The Focal Electra 1000 Be Loudspeakers

treitz3

http://www.tweakshop.com/Electra.html



There is a pair of these sitting in a showroom [the floorstanders] that I have heard many a speaker in at Tweeter here in Charlotte. I finally had a chance to hear these bad boys today. First impression? Needed mo' better amplification as the bass was loose and not really defined. This was my first listen on a real pure beryllium tweeter from JM lab and the tweeter I was impressed with. I have the TNC tweeter on my Focal 807v's which sounds similar because it is basically a spin-off from the technology gained from the pure beryllium tweeter, but it just adds a better dimension to the music. Imaging is still not as pinpoint as my tastes require but it is an improvement over the TNC tweeter.

The very, very uppermost frequencies are slightly higher with a hint of harshness, but again, I believe that this is a result of the amplification.

It was an enjoyable speaker, not bright or heavy but it seemed to have a decent blend of all of the combined frequencies. Chimes sounded unREAL on these speakers. Very nice ambiance.

I will be going back in soon and re-evaluating these speakers whenever they get some better amplification [which they say will be soon] and I will offer another evaluation as well as a full list of gear and hookups used. Retail - $11,000.00

mulveling

Thanks for the impressions!
I'll have to give the local tweeter a visit (the only one to survive the latest round of store closings) and see if they've got these beauties ready to saddle up for a ride.

I auditioned a pair of the Focal Profile 918's at Tweeter a while back and wasn't terribly impressed; like you I suspect something about the setup wasn't optimal. It was driven by a $2.5K Krell integrated & $4K SACD standard; not bad by any means, but I doubt there was any thought put into speaker/seating positioning and all Krell gear might not be the best match; my overall impression was clean but a bit dry and sterile.

PS: If you're looking a different high-end take on top notch imaging, I highly recommend giving the higher-end Tannoy dual-concentrics a listen. The theory is excellent, the execution has been refined over 50+ years, and there should be a number of nice speakers in the Prestige line around the same MSRP.

treitz3

mulveling wrote: »

I auditioned a pair of the Focal Profile 918's at Tweeter a while back and wasn't terribly impressed; like you I suspect something about the setup wasn't optimal. It was driven by a $2.5K Krell integrated & $4K SACD standard; not bad by any means, but I doubt there was any thought put into speaker/seating positioning and all Krell gear might not be the best match; my overall impression was clean but a bit dry and sterile.

I'll be damned. This is the last setup they had here in the same room here in Charlotte and from what I recall my evaluation was like yours almost word for word. The SACD standard they probably got rid of because it kept having issues wit skipping and not reading/tracking properly. They ended up going through three units last year on the showroom floor. Dry? Sterile? You bet. I wasn't too god awful impressed with the lower octaves as well with that particular setup either. I think they are running Cambridge now, but to be honest I could be way off because I didn't care about that. I just wanted to hear the speakers.

As for the pinpoint imaging? I have that with the revalator tweeter in the Tyler Acoustic's Talos 7U's and though they don't have the ambiance and uppermost "ping" and completeness in the highest of frequencies, it makes up for in imaging, especially when it comes to live music.

Next time when I go in I will spend some quality time with the setup playing my test albums as well as some albums that really push the envelope of things that are very challenging for a system to reproduce. It should be fun!

mulveling

Yeah man, totally agree. Good to hear someone else hearing the same things I did

I know what you mean about the Revelator tweet; I had the Taylo Ref Monitors and they were just fabulous. I'm still amazed a fabric dome can do what it did. I even had the Linbrooks w/ Millenium tweet and didn't like them nearly as much as the Taylos. It could have been a problem with the larger speaks disagreeing with my room, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was just missing that Revelator. Always was sad to see those Taylos go (let go of the same pair twice ), but I keep wanting to get that kind of imaging and mids&highs clarity plus more low frequency power - and honestly that's hard to find in a reasonably priced floor-stander. I might have tried 7U's (heh, the logical conclusion), but I love what I've heard from Tannoy's DC drivers so I've stuck with that.

Yashu

On a good amp those probably sing... There are no amps at tweeter that even remotely deserve to have one of those speakers hooked up to it. (I don't remember tweeter ever selling Krell)

Tweeter does have a really good return policy though... guilt free home testing anyone?

Chicomoralessxm

Hmmmm thats sounds nice............wish i was closer lol

Bill Ayotte

Yeah, Treitz3, get your ear on a set of Tannoy Dimensions....Those are f'in incredible.

[Deleted User]

I believe focals are very nice speakers. why? I demo'd them as well.. the setup of was not all that great... but i did compare them to all the others available including the lsi9s at tweeter. anyhow.. i am a proud owner of them the 908s not the be line... to me they are the best sounding..