Legacy Helix Reference Speakers

Tobb: This is a very long and happy story...my current system is built around
Legacy Focus SEs since March 2010. With proper speaker, interconnect and
power cables on my system, I have been able to extract sound out of my Focus SEs
that vastly exceeds any expectations I could have had and also eclipses many more
vaunted and expensive speakers and setups I have heard in various venues over the
last 7 years. Please see my current virtual system to see a detailed list of the configuration
and where I've been holding over the past 3 years. I have an extensive CD, XRCD,
HQCD and SACD collection that spans many musical styles. No matter what I throw
at the Focus SE, they never cease to amaze at the finesse, dynamics, impact and
musicality that they are able to deliver…

One important fact is that the full potential of the Focus SE was not fully revealed
until I went with David Elrod's speaker cables, power cords and interconnects along
with Kubala ELATION AES/EBU cables and BNC clock cables. This entire mix
pulled down the walls so to speak on what my system as a whole, and in particular,
what the Focus SE put out there. The mix is (no exaggeration) a jaw dropping

Over the years I've had the following;

Home Theater 5.1 and 7.1 with passthrough 2-channel;

Focus 20/20s, Silver Screen II, 2-pair of MISTs, REL B1 subs

FocusHDs, Focus 20/20s (surrounds), Silver Screen II, 1-pair of
MISTs (rear surrounds), REL B1 subs

Focus HDs, Focus 20/20s (surrounds), Silver Screen HD, Victoria LE
(rear surrounds), REL B1 subs, best 7.1 I ever heard out of my system when
coupled with Edge NL 12.1s (2), custom built G-8s, G-8 mono, and
G-8 custom 4-channel…

Final Config: Experimental 6.1 (no center): Focus HDs, Focus 20/20s
(surrounds), Victoria LEs (rear surrounds), REL B1 subs; removing center
channel and letting Focus HDs provide phantom center with Classe SSP-600
proc was the best config of HT I ever heard.

In 2008-2009 I 'got serious' about pure 2-channel; the HT and Video industry
and its constantly changing standards, models, formats, etc….was causing mental
anguish and 'chase the dragon' syndrome that meant one was never truly done or
satisfied no matter how good things looked and sounded. I also found myself missing
2-channel whenever I was deep into immersion in a great movie with killer soundtrack
so I left all that behind and focus quite happily (even more so than ever before)
on my 2-channel experience.

As of the last 6 months or so I've had the good fortune to spend 4 listening sessions
with the new Aeris, 2 with the latest Whispers and 1 with Helix. Thanks to the gracious
hospitality of a gentleman in St. Louis I was able to spend about 8-9 solid hours over a
2-day period with that pair of Helix in his room with a wide variety of discs in hand.
I was very impressed by the size, depth, height and density of the sound stage that the
Helix delivers. The room they were in was good size, a bit smaller than my 19x24 room;
I can easily see how the Helix could require an even much larger room given what they
produce despite the fact that they sounded great in a room of similar size to my own.
I came away appreciating what I had also as a result as I really gravitate towards a speaker
that also has deep, immediate and hyper-accurates 'punch' and bass transient/decay
behavior while covering full range and having great mids and highs.

I am now contemplating my next multi-year speaker and it is looking to be AERIS
(or the potential for Whisper with integrated internal subs and the new mid and AMT
drivers) so the fun continues! In all my listening sessions at Legacy with the AERIS
I have been absolutely blown away by the Helix-like density, size and depth of the
soundstage they produce. The new mid-bass, mid-range and AMT high frequency drivers
are, I believe, Bill's crowning achievements (IMHO) thus far in driver design along
with the bass and sub-bass drivers in the AERIS that are the same drivers he brought
out in the Focus SE. The AERIS is truly a 'total package' audiophile speaker (again,
IMHO) in what it delivers. It is also at a price point that defies the over-multiplied
norm in the industry regarding what a SOTA speaker normally calls for.

I simply loved what I heard coming out the AERIS; the mids and highs had an
ultra-realistic aspect to them with instruments (percussive and otherwise) and
voices having the naturalness and true 'color' and palpability they have when
you hear them live. My general feeling walking out of the room after the
3rd and 4th trip is that as they break in properly and Bill finalizes his processor
curves for them (believe he's done so now) that they will be a true speaker to
reckon with. Most importantly I left the room with the feeling that they
would be my next multi-year lspeaker choice.

On the other Legacy speaker thread from a few years ago, you made a comment
regarding the value and quality of what Legacy brings to the table; you could not
be more right about your last statement regarding the pound for pound and dollar
for dollar analogy on Legacy speakers and what Bill D. brings to the table for
all of us who truly love listening to musical and exciting/involving speakers.
The entire line of speakers is special in what they deliver and the value that
comes with Legacy's realistic pricing, attention to detail and finish and the
best customer service out there consistent with that which you find from certain
high-end component manufacturers that I've had the good fortune to own
equipment from including Esoteric, Edge and Classe…

Zephyr what did you end up buying?
Class A Coda amps with any Legacy speaker are good match.
150 Watts into 8 Ohms
300 Watts into 4 Ohms
Precision Bias Class A operation to 100 Watts
sliding to Class AB at higher output level
We have a Coda 15.0 in one listening room with a 7X Pre that is beyond words.
They are running a pair of Whisper XDs
The closest thing I could find to this in Vegas this January was a setup over 115K.
Legacy Audio provides some of the most efficient speakers on the planet.In the speakers you are discussing they only require 10 watts per side.
We have run the Focus SE with a Class A 13 watt tube amp and they sound very good.
If you want more power so be it they certainly aren't power shy.
More speaker damage occurs from under power than over power.
The setup I described is 46K MSP including a DAC,MacPro and 52" 3D.
The new version Helix only requires two-2 channel stereo or 4 mono.
The difference between the Helix and Whisper is like comparing a Maserati to Ferrari.
In either speaker they never get turned off.
It all comes down to the budget.

Thank you both for your help and advice....Happy New Year!

As I understand it yes, you need 3 two channel or six monos.

As far as room size, I have no idea. I don't know if they are better suited for large rooms, or if it doesn't matter. I only listened to them...I wasn't really shopping for them.

BTW, have you seen these things? They are physically HUGE! This would imply a larger room.

One last thing, efficiency doesn't tell the whole story. I think I mentioned this to you before, but I may be mistaken. The Focus 20/20s are efficient too, but if you give them a ton of current from a big amp, you'll certainly appreciate it. When I had my 20/20s I went from 1200 w/ch to a higher current 350 w/ch amp and the improvement was gigantic. OK, maybe it wasn't just because of the increased amperage...maybe it was simply a better amp. Still though...

So wich between the Whisper and Helix do you think is better suited to a room that is 13X28 Whisper or the Helix there would be extra cost being either amps or subs, but the Helix at its pretty high efficiency might suggest that moderate power amps of 100-200 might get good boogy going as the low end is internally powered by what I assume is a Plate amp. So you need 3 of your own 2 channel amps correct?

I have heard the Helix, owned the Focus 20/20s and now own the Whispers. From my experience, the bottom end of the 20/20s is unchallenged by any speaker I have heard except for the Helix. For example, in my room the 20/20s began to roll off at around 16 Hz with no help from a sub [exactly as the spec indicates]. When I listened to the Helix, I remember on one demo track feeling my hair vibrate before I could hear anything…now that’s pressurizing the room! I have never experience that from any other home speaker.

I know what Chadnliz means about the Whispers though...I think he is referring mostly to the lack of deep bass. This is a bit odd when you consider it is up the model ladder from the 20/20s. Nevertheless, I like my Whispers more than my Focus 20/20s because of the improved imaging and sense of space. Things just got more real and believable with the Whispers. I have integrated some subs to get that bottom end back that I was used to with the 20/20s though. Doing it this way is much smoother and cleaner than turning up the Whisper Processor knob [IMO of course]. Now I have the 20/20s bottom end, and all the naturalness of the Whispers.

The Helix certainly seems more complicated and expensive to set up. I heard them in Macungie and they were fantastic...from my memory anyway. Besides the example above, I remember a huge, super wide soundstage that totally surrounded me [even behind me somehow]. Vocals just floated beautifully in the air. But this was in ’03. Not that anything has changed since then, but it is a long time ago to remember this sort of thing.

The Helix requires all the amps because it has an outboard crossover/processor. There are not the “standard” internal crossovers for the tweeters/mids/woofers found in traditional speakers. I believe they also use an aluminum sub driver [like from the LF Xtreme Subwoofer] that has its own internal amplifier. At least this is my understanding, I could be wrong.

Thank you for your reply....(at least according to specs) the Helix is 16Hz-25Khz +/-2db while the Focus 20/20 is 16Hz-30Khz +/-2db. The Whispers are the ones (at least on paper) where the bass goes to 25Hz. In principal, this would seem to indicate that the bottom-end of the Helix and Focus 20/20 are close to if not identical being driven by the right amplication that is capable of pits-of-hell bass in the first place. There is however a discrepancy between the 16Hz bottom-spec on the website and the 22Hz number in the Helix manual PDF as posted on the website.

I was also taken aback by the apparent need for 6 channels of amplification however given the efficiency of the speakers and their optimal impedance of 4ohms, I found myself wondering if 4 high-quality amps (Edge NL 12.1
for example, does wonders for my Focus 20/20's) could be used with shotgun biwire of amps 1 and 2 for Treble and
Midrange and single conduit full-range use of amps 3 and 4 for Mid-bass...I will ask this of Legacy if they respond to my question as whether these speakers are still offered.

Thanks again for your comments!

The Helix looks interesting but the additional amp cost makes it less attractive, my dad has the 20/20 and they are a really good value IMO the Whispers confuse me because the bass isnt near the depth of the 20/20....kinda left me scratching my head.