Focal Electra 1038be owners,

Room size has little influence except for subs, 90% is seating distance.

Focal states 93dB sensitivty, but Stereophile and SoundStage/NRC have shown other Electra Be models to be about 3dB lower than spec, so 90dB, which is still above average.

Room gain for a tower speaker is about 3dB, so back up to 93dB; seating distance of 15ft is about a 9dB loss, so now 84dB.

If you want peaks of 100dB, you would need +16dB, which would be ~40W.
Now, it’s not good to operate at max wattage all the time, so I would say a 75W amp would suffice (again, assuming wanting 100dB peaks).

Now, it’s impedance drops pretty low and for bass frequencies, so I would suggest getting an amp that states 150W+ into 4ohm.

"listening position about 14-15 ft away"
Unless your room doubles as a living space,
distance seems excessive.
Your ears are the final judge. My room is a little narrower-13'4 and longer-28'. I use the Cardas setup. http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_calculators.php
Not for everyone, but I find it the best compromise for all the audio geek sonic requirements. Room treatment, along with the Cardas setup, gives my midfi setup a  boost more than cable madness and ridiculous tweaks.
The Focal 1038's are great speakers. They are on my used list radar.I presently have speakers with dimensions not far off from the 1038's.

Based on the calculator, speakers would be somewhere spaced between 6-7' apart, so your listening sofa would be positioned appropriately for that distance. Unlikely 15 ft away unless, your dealing with living space compromises.
In the end, trust your ears.

They will be fine in a 14-21’ room. 

Great speakers, especially at current clearance prices.  I play my 1038s in a 20’ (wide) x 30’ (deep) x 9.5’ (high) area of an open floor plan (family room/kitchen).  Listening position is about 9’ from the speakers, which are about 8’ apart and 32” from the 20’ wall.  Hope this helps.

I have a pair in a room 16 x 26 x 8.5. 
It's too live for my liking, and optimal placement is not an option, but imo it's certainly big enough, and I would suspect your room is big enough as well. 
I considered both the 1038's and the 1028's, and I'm glad I went with the . 1038's

Good afternoon all!  Not sure who may still be on this thread or now but current owner of the 1038 be II's and looking for a recommended 2 channel or even 3 channel amp for mostly home theater use.  I have the sopra center and 2, 1038s as my towers. Currently running all 3 channels with Anthem 325 thorough a Marantz 7705 processor.  Again, looking for 95% HT use and 5% music/streaming, etc.  No vinyl or cd collection.  oh budget... can be anywhere between 3000 upwards of 7k tops, but at the top of that budget there MUST BE a great deal of difference and not just minor differences.  Towers are roughly 11' away from MLP and center is the same distance.   Thank you!  

Jason

For two-channel: Parasound A21
For three-channel: Parasound A31

I use the prior with the 1038Be and it is fantastic (yet inexpensive).

Question to 1038Be owners: at what frequency do you crossover from the mains to your subs (assuming that you have one or two)?

I power them using the Parasound A21 (350 WPC into 4 ohms) but still get better sound with twin front-firing subs handling frequencies below 60Hz or 80Hz.

Kind of a bummer as the crossover from woofers to midrange driver is a low 230Hz.

I've a pair of 1038BE speakers. I use them with an old Rotel amplifier (RA-985BX, 2x100W (8Ohm; damping faktor: 400) that I want to replace. The list includes these amplifiers:
Gato Dia-250S Gato Amp-150 Kinki Studio EX-7M Hegel H190
Has anyone tried any of them with 1038BE? Was there consistency or did it sound wrong?
The sound isn’t bad with Rotell either but I’m looking for a faster more precise sound. I want a fast, accurate, opened sound but I want to avoid sharp highs.

Thanks.

 Cant comment on any of your listed choices, but I highly suggest that whatever amp you choose , it should be able to drive a 4 ohm or lower load. These speakers need current.

What I'm using with the 1038be are the mono blocks PS Audio M700. These are excellent and powerful class D amps, going very well with the Focals. But, as you know, both are modern kits, the clarity is phenomenal, bass is there, highs as good and mids too. What is missing perhaps is the closeness and warmth of the vintage sound from 1975-1990.
Has anybody tried any vintage integrateds or modern tubes with these Focals?
Thanks.

I've had great success with my 1038BE with ARC VT80SE, Raven Silhouette MK2, Odyssey Kismet.