My "Mostly" Focal Speakers

[knotscott]

My speakers were made back when Focal was still marketing raw drivers to manufacturers and speaker component dealers, so I hope they're worthy of posting in the Focal thread even though they don't have a "Focal" logo on the cabinet exterior. (Sixty-seven percent of the driver compliment is made by Focal, 94% by driver weight, 70% by octaves ).

These are the Sterling Acoustics Acumen II, made by a small local business in 1989 using the Focal 8K415S woofer in a transmission line, and 5K013L midbass driver in an aperiodic chamber that vents into the t-line, and uses only the acoustic rolloff from the chamber as a low pass filter, so no series capacitors to the midbass. (Tweeter is a modified Seas H400). The crossover is proprietary 2nd order, made with CAT caps, Litz wire inductors, non-inductive resistors, and wired with Kimber Kable. 51"H, 110#, ~ 89db sensitivity, 30-20khz. Each driver has it's own input, so they can be bi-amped or tri-amped. A modified pair of Dynaco 70s with the VTA driver boards and Gold Lion KT66 outputs being run as single channel monoblocks drive the midbass and tweeter. The signal for the woofers below 100hz and active subwoofer below 50hz pass through an active crossover and are driven by a vintage Kenwood solid state integrated amp....lots of flexibility with that setup.

I've enjoyed these speakers from the beginning. They replaced an impressive pair of Merlin 4B+ that I also liked, but the Sterlings have deeper more natural bass, and better midrange clarity and coherency (in my rooms and IMO). They're now in their 2nd home, and have improved with every system upgrade I've made. The tweeters got fresh ferro fluid about two years ago, otherwise are all original. The only speakers I've heard that I liked as much or more were Magico S5 MkII, Avalon Ascents, and a modified pair of Hales...all driven by Convergent Audio Technology electronics. Much to my wife's dismay, I have no plans to get rid of these any time soon.

[Famester V1]

WoW.
I happen to have the same Kenwood integrated amp.
I purchased it back from when I was at college in UF 1976
It still works great!
Nice setup!

[clpetersen]

Love the diagram!

[knotscott]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

Love the diagram!

LOL. I kinda like it too... I put it together after I rewired everything with the active crossover and bi-amp setup so my boys will know how it works when I've served my time here.

[audibleguy]

Hello Scott,
Are those speakers you have the ones that Scott Spencer built when he ran Sterling Acoustics? I had a few pairs of his speakers and know of Scott when he ran the Eastman Audio Club and we had the WNY Audio Society here in the Buffalo, NY area.

[knotscott]

Originally Posted by audibleguy

Hello Scott,
Are those speakers you have the ones that Scott Spencer built when he ran Sterling Acoustics? I had a few pairs of his speakers and know of Scott when he ran the Eastman Audio Club and we had the WNY Audio Society here in the Buffalo, NY area.

Yours truly! What a blast from the past! I don't think I can originate a message yet, so please message me ...would love to share more.

[audio bill]

Originally Posted by knotscott

Yours truly! What a blast from the past! I don't think I can originate a message yet, so please message me ...would love to share more.

Messaging requires a subscription which also gives you access to the Marketplace as well as deals on new gear purchases from Legend Audio & Video. At the following link you can see the additional benefits of becoming an Aficionado Platinum Member.

[knotscott]

Originally Posted by audio bill

Messaging requires a subscription which also gives you access to the Marketplace as well as deals on new gear purchases from Legend Audio & Video. At the following link you can see the additional benefits of becoming an Aficionado Platinum Member.

Thank you! I'm now an official "Subscriber".