Focal 826v vs B&W 704 vs Rockets vs KEF iQ9

Use the CM7 B&W's in the comparison...sound better, cost less. Beats Focal, IMO, having listened to both extensively.

I have listened to some of B&W's and the JM Lab's 826's and I think the 826's give you more bang for the buck! I going to get their larger 836's later on some say it is the sweet spot in the line. You can get these 836's for only $2250 at http://www.americaninternetsales.com Sterephile thought the 836v's sounded great too.... http://www.stereophile.com/news/101606focal/

I used to change speakers every few months because I was never satisfied. Now that I have B&W 705s, I will never change again. There is nothing I could ever want from a speaker that they don't deliver.

I'd also look at the Strata Minis.

I don't think I've seen a "speakers for 2k" thread without the strata being mentioned.

www.**********

I personally prefer the B&W 700 series, although in the same price range, I liked the Paradigm Studio v4 series a lot as well. You can easily have the floorstanders for under 2k.

Clearly the champ in this pricerange by a long way......on the monitor side of things the ACI Sapphire XL's would be.The Rockets offer tremendous bang for the buck,example the 450's are half or more than speakers price mentioned compete head to head with the Focals and B&W's,also check out Era,Usher,Totem,and Wharfedale which I think all offer better speakers for the money than B&W and Focal,and none of them are bright which these 2 tend to be.

A center and rears are coming very soon,as far as a comparison between the Mini and the 826v musically their isnt much of a comparison the Mini is in another league,Your paying for the finish on the 800 series they have better cabinets than the 700 series but the same drivers,which are polyglass the 800series is supposed replace the Colbalt series which used the uppline woofers from the Electra and Utopia lines and the tioxide tweeter,much much better drivers thats in the so called replacement the 800 series and their charging more for a downgrade in parts a ripoff in my book.

Oh yeah the surround is called the Thinnie,you need to go over to the av123 forums,so you can keep up with the updates.

I'd like to hear the KEFs. But from all I've read (reviews and personal impressions) it seems te best they offer on the dollar are their more compact HT systems, or their expensive high-end reference line. Competition is fierce in the middle price ranges, but to our advantage in the long run.

Yeah its deffinetly fierce,I like the Kefs,even though they dont have the most extended topend around that can be somewhat aggressive with the wrong gear,but thats the nature of the Uni-Q driver unless they have the Hypertweeter like their Reference line which is basically a supertweeter,they do have a very wide sweetspot with a very engaging midrange immediacy and the iQ line is their affordable line their pretty good.

Based on that, they may work well with the EFT standalone tweeter sold by AV123.
Then maybe you can have the best of both worlds. The Uni-Q for better imaging and time coherence, and a super-tweeter for more extension.

I'd say thats a good possibility.

A good question might be whether you care to personally compare several of these at a time (or at least two at a time) and whether you'd even consider buying something without listening to it first even without a referance point.

Hear all in the same room, same time, same gear - IDEAL , but not likely.

Hear some in the same room at the same time, same gear - GREAT, and more easily accomplished.

Hear them all individually - GOOD, should be somewhat do-able.

I, personally, wouldn't even consider purchasing those that I hadn't spent some real time with first. Only you can decide what you will like, and prefer, and without a framework that comes from exposure and auditioning, you'll likely be satisfied with anything mentioned here, so in that case, buy the cheapest.

Oh, I forgot about another choice in the 2k-ish range for floorstanders.

The NHT Classic Fours

Since this is somewhat relevant I'll ask it in this thread: Has anyone that's heard the strata minis (or any of the other choices the OP listed) able to compare it to the NHT Classic Fours?

CM7's
Sttaf's
Concerta's
Classic 4's
826's

In that order ...my opinion...others switched #3 & #4.
Well conducted, not blind though, not my test but a lot of my music (and others)

Keep dreaming!!!!!

IMO, neither Focal nor B&W excel at towers until you hit either the Utopia or 802 and up. In both cases, the midrange of the bookshelf speakers is fuller and more rounded. The 350Hz crossover both use really wacks the midrange. I haven't heard the CM7s or the 826 though. The 907, if it still exists, is a pretty darn good speaker. I heard 1027s and the tweeter is WAY over the top. A good 3-4dB too loud. Bass and midrange are lean. All sizzle, no boom. I do think B&Ws have the better tonal balance but Focal has the better midrange. Tonal balance seems to be something Focal doesn't understand. Focal is a better audiophile speaker, B&W a better music lover's speaker.

I think the NHT Four is better than the Focal 1027 and the 803D for dimes on the dollar, measurably more accurate, with far more powerful bass, tons of dynamics and better imaging/soundstaging. I haven't compared them to less expensive fare, but then, that wouldn't be fair. However, it is a pretty flavorless speaker that is unexciting if you're used to listening for the sound of a speaker. Pretty cool if you're wanting to listen for the sound of the music.

PSB GT1s should also be considered. They have a more similar sound to the B&Ws and have a very pleasing and dynamic sound. The Strata Mini, I'd love to hear. If I know how they were designed and why (and I think I do), I expect them to be wonderful sounding, but somewhat euphonic. Compared to something like a Four, the Stratus will probably sound lush and warm and spacious, whereas the Four would likely be leaner, cleaner, more focused. I've lost track of Kef ever since they got bought out by the Chinese.

These comments are only useful in conjunction with listening tests of your own, of course as they're meant to offer insight, not provable truth.

I wouldn't forget about the Usher CP8311 at $2100 which I think outperforms the Focal Chorus 826V,B&W CM7,Totem Staff, and Revel Concerta F12 mentioned in this thread and the build quality is on another level compared to those, on the lower level with Usher you have the V602 and V604.Whenever the Era floorstander comes out which will be in the summer would be another speaker I would be looking at strongly and the Wharfedale Opus2 1,Evo2 30 & 40 and the Diamond 9.6 and 9.5 are very good to as is the Epos M22 Rega R5,and Ohm Walsh Micro Tall.The Raw Acoustics Ht-3 is another worthy contender,although not as widely known as the other speakers mentioned, it is built with top quality parts with a Danny Richie crossover for $1299 is a outstanding deal,I will have a review on these in the next month or so.And you cant forget av123's X-Optima $1195 and the X-Otica for $1695 another Danny Richie design are gonna be formidable and these 2 will challenge the Mini Strata for a little cheaper,and even the X-MTM EX will be very formidable for $699 and they will probably challenge the other speakers like the CM7,Concerta F12,Chorus 826V,and Staffs that are mentioned in this thread and they will be much cheaper, and even the MTM will be very good for $449 which will probably be the best bang for the buck around and the Rockets are always around another added bonus from av123 the Reference 1.8 is on sale for $1499 right now.The NHT Classic 4 will challenge the best at $2k,after spending about a month with the Classic 3,4s should be pretty stellar.At these price ranges for floorstanders av123 is the class up 2k with all the different models they offering,next up I would say Wharfedale has a very strong lineup to,as well as Usher,and I havent even mentioned the monitors yet The ACI Sapphire XL's are very very tough to beat at anywhere near this price,the Selah Audio SSR,Salksound HT-1,Era Design 4&5 are all very good to the new Wharfedale Opus monitor looks to be very good to.av123's upcoming new X-Pro is gonna be something that's never been done before as far as design and price,the Rocket 250 Mk II,and Ref 1 are always strong,and the new hopped up version of the XL-S for $299 is gonna be a very good speaker and perform much above its price.

Actually John the Mini isnt lush,they are full but very nuetral,they strike a balance that you normally dont see anywhere near this price euphonic they are not,me myself i would love to hear the 4s,since im a big fan of NHT floortsanders,I'll tell you what they would have to bring their a-game to get down with the Mini's,me personally I havent heard anything in the 2k range thats even close to them,they sound like they should'nt even be priced in that range.

Yeah, if anyone reading this has heard both the NHT Classic Fours and Strata Minis, please give us the lowdown.

For me, it has come down to those two.

They both look stunning, are highly rated and recommended in the $2k floorstanding range, they both offer built in powered subs (edit: my bad, the fours don't have a built in amp), and both are expandable in that you can start off with just the L/R speakers and get the center and surrounds later (NHT Classic Three/Upcoming Strata Center/Surrounds).

But what will probably lead me to get the Strata Minis over the NHT fours is that av123 offers a 30 day trial period where you can send them back and get a full refund if you aren't happy, plus the "family" discount for future components.

The Fours sound very much like the Threes you heard, but with a much more dynamic sound, obviously deeper and more effortless bass and an improved midrange/treble crossover. Very much similar, but better all around. Measurements of the Strata Mini at one site looks flat as a board, so I could easily be off the mark. Two things, I suppose, the Strata Mini will likely labor a bit more in the bass than the Four and the Four has the advantage of streeting for 15-25% less. However, with the Strata's cool midrange/tweeter design, it wouldn't surprise me if people chose it over the Four for that extra bit of money, especially for the purist stereo person that might prefer that design. For the HT enthusiasts, the Four's deeper bass and matching center/rears could easily win out.

Some of the ones mentioned I mentioned arent out yet,but of the ones that are out I would say the Mini Strata,NHT Classic 4,Usher CP 6311,Wharfedale Opus2 1,Raw Acoustic HT-3,and i know its a monitor but its that Damn good the ACI Sapphire XL's should be included to,these are atleast a cut above the rest,and thats putting it very mildly.

Well, the Four doesn't have a powered sub, however, the bass is quite deep and effortless without being powered by a separate amp.

Ah, I see. Oversight on my part.

Stop me if I'm hijacking the thread here, but what kind of gear would be needed to power speakers such as the Strata Mini, NHT Fours, or any of the speakers listed in the thread? I currently have a Pioneer VSX-1016TX sitting around, would this be adequate (in a stereo setup, as in no surrounds or dedicated sub)?

I'm sure that would get you by with any of these speakers *but* typical Japanese receivers only have a real RMS power about 1/3-2/3rds of what they claim, so if you play loud or in a big room, you might, at some point, add a nice power amp and move towards separates. IOW, I think that you'll do fine, but notice a difference if you upgrade.

You may be underestimating the Mini's bass it goes very very low,with great speed,tightness and agility,easily one of the speakers I've heard as far as intergrating the powered subs you cant even tell their powered this has always been a big issue with me with speakers with built in subs and one of the reasons I held off on the Mini so long,but they really do it right,the only others I've heard that did it right is the Vandy 5,and Quattro.One other thing I like about the Mini's is the sub,it allows you to choose a amp for Quality and not Qaunity without breaking the bank,Im running the SP-3 tube intergrated which is 38 watts and it sounds spectacular I have only had the Musical Fidelity back in the rig once,that may negotiate that 15-25% street price you can get the Classic 4's for since you are going to need big watts and current for them.The one thing that i didnt like about the classic 3s was the leaness in the midbass which was to a fault to me it really suffered in comparion to my Epos M12.2,s because they wernt particular fast like the M12.2's and they kinda plodded along in the bass because of it,and it does appear that the 4 would address this issue,I think they would sound spectacular the 4s should be very high on anyone list in this pricerange.

If I were you I would get on Audiogon and get a good intergrated amp that can survive 4 ohm swings,you will need one sooner than you think for the Mini or the Classic 4.