but medical science didn't have the underlying answers (or the means to fix it).  This is the kind of medical information that needs to be brought to family reunions.

Srajan, don't know where your wife had her surgery, but some hospitals here stateside are using the DaVinci robot (with a small, highly controllable/maneveurable "hand") to replace heart valves without cracking open the chest.  This has nearly turned the operation into an outpatient procedure.  Infection rates are lower as the "hand" can be completely sterilized and less people need to be nearby during surgery.  If you trust the internet, the surgeon can do the surgery from around the world (but normally are in the same room).  Depending on patient age/condition the replacement is either mechanical (requiring blood thinners for the rest of your life) or from a pig (only good for about 20 years as you mentioned).  Due to scaring and general surgical risks, they'd prefer to only do the procedure once in a lifetime. 

So I'm trying to maintain/improve my "heart health" and delay the inevitable as long as possible and pass the message along to others.  Heart disease kills more Americans (men and women) than any other cause.  The causes are genetic, lack of excercise, and poor diet.  Co-morbidities include overweight, high blood pressure, pulmonary distress, and diabietes. 

Take care and be well.

[Srajan Ebaen]

We went to the Uni clinic in Kiel, Schleswig Holstein, Northern Germany, and the op was done by the head surgeon, Dr. Cremer, who is famous throughout Germany. Didn't realize it before we went but that clinic and their heart surgery department in particular are very well-known there, with heart patients flying in from Berlin and Munich and other major cities which certainly aren't shy on their own good clinics.

"Western lifestyle" is the #1 cause for heart surgery according to Dr. Cremer - soft drinks, alcohol, sugar, fat, smoking, processed foods, no exercise, stress, the works. My wife actually refused to have the test done where they check your arteries coming and going to the heart, a routine but invasive test prior to heart surgery so they know whether you'll need a bypass. Anyone undergoing open heart surgery in that clinic has to have that test done. We refused because we don't suffer from western lifestyle. According to the nurses and fellow docs there, this was the first time ever this surgeon accepted to do a valve replacement without that test, asking only that if he discovered anything untowards once she was under the knife, we'd give him permission to do a bypass if he deemed it necessary. Which we did and sure enough, he didn't find anything other than the bad valve.

Clean living definitely makes a difference.

Didn't know about the robotic routine but the day we fixed the surgery date, my wife found an Internet link where a US surgeon pioneered a new form of heart surgery that was televised and allowed anyone interested to watch. She read it, I didn't and we didn't have time to watch so I don't know what was new about that procedure but apparently, it was far less invasive than usual and was heralded as a major breakthru in that discipline.

My wife definitely would have died of congestive heart failure without the valve replacement. She knew about her mitral valve condition since she was 20 because she fainted and woke up in a hospital. She had a very good doctor in NY at the time and he told her that surgery then had a 50:50 chance and that she could live a normal life without surgery if she refrained from doing certain things (inverted positions, undue exertion and such). He also advised she become a vegetarian - which she did.

Well, she lived with that bum valve some 35 years but when it finally had deformed so much as to leak badly, there was the backflow into the lungs which made her feel an elephant was sitting on her chest and she couldn't get any wind. We got the surgery date within 10 days of interviewing this surgeon remotely so we were very lucky. At that point, time really was of the essence. We also had a good diagnostician in Cyprus who ran the visual tests and burned them to CD so the German surgeon could look at them and knew exactly what needed to be done.

And yes, my wife didn't want to be on the blood thinner for the rest of her life so she opted for the biological pig skin valve which, they expect, could last up to 20 years. We'll make the most of that time coz she ain't going thru that butchery again  And that phrase isn't meant derogatory - it saved her life. But I saw her in intensive care 30 minutes after she came out of the surgery theater. Lemme tell ya, seeing your loved one (and strangers) still under anesthesia, with bloody pipes coming out of everywhere, the eyes sealed shut, on the breathing machine, with the spirit somewhere else and just a lump of flesh on the table being animated by machines was a very Matrix-type moment. The weirdest thing was to look thru the curtain outside where it was sunny and students were chatting and nibbling on fast food and life was going on normal while inside behind one wall was this dimly lit and quiet 'holding area' for the reanimated zombies.

Bizarre. Certainly reshuffles your priorities.

[JDarby - Stereomojo.com]

First, best wishes to Srajan and his lovely wife. Health issues always help to keep things in perspective. We all obsess over the samllest things in this great hobby, but people are always more important than any stereo component.

If you missed it, the first review of the Strata Mini was done by Stereomojo - reviewed by FOUR different reviewers - with measurments - several months ago.

http://www.stereomojo.com/REVIEWS.htm#STRATAMINIREVIEW


We also just posted the first review of the new (and not yet availble!) LS6.
http://www.stereomojo.com/LS6%20review/AV123LS6review.htm

[Airborn]

Review of the Strata Minis by Six Moons.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/stratamini/stratamini.html