Received my pair of black lacquer Focal Sopra No2 floorstanding speakers. Have over 100 hours of break in. They sound tremendous! The other speakers I’ve auditioned with similar levels of detail and clarity in the midrange and highs have been so “edgy”, I couldn’t listen to them for very long at a seating. But these not only offer a huge amount of detail and great depth and soundstage, they are also very “musical”. I suspect that, with shrill sounding electronics they would not be so pleasant, but with a smooth sounding amplifier, to me they sound awesome!
How have you been liking these long-term? Ive been a B&W guy for such a long time, but every generation seems to get “overly” accurate/detailed/edgy. But, on the other hand, when I have heard the Focal Supra 2 or 3, sometimes the sound seems a bit veiled to me. I’m not sure if maybe it is just my own being used to such bright tweeters.
Rich P,
I am “smitten” with the setup I have now, including the Sopra No2’s. After having them for about six months, they seemed to “relax” some. Now I’ve got my system so “dialed in” that I’m not looking at other speakers.
I’ve heard the Sopra’s driven with other amps, some make them sound too bright (for my tastes), some tube amps made them sound somewhat dull and lifeless, but my McIntosh C3500 tube preamp and MC452 solid state power amp seem to be a great match.
I also have an “all digital” setup, with a PS Audio DirectStream DAC, DirectStream transport and P10 power unit! Great match for the McIntosh and Sopras. I also have a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers.
What is your room size? I’m interested in the Sopra 2’s as well as the Magico S3’s. I have a smallish room and might be asking for more trouble than I need.
My room is small, 15 ft X 13 ft, the Sopra 2 worked beautifully.
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My room is about 24x26’. When I was shopping for a pair of speakers to replace my then Totem Fire monitors, my system was in our 13x24’ living room and the floorstanding models I was considering were just too “visually overwhelming” for that size room, hence the move to our family room, with us being “empty nesters”, converted into my “man cave”.
I’ve enjoyed my Sopra No2’s now for nearly two years and have no plans to change. After having them for about six months, I noticed how they seemed to “settle down” and sound a bit more “relaxed”. I enjoy all types of music, except Country and Hip Hop, mostly Classical, Rock and Jazz and I find the Sopra’s shine with everything you throw at them.
I auditioned a LOT of speakers, before settling on the Sopra’s, all fine quality competitors in the market, but not as much to my liking.
Is anyone using the Sopra 2 or 3 with a PS Audio power amp? I was thinking about either the stereo or mono BHK with the 2 or the 3. My room is pretty big (30’ x 15’ or so) so I can handle either.
Thanks,
David
For what it’s worth I have the JM Lab (Focal) Nova Utopia Be speakers and the BHK mono blocks sound pretty good.
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Hi Ted, what amps were you using before the BHKs? Pretty good, is faint praise, depending on what you are comparing them to.
I looked up your speakers, very impressive. Has Focal abandoned the adjustments that change the angle of the upper, lower midrange, and tweeter?
That’s just the way my family speaks sometimes, I meant very good. My other amps are SimAudio W-10 monoblocks.
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