I'm ridding my ears of my newly acuired Thiels to make room for the best sounding speaker under $5,000--the Legacy Classic. Never before have I heard music reproduced so seductively. I've been a recording engineer for 18 years and have heard some fine monitors, most double or triple the cost of the Classics. I can assure you, Legacy is worth your while if you want to hear more music, all the while saving ridiculous mark-up charges. The wait period is worth it as well. When these towers crank up the Glory, Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, and Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio, I was on my knees. By the way, I've found a new reference disc--Paul McCartney's Liverpool Orartorio. With names such as Tiri Te Kanawa and Jerry Hadley, the vocal renderings are stunning. There's one track on this CD that has the most amazing auditon piece for tweeters; it's a violin solo that despite bringing tears to your eyes, plays octaves above high C. Everything is there, bow noise, the graininess of the metallic string, the hollowness of the instrument, all combine to some fine music. This track evaluates tweeters to the fullest extent. I wager that no other tweeter but Legacy's ribbon can compare for my taste. Get this CD just for the solo and see where your high frequency drivers stack up. Then get yourself a pair of Legacy speakers.

I am here to sing praises of Legacy Audio Classic, which is a 4 way 6 driver speaker. It employs two 10" carbon filled woofers (front and rear), 7" Kevlar midwoofer, 1.25" textile dome midrange and a 4" ribbon tweeter. There is also a rear firing 1"titanium dome ambience driver used to enhance treble distribution. This is defeatable. These speakers have an impedance of 4 Ohms, but check in with a sensitivity of either 92 or 90.2 dB @ 2.83V/1m. The disparity in sensitivities comes from source material contained in the Leagacy Reference Guide and the Classic manual itself. Recommended amplification is from 25-300 watts and the cost is approx. $2,500. These are beefy speakers, standing in at 44"x12"x12" and weighing 110 lbs. each. They come provided with molded rails and optional brass spikes. These speakers are room friendly for the most part. I have mine 3' from the rear wall and more than 2' from any side wall reflection. The Legacy, showing it's excellent engineering has 4 toggle switches which facilitate proper set-up in a variety of rooms situations. Briefly they can be flipped to 1) shelve into above 400 Hz by 2 dB, 2) reduce edginess in the lower treble region due to room flutter and bright material, 3) low frequency impedance contour when using amps with high current capability. Legacy recommends that this switch be left up thereby converting the Classic to a more sophisticated 6th order Butterworth alignment, which reduces distortion in the octave above system resonance, and 4) the previously mentioned rear-firing ambience tweeter defeat.
I have left al my switches in the up position in which they came, but you may choose to experiment.
My System is bi-amped using the following equipment:
Bryston B-60 Integrated Amplifier 60w/8 ohms, 100w/4 ohms
Bryston 2B-lp Amplifier roughly the same as above
Marantz 67 SE CD player
MIT Terminator 2 Cables (2 pair)
MIT Terminator 2 Interconnects

First, I am not a technical expert so I just will provide my thumbnail impressions. I had previously owned the Legacy Victoria's which I felt were a fabulous speaker in itself. The Legacy Classics just are more of that excellence with a foundation that is beyond my belief. The amount of bass that this speaker can put out amazes me. Yet it never overpowers the other ranges. There is seamless integration throughout the bandwidth. It pumps out quick tonal bass, which is not boomy or soft. On Ani di Franco's "Living in Clip" the bass undercurrent is there in it's pure form carrying the rythm.
Also, my love of the blues has risen to a new level now that the foundation is so palpable. I can only imagine what it would sound like with some Krells or Levinsons. Vocals are spendid on this speaker. I have caught myself purchasing more music by female vocalist such as Throwing Muses and Holly Cole just to swim in the wonderfull clarity I experience from mids of this speaker. I won't go through a blow by blow account cuz I don't want to bore people, but as you can see I am enthusiastic enough to type this much out at 8 a.m. on a saturday. Suffice it to say that my appreciation of all music in my collection is greatly enhanced and I am hearing things I wasn't previously aware existed. In fact, I am on my way to Berkeley today to scour used CD stores.
One final aside. I can't say enough about the folks at Legacy Audio. Obvioulsy they are doing something right to have built such a fine reputation on a mail order only speaker (think how much money you save by not paying the middle man his 30 plus percent)! They have been nothing short of the best sales and support staff I have ever dealt with. When I was in the process of trading in my Victoria's for the Classic's I ran into a changing trade-in policy wich was just being instituted. My belief was that you were able to get full trade-in value for upgrade purposes for up to a full year after purchase. Apparently this is being changed. When I questioned the policy I was handed off to Bill Duddleston himself (part owner and chief designer of Legacy) who assured me customers were the highest priority at Legacy and that full trade-in would be honored. He then spent 10 minutes discussing his design philosophy with me.
They have never been anything less than helpful, also arranging shipping at their discounted pricing structure and billing me later. 5 Stars to Legacy support staff!
As you can see, I have nothing but good things to say about both the organization and the products they manufacture. Pls. if you are looking for a speaker in the 2k and up price range, give the Classics a listen. You won't be sorry. Music never sounded so GOOD!


Bryston 2B-lp amplif

I've had a similar experiecnce with the classics speakers. A distant cousin has a pair and loves them. I heard them for the first time and thought that they were better than my Monitor Audio Full Metal Theater system. With the soundstage of the Legacys, two speakers sound like several playing in a good theater setup. I just wish I could afform them.

I wish I had more time to devote to audiophile-dom, but I have to suffer through the rigors of the 9 to 5 day job and come home to my new Legacy Classics. I've heard lots of speakers but have always wondered if "that was it" at the end of the listening session. I kept waiting for the salesperson to say "now that was without this super amp or transport, blah, blah, blah. Nothing ever satiaed me. I just assumed that purchasing high-end speakers was not worth the money. This included ProAcs (wonderful), Thiel(superb), and a host of others that all were worth every penny to the industry but I couldn't see myself shelling out the price of a vital organ to recreate music in my home. Enter legacy Audio from Springfield, Illinois. I always admired the Legacy brochures for their honest and up-front marketing. I appreciate the craftsmanship, although I would rather listen to good speakers made out of balsa than have some rare eye catching wood denote how good a speaker should be. Frankly, I listen with the lights off, so I don't see speakers that much anyway. That all changed when I stopped in a local Legacy auditon site nearby.
I walked into an ad hoc room that resembled a spartan flea amrket, much less a high-end audio dealership. This was a location that really wasn't even open yet, but the manager was kind enough to allow me into the shop. Before me were two Legacy Classics in a stunning Rosewood veneer. To the right of the Classics were the awe-inspiring Whispers, playing a hushed Chopin disk. I was immediately taken aback by the musicality of these speakers. I literally could see Rubenstein sitting before me, adorning the piano bench in all of his splendor. Then I asked to hear the Classics, sitting just a few inches away in no sort of proper positioning. The salesperson laughed and said, "Go up a little closer." I did of course, like a child on Christams morning and noticed a startling thing. The Whispers were not playing at all. They weren't even hooked up. That music was coming from the Classics in a way that I had never heard music reproduced, hell, PLAYED. From that moment on, I was hooked. I had finally found the speaker that actually made me cry. This was music. Music at its finest. All this, and no special room treatments or cables, no fancy smancy amps or blackboxes. All that stood before me was this magnificent soundstage and two hundred pounds of speaker. Soon, needless to say, I was two hundred pounds heavier.
I've only had the Classics for a little over a month now, and the review is forthcoming. All I can say is that God must have these transducers in his listening room. Check out Legacy Audio. For your sake.

I've lived with the Legacy Classics since Valentine's Day and am repeatedly pleased with their attributes. Fashioned in supple rosewood, the only thing that excells over their fit and finish is the reproduction of music. From the bottom up, the lower octaves resound with ardent authority. My Energy sub just can't hold up in terms of speed and quality--I have to cut the sub out when focussing on stereo reproduction. Midrange is exactly what the critics have said...uncolored, well imaged, true to the source. Treble, with the four inch ribbon supertweeter, seems to be my favorite aspect of these transducers. Every resonant instrument, the overtone series, and individual timbres are as good as I've witnessed. They compete admirably with instruments in their price class and well beyond. I'm totally satiated for a while...only a great deal on a pair of FOCUS could rally my attention. I'm not going to tell you that these are the end all of speakerdom, just give them an audition, for your ear's sake.

Best speaker you can buy for under $3000, with some strong competitionfrom the PSB Stratus Gold, improved. I heard two faults:
A best buy in the world of $3000 speakers, but not perfect:
(1) I heard an upper-midrange frequency response peak once in a while
(not audible in the Legacy Focus and Legacy Whispers which use
the same mid-range driver -- Focus uses two, Whisper uses four)
This problem surprised me because I'd never heard it with other high-end
speaker auditions using the same CD - "Soular Energy" by the Ray Brown Trio (highly recommended for both sound quality and performance).
I should add the mid-range sounded great 98% of the time!
(2) Too much bass. This speaker and your ears must be at least three feet
from room corners and at least two feet from room walls -- perhaps a problem because they are big boxes!

I listened to many different speakers over the course of about 18 months prior to buying the Classics. B&W 801's,802's,Paradigm Monitor 100's,Hale Concept 2's (I think) to name a few. The Classics were the equal or better of all but the Legacy Focus and Whisper. At half the price of the Focus and 1/6 the price of the Whisper, the Classics were a steal. I purchased the Classics on the opening day of the Carrolton,TX audition site. The clincher for the sale was that if I decide to upgrade to another model they will allow me to bring my Classics in for a credit of the original purchase price. The Classics can be driven by just about any amp. I use the Classics with a Legacy Silver Screen center channel speaker and Paradigm ADP350 surrounds. All are driven to life like levels with an amp rated at 80 per channel in to 8 ohms. The Legacy's are 4-5 ohm speakers. What the amp delivers with a 4 ohm load I don't know but probably about 120 wpc.
I'm not what you'd call an audiophile but can appreciate a natural midrange and the tightest most controlled bass I've heard. I use a sub for movies but have absolutely no need for it with music. The upper end is detailed and not harsh.
Prior to buying the Classics I wasn't listening to as much music as I had in the past. With the Classics I find myself digging out cd's I haven't listened to in months.
The fit and finish are furniture grade, Legacy customer service is great, the price is right. I give the Classics a five.

I auditioned the Legacy Classics and the Signature III and I think they areamong the best speakers I have ever heard. There is one individual who posted
under different names (Brian, Notworth..., etc., but they all come from the
same IP address) who regularly put out reviews to put down the Legacy speakers.
He obviously has a hidden agenda.

The BP2000 couldn't hold a candle to the Classic. With the Classic, the bass is tighter, treble actually exists in the Classic. Vocals are intelligible. And , you don't get that rear signal interfering with the main front signal, which messes with the midrange something fierce.
You certainly don't need to spend $3,000 to get boomy bass, muted mids, and dull treble. OK, you do get a powered low end...big deal...go get a $700 sub, add your existing speakers, and spend the remaining 2300 on CD's. You'll be happier.

What does having an audio/electronics background have to do with the fact that I have ears and know what pleases them??? The fact that I have a BSEE (Thats Bachelors of Science in Electronic Engineering in case you don't know) from the University of Akron Does mean I have a better chance of using the contraction "you're" in place of the posessive "your" when required...and can spell/type "background" in the correct current usage...Thank you.
PS: Does anyone know what manufacturer makes the Legacy's new ribbon tweeters?