Focal Chorus 816V & 826V opinions

Your Marantz will most certainly drive the Focals. I've heard them with tube/valve amps and they sounded "luscious."

Pay particular attention to the highs. The rare folks I know who don't dig the Focal sound always point to the tweeters. One man's "luscious" is another man's "syrupy."

I agree that they respond to what is driving them - perhaps more so than, say, B&Ws.

 

My main speakers have been JM Labs Electra 915.1 for years now. I've been very happy with them. I haven't heard their more recent speakers, since they're a bit hard to find, and I haven't been in the market.

 

Very cool, thanks. I was concerned about my amp underpowering the speakers as the Marantz PM6005 is only a 45wpc amp. Don't get me wrong I love it, and the sound but someone at work told me that amps that underpower speakers can end up damaging them in the long run. I certainly don't want to do that. I kind of made a mistake going with such a low watt amp, I should have purchased the PM8005 right off the bat, but the price was right on mine and I had to respect my budget. I'll upgrade eventually and the PM6005 will get moved to my daughters room.

I hear what you are saying about the "highs". I was told to pay special attention to that, since their tweeter is made of metal, which it would seem turns people off.

 

Yeah, I drive my 915.1's with a clone of a First Watt amp. I think it's rated at 30 watts and has no problems driving my speakers. The specs for the 816Vs look to be about the same, sensitivity of 91.5 dB, minimum impedance 4.3 ohms. Focal speakers seem to be relatively easy to drive.

My concern is that I'm getting into SET tube amps, and I don't know about using an 8 watt amp on my speakers.

 

Wow, that's great to know, thanks for the info. I wish I could go to the store right now LOL. I'll report back.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the term "set" tube amps, what is that? Are you looking to change your amp to drive your speakers?

 

SET stands for Single Ended Triode. This is a particular topology of tube amp that tend to be very musical and involving but also very inefficient. The designs are very simple and old-school. Here are a couple articles about SET amps:

http://www.aksaonline.com/discussion/discussion_papers_mystify.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-ended_triode

Folks that use these style of amps have very efficient speakers, often horns. Like 95-100 dB/watts or more. Since my 915.1's don't quite fit the bill, I'm not sure if it would work.

 

Completely dependent on what you're driving them with. With the Marantz 2238b, tons of bass.

 

Very interesting thank you for this info, I'm going to check out those articles.

 

Initially, it would be an old school 50WPC Denon Receiver

 

It will be interesting to hear what Vinyl Fan 1973 has to report after his audition.

 

I'm back from the store, boy I was there at 9am, it's been a long morning but I left with the Focal Chorus 816V's. Super happy and now a bite to eat and then I'll begin the install. This morning I heard some incredible gear, just amazing sounding systems. If only I had more money!

 

Congratulations and thanks for reporting back to us!

 

Congrats! The Focals sure look like the sweet deal - can't wait for a pic and some in-room impressions!

 

I finally got the speakers installed and I took a few pics to show the set up. When I want to listen to music through the speakers I'll move the red chair to the center of the room and face the speakers. I can also sit on the couch that is on the other side of the room. Right now we are in a condo so we need to be efficient with our space. Next year we'll be moving into our new home, and I'll have an actual listening room for music. Can't wait for that.

I have to say so far I'm really loving these speakers, as they are a very big step up to what I was using before. I always felt I wasn't really hearing what my system could do, and the new speakers were the last piece of the puzzle. I liked them in the store, but I really like them in my own environment, and they are not even broken in yet. Also, even though I like them with my Marantz PM6005, I also heard them powered by a class A $10,000 amp and I was really blown away. The character and ability really changed and for the better, so it's really nice to know that these will be able to grow with future upgrades. Although the price was right for this pair, I really preferred the way rock and heavy metal sounded with these. I compared them with the Focal 836's, and although vocals sounded much better, I felt the mid range seemed washed out on the 836's. I much preferred the tight delivery of the rock music on the 816's. I think these speakers, matched with my amp are bettered suited for the heavier music I listen to. I also tried some acoustic albums and some Jazz and I was really impressed on how those sounded as well.

Once I got them installed at home and played some CD's and LP's I was struck by the clarity of the high end, a nice bright clarity, but warm at the same time. I had read that people were turned off by the tweeter design on the 816's, that they were fatiguing and brittle, but nothing could be further from the truth. I will not tire from listening to music with these speakers, I found the sound very smooth. Also, I was very impressed with the bass and low end. I had read that other owners felt a lack of bass and needed a sub woofer, I can't see myself needing that. So far I was very impressed with the bass presentation and low end. I just found the sound to be very round and well balanced, with a very nice separation between vocals and instruments.

If I'm being honest I wasn't all that keen when I first heard them in the store. The room we were in was carpeted and there were a lot of acoustic panels on the wall. I found the sound boxed in, and this is where I started to prefer the openness of the 836's. I asked if there was another room and the salesman told me there was, but there was already another client in there. So we waited and finally got in, this room was more like my living room. Hardwood floors, and much bigger than the room I was originally in. That made all the difference as I started to really hear the personality of the 816's and I fell in love with the sound. I really liked how they handled the heavy stuff. I really needed a speaker that would handle and deliver nice sound when playing The Beatles, Metallica, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, etc....I heard some B&W, the 683's and I didn't like it, I much preferred the Focal's. I did hear the B&W C10's and they blew me away, but that's a very expensive speaker, far out of my budget.

I feel like a won the lottery today with this purchase, as it's clear to me now that I wasn't really "hearing" my system before. Whole Lotta Love never sounded this good, no distortion, nothing the system can't handle, just a nice balanced delivery. I'm sure there is way better than what I have, but for the money I was able to spend, I just did a really big upgrade and I'm really benefiting from it. I can't wait to set up this system in the new home, I'm sure the sounds will get even better.

I also bought the AudioQuest PR Rocket 44 BFAS cables and I'm really impressed with those as well.

Quick question, the booklet that came with the speakers states that I should run them for 20 hours so they get used to the environment, but do they mean 20 hours straight, or over time? Here are a few pics I took earlier. Sorry for the long winded message LOL....

 

Wow -gorgeous speakers!

Nice review - thanks for sharing.

Focals are now on my short list if I ever consider a change.

 

Thank you so much, that is very kind. I'd say 100% they are worth your time, for a listen. Hear them, any speaker really with a wide range of amps, and in various rooms if possible. Had I not changed demo rooms, I might not have taken them. They also sound better in a bigger room, bigger than the first demo room I was in. The build quality is insane, and none of the components are outsourced, all are designed and made in France by Focal. Had these not been on liquidation, I would not have been able to buy them now, so I feel very fortunate.

They make for a great pairing with Marantz as well.

 

Congrats, man! Those look great! And going by what you said, great bang for the buck! I appreciate it that everything is made in France. Quite a few high end companies have outsourced, as you know...that includes the JBLs I use (made in Mexico.)

 

Thanks, appreciate that. Oh for sure, I mean Focal started out making components for other companies, they then decided to get into the speaker market themselves. B&W is my other fave speaker maker and they outsource their components. I don't see that as a negative, especially in this day and age as most companies, to help keep costs down do it.

I just think it's worth mentioning that Focal's work is all in house, and that's something I can certainly appreciate. As a buyer it's nice to know that the product has a sense of cohesiveness to it.

 

You're welcome. Yeah, it's not a major problem per se, and my JBLs appear to be built well and have been reliable thus far. However, it does bug me that they're not made here (the US) anymore. That's cool...and yes it is.

 

I really like Focal speakers, including the metal dome tweeter they use. I heard some top of the line Focals with VAC gear at RMAF this year, they were impressive! I also put a set in a car I owned some years ago, they were great there too.

 

The JBLs have not suffered because of that. The JBL line is incredibly respected, and especially very popular here in Quebec. When the vintage stuff hits the sale ads, they are gone fast. When I was looking at speakers over the last 15 years of buying used stuff, JBL was always the brand that people would recommend.

 

Very cool. Actually the sales guy yesterday was telling me about their car system speakers and how great they sound. Was also talking about their line of speakers that are designed to be put directly in the wall, for music and home theatre.

 

This is true. That's cool. I've only owned the brand for about 8 years starting with the Studio L890s. I then upgraded to these S4700s in late 2012. Both are great speakers. However, it took a lot of break in before the S4700s sounded good.

 

Those are sweet speakers, if I'm not mistaken the S4700's were built upon the same technology used in the well loved Project K2 S9900 series. Those are some really beautiful speakers. I'm sure they sound great.

 

Over time is fine. The owner of the high-end shop near my work will break in speakers at night for his more finicky customers, but his theory is that our ears and mind are what really need to adapt and they do so with active listening.

I'm glad you dig the Focals. Upgrading can be fun and addictive.