Focal Chorus 826V, Simply incredible.

I have not listened to the Chora line, are they a newer line? I'll have to go check the website

Everything is crazy right now, I hate what things cost.

I was to report some sad new for me.
The Mythos ST Def Tech speakers are out performing the 826v's in just about every single way I can compare. I'm gonna being up some power amps and feed the 826v's more power but I think this will only make the ST's shine even more and move forward in this shoot out.

The Mythos ST's have been in my system for over a Decade. I put them up for sale a few times here and other places and got low balled and refused to sell them for less that I wanted. I'm glad I did as no speaker so far that I have purchased or just had her for demo failed compared to them. All models like the LSIM703's , the Totem Arrows and bookshelf models , the L200's all where excellent speakers but came up short when I compared them to the ST's.

Sandy Gross did something special with the ST's. They are a remarkable speaker. I even took home a pair of Def Tech STS's years ago and directly compared them and the ST's stomped out the STS's and the STS's are crazy good sounding speakers when the ST isn't in the same room. What I was going for back then as a smaller foot print. But the ST just smacked them around and I took them back to our shop. I don't remember if I posted about that experience as I was kinda pissed I really wanted the STS .

Anyway, I'm probably not going to do a full surround system now with the 826v's. I'm probably gonna move them to 2 channel duty with a sub. They sound great by themselves but when you run them in small , cut them out at 60 or 80 hz and add in a Velodyne DD10 Plus , they become more open and effortless. The Velodyne's is another special speaker( subwoofer) I own.

I'm gonna bring home a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 300 's and see how they can do. Maybe Revel? I also want to try the Reseve 600's or the 700's. The list for speakers is to damn long. Maybe I could revisit Dynaudio, my buddy is a Dynaudio dealer so I could borrow a pair from him and shoot all this madness out and see if anything can beat the ST's.

Maybe I just favor their sound and presentation. I thought about that a few times last night and this morning while I was doing my tests. But I closed my eyes and tried to get lost in the music and things just kept popping out when I compared the 2.

I have a Audiophile JAMO speaker selector box that I might use with a amp and switch the speakers on the fly. I can have my wife select the speakers back and forth and I can really dig in. I kept pausing the music , switching the speaker wires and then getting back to sitting and listening. So maybe a fast switch I can get a more fair compare??? Not sure it's so not fair, I really love the way the 826v's sound until I put on the Def Tech's and then I don't want to switch back.

This sucks.

Emlyn wrote: »

I'm thinking part of the different presentation may be related to the big differences in tweeter height.

It's only a few inches. I can tilt the Focal's back just a tad to make up for the difference . I gotta find some factory Carpet spikes / levels for them. They are missing off these.

WLDock wrote: »

I was really fond of the Focal Aria line when I heard them. However, I'm sure if you compare them to the older Focal Elektra.... some have said there is a noticeable improvement as you go up the Focal chain.

Then to compare them to Monitor Audio, Revel, etc. there will for sure be audible differences. Man speakers are so personal and different in sound and character. Keep listening... maybe there is an ST killer out there...but at what cost?

Arendal Sound for example is a newer internet direct line in the US that is supposed to be pretty special and is getting great reviews. Just one of so many other products out there these days that I would like to listen to and wonder how they compare to others out there. Will see...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c22mfsEDgs

I so agree with you. I'm so use to how the Def Tech's sound and I favor their presentation. I wonder many times why I both to consider to change them out.

Honestly, I'm tired of Powered towers although you would never know the ST's are how I have them dialed in and they don't bump like other powered towers do, they blend perfectly and don't call any attention to themselves, I don't run LFE to them and I also run them small 80 hz . I have 2 Velodyne DD 10 plus subwoofers to handle the low frequencies plus LFE . They are remarkable for both movies and music.

It's the extra wiring that gets me especially everytime I want to fill around behind the rack, change out gear, I gotta deal with not only the speaker wires but the power cords as well plus they take up 2 outlets on the power center.

I'm also planning on them failing again. Both subwoofers went bad over the years I have owned them. It's a common issue for all Subwoofers , Sub amps just go bad over time and now Def Tech doesn't have any more replacement amps. I wish I would have purchased another set of them when they where available. SO, when they go again, I fear I'll have a useless pair of speakers unless I can find someone who is either selling a pair with good subwoofer amps or a repair shop that can fix them without support from Def Tech, I was told there isn't any parts to fix them either. Might not be true but might also be true.

Ok,
So for fast switching and demoing these speakers vs my Mythos ST towers, I installed a Jamo Speaker selector switch. It has the ability to take banana jacks so to make it fair and totally tonally the same, I used all Audioquest 14 gauge SLP speaker wire. I used banana jacks on all ends.

This showed a difference in DB output. The ST towers using a SLP, was 2 db louder than the Focal's. So I had to find 2 positions on the actual volume dial to make It more fair. I try to take out as many variables to make it as close as possible so DB isn't a factor. I adjust placement a touch so both speakers in their positions would give me the best in their locations presentation I could with the space I have provided.
I considered moving my Sub on the right and my Wife's small tree on the left but I was able to adjust them good enough to evaluate.

So same results. The ST's are just the superior sounding to me speaker. A curse , blessing or familiarity , either way or all 3 , they just have a hold on me I can't release. I will say with the DB adjustment , it was slightly closer. It's amazing how louder seems better. When the Focal's played at the same volume dial level, they play slightly quieter, enough for me to break out the SPL.

They are truly a very nice sounding ,very pleasing tone. I think they might be very neutral. I know the ST's are tuned to Sandy's liking, they where his babies like the SRT's where Mathew's. Sandy was very proud of the ST towers when they developed them all those years ago.

I keep looking at the Focal Chorus 826v's and absolutely love the audiophile aesthetic. The Dark I guess ash , charcoal wood grain color is something elegant. I don't like the front firing port BUT it does allow for closer to the wall placement as I tried it closer to the wall, pulled out 15 inches and 36 inches. Really didn't make much difference as there was no loading from the back wall. They are also down firing but I guess because it's also front ported , it's less energy firing downward of 50% less than a conventional downward only design.

The French has a way to attract you in especially with looks, they hit a nice home run on sound quality , sound strange and very nice clear detail. Very airy speakers which I like.

If I find a matching center channel and a pair of surrounds , I might just for the sheer hell of it try them out as well. I'll be using my Atmos speakers as I'm adding a second pair so I can have top front and Top middles. I have middles only right now.