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Focal Speakers The Spirit of Sound

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  #11  
Old 12-16-2014, 02:26 PM
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Xmas came a day early and have the 807Ws singing away. Very well packed in the factory boxes. The only complaint is that the tape sticks too well to the cloth 'glove' each of them comes in and was a PITA getting it loose. Wish all my problems were so minor.
Beautiful finish. The red is considerably more subdued then had thought it would be. Flawless piano finish on both the red and the black that goes around the center portion.
Put them on the stands, hooked them up, and, voila................ music. First thought is how fast they sound. Think that is an attribute of the inverted metal-dome tweeter compared to the soft dome tweeter in the speakers they replaced. The second is the detail. Lovely. Both are characteristics that I favor, so, thus far am favorably impressed. Smooth transition into the presence range and on down. Don't really expect much in the way of deeper bass for a while.
Have left the grills (separate grills for each driver) in place and will do so until are broken in. Hopefully, only gets better from here.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag

Last edited by Formerly YB-2; 12-16-2014 at 02:31 PM.
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  #12  
Old 12-16-2014, 06:33 PM
Glisse Glisse is offline
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Good news! And I love the red!!

Those W drivers are quite stiff so you should should "pound" them at inappropriate levels whenever possible
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Old 12-17-2014, 02:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glisse View Post
John, I have never heard any Simaudio amps. Their reputation seems to be for a clean and neutral sound, not sure whether that generalisation fits with what you hear from yours. The inverted aluminium/magnesium dome tweeter that Focal have used can be aggressive with some amps. I think it needs a touch of warmth to balance out, and I am not sure Simaudio has that? Although in the new Aria range, this tweeter seems much calmer (they changed the suspension). This difference is quite significant. I use the Aria 906 with a small Naim system (UnitiServe/V1/NAP100) which is a well balanced and musical combination. Put an 8 series Focal, or an Electra series, and it is too bright/fatiguing for my taste. But the latter two balance nicely for me with an Arcam: A38 in my case. Which in turn sounds too thick and slow with the Aria. And so it goes The W series mid/bass driver is punchier and more transparent than the new flax based drivers used in the Aria, as you would expect.
Glisse..... Thank you for that. A local dealer has a pair of Electra 1038 Be IIs that I have listened to driven by Naim and liked. Getting my 700i over to him is not really possible, but so is him bringing the speakers to me at the moment. Wanted to see if anyone had paired them before and could report.
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Old 12-17-2014, 08:59 AM
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Am also noticing how good they sound at "the wife's asleep" listening levels. Their 'smoothness' (my term for the fact that the 807W seems to have no 'holes' in the response) does not drop off at low listening levels as much as many other speakers I've listened to. Remains balanced down to quite low levels, which is a pleasant surprise.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag
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Old 01-02-2015, 02:57 PM
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I love my little red speakers. Mine are the Usher 520's and are currently doing surround duty in my HT all Usher setup. If my Paradigm Mini Monitors ever die, I'll get another pair of Usher 520's to take their place.

019.jpg
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  #16  
Old 01-03-2015, 05:48 PM
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Surprising to me, I hardly notice the red. Is only the side panels, which present a quite small cross-section from the front. I notice the piano black that front & top present much more than the red. The Focals are sounding great. Looking forward to getting the SLI-80 back into the system when all the mods are complete.

Did the first "serious" listening last night and am very pleased. Couple more weeks and will try some grills-on/grills-off comparisons.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag

Last edited by Formerly YB-2; 01-04-2015 at 11:58 AM.
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  #17  
Old 01-22-2015, 08:13 PM
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It's been almost three weeks since the last post. I'm curious to know your thoughts/opinions on the 807Ws. Not sure if they had enough break in time yet, but still curious to know.
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  #18  
Old 01-23-2015, 10:45 PM
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Still very pleased. We were in the Caribbean for two of those weeks, so not much listening in the interim. Plan to listen most of Saturday during our snow/ice/rain storm.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag
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  #19  
Old 01-30-2015, 02:18 PM
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Have had a couple sessions where I could do some, what for me, passes for 'head banging' levels of listening. Probably needed to loosen the surrounds on the mid-woofer. Am very satisfied with what I am hearing. The detail, the seeming 'ease' with which these speakers put out the sound, the depth they reach to (for their size) as well as the depth of the sound-stage are very satisfying. They 'get out of the way' and let one listen to the performance. I won't go into "review mode" detail as I've made several other substantial changes during the break-in period (new WW Silver 7 ICs, Stillpoints & Rollerblocks (all Ivan's fault ), new CDP) which have also contributed to the improvement in the sonic picture presented by my system. But, suffice it to say, am very pleased. And, happy that my ears are still in good enough condition to hear the changes.
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Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag
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