My A & D are the same as yours, Larsen (regular) medium. My G & C are Evah Pirazzi medium, which are the first tungsten-based lower strings I have found I like; they do a Soloist version if you want even more sound, though these require more effort to play obviously.

I think the key point is every cello is different, some strings will work and some won't. Unfortunately, this can lead to an expensive (and even fruitless) search for an ideal set of strings.

My combination of strings was evolved for me by a luthier in the UK who does "string trials". You bring your cello along to him, and over an hour or so, you try out a variety of strings. There is a modest fixed charge for this, plus the cost of any new strings of course. His name is Robin Aitchison and he's in Cambridgeshire, more at http://www.aitchisoncellos.com/trials.htm .

I use Larsens on my A and D and Helicores on my G and C. This combination works for me on both my old and new cellos. I intensely dislike the harsh metallic sound of Spirocores (and to a lesser extent Evah Pirazzi G and C). The Helicores are so far the only strings I have found that don't have that metallic sound. And they seem to match the Larsens pretty well too.

As an aside..... I am left wondering why music shops don't accumulate a bunch of used strings so you could try strings until you found a kind you liked. Seems that would only stimulate string sales. Or is it that no one buys strings in music shops any more because of the huge markup vs. the web?

Paul Goelz
Rochester Hills, MI USA
paul at pgoelz dot com
www.pgoelz.com