Amp suggestion for Legacy Focus

Well, it took a while but I've purchased the amps. Simaudio W-10's. WOW! Those Focus have come to life! Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I went with high current and damping factor. What a difference.

Glad that you found something that you absolutely "love" : )

Out of curiosity, would you mind sharing with us the various amps that you considered, which you ended up trying out ? Where there any special traits about this combo that really seemed to stand out to you ? I have to assume that there is "something" special about this combo as you ended up buying them : ) Sean
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What made you finally choose the Simaudio? I have followed your thread because I have gone through similar choices. I also had Infinity Kappa 8's for almost 10 years. I didn't think I would ever replace them. People always claimed they were had an engineering flaw with their impedance problems but I used a McIntosh MC2205 on them with no problems. Once I finally upgraded to a pair of Legacy Focus, the fun began. The Focus doesn't appear to produce the lowest bass frequencies as the Kappas but the Focus are much more detailed and dynamic. The McIntosh is a sweet sounding amp but it is a little too ambient sounding. On the Kappas, I guess I liked that since they through sound around all over the place, completely filling the room but the Emit K's could be a little bright. I wanted more of a tube sound without the hassles of a tube amp so I tried a Mark Levinson with about the same power as the McIntosh. Both amps bring out the details on the Focus but the Levinson produces more of a linear sound at all levels. With the Levinson, it doesn't matter if I am listening at low volumes to fall asleep or loud volumes to shake my living room - it always stays crystal clear and all frequencies are reproduced at the right levels relative to one another. With the Levinson, I can easily focus on any instrument at any level.

The Focus definitely has a smaller sweet spot compared to the Kappas and the Levinson allows you to get completely lost in the music when listening within the sweet spot.

In summary, I am very happy with the Levinson on my Focus as main speakers in my living room setup with also consists of a Krell 3-channel amp on the center and surrounds. The Krell is supposed to be a good match to the Levinson according to many people I have talked with. I am in the process of locating a Legacy center and Legacy surrounds to properly compliment the Focus and replace my Kappa video center and Kappa 7 surrounds. The McIntosh ended up in my bedroom on a pair of Legacy Studios and only gets played at low levels to go to sleep. I am thinking of adding a powered sub for my bedroom but my priority is first to locate Legacy speakers for my living room setup.

Gordon: Why not try your Studio's for the surrounds ? My Dad is running Classic's for his mains and Studio's for his center and surrounds. Personally, i like the Studio's better than i do the big speakers. Sean
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For Sean and Gordonghekko,
Well, as for why. First I had limited ways of demoing (is that a word?) amps. I live in Idaho and you can only guess as to what's available locally. So, I had to purchase the amps I was interested in (from alot of reading and what I was looking for) and then sell the ones that I didn't like. Needless to say this can be rather costly and time cosuming since you have to keep them all until the choice is made. That being said... I listened to the Bryston 7BST, Legacy Monoblocks, and the Moon W-10's. This is what I found with "my" Focus in "my" listening room. The Bryston's had great bass extension with excellent imaging but were overly bright on top (a little harsh with the Focus). The Legacy's were excellent overall but lacked the extra octaves in the lower frequencies, losing some slam. The Moon's had it all. Bottom end was awesome, not bright on top, midrange oh so sweet. One thing that impressed me with the Moon's were you could just keep cranking them up and they would just make those Legacy's come alive, more as the volune increased. Let me say this, all these amps were great midrange producers with the Focus speakers. Their imaging were comparable with each other. If you're doing some critical listening, there's a small sweet spot with the Focus. Neither amp lacked in this area.
Gordongekkho, I'd like to know about the lack of bass you're talking about. I found the opposite to be true. I still have my Kappa 8's and hooked them up to all these amps when I was doing my listening. I found the bass to be much more present with the Focus with all these amps than my Kappa's. Not only stronger with more slam but reaching lower in the frequency extremes. At quiet and loud listening sessions. The reason I did this was that I wanted to see what the Kappa's were capable of with some quality amplification. The Kappa's still sounded good, but they just weren't in the same league, in my opinion. I would have liked to heard these amps with the Kappa 9's however, but, when I purchased my 8's my finances weren't quite able to afford the 9's.
Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone that's put up with my newbie questions in the past. I've learned alot here on Audiogon. What I found to be the most important thing is that you have to learn what to listen for. I'm really enjoying the tuning of my system. For that education, I thank everyone. And now on to some more cable demoing... there's that word again.
Oh yea, I'm purchasing an SACD/DVD-A player and can't wait to start some listening sessions. I have quite alot of Lp's to compare, and want to see if what they say about the new formats are true. CCR SACD's here I come!