Focal Electra BE series

Two years ago, I drove four hours to Delaware to audition Focal Sopra 2’s.  Also at the time, I listened to Electra 1028 BE ’s and 1038 BE 2’s.  I took my own amps and cables.   First was the 1028’s.  To my ears they sounded very good at low levels but when pressed with complex orchestral pieces at higher volumes they lost some of their ability to reproduce the music accurately.  The Sopra 2’s were next and to my ears, from the first moment, I felt the mid range and upper end were too revealing.  For instance, I could hear more (too prominent) of the studio reverb effect on female voices during certain tracks which was a distraction to me.   I knew the tracks well and never hear this separation of voice/effect before.  Then I listened to the 1038 BE 2’s.  I liked them better than either of the previous two.  They had much more composure than the 1028 BE2’s at higher volume on the same orchestral tracks.  The mid and upper range was better balanced than the Sopra 2 to my ears.
 I went there hoping to buy the Sopra 2, but walked away with the 1038 BE2’s.  They are a wonderful sounding speaker and yes, they are a steal at the price they are selling for now.  I would advocate the OP try to listen to a pair, but doubt you would be disappointed if purchasing without a demo especially at new retail of $6,999.  I understand Focal needs to keep developing new products but the Electra is one of it’s success stories and for good reason.  The ‘W’ woofers and midrange are well implemented in this design and share the same frequency response as the Sopra 3 ( 33Hz - 40kHz )!  Too bad they apparently will eliminate these  from their lineup.  Regardless, I’m just glad I made the decision to purchase them.

Agreed.  It is a musically engaging speaker with excellent soundstaging capabilities and fantastic imaging.  Being sold now for a song.  An endangered species in the Focal line.  Going, going, gone.

Kosst,
Actually the beryllium tweeter is not the “oldest and brightest” they make for the current line of Electra 1028 and 1038’s. The 1028 and 1038 be 2 were given the larger, 1 1/16th” (27mm) ‘IAL’ second generation tweeter about 4 years ago.  The previous 1028 and 1038’s has the older, smaller tweeter.  Although implemented differently ‘IHL’ vs. ‘IAL’ it indeed is the same size tweeter as on the Sopra and yes, Utopia series (27mm).

From Focal’s press release 2009.  
(Okay it was more than 4 years ago).  
“Live from” Utopia 3
”Electra 1000 BE 2 adopts the same pure Beryllium 1 1/4 (27 mm)) dome (instead of 1” (25mm)) as Utopia 3, for a real improvement of efficiency and response around the cut-off frequency, which permits an easier cross-reference with the midrange speaker.  Of course the tweeter keeps the IAL type load initiated by Electra and also used for Utopia 3.”