For a long time, I had been thinking about upgrading my speakers. I had already done a lot with acoustic treatment and speaker positioning. In the area of electronic room equalization, the technology I’m using is pretty much state-of-the-art --- Audyssey MultEQ XT32 and Pro, SubEQ HT, DSX and Dynamic EQ. In addition, DSX has allowed me to set up a system with 11 speakers + subs which is again pretty awesome. The weak link in my system has been the speakers.
Individually, my main speakers are actually pretty good. In fact, the PSB Stratus Goldi had been among the very top recommended speakers of Stereophile for many years. The JBL XPL series of speakers has been very well-regarded and even now, they still command a pretty high price. However, the speakers are really a mish-mash of 4 different kinds. Ideally, speakers in a home theater are supposed to be exactly the same. The next best is that they should be of the same family, with the same drivers, etc.
I have always felt that any weaknesses of my speakers have been covered up by my excellent electronic room correction which, among other things, makes the different speakers have a similar timbre. In addition, I have 4 excellent subwoofers and I set the speaker crossovers at 80 Hz or higher so the subs do a lot of work. Nevertheless, electronic room correction can only do so much and theoretically, if you start off with excellent speakers which are the same or are of the same family, you can be certain that you would have much better sound.
It’s been kind of a dream for me to acquire a new set of high-end speakers, especially because my general rule has always been that the improvement should be obvious. The new speakers had to be much better than the previous. Ideally, I wanted audiophile-grade speakers with outstanding musicality and with a high sensitivity which would allow me to use them for home theater, which requires high SPL levels. This is not that easy to find. As an example, one of my favorite speaker brands has been Thiel but they are notoriously difficult to drive, you need huge amounts of amplifier power to drive them and so they really can’t be used for home theater.
Last month, I attended the Hifi Show at the Mandarin and I ended up staying a long time at the HT setup of AV Driver where I was astounded, not by the video but by the multi-channel audio. I had brought several Bluray concerts that I was very familiar with, including 2 operas. The speakers were the Focal Electra series, powered by the relatively puny internal amplifier of a Denon AVR – the A100 (140 watts per channel).
Firstly, they cranked up the volume to reference levels and given that the room was pretty large, it was very loud. Wala problema ang speakers and amp. Equally important, hindi nakakapagod ang tunog kahit malakas. Later, I found out that the speaker sensitivity is 93 db, which is very high and really easy to drive. Secondly, the sound quality was so good that napaiyak ang ibang nakiking – wala biro. Next, I found out that the only calibration done (because of lack of time) was to adjust speaker levels and of course, if it sounded that good without proper calibration, I wondered how it would sound with accurate calibration and proper room acoustic treatment?
After that experience, one thing led to another and last week, I found myself with a set of the same speakers (and actually a little better) in my HT. After calibration and listening tests, I decided to get 2 pairs of Focal Electra 1037 Be speakers for the Fronts and Wides (Audyssey DSX channels), an Electra CC 1008 BE speaker for the center and a pair of Electra 1007 S for the Height channels (7 speakers in total). I had originally intended to buy a complete set of 11 speakers but I decided to defer the purchase of the speakers for the Surround and Surround Back speakers because their contribution to the total audio experience is relatively small - let's say that largely because of the shape of our ears, we are more sensitive to sounds in front of us. Instead of those 2 pairs of speakers at the back, I decided to buy 2 x SVS PB13 Ultras. Much bigger improvement than those surround speakers! This also means that I still have room for future improvement!
How do the Focal Electras sound? My first shock was with stereo music. I’d prefer to dispense with the usual superlatives and just say that it sounds like magic. You feel like you have the performers right in front of you. There are no speakers. The sound is so life-like and the imaging uncannily accurate. The soundstage is huge. The only other time I’ve experienced a system this good (I guess there are others but I haven’t heard them) is with the setup of Alvinthx2 – high-end Elac speakers in an acoustically-treated room.
A bit more descriptions, based on multi-channel listening – the mid-bass is tighter, male vocals are thicker, soprano and high electric guitar notes are sweeter and easier to listen to. A huge thing in HT is panning (left to right, front to back, down to up). It sounds much more accurate, likely because all the 7 front channels are the same family. Finally, imaging is very precise.
Next, I confirmed that the speakers are easy to drive because after calibration with Audyssey Pro, the AVR trims were set much lower than my previous speakers.
Speakers with musicality, easy to drive and either the same or from the same family = excellent for HT. That’s the theory and I’ve confirmed that as well. Aside from the usual stuff like intelligibility of dialogue, the imaging, soundstage and panning are the best that I have heard.
So what next … It’s always a bit sad if there is nothing to look forward to. But I can always upgrade my surrounds and surround backs! 3D? Maybe new technology for the projector?
Meanwhile, I have a few other things left to do like fabricate and install a custom-made stand for the center channel and the brackets for the Height Speakers. Till that is done, it’s a waste of time to do a truly complete Audyssey Pro calibration. So there’s still some stuff to do!
Cheers to all and Merry X’mas!
