Focal - JM Lab Owner's Thread - Page 74

Headshot-

My Depth started to make a ticking/popping noise at higher volume (movies). The beginning of CARS is where I noticed it for the first time. I was told it was bottoming out. Turned the gain down a bit and no more popping sound. The drivers were fine, just reaching their limits at that frequency and volume.

Good eyes
I have a Parasound Halo C2
Esoteric DV50s(for everything)
Bryston 4b-ST(For L\\R)
Bryston 5b-ST(For C\\SR)
All connected through the balanced connectors with Transparent Audio cables.
My front three speakers have Transparent Audio speaker wire. All older plus level.

Thanks. I like it a bit
OK. What I did was I went to advanced post. Then I added an attachment.
Then I clicked on the attachment and it opened in a new window. Then I copied THAT URL and clicked on the insert image icon and pasted the url. You have some nice gear also. Anthem stuff is great indeed.

Sweet! All very detailed and neutral gear. I am sure it works well with the Focals.

Thanks
Yea.
It does work pretty well together. I am very satisfied.

Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you. It's just that I want to give it some time to break-in and catch up with the other speakers. I can tell you that when I listened to the CC1000 at the store, it sounded like a very good match for the 1027's. Even though it uses a small mid driver, the crossover to the bass drivers is much higher than in the 1027's and 1037's, so I wouldn't be too concerned about output. There are many manufacturers that use a small mid in their 3-way centers.

Bool & MikeDuke...

Thanks guys for posting those pics....i'm glad my suggestion didn't get ignored.

Let me first say I'm jealous as hell that you guys are treating the Focals right with all those separates. Mike, i'd love to have those Brystons in my rack right now!!

Bool -
That wall unit is fantastic. I'd love to hear what the 918's REALLY sound like with all that proper gear!
I did notice that you are leaving your grilles off. According to Focals literature, those speakers were designed to have the grilles stay on. Did you try with them on or have they been off since day 1??
BTW, i'm also looking to get some Focal car speakers....Polyglass though...gotta stay modest.

Thanks again fellas, great setups.

I never read that before. I may have to throw the grilles on. The reason I have them off is due to the fact they spend most of the time in the wall unit and to get them very close to the doors, the grilles need to come off. I may just have to throw the grilles back on and see what happens. I have been very happy with the Profiles since the addition of the new gear. The one thing I do not like about the speakers is the instability. They seem top heavy and are fairly easy to tip sideways.

The wall unit will be getting some mods with glass shelves and lighting installed once I get my butt in gear. Then it will be finished. Thank you for the compliments.

Yeah, the grill actually makes a pretty big difference in the frequency response of the Profile. Ultimate AV Mag published measurements without and then with the grill and you can see that the low treble is flatter with the grill on.

Grill off (purple trace)


Grill on

[quote=hifisponge;13522889]Yeah, the grill actually makes a pretty big difference in the frequency response of the Profile. Ultimate AV Mag published measurements without and then with the grill and you can see that the low treble is flatter with the grill on.


I'm glad you posted that. Finally some evidence to back up whats written in a brochure. That, and it makes me look like I actually know what I'm talking about.

Well after seeing that the grilles are back on. They haven't been on since the beginning so it will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable difference.

where is the best place to buy? can anyone suggest a shop in LA and SFC
Also Singapore & Hong Kong
Thanks

Hello guys and gals,

I have the electra 1027 be and 1000 be center and are looking for a good cheap surround speakers. I have angled ceilings on three sides and can't mount to them. I need something that can mount on a stand. These are just to hold me over until I can buy the other focal be's later down the road when I have more money. Prefer to spend 500 to 1000. Please feel free to offer any suggestions!

The other question is what crossover point are you guys using with the electra be? My receiver can do 50hz and then 80hz. It is a pioneer lx60(94 in us). The sub is the svs pb ultra 13.

I mainly use for HT and Gaming.

Thanks for any help provided

so, essentially, you're saying (or UltimateAV's graphs are saying) that the sound is technically nicer with the grills on?

YES....
For the Profiles anyway....if thats what you have.
not sure if that applies to the other Focal lines.

Well, "nicer" is a subjective term, but yes, they are more accurate with the grills on. The Focal Electra Be's are also designed to be used with the grills on, though the difference is not as dramatic as with the Profiles.

Greeting from sunny Singapore.
My first post here.

Got myself a pair of 1027Be in classic finish for the past 1 month.
Using it for my stereo set-up.
Also considering to use it for my HT set-up once I move in to my new place.

My rented place is a bit cramped so the speakers set-up is not at the optimal position.
Being a rented place, I also can't do much about room treatment.



To answer focalfan query, there are 2 shops that sell Focal products in S'pore.
The 1027Be is going for S$8.8k while the bigger 1037Be is going for around S$13k.
Not sure about their other series.

Widget -

Welcome to the forum. Your set-up looks very nice, but then it is hard for it not to look great with Focal Electra's in pifture. (The hats are a nice touch too. )

What is your front-end equipment? It doesn't look familiar to me.

Thank you hifisponge for welcoming me to the forum

For the electronic, I'm using Bladelius Thor MkII amp and Bladelius Freja MKII universal player.
Bladelius is a Swedish company and their products are very well received in the Scandinavian countries and also this part of the world, i.e. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and even Japan.

I had 2 small teddy bears on top of the speakers before changing it to hats as the teddy bear gave the speakers some feminine look

I have used polk speakers (rti series not lsi series) as rear surrounds with reasonable success. voice matching is surprisingly not too bad. I think mike used to use a polk center. you could also use chorus series bookshelf models. i am awaiting the 1007's as surrounds as we speak that I ordered tonight. finally a 5 ch focal setup is on the way (still awaiting the cc1007be as well). i'll post when it all arrives in comparison to the polk suround stuff.

i would personally use 80 hz for ht and 50hz (if at all)for music as a crossover but that is just me.

good luck!

widget...

Thanks for posting the pics. You must be happy with your gear; looks good to me. Once you get them into a more comfortable, "softer" surrounding i'll bet they sound even better.

Sounds wise, I'm sure a lot will improve after the speakers have been properly run-in.
Right now, the high frequency is still a bit on the edgy side, with the sibilance very pronounce. The mid is still a bit closed.
I know the room acoustic, with no thick curtain, tiles flooring, concrete wall, etc, doesn't help either.

Once my new place is ready, I'll engage some professional help to tune-in the room

Widget, you remind me of the couple in the Kohler faucet commercial. The couple is meeting with a highly-established architect and the lady pulls a Kohler faucet out of her purse and says: "Here, design our place around this".

I guess that will be you and your 1027s. Here are my speakers ... now, find me the acoustically perfect home for them.

Good one wje
Now I have a tougher job of finding an interior designer that is also well-versed in room acoustic treatment.

Widget-

That is a nice little setup there. What kind of speaker cables are you using? Anti-Cables?

While very happy with my Profiles, I just love the look of those Electras. As much as I am tempted, I just can't drop $10K+ on a 3 channel setup.....but I digress.

I have had the P2 for a few days now and it really helps get the sound out of the 918s. Did not notice too much of a difference btw the MPS-1 and the P2 initially, but I just switched back and there is a definite difference. Midrange seems richer and the soundstage is wider. Instruments seem "placed" on good jazz recordings and rock and electronic/dance music sound great too. There is also a definite improvement in sound, going back to back from a CD thru 2-channel to a ripped iTunes copy, that I never really noticed before. iTunes is convienient, but now I know I am missing things. The Emotiva did match up well, but the P2 is better. Still, for the money, it is hard to beat the Emotiva MPS-1.

One other quick comment.....it may be a placebo effect, but the treble does seem a bit smoother with the grilles on. Not the really high stuff, but the stuff where the mid and tweeter may meet. I am not sure what frequency range that would be, but things did sound smoother on certain music. I really noticed it on the Boston "Boston" CD. The tweeter almost seemed disconnected w/0 the grilles. Some other CDs, grilles on/off did not seem to make that much of a difference.

Very observant of you bool.
Indeed I am using Anti-cables.

As I'm still running-in the speakers, I decided to make do with the Anti-cables at the moment.
Once the speakers have been properly break-in, then come another headache of choosing the right speaker cables.

You guys have any suggestions?
At least I know what cables are you guys using for your Focal and I can test it on my system whether I like the sound or not.

Yup, that pretty much describes the way my Electras sounded when they were fresh out of the box. I've only had them for a few weeks, so they haven't totally lost those qualities but they have gotten noticeably better over the past few days. I've been running them all day while I'm at work to speed things up.

You're lucky that you can leave the speakers running while you're out at work.
For me, can only run-in the speakers in the evening and during the weekend.

It will be a long slow walk to "audio nirvana" for me before the Focal can start singing and dancing

I feel your pain my brother.

If you would like to check out my new Focal babies, just click on the link in my signature.

I've viewed your babies plenty of times already brother
Once I moved-in to my new place and decided to embark on HT journey, I'll visit your link again for inspiration

Over on this side of the globe, we only have the Signature and Classic finish on display.
Can only view the Macassar, Slate Grey, custom finish, etc from the net.