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Focal - JM Lab Owner's Thread - Page 6

post #151 of 5759
11/4/06 at 6:38am
thats great ebunton

i have heard someone commented the 1027be is one of the best from focal, so their next wave of utopias need to improve above that. this shall be a hard job for the design team. just wait and see.
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post #152 of 5759
11/4/06 at 3:27pm
[quote=ebunton]KrisKeen,
I have the 1027BEs and an A5 CD player, pre and power amp.
I listened to the Krell 400 versus the A5 integrated, and the A5 sounded better, less electronic.
But when I listened to the Pre and power amp combo, it was noticeably better than the integrated, so I decided for those.
More detail and clarity came through. Timbre seemed more pleasant and rich.
I'm very happy with my setup.

The next step I guess would be the Alto Utopias ;-)
I demoed them with a Krell Evolution setup and they are wonderful. Great staging, deeper and clearer lows. Even closer to the real-life concert experience.[/QUOTEt

Thanks for the tip

The pre/power is just too much money, so im going with the A5i and A5 CD player
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post #153 of 5759
11/4/06 at 9:00pm
"Honestly, I'm flabbergasted"
ebunton,
That is what I want to hear. Like I said before, it took me almost 2 weeks to get it right. But when I did, Oh My. CPU, I have heard the same thing. I was told that they are the best that is in their line. The new Utopia's should be quite good.
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post #154 of 5759
11/5/06 at 7:52am
sgd
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post #155 of 5759
11/5/06 at 8:37am
Just an FYI - my local dealer said the new 700 V series is delayed until mid-end January 2007
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post #156 of 5759
11/6/06 at 1:04am
Hi guys,

I'm just wondering if I can use 2 CHORUS CC 800 V as left / right channel?

Thanks
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post #157 of 5759
11/6/06 at 4:24am
frankies, can I assume that you will use that for your center as well? Many people say that you should use 3 of the same speakers up front. So given that fact it should be ok.
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post #158 of 5759
11/6/06 at 9:52am
@MikeDude thanks for your reply.

Actually I will be using them to listen to music only in my bedroom so stricly to 2-channels (Left and right) only. So it would work right?
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post #159 of 5759
11/6/06 at 11:39am
I just received an update from my salesman who is telling me that AudioPlus is telling him the new Chorus 836Vs are not shipping until maybe sometime in December. I placed my order back at the end of September in the Moka finish. I know the 826Vs have been out for several weeks. But I guess they are saying that with the increased size of the cabinets and the individual drivers that Focal wanted to make sure they got it just right before they are released. So I guess I will have to continue to wait somewhat patiently. Anyone hear anything different about the availability of the 836Vs?
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post #160 of 5759
11/6/06 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankies View Post

@MikeDude thanks for your reply.

Actually I will be using them to listen to music only in my bedroom so stricly to 2-channels (Left and right) only. So it would work right?

No reason why it can't. Make sure you post how it goes when you get them. What are you using for the other equipment?
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post #161 of 5759
11/6/06 at 12:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HJJ View Post

I just received an update from my salesman who is telling me that AudioPlus is telling him the new Chorus 836Vs are not shipping until maybe sometime in December. I placed my order back at the end of September in the Moka finish. I know the 826Vs have been out for several weeks. But I guess they are saying that with the increased size of the cabinets and the individual drivers that Focal wanted to make sure they got it just right before they are released. So I guess I will have to continue to wait somewhat patiently. Anyone hear anything different about the availability of the 836Vs?

What is the saying
If it is good.....
It is worth waiting for?
I think they will be worth it
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post #162 of 5759
11/7/06 at 6:23am
See this post.

New house

The Focals are rocking and I couldn't be happier. I would say the powered monitors are definitely a good way to get into the Beryllium tweeter.
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post #163 of 5759
11/7/06 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MegaFlop View Post

See this post.

New house

The Focals are rocking and I couldn't be happier. I would say the powered monitors are definitely a good way to get into the Beryllium tweeter.

WOW.
I have to say, that is one fine looking room you have there. When ever I see a room like that I feel . Because mine is so tiny. But I am sure yours sounds great.
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post #164 of 5759
11/8/06 at 12:59pm
Hey Mike, I have another question regarding that point you brought up regarding the balanced XLR connectors in that other thread. Due to the fact that I have already purchased the Parasound Halo A52 amp and will within the next 3 to 6 months purchase the Halo C2 Controller, I am thinking about switching my RCA cable order to balanced XLRs. My only problem is that in the interim I will be using my Onkyo reciever as my processor into the A52 amp. Of course the Onkyo only has RCA. So I am thinking it might be smarter to switch my RCA cable order with my salesman to the balanced XLRs. He told me he could swap them out for the same price. Do you think it makes sense to use the XLR cables with RCA adapters to the Onkyo so that I do not have to double purchase these cables? I still need to research the XLR to RCA conversion connectors. But I am sure they exist and hopefully at a descent price.
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post #165 of 5759
11/8/06 at 1:12pm
Thread Starter 
Guys,

Just a heads up. Focal is running special promotions on the Profile speakers. If you are considering these puppies now could be a great time. Check with your Focal dealer!
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post #166 of 5759
11/8/06 at 2:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpu8088 View Post

eventually existing utopias will be upgraded. focal is working on this project now.

Where do you have this information from? Focal has not said anything about this. The Utopia Be range is only a few years old, yes?

I have 1027Be with a Krell KAV 3-channel power-amp, and it sounds beautiful in every way. I also have the Utopia Be center, and it sounds better than the 1027`s IMHO. More of everything! If the Alto`s is as good/or better than the center, I can`t understand how some of you can think that 1027 is just as good as the Utopia Be`s. I love the 1027Be, but of course the Utopia is better. Everthing in Utopia is more expensive, filter, tweeter etc etc.

I know one guy that upgraded from 1027Be to Alto Utopia. They are helped with the monster Utopia subwoofer. This in a 3m X 4m room (!). The key word is placement and calibration.
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post #167 of 5759
11/8/06 at 3:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AudioArchitect View Post

Guys,

Just a heads up. Focal is running special promotions on the Profile speakers. If you are considering these puppies now could be a great time. Check with your Focal dealer!

Temptation, frustration so bad it makes me cry. What kind of promotion?
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post #168 of 5759
11/8/06 at 3:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MIkeDuke View Post

"The next step I guess would be the Alto Utopias ;-)"
Nah, Don't hold back Nova's all the way

For those of you who dream really big but can only afford just big, here's an idea that was passed along by a Focal dealer at Cedia. Buy a pair of L&R Be's and mate each one with a Sub Be and you have close to a performance equivalent of the Nova at half the price. They jokingly said it was a dirty little secret that Focal didn't want to get out. As an owner, hence, biased fan, of a pair of the old mini-Utopias, I am intrigued with the idea of trying this out if I can ever afford to upgrade. Any thoughts?

kevin
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post #169 of 5759
11/8/06 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by apodaca View Post

Temptation, frustration so bad it makes me cry. What kind of promotion?

You can pm me for details. Thanks!
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post #170 of 5759
11/8/06 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2tropical View Post

Where do you have this information from? Focal has not said anything about this. The Utopia Be range is only a few years old, yes?

I have 1027Be with a Krell KAV 3-channel power-amp, and it sounds beautiful in every way. I also have the Utopia Be center, and it sounds better than the 1027`s IMHO. More of everything! If the Alto`s is as good/or better than the center, I can`t understand how some of you can think that 1027 is just as good as the Utopia Be`s. I love the 1027Be, but of course the Utopia is better. Everthing in Utopia is more expensive, filter, tweeter etc etc.

I know one guy that upgraded from 1027Be to Alto Utopia. They are helped with the monster Utopia subwoofer. This in a 3m X 4m room (!). The key word is placement and calibration.

The current Utopia Be line is in fact being reworked but I would imagine it is still a ways off. The Utopia Be is between 3-5 years old. The Electra line comes so close to the Utopias that Focal probably feels they need to bring it up a notch. If I had to venture a guess Berrylium midrange!
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post #171 of 5759
11/8/06 at 4:14pm
Flynn, that should be killer. I have never heard the L\\R Utopia's. But I found the sub to a solid performer. A combo like that would certainly be a quality setup. I my self have the 1027's. These give you 90% of the Altos, if setup correctly. Considering what I paid for mine, my price/performance ratio is even greater.
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post #172 of 5759
11/8/06 at 4:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HJJ View Post

Hey Mike, I have another question regarding that point you brought up regarding the balanced XLR connectors in that other thread. Due to the fact that I have already purchased the Parasound Halo A52 amp and will within the next 3 to 6 months purchase the Halo C2 Controller, I am thinking about switching my RCA cable order to balanced XLRs. My only problem is that in the interim I will be using my Onkyo reciever as my processor into the A52 amp. Of course the Onkyo only has RCA. So I am thinking it might be smarter to switch my RCA cable order with my salesman to the balanced XLRs. He told me he could swap them out for the same price. Do you think it makes sense to use the XLR cables with RCA adapters to the Onkyo so that I do not have to double purchase these cables? I still need to research the XLR to RCA conversion connectors. But I am sure they exist and hopefully at a descent price.

Yes. If you plan on going balanced some day but are still using a reciever, then getting the balanced and rca connectors would be a great idea. And they do exist. Just try a search on rca to xlr or xlr to rca.
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post #173 of 5759
11/8/06 at 4:30pm
2tropical, I hear you. Yet I have heard every speaker in the Utopia line. I also have read every review and I talk to the east coast rep for them from time to time. This is a quote from him "The 1027's are the best speakers Focal has ever made". "In my setup" the sound I get is simply amazing. I really feel for the price, given what the Alto and 1027 cost, the Alto now seems over priced. There was a reason why Focal had to go back to the drawing board. The 1027 threw a monkey wrench into the system. Even though the Alto "may" do somethings better, for me I would need to go up to the Nova's to justify an upgrade. These speakers just have a ton of potential. They just need time and patients to get it right.
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post #174 of 5759
11/20/06 at 1:29pm
My speaker order finally arrived late last week. I finally found the time to set them up yesterday afternoon. The hold up on my order from the end of September was the 836 fronts. I spent about 4 hours yesterday setting them up. The SR800V rear surrounds were a different size and shape than my previous Polk FX 500 rears. So I had to get the placement just right. They are all awesome looking speakers. The center channel CC800V is slightly smaller than my previous center so it had plenty of space on the bottom shelf of my TV stand. I felt like I was pulling a major appliance out of its box when I pulled the 836s out. They are a bit taller than the 826s. However, once I connected the base and stood them up they looked very stylish and sleek.

I am initially using my Onkyo receiver to push these speakers. I have already purchased a Parasound Halo A52 that I will be using for the Amp but the XLR cables I ordered have not arrived yet. After making all the speaker wire connections (AudioQuest Type 8) I turned on the receiver for the first time. I looked for an HD channel since I knew the sound should be in Dolby Digital. The Harry Potter movie was on HBO so it was a pretty good sound test. I immediately noticed the added depth and detail that did not quite exist with my old Polk RT1000's. And honestly those sounded really good.

A few minutes later after I walked away I ran into my first issue. I heard no sound. Upon further investigation, I noticed my Onkyo receiver had shut itself down and was in stand-by mode as if I cut it off. I turned it back on and things were fine again. But several minutes later it shut itself down again? I never had any issues with this receiver with my Polk setup but these speakers seemed to be causing problems for it. I changed channels and lowered the volume level to see if I could find a link to the issue. After lowering the volume, I never had any issues with the receiver shutting down. I also placed a concert DVD to test the sound and I cranked it back up a bit to about the same level as it was during the Harry Potter movie but the receiver never shut itself down again. I called my salesman to see if he had any ideas what is going on. He mentioned that it is possibe that with these speakers, the reciever might not have enough on the high end to push them and so it shuts itself down? It all will be a moot point soon since I will be connecting my Halo amp to it once the cables arrive. But I was curious if anyone has heard of an issue like this with the receiver shutting down itself at higher volumes becuase it can't push the speakers. This Onlkyo is supposed to be 110W x 7 channels.
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post #175 of 5759
11/20/06 at 3:04pm
Yes, I have seen this at Tweeter as well with a pioneer receiver. And yes it is because they just dont cut it for speakers that dip too low in impedance.
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post #176 of 5759
11/20/06 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HJJ View Post

My speaker order finally arrived late last week. I finally found the time to set them up yesterday afternoon. The hold up on my order from the end of September was the 836 fronts. I spent about 4 hours yesterday setting them up. The SR800V rear surrounds were a different size and shape than my previous Polk FX 500 rears. So I had to get the placement just right. They are all awesome looking speakers. The center channel CC800V is slightly smaller than my previous center so it had plenty of space on the bottom shelf of my TV stand. I felt like I was pulling a major appliance out of its box when I pulled the 836s out. They are a bit taller than the 826s. However, once I connected the base and stood them up they looked very stylish and sleek.

I am initially using my Onkyo receiver to push these speakers. I have already purchased a Parasound Halo A52 that I will be using for the Amp but the XLR cables I ordered have not arrived yet. After making all the speaker wire connections (AudioQuest Type 8) I turned on the receiver for the first time. I looked for an HD channel since I knew the sound should be in Dolby Digital. The Harry Potter movie was on HBO so it was a pretty good sound test. I immediately noticed the added depth and detail that did not quite exist with my old Polk RT1000's. And honestly those sounded really good.

A few minutes later after I walked away I ran into my first issue. I heard no sound. Upon further investigation, I noticed my Onkyo receiver had shut itself down and was in stand-by mode as if I cut it off. I turned it back on and things were fine again. But several minutes later it shut itself down again? I never had any issues with this receiver with my Polk setup but these speakers seemed to be causing problems for it. I changed channels and lowered the volume level to see if I could find a link to the issue. After lowering the volume, I never had any issues with the receiver shutting down. I also placed a concert DVD to test the sound and I cranked it back up a bit to about the same level as it was during the Harry Potter movie but the receiver never shut itself down again. I called my salesman to see if he had any ideas what is going on. He mentioned that it is possibe that with these speakers, the reciever might not have enough on the high end to push them and so it shuts itself down? It all will be a moot point soon since I will be connecting my Halo amp to it once the cables arrive. But I was curious if anyone has heard of an issue like this with the receiver shutting down itself at higher volumes becuase it can't push the speakers. This Onlkyo is supposed to be 110W x 7 channels.

That is called current limiting. The amplifier see a low impedance and goes into protection mode to avoid a "DC short".

BTW How are you using XLR cables, being that the Onkyo receiver doesnt have XLR preouts?
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post #177 of 5759
11/20/06 at 9:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AudioArchitect View Post

That is called current limiting. The amplifier see a low impedance and goes into protection mode to avoid a "DC short".

BTW How are you using XLR cables, being that the Onkyo receiver doesnt have XLR preouts?


I decided to purchase XLR cables instead of RCAs because I already purchased the Halo Amp which has the balanced XLR connectors. In the interim, I was planning to get an XLR to RCA adapter to utilize my Onkyo as my processor until I purchase the Halo C2 processor which also has balanced inputs. I did not want to re-purchase the cables later. Right now I am leaning towards getting the C2 processor sooner than later.

Thanks for the input. I did not get this issue tonight either. Maybe it is the increased volume that forces the speaker impedance to drop. These speakers are supposed to be 8ohms but I read in the brochure that the minimal impedance is 3 ohms. So I am guessing I made a good decision in purchasing that dedicated amp.
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post #178 of 5759
11/21/06 at 4:23am
HJJ, glad to hear that you got them. Even though the Onkyo says 110x7 it is probably a little bit less when more then 2ch are driven. Having an amp will certainly take care of this issue. Also, I have the C2 and can say without a doubt that it is a great processor. Hopefully when your situation stabilizes you can give us more of how they sound.
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post #179 of 5759
11/21/06 at 5:22am
"Maybe it is the increased volume that forces the speaker impedance to drop."
Usually impedance drops at different frequencies.
For ex the 826's say 2.9 ohms @ 118 Hz. That is pretty low I think. Allot of receivers would have a problem with that. As a comparison my speaker(1027Be) state 3.5 ohms at 200Hz.
I have 300 watts going to them. That is why I think the receiver was shutting down.
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post #180 of 5759
11/21/06 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MIkeDuke View Post

"Maybe it is the increased volume that forces the speaker impedance to drop."
Usually impedance drops at different frequencies.
For ex the 826's say 2.9 ohms @ 118 Hz. That is pretty low I think. Allot of receivers would have a problem with that. As a comparison my speaker(1027Be) state 3.5 ohms at 200Hz.
I have 300 watts going to them. That is why I think the receiver was shutting down.

Mike,

I revisited my manual for the Onkyo TX-SR800 and I believe it actually is only rated at 100W x 7 channels. So that even points more to the issue.

I have a question about whether there is an Amp setting on my Halo A52 amp? I thought my salesman mentioned there is a setting for either 8 or 4 ohm speakers. Since these are 8 ohm speakers that can drop to around 3ohms, I assume I still would leave the setting at 8 ohms. Then the amp should have no issues when the impedance drops? If I had some RCA cables I could just connect the amp now but my XLR cables are not due in until the first week in December.
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