What speakers to get? Focal or B&W

With that amplification you shouldn't get anything more revealing than a B&W 804S

My experience is otherwise (ignoring your curious attempt to compare last gen B&W to current gen Focal in completely different price ranges); in my experience the Electra 1037Be is completely unbalanced - bass is obviously outclassed by the superb midrange and tweeter. In essence, the Electra outperforms the B&W 803D from the midrange on up but as a whole the B&W 803D is the better speaker. Now, when you talk about Alto Utopia on up it's a whole different ballgame (which probably explains why I own the Altos :) ).

In any case, he wasn't discussing the 1037Be or anything else in that price range.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion; I don't view my comments as "bashing" (rather they are a compliment to how good the midrange and tweeter are); and that wasn't my intent. I can see how someone would be happy with the 1037Be; it just wouldn't be me.

btw, the Halcro top of the line monoblocks that were being used, are, frankly, on a whole other level than the 1037Be and a best case scenario so I have no concerns that I heard all the 1037Be was capable of (although I'm sure it didn't help my opinion of the 1037Be that I was comparing them in the same system to the new Revel Studios and then the Altos).

Arthur,

That's a very good point and may explain the issues with the bass I heard (and frankly probably makes sense as I've always been confused as to why the bass "issue" hasn't been mentioned in reviews). In light of that, I'll withhold further comment on the 1037Be.