Spendor S8e, Dynaudio Focus 220, VA Grand Mozart

I have the Focus 220 mated with the Parasound A51 in our theater, which is 13.5W x 20L x 11.5H. The Parasound is 5x250 and the Dyn's appreciate the extra juice this amp delivers. The Focus lineup is great!!! I love them. Oh, I forgot to mention I'm a dealer, so naturally I am biased. :-). The 220 is nearly identical as the older Contour 1.8mkII, but in a more attractive package.

The Focus 5 channel would stretch your $5K budget, but I'm sure a deal could be made by your dealer.

Feel free to email me if you have questions that require more detail. I'll help you out where I can.

I cannot speak for the 220. A friend of mine swears the thing is world class. I once owned the 110 monitor and I can attest to what a marvelous speaker it is. I am tempted to say that when it comes to the total package, I haven't come across anything that can touch it in the price-range. Spendor and VA Acoustics do specific things very well, but the Danes can do it all with terrific aplomb.

Another cool thing is the Focus series is surprisingly efficient despite their ratings and works well on both solid state and tube... in small rooms to incredibly large rooms.

The major caveat with the Focus series is the ridiculous amount of break-in time necessary for the speaker to strut its stuff. I'm talking a few hundred hours here...

I'm running Focus 140's with 40W KT88's and they sound magnificent.

If youre using a sub I'd advise getting the 140's over the 220's. You'll be missing out on nothing IMHO.

B.

Thanks for you responses........I'm also looking at Totem Forest, Von schweikert VR-2's and I've heard Proac's are terrific. Any feedback on these would be appriciated as well. I'm also currently using a Klispch ksw 12 Sub, which may have to go to keep up with any of these new choices. Will this sub work with these or does it have to go??

Thanks,
Robert

hmm. I don't know. Every review written by Sallie Reynolds in Absolute Sound the Spendor S8e's come out on top against the other speakers he/she is reviewing. I tend to believe those findings since I have extensively auditioned those speakers. Wish I had a pair. But I ended up with Usher CP-6371 speakers because my room is 25'x30' with 10' ceilings.
Plus I got them for less than any Spender deal at that time. So far I am realy enjoying these Ushers. :)