Technics vs. Focal

My Micro Utopia’s do not have a hot top end at all.

mlenow; Hi there.... I own a pair of the white Technics and love them. Can you send me the contact info of the store that is selling them at $850? I might get a pair in black. Regards. Harry Jadwani
hjadwani@gmail.com
416-799-6339

Thanks. btw never heard Focals, so I can't comment. But a point-source and a conventional 2-way will have differences in coherence unless the 2-way is designed very well. Regards.

contuzzi,

You almost got it right. 

You should have ended with...I laughed out loud, noisy, and astonished.

That is a silly, undefensible, and arbitrary statement, proclamation and accusation the greatest and most influential component in any music reproduction system is the room itself and for you to deny, reject, or ignore this simple, absolute, established fact reflects ignorance on your part virtually any speaker can sound bright depending not only on the exact, specific room and its acoustic characteristics but also the associated components that comprise the specific music reproduction system used to conduct the evaluation and arrive at a result, conclusion, and determination.

The longest run on sentence I've seen in the history of this forum.  I laughed out loud.

Or should I say -- "This particular, specific, one of a kind post is perhaps, possibly, per chance the most lengthy, long winded, time consuming piece, segment, or sample of writing I have ever read on the internet, the web, a forum, or series of tubes I laughed out loud."

This discussion is fogging ridiculous. 

kosst_amojan"Anybody who claims any modern Focal has a hot top end or anything but top to bottom smoothness simply hasn't really heard what they claim to have listened to."

That is a silly, undefensible, and arbitrary statement, proclamation and accusation the greatest and most influential component in any music reproduction system is the room itself and for you to deny, reject, or ignore this simple, absolute, established fact reflects  ignorance on your part virtually any speaker can sound bright depending not only on the exact, specific room and its acoustic characteristics but also the associated components that comprise the specific music reproduction system used to conduct the evaluation and arrive at a result, conclusion, and determination.

Thank you to everyone for your input, it's great having the ability to bounce ideas off of people that don't get a commission based on my decision.  I ended up purchasing the Focal Arias because they sounded great to me and I couldn't pass up getting a $1600 speaker for nearly half the price.  Hope everyone has a good remainder of the holiday season!

Audiotroy seems to be a dealer and I wouldn’t easily assume he hasn’t heard the Focals.  Not sure if he got the chance to compare them side by side though.  
To me the Focal Utopia Bes and Electra Bes are never hot.  I can’t say that of the Aria though. 
On another note somewhat related to Audiotroy, the SB-C700 worked well with my friend’s NuForce ref9 3.0 ( sold my 3.01 ). Other than an ever so slight top end peak the combo played extremely well.  

@stereo5 unfortunately I can guarantee you that audiotroy hasn't actually had any hands on time with the Aria series.  If he says he has, he would be lying.  It's all too obvious based on his previous posts.  So for him to say they have a hot top end is just laughable.  I'm sorry you can't see that.

most cant hear the top end anyways...basically just comparing midrange or graphs...

@contuzzi..............................

anyone who who mocks another’s hearing of a particular speaker is someone I can’t take seriously and is truly ignorant. 

Yep Mr. Wu, that is exactly wha we heard when we demoed them in a room 18 by 14. they were amazing.

Since then we moved into the fabulous Quad Z series monitors and at the Technics price of $1700 in the US we feel that the Quad Z series is even better so we put aside our interest in them.

We are still interested in the Technics tables. Again the new Rega P8 is by many peoples assertions going to be the table to beat at $3k so again is it worth it for us to pursue Technics.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Just got my pair of SB-C700s this Monday.
Decided to buy them because I was wowed every time I go to the Technics showroom in Osaka to listen to the SBR1s. Figure if the affordable sibling can give me a glimpse of the very neutral and detailed sound of the R1’s I’d be happy.
Placing them 60" away from the front wall like I do my Eidolon Diamonds and YG Haileys I find the whathifi’s review to be spot on. Bright, lean, and sometimes congested. Yikes.
I moved them upstairs and placed them where I had my living room speakers... much better at a mere 6" from the front wall but there was no image to speak of.
Took them back to the man-cave and placed them 24" from the front wall and away from the side wall and I was floored. The coherence and detail and imaging capabilities of the speakers are nothing short of amazing, not to mention that usable bass can go down to the 40s! Yes they are THAT picky when it comes to placement.
Placed on top of a 24" stand they pressurize the room nicely, throwing a huge wide soundstage. There is no lack of details, no smearing or growling. Just music with lot’s of confidence and class. It’s got details that rival my other speakers that cost orders of magnitude more, as minimonitors they are definitely NOTHING like those vintage Rogers LS3/5a that is colored with a "loudness" bass hump, gets nasal, congested, and can only play tacky crappy Chinese ballads by Teresa Teng from the 1980s. Yes I have an affinity for Focal, especially their Utopia Be line, but for a moment forget the Technics are sub-$1000 market price and listen without prejudice, they really got me to fall in love with them.
One thing though, the Technics HATE tube amps. Almost blew the Tenor 70s and sounded lean with my triode-modded SF Power 2. Didnt want to use my NP220s fearing that I might overdrive the speakers. I settled in with a freshly re-capped STAX 40W class A amp with huge amounts of current and am never happier. Yes they are that picky.

Anyone who says focal is a bright speaker, "hot top end," etc I just can't take seriously.  

Pure ignorance.

Have you heard the Aria line? I would agree a lot of Focals speakers had a somewhat hot high end. If anything these are bordering on mellow to my ears. 

I have never heard a Focal speaker that didn’t have what I consider to have a hot top end. 

Measurements show the focal is not hot at all. Its actually more of a laid back speaker

https://www.soundstage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1239:nrc-measurements-focal-aria-906-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153

The Technics are rather remarkable little monitors, we heard a demo of them vs the Kef LS 50 when the LS 50 were $1,500.00 and we clearly prefered the Technics, which are new $1,700.00.

The What Hifi Review was an anomolly most reviewers who heard the Technics were wowed by them. 

You really need to bring both of these speakes home and give them a good demo.

The Technics being a dual concerntric images extremely well and is a fat and articulate little speaker. 

The Focals tend to be a bit hot at the top end. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Those Technics really look like crap from a 1980's mini system.   Focal /JM has been building great speakers for decades.   Easy choice in my opinion

Listen at your normal volumes. Which do you want to spend 12 hours with?

Not having listened to either & judging by specs alone, I would tend to lean more towards the Focal.

Technics SB-C700:
Frequency Range 40 Hz - 100 kHz (-16 dB), 45 Hz - 80 kHz (-10 dB) / Sound Pressure Level 85 dB / 2.83 V (m)

Focal Aria 906:

Frequency response (+/- 3dB) 55Hz - 28kHz / Low frequency point - 6 dB 47Hz / Sensitivity (2.83V / 1m) 89.5dB

Technics needs to publish specs @ +/- 3dB for a fair comparison but since they don't then it is likely their +/- 3dB spec is much worse than the Focal.

They appear to be very different types of speakers too; one is point source w/ rear port, the other traditional 2 way with front port. One or the other may not be your 'cup of tea'

Of course the true test is listening for yourself & letting your ears be the judge.

The 906s punch above their weight. I have not heard the Technics but I would take the 906s over most sub 3k monitors.