IMO, if you are buying an expensive piece of equipment from a local dealer, you should be able to get a home demo. It is the only way for you to know. Whether the speaker is "better" or not will depend to a very large degree on how it interfaces with your room. I have had some great speakers in my room and they just didn't work acoustically and I had to get rid of them. Of course, the level of demo equipment matters and the dealer should be able to tell you whether your Classe amps would be a good match. But the home demo is the only way, IMO.
Would you Upgrade?
Hi everyone, i'd like to get everyone's opinion on upgrading my set of loudspeakers.
I would be going from a pair of B&W 802D (the first of the diamond models, around 2010) to a pair of Focal Sopra 3's.
Is there much of an upgrade making this change?
I heard the Sopra's at an upscale dealer with a close to perfect setup: speakers about 15 feet from the front wall and about 10 feet from the side walls. Electronics were all Esoteric, including their $44,000 Grandiosa M1 monoblocks, preamp, cd player, power regenerator and $3,800 Cardas clear stereo speaker cables.
I'm not sure if these speakers would sound much different from my current 802D and my humble Classe CAM 100 monoblocks.
Also, how many years do speakers last before they degrade (speaker, crossovers, etc...)
thanks to everyone in advance.
I would be going from a pair of B&W 802D (the first of the diamond models, around 2010) to a pair of Focal Sopra 3's.
Is there much of an upgrade making this change?
I heard the Sopra's at an upscale dealer with a close to perfect setup: speakers about 15 feet from the front wall and about 10 feet from the side walls. Electronics were all Esoteric, including their $44,000 Grandiosa M1 monoblocks, preamp, cd player, power regenerator and $3,800 Cardas clear stereo speaker cables.
I'm not sure if these speakers would sound much different from my current 802D and my humble Classe CAM 100 monoblocks.
Also, how many years do speakers last before they degrade (speaker, crossovers, etc...)
thanks to everyone in advance.