Anyone else have experience with both the Focal Electra 1038 Be and the Aerial Acoustics 7T?

I was interested in the 1028 be and really fell for their presentation....until I played supertramp breakfast in America and the shop owner couldn’t turn the volume down fast enough. They are amazing with good newer recordings, but I enjoy a lot of 70’s rock and they just didn’t do anything to help that music.

OK with quality in - quality out..... Have you found anything that takes crap in and quality out? What was the amp with the Demo? It's my understanding the 1028's do tubes well?

Although I love what engineers did with channel separation tricks on recordings from the 70's, the vast majority of recordings from that era lack the resolution levels present in later and better recordings of today. Digital remastering of an old recording can increase resolution and give you the impression of better sound quality. It can also inaccurately color the sound of the recording if the engineer isn't careful. I've found the 1028be to be very accurate to my ears and will always accurately transmit the signal that's fed into them. Regardless of the age of the recording, if the recording sucks, so will the sound projected from an accurate speaker.

1038Be vs 7t
 

I spent a few months listening to 1038BEs,Bw802,803, Totem Element Metal, Sonus Faber OlympicaIII. At the end it was 1038s,803d and the 7T. I decided the Focals were a little bright and were too tall. I bought the 7Ts and still have them and enjoy them. However I've had them for a while and sometimes I think I have a fever and it isnt for more cow bell. The cure isnt new speakers, its taking the socks off and listening to the 7Ts. I did look longingly for several days at Ivans Canton K3s though

Thanks for sharing. Would you mind sharing the chains on which you demoed the Focal Electra 1038 Be and the Aerial Acoustics 7T? Were the demos on the same chains in the same room?

I've heard the 7T now in three different rooms, a couple at a dealer and one at a friend's house. They sounded great in the dealer and horrible at my friend's house (vs. his other KEF speakers there), enough to turn me off of the Aerials for a long while. During that time I had a favorable demo of the Focal Electra 1028 Be on a Luxman integrated at another dealer, even listening on poorly recorded rock/punk at ~90dB average SPL measured at listening position. Haven't heard the 1038 or any Electra in-home however.