I Don't Like Focal?

Nightfall

I went into a stereo shop in Denver today to have them install and align my new cartridge. They happened to have a pair of Focal Electra 1028's hooked up to Parasound Halo gear. I have to say, honestly, I wasn't impressed. I would rather have my RTA-12B's than the multi thousand dollar Focals? What gives? What does this say about my taste in sound?

mikeyb128

Oh no! Maybe poor pairing? I heard these hooked up to devialet mono blocks and sounded pretty sweet. Could also be possible it's just not your thing. It happens. I dont like klipsch sound but lots of people enjoy it.

Nightfall

mikeyb128 wrote: »

Oh no! Maybe poor pairing? I heard these hooked up to devialet mono blocks and sounded pretty sweet. Could also be possible it's just not your thing. It happens. I dont like klipsch sound but lots of people enjoy it.

I'm also wondering if you can't really go off of how they sound in a store with gear all over the place vs your own room? These should blow my Polks out of the water, it has me confused.

txcoastal1

Maybe a more laid back sound is your style. What bugged you?
Were these on an open floor or listening room? Was it all frequencies that bothered you?
What kind of music were you listening too? Was it your flavor?
Nothing wrong wrong at all.

Many people don't like the forward sound of Ushers diamonds, I do. in particular with jazz, blues, and classical.

Focal can be presumed on the forward side, many equate this to certain precision.

Nightfall

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Maybe a more laid back sound is your style. What bugged you?
Were these on an open floor or listening room? Was it all frequencies that bothered you?
What kind of music were you listening too? Was it your flavor?
Nothing wrong wrong at all.

Many people don't like the forward sound of Ushers diamonds, I do. in particular with jazz, blues, and classical.

The midrange and lower treble sounded too forward with the deep bass kind of in the background, midbass punch was there though. It was a listening room but there was gear on the side walls, seating area was clear with nothing between the seating and the speakers. It was a Parasound P5 preamp, A21 amp, and my Yamaha turntable with Denon DL-110 cart on it.

If I were to want to audition more expensive speakers with a 'laid back' sound to them what brands would I want to be listening to? Not that I can afford $7,000 speakers, but I do want to do some listening. I seem to enjoy slightly recessed midrange.

txcoastal1

On the upper scale but laid back is Dynaudio off the top of my head, Sanders ESL, Harbeth speakers I'll think of others

mikeyb128

I've was told by the dealer that the berillium tweeter takes 2-300 hours to settle in. And most perceive them as too bright at first. I listened to them in a dedicated treated room. Forward yes but definitely not bright. I was shocked at how much bass could come out of 6 1/2 inch drivers.

[Deleted User]

here's the culprits: 'Parasound Halo gear'

MrBuhl

Interesting, this is a speaker brand I've been dying to get my ears on, and have nearly pulled the trigger on a smaller set in the recent past. Hmm, I do enjoy detailed.

Emlyn

rednedtugent wrote: »

here's the culprits: 'Parasound Halo gear'

Agree, there are better choices for pairing with Focal speakers for music listening. B&K, (older) Classe, and tube pre-amps and amps are ones I have experienced.

tonyb

MrBuhl wrote: »

Interesting, this is a speaker brand I've been dying to get my ears on, and have nearly pulled the trigger on a smaller set in the recent past. Hmm, I do enjoy detailed.

You should get your ears on them. We all know reasons why any brand might sound bad. Poor room/setup, bad synergy between gear, cables, preference....yada yada.

Like Mickey said, that tweet is going to take some time to settle down though. A better pairing with these speaks is the McCormack amp over the Parasound they were using or some higher quality tube gear. Don't x them off the list from one bad listening session. These are the type of speakers that benefit from good SS amplification and a good tube pre.

I'm kinda shocked though looking at the back, only one set of speaker posts for a floor stander.

Toolfan66

I personally like Focal, but I am saving my pennies for a set of Ushers..

As stated above I think it had more to do with Synergy or just the room..

tonyb

Agree Skip, how many actually do that though ? Most higher end dealers do, but it's a joke at some others.

I know you do, or at least try to find the best synergy to showcase the pieces. To me, thats what will sell a product. Some places have the snot nosed stock boy setting up systems who has no idea.

steveinaz

Speaker preferences are like food preferences. My wife LOVES spinach; and its great for you---but I hate it. Speakers should be picked based on enjoyment level--not price or prestige.

tonyb

That should go without saying Steve. Now go eat some spinach Popeye. lol

steveinaz

yuk. Where's my bag of mini snickers?

tonyb

steveinaz wrote: »

yuk. Where's my bag of mini snickers?

Ha...I keep a bag of mini Reeses PB cups myself.

Upstatemax

When I switched away from my Polk LSi9's to the 806V's I LOVED all the things that you don't seems to. Lol

I liked the more forward, punchy midrange, vocals seem to fly out of the Focal's. I will absolutely agree that they do need to break in. They did seem a tad bright when brand new, but after a few weeks, they smoothed out and I notice a more forward presentation than my old LSi's, but never harsh or too bright for me.

One of the things that drove me crazy about all of my old Polk speakers is that they always seemed to be a bit bloated for my taste, so I like the leaner sound of my Focal speakers.

The 806V's in my 2ch system are connected to a Parasound P5 and 1500A amp. I enjoy the combo, but I would like to get tubes mixed in some day. Just to see what I get.

mikeyb128

Upstatemax wrote: »

When I switched away from my Polk LSi9's to the 806V's I LOVED all the things that you don't seems to. Lol

I liked the more forward, punchy midrange, vocals seem to fly out of the Focal's. I will absolutely agree that they do need to break in. They did seem a tad bright when brand new, but after a few weeks, they smoothed out and I notice a more forward presentation than my old LSi's, but never harsh or too bright for me.

One of the things that drove me crazy about all of my old Polk speakers is that they always seemed to be a bit bloated for my taste, so I like the leaner sound of my Focal speakers.

The 806V's in my 2ch system are connected to a Parasound P5 and 1500A amp. I enjoy the combo, but I would like to get tubes mixed in some day. Just to see what I get.

You described how I feel about them perfectly. They excel in vocals. I find myself listening to music I don't normally listen to and loving it. I will be hooking mine up to a little dot tube integrated this weekend. Will let you know how it goes. Not the best quality tube amplification, but has some nice mullards in there.

cnh

I've heard earlier versions of all those models (above). And I must say that I also found them a little too bright. I do agree that that Be tweeter if it is not broken in will take your ears out! To be honest the most agreeable sounding speaker between the 800 series and the Be towers for me, were the Focal Profile 918 towers (no longer in production but between the two series in price)-these speakers WERE NOT in any way too forward but rather produced a detailed holographic space that enveloped the listener. Nothing harsh. I assume they shared the alum/mag inverted dome the 806s have but they were much "sweeter" sounding than 805s/6s? Crossovers? Cabinets (the Profiles had the tapered back, sloped front cabinet).

No doubt the gear also made a difference. The Profiles were hooked to a TOTL Pioneer CDP (PD-D9MK..) that is still one of my favorite pieces. The Focal Bes were NOT (I believe they were on a Cambridge Audio CDP-and I generally find them a little too sterile for my tastes). They were also in different rooms, etc. So set up?

WLDock

nbrowser wrote: »

... Fast forward a bit of time and I actually chose to install Focal speakers into my truck of all places due to their sound quality, go figure.

Focal makes some very nice drivers for the car. I had a three-way set of the Poly Kevlars back in the day. There newer Utopia Be is off the charts good and costly. Even in the car audio there were some that do not care for Focal over some other brands.

I have yet to listen to a lot of their home stuff but based on the cones.... It seems the Flax cone speakers are a progression of the good and bad of the Poly and W cones that many love or hate. Would like to spend more time with Focal....They have a lot of engineering in their drivers.

mikeyb128

Was bored today, so went and Listened to the electras and sopra 2 today. Sounded fantastic. The sopra in white looked a lot better than expected. They were beautiful!

RamZet

I have a client who has them paired with tube amps and another pair with a Krell amp.
They sound nice, very detailed. I Would put them in the same ball park as B&W speakers.

New24k

You were just listening to the wrong Focal... lol

RamZet

DSkip wrote: »

RamZet wrote: »

I have a client who has them paired with tube amps and another pair with a Krell amp.
They sound nice, very detailed. I Would put them in the same ball park as B&W speakers.

Let's be nice now.

I love B&W.

mikeyb128

New24k wrote: »

You were just listening to the wrong Focal... lol

At 120,000 a pair

Joey_V

Love me some bw, love me some focal.

That's my problem. I love too many things

Mikey081057

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/170400/i-love-focal#latest

mantis

It's ok not to like a high end beautiful sweet sounding speakers and like your old polks. Look at it this way, your not lusting after them and planning on spending tons of cash on a new 2 channel system.

On a side note I like the entire Focal line, incredibly accurate speakers with a very comfortable easy listening presentation.