Warm romantic & detailed


Good morning Gentlemen & ladies... 

I'm just starting to toy with idea of replacing my Focal 1038's... No matter how I treat my room, or what equipment I throw at it I just can't seem to tame the harsh highs on this speaker. 

I'd like to stay in the same price range of the Electra's (7/8k), I don't mind buying used, the musts for me at this point are: Warm, romantic, yet detailed... It would be beautiful to just sit and listen and not have ear fatigue after 15 minutes of listening. 

Can you please recommend something? 
jeffinnh76

Showing 5 responses by musicaddict

This makes me think hard, but perhaps 6-7 years ago at RMAF I listened to large 3-way Harbeth's with superior electronics playing classical music and although not my normal diet, I was very loath to leave that room and stayed for some time. The sound was addictively beautiful and I cannot forget it.  Again, good work!
I have to second the Von Schweikert recommendation if they've only gotten better. The ones I heard in Denver years back ALL sounded very inviting but were out my my league then.
Oh, a last thought for now; I owned and loved my first good speaker, Martin Logan SL3s (1995) for sixteen years but for a few months the Threshold T200 (superb amp, paired correctly) cut my listening to 15-20 minutes at best. It wasn't the speaker; a better match was heaven.
Speaker so inherently bright as to be aurally fatiguing are simply not pleasurable any longer for me. I don't listen to be in pain. And if they force you to stop listening you've lost your hobby. It has to feel good, right?

When Dynaudio Sapphires replaced the SL3s as main audio speakers my thought process included finding a speaker where I would want to turn it up and not down. Part of that meant a clean smooth treble. The Esotar II worked as fabled, very nicely.


I do not think the Focal tweeter is repairable (in the way that it sounds, ha). That is the Focal house sound I have found over many, many years of hearing them. Great demo speakers. You either love it or try to get used to it.
Changing electronics to modify speaker sound when the basic sound is offensive won't work, imo. Neither will DSP. It's the house sound; love it or leave it.
There were great speakers mentioned and having owned Scansonic MB2.5s for a couple years along with Dynaudio Sapphires, I will say that the Borresen designed, sealed ribbon tweeter bested the Esotar II in sonic purity and wonderful clarity, never-ever harsh.
Joseph Audio are wonderful and pure of tone. Sonus Faber may be something well worth auditioning and I've heard many Spendors and Harbeths at shows that were superb loudspeakers and not harsh.
I'd be looking at nice models with ribbons, sealed, folded, etc, and Heil Motion type tweeters for clarity without stridency. I may be forgetting other types. But if a dome, I want silk.  (B&W Diamonds fry my ears!)  Good luck.
Congratulations and here's hoping these make you smile for a lot of years. Good work taking your time shopping.