2. amps-preamps
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which amp for legacy focus

i have owned these focus for three years and love them. I am driving them behind a legacy power amp. I am getting to the point where i want to take these speakers to the next level. I am considering a new amp or two. Biamping interests me. I have auditioned a krell ???(250 watts),mcintosh 352,(350 watts)and the bryston 14sbt(500 watts) as singles and a couple of bryston 4sbt's(250 watts each) as duals. As no local dealer has the focus speakers I can not audition on the speakers until purchase. The biamping in theory makes sense I am just not sure if the extra $$$ is worth it. There is approx a $1500 difference bewtween the single amps and the biamps. Any comments and opinions?
dave1117
tmallin
6 posts
 
I have the Whispers and prefer bi-amp to single amping. That lets you get the Steradian (Step One) of the the signal path for the highs with that speaker. Even without that consideration, bi-amping the Whispers sounds better. I use four Bryston 7Bs. I also think the Legacy amps sound great with Legacy speakers, at least as good, if not better than my Brystons. The Ultra Monoblocs sound very good indeed, especially for the price.
jayarr
117 posts
 
I own a pair of the Foci. Have you considered tube amps. I went thru the same process. I think biamping would be a subtle change. For the heck of it, a friend hooked up a low powered tube amp(30 wts/ch). I was blown away by the transformation of the speakers and sound. The amps even played very loud without any sign of strain. The change between SS and tube amps was night and day. The SS amp I used was OCM, a highly regarded amp by David Belles which I had been happy with. Just something to think about. My recommendation would be to audition PP tube amps like VTL, Manley,Wolcott,Atmosphere. Enjoy listening.
jteep
14 posts
 
My Legacy Focus are about 6 years old. I have single wired and bi-wired. Have used amps from Yamaha, Acurus, Parasound[2200II], Proceed Amp5, and now Krell KAV1500. Never noticed any real improvement in the bi-wire but they sure do work great with a lot of power. There are a lot of drivers in those cabinets and my experience has been if you want them to perform at volume----give 'em plenty of juice.
havenandhell3d33e
2 posts
 
11/30/02,Hamlet
Hi,Dave
I tried to bi-amp my martin logans but I did not see real improvement.Any way I am not going to keep this speakers because I do not like passive system.I had my active system in Europe(Austria)but when I moved to states I sold It to my best friend who asked me many times to by it.Now I am getting ready to put something like that together.I do not know any thing about legacy focus speakers but, I would say do not bi-amp your speakers unless you want to change it to active speakers.You are going to need a three way electronic crossover and two 4B SST. One for tweeters and one for midrange and use your 14B SST for your woofers.And It will be your last upgrade forever. Good luck and have a fun with music.
rogerl
1 posts
 
I HAVE A PAIR OF LEGACY FOCUS 20/20'S THAT I AM DRIVING WITH THE KRELL FPB600. THE NOMINAL IMPEDANCE ON THE LEGACY SPEAKER IS 4 OHMS. THIS IS AN EASY LOAD FOR THIS AMP AND THE OUTPUT IS 1200 WATTS ON THIS IMPEDANCE. CONSIDERING THE SPEAKER EFFICIENCY RATING OF THE LEGACY SPEAKER AND COUPLING IT WITH AMPLIFIER POWER THAT THIS KRELL AMP DELIVERS, THE SOUND CAN BE DESCRIBED AS,TREMENDOUSLY DYNAMIC, REALISTIC, AND DETAILED. THE SOUND IS ALSO RELAXED WITH A SMOOTHNESS ACROSS THE ENTIRE AUDIO BAND THAT PREVENTS LISTENER FATIGUE AT ALL POWER LEVELS. FOR MY TASTE, AND CONSIDERING THE AMOUNT OF EQUIPMENT THAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH, THIS IS A COMBINATION THAT I AM VERY PLEASED WITH.
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