Silverline Sonata III or Legacy Focus 20/20?

NO!!! I am still searching the optimal speakers for my personal taste. But in the middle of road, I picked up Galante Buckingham for temporary solution. It is a high efficiency speaker (100DB) with Altec Lansing 604 drivers. It doesn’t generate the bass (down to 35 HZ only) I wanted but the most amazing part is it delivers the sound of strings I only experienced in the concert hall (Carnegie and Lincoln Center). These speakers SING. The sound is so subtle and mellow. It can handle Bruckner’s symphonies but not Mahler’s. Thus the search continues. I am focusing on cleaning up the “inventory” now. Once all spare gears (including Thiel 3.6) find their new owners, I will bring the Buckingham to Silverline Audio to compare with Sonata III.

Again thank you all for your suggestions and apologize for the late response.

I'm sure we're all pretty sure of that too...

I thought that was a little funny also. I only posted my comment for furture readers trying to find info on the focus 20/20's. I often go through all old threads and read up on a product Im interested in buying and seeing the responses and feedback. The tilting forward of the Legacy CAN make all the difference in the world with a lower seat, and many people might not think of trying it for months or years,as for the post by Lisnr, Im sure the author has settled on some speakers by now. :)

He is looking over there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let's see, Tvad, maybe he's still looking!?

I'm a Sonata fan, I have the 2's and would like to move up to the 3's when I can swing it. I know what the 2's do well (am very happy w/ mine) and Jimman sounds spot on in his description of the 3's. I can't say I've ever heard the Legacy's but I was under the impression based only on hear-say, that they were a bit less refined speaker, more in the gene pool of the original rock and roll breed, perhaps akin to the old Altec Lansing flavor... play loud, play hard sort of thing? ("not that there's anything wrong with that" as I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for speakers that can really rock). The Silverlines will probably be a better match to your electronics though... I owned a Counterpoint SA-100 back in the days of Corey Greenberg at Stereophile... it was a really nice amp, not only in its day, but I recommended it to a friend of mine who's been very happy with his for the past 15 years. But what I'm really jealous of is that SA-11 of yours... wow, how cool is that. I think the tubes in the 11 and the hybrid 100 will gel with the Sonata sound. I've owned the SA-1000, moved up to the 3000, and finally owned the SA-5000 for many years (always dreaming of the 11) and I'm sure Michael Elliot's magic touch on your upgraded 100 will be well expressed through the Sonatas.(IMHO). BTW, I still use an upgraded Counterpoint DA-11/DA-10 transport/processor combo for my digital source.Good luck and I hope this helps, Happy Lissn'n

the focus 20/20's are great,very enjoyable. Here is a cool tweak to try, may or may not like it. Tilt them forward a little so that the tweeter hits you at ear level where you are sitting(tweeters are pretty high on the speakers). If you have a high chair, you may not tilt them much or at all. I found it greatly improves the imaging,soundstaging,etc. However maybe, a touch bright.....maybe.I do have my back to the wall in my setup right now, so it could be very accurate and the touch of brightness is my rear wall(couch pulled out 6 inches).Id love to see the focus made like the whispers, 1 12" on bottom, 1 on top, and the tweeters and mids dead center. You would loose a little height sounstage possibly, but Id like to hear it out of curiousity.

My father majored in the Pipe Organ and studied/performed for over 10 yrs and has about 9000 tittles on CD and Vinyl
I only qualify this because he uses and loves the Focus 20/20. Also I spend alot of time hanging out and listening with him and it is always a very pleasing experience, great build quality, very efficient and great bass, liquid mid and clear defined highs are always a given with Legacy.

All I can say is that i own the Sonata IIIs and find them much more detailed, better high frequency definition than the Focus 20/20s. The Sonatas are great for producing string instruments so life like. On the other hand, the Focus 20/20s I found played louder with much more bass energy. The Sonatas had more of a delicate cue. Great for jazz music but not too good on heavy rock and roll. Where I find the Focus 20/20s might be a little better on the heavy rock and roll music. I hope this helps your decision.