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From B&W 804 D3 to Focal Sopra 2?

I posted this on Reddit as well so apologies in advance to those who may have seen it.

 I have the Anthem STR Pre and Power amp. A dealer is selling a pair of Sopra 2s and he said my Anthem stack is very capable of running the Sopras.

I then read an ad from another seller and he said a lot of power is needed - dual mono (?) or better yet, mono blocks. I also watched a youTube short with that combination. Two people said the Anthem was “bottlenecking” the speakers - i.e. the potential of the Sopra 2 is constrained by the abilities of the Anthem.

Focal puts recommended power at 300 and my Anthem has 400 a side.
So I thought I’d ask thoughts are out there in internetland.

Currently, I’m running B&W 804 D3. I was running them with a 200 wpc integrated and I bought this Anthem set because it was sold to me for a really good price. I’m just not cranking up the volume.  I’ve owned several B&Ws and have found them to be weak in bass.  Improvement has been marginal over succeeding series.

Thanks in advance!

US; odd living/dining combo approx 13 x 30 ft; vaulted ceiling - 8 ft on low end; 15 higher end.; Classical, pop, EDM, folk/C&W.

128x128tobaccoleafpie

Showing 1 response by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,783 posts
 

My overall impressions are mixed.

I did an in-depth analysis on Focal’s years ago, and have been watching the reviews and measurements ever since. My impression is that Focal deliberately makes their speakers either "hard to drive" or "scale with amplifier." Two terms that mean the same thing.

Both the B&W and the Focals also suffer from odd off-axis oddities which limits the sweet spot.

If you want the best out of any Focal speaker you should be prepared to get a sturdy amplifier. I’m not sure how the Anthem will fare honestly, it may be fine. I am with James though that you should consider Revel and Monitor Audio as excellent counter points that are easier to drive and will give you a wider listening window. They are also going to sound somewhat laid back at first.

Otherwise, I think that the B&W and Focals each have their quirks and I don't see switching these speakers as much more than a lateral move.  IMHO, keep what you have for now and switch to something your ears tell you is a real positive improvement.

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