Speaker Suggestion/Legacy Focus SE Speakers

I am building my system and have my eyes on the Legacy Focus SE speakers. I am using a McIntosh C2500 preamp with 2- MC275's Mark V monoblocked.

The Focus SE speakers were recommended by a dealer but there is nowhere in Texas to hear them. Can anyone advise me on the Focus or recommend another speaker in the $10,000-$25,000 range?

 

Triton One, $5,000/pair.

GoldenEar Technology | A Passion for Sonic Perfection - Triton Series | GoldenEar Technology | A Passion for Sonic Perfection »

Those are on my (very) short list.

 

I am rarely critical of products, however at one time I had two pair of Legacy FOCUS speakers. I never knew how poorly they were constructed until I pulled a driver and looked inside. They could absolutely be different now, but let me share my impression of Legacy products, and I have owned 4 different pair of Legacy speakers, starting with the Victoria, which had a woofer too small for the cabinet, but it was a beautiful speaker, the Studio, (2) pair of FOCUS and various surround speakers from this company. As far as my experience the cosmetic appearance of the Legacy speaker is what they are concerned with, it's outward appearance, certainly not the engineering or the final assembly, in other words they are a window dressing speaker.

You would do much, much better finding a great pair of B&W, Aerial, Revel or Wilson speakers on the used market. These are companies that dump lots of money into research and make top shelf products inside and out. My particular favorite has to be Aerial. The research behind these speakers is second to none, and probably my second choice is Wilson, only because Wilson is just so darn expensive. I hope this helps you. Happy Listening.

 

All show and no-go.

 

Here is an old thread that I started about these speakers a few years ago and even Steve Hoffman chimed in with his opinion. (By the way, I never did audition those Legacy speakers and I still have the same stuff in my sound systems that I mentioned in that old thread, minus the REGA RP1, which got replaced with an old school DUAL 1229, with an Ortofon 2M Blue Cart and that I have re-set-up my old 5.1 surround system as well!)

Legacy Focus SE Speakers? »

 

Within the OP's budget I would try to audition a pair of Dynaudio's new Contour Series. I've heard the Contour 30's and they are sublime.

 

As mentioned by some others, I would take a hard look at the used market. $25k in that world can get you a $40k-$50k pair of speakers. I would be looking at Magico, Wilson, Vandersteen, Tannoy, TAD........

Good luck in your quest for audio nirvana!

 

What's your room size?

 

For that kind of coin, I would spend significant time at various dealer showrooms. Speakers typically have a house "sound" or voicing, you need to find one pleasing to you. For instance, I like the old ADS sound- clear, articulate but voiced a little warm. For me, I would start by listening to some Aerial Acoustics, founded by one of the top guys at ADS.
The high school friend that got me into the hobby went another direction, starting with Magneplanars and eventually moving up to SoundLabs.
Also, your public library may carry TAS and Stereophile. The downtown Atlanta library has TAS in binders from the first issue. I found it very enjoyable to go there on Sundays and read those back issues.

 

great question! It is 14'8'' wide and 18' deep, but the couch is approx 14' from face of the speakers.

 

Good size...... What type of music do you listen to?

I might add DeVore 0-96 (maybe 93 as well) and Gibbon X to your list. And you should have a DeVore dealer in Dallas so you could check them out. They would work well with your amps.

 

I listen to a very wide variety of music! From Frank Zappa to Wilco to Jack White to Miles Davis to Nirvana to Pink Floyd to Rolling Stones to Waylon Jennings to Grateful Dead to Metallica to Bill Monroe!]

 

Most excellent advice!

 

I trust the above posts have helped you get Legacy speakers out of your system! TimZ gave you some other great choices. I found some absolutely beautiful Aerial 7T speakers for $6,400-$8,000, well below your budget, and those speakers are pure magic. Heck, I saw some Aerial 20Ts for what you are looking to spend, and that should be all the speaker a normal audiophile could ever require. One more tip, while the Maggies have sublime open mids and high end, pure silk, you will NEVER, EVER be happy with their low end, it's just not there, had the 3.7, so very familiar with them as well. Magico is a fantastic recommendation as well. Even when I used great "dual" subs with my Maggie 3.7s, there was always a gap in the low frequency range. I ended up selling them to another Maggie lover and he kept them for 8 months and burned out on no low end. As a Maggie owner, you would continually keep turning the volume up, thinking that will give you the low frequency response your body is craving, but it just never happens, unless you do the subs, but again, over time you will hear that gap in the mid bass frequencies, and it will drive you crazy, and it's not only the lack of bass, it's the lack of dynamic punch, your cone subs will provide the punch and the Maggies will not, the transition is just lacking, period. I never tried the 20's, probably some low frequency improvement, but they just don't have the SLAM!

 

Litejazz53, thanks for this! I am not going with the Legacy speakers now. I am looking at the Aerial Acoustics! This was very helpful.

 

Maggies have plenty of rich, musical low end. A lot of people find them more than satisfactory. But, yeah, they lack ultimate slam - if your idea of a good time is Back in Black at 110 DB, Maggies aren't the speaker for you.

 

That's too bad. I love my Legacy Audio FOCUS and Classics. Bought the Classics new in 1999 and never felt the need to upgrade until I got a great deal on a pair of mid-90s FOCUS. They're incredible speakers. I can only imagine how much more they're refined them in 20+ years.

 

Dont listen to the nay sayers dissing the Legacy speakers. A buddy who lives around the corner from me had the Focus SE. He has Coda mono amps driving each speaker with the Tube Research "The Dude" preamp and LampizatOr Goldengate DAC. The Focus SE where great speakers. He has traded them in for a set of Legacy "V" with the Wavelet processor and they are absolutly outstanding. I'm posting a pic of the "V"...hope you can see it.




But...if you want a killer speaker that will be a bargain at its $17k price per pair, with very few speakers above its price being better for all genre of music, then you want to take a listen to the Canton Reference 3 K speakers. German hand made...every driver in the speaker is made by Canton in house. You wont find these drivers/woofers/tweeters/crossovers in any other speakers made but Canton. The woofers and mid-range drivers are Tungsten and the tweeters are ceramic. If you go to the Canton website you can find the distributor in your neck of the woods . These are some of the best speakers on the planet. They aren't that well known in the states...but are highly respected in the USA by those who know of them and very well respected over seas. Have a look at the site. Reference K »

 

I am so pleased, you will be a happy camper. Let me give you this tidbit. If, and that is a big if, IF you can find some 10T speakers, especially in the Sontos Rosewood, in good condition, the later series 10T, it would be a GOOD purchase, and from anywhere from $2,800-$3,800.00 a pair. The 7T coupled with one or two subs would be even better, good luck in your search.

If you just want to get a Stradivarius right out of the gate, just get a couple of these and be done with the speaker shopping for many years.

 

I've had a pair of Legacy Signature III's for over a decade now and they are great speakers. The cabinets and drivers are top notch all well designed and well made. They are very revealing and uncolored without being aggressive or bright. They are a music lover's speaker similar to Vandersteens in that respect. I haven't had any desire to upgrade since I bought them.

A few of my own references for judging a speaker are piano, female vocals, massed voices and solo saxophone. These speaker excell in all four. They reproduce the sound of a piano as accurately as any speaker I've heard. Well recorded female vocals are uncolored and float freely in space but with real body and weight to them.

I play tenor sax and I have a small Tascam digital recorder that I occasionally use to record my practice sessions. If my wife is in the other room she cannot distinguish between me actually playing and the recordings of me when they are played back through my system. That's a pretty good test.

And they can rock. For comparison sake I also like the Maggie's, Spendor, Von Schweikert Research, Vandersteens, and Totems. There are lots of great speakers out there happy hunting.

 

Superb choice!

 

Just FYI.....there is a NEW OLD STOCK of Canton Reference 7 DC over at www.accessories4less.com. These when in production retailed for $8K a pair. These where in Production in 2006. I assume Accessories4less being a dealer for Canton's old stock, got them from Canton who must have had these in a whse in Germany. They are new in the box and Accessories4less is selling them half priced at $4k a pair.

There is also an interesting review at Stereophile where Wes Philips reviewed the bigger brother Reference 1 DC ($30.000/pair) and compared them to the Aerial Acoustic 20T ($23,500/pair) and the Dynaudio Evidence Temptation ($30.000/pair) Read the review here Canton Vento Reference 1 DC loudspeaker »

 

Here is a Terry London review which you may or may not find helpful. The BIRCH ACOUSTICS "Raven" Speaker (Less than $3000 now) is compared to the Focus S/E ($9000) (The FOCUS comes in last place in the 3 way shootout). Again just one person/reviewers opinion.

Birch Acoustics Raven Floorstanding Speaker »

I haven't seen AUDIO NOTE "E" Speakers mentioned but they would sound great with your tube set up as well as the Devore 96's previously mentioned. Both in the 10K-12K Range

 

Just read the linked review. I don't see a "shoot out" merely a line at the end regarding the reviewers preferences. Certainly all three speakers mentioned would be worth an audition, everyone's tastes and listening priorities are slightly different. I would add that Home Theatre listeners and reviewers are a slightly different breed from reviewers who focus primarily on two-channel music reproduction.

I've heard superb sound from Wilson speakers, but in the wrong room or with poorly matched electronics I've heard them sounding pretty bad. The OP should be aware of system matching. Synergy is an important ingredient in assembling a good system.

 

It is indeed!