These are the best sounding speakers in the World. They do everything right, amazing. They mate perfectly with my Adcom Stack and Monster Cables.

None, these babys are awesome.

I love loud rock and roll and these bad boys kick. Much better than Klipsch. These speakers are just too cool and that's coming from an Audio Guy like me.I love these speakers more than my Camaro Z28. They rock!

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901, Klipsch Forte II's, PSB Stratus Series.

All around speakers

None at all.

These speakers are truly awesome in all aspects of music (Classical, Rock, Blues, Soft, Jazz etc..). Dynamics coming out from these speakers are so unbeleivable. Equipment used:
Pre amplifier - Conrad Johnson PFR
Amplifier - Bryston 4BST
CD player - CAL Icon mark 2 with power boss
Interconnect - Kimber PBJ
Speaker cables - Kimber 8TC

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Martin Logan, Thiel and more..

Tight articulate sound over the entire audio sprectrum. Tight and deep bass and midbass response. Competent treble and midrange. Well constructed cabinent with nice finish. Very good sound on orchestral and instramental pieces.

Have an foreward and somewhat aggressive sound and treble response is a tad bright. Some times sound hard and spitty on vocals. S and T sounds seemed to be more pronounced than what is natural, but not to the degree that it was totally objectionable. Large Cabinet size is going to affect spousal acceptance factor especially in rooms where space is at a premium. Vocals had a slight tendency toward spittiness.

Before I start, lt me state the perspective of my review here. I come from the opinion if you like the sound of something wether it be a bose 301 or wilson audio grand slam thats what HI FI is.Trust no ones opinion,opinions although useful really don't mean jack. The only thing that matters is what you find pleasent to your ears. Some of the reviews here rate the legacy a five other rate them a 1 like
the aformention bose speaker people either loved the sound or hated it. However in my opinion the reviews that rated
the Focus an 1 are seriously flawed and misleading for the following reasons.1. thereis no mention in many of these reviews the equpiment and the recordings used. One review mention something to the effect of an neutral room in the high fi shop he was at. Most Hi Fi Rooms are far from nuetral due to the fact that they are by nature a show floor
for the display of products not the reproduction of sound. Room Boom may have been a factor. 2 these speakers were taken in on trade who knows what damage their previos owner
had done to the drivers. 3.Other reviewers dish them for
lack of adequate dampening of the cabinet and substandard parts . I rapped on the cabinets and found them as dead as any as for the parts quality the components I saw were of made of good quality and machining. Nothing I saw lead me to believe that they were using cheap shoddy components.4.One of the reviews lists B$W 801 as an $5000.00 speaker. I have not seen them list for less than $12900.00. 5.Enough people have reviewed these thing positively (including HI FI mags susch as Sensible Sound and Audio) that there has to be merit to this speaker overall design and value. Much more so than the feeble arguments made by the speakers detractors.

I listened to them for about 15 hours at an audio seminar set up by legacy on the front end they were using pioneer elite dvd 09 player, legacy preamp processor, legacy 300 watt monoblocks with legacy speaker wire and interconnects.
The room was an far less than ideal 60'by 40' by 18'. In short it was large and cavernous. Room boom was a factor in this demo.AB comparisons were done between other products in their line ranging from the classic to the whisper. Music range from jazz, classical, and rock. The issues I had with this demo was there was no AB comparison with speakers of other manufacturer, no tube gear was also, and lastly no dedicated cd player or transport. Most of this setup was optimized for home theatre not music. When I confronted there rep on it he said that Legacy as company is trying to gear its marketting more towards the common blue collar worker than dyed in the wool audiophiles. Something I think the company should rethink since the only people I know of that are crazy enough enough to shell at $5400 for a pair of speakers are audiophiles. Most of my friends are completely satisfie with there $150.00 a pair JBL's from best buy.

So how did they sound ? On the Jazz Instramental piece first listened to they were pretty impressive. Bass and midrange was very quick, treble well extended and clear with no tizziness.The second track a duet with male and female the treble response seemed to break up, the voices themselves had the right timbre and such but the s and t sounds in the lyrics seemed to be more pronounced than whats natural. This was noticable on one particular piece other vocal pieces sounded more natural. However I must note that the same piece played on the empire speaker did not have the same problems. The difference is that the empire is a bipolar with neodome tweeter as opposed to the dome plus ribbon setup on the focus.

In an overall comparson that this speaker does pretty much what it was designed to do. Wich is give you very good sound for the money. They are not an cheaper clone
of the big gun B$W 801 or Wilson Audio Grand Slams. Which are two speaker designs that I listened to and enjoy immensely.These speaker are Legacy audio focus and have an different sound than either the $13000 B$W's or the $100000 plus Wilson's. However what you do get with the $5400 Focus is much of the frquency range and articulation that these fine speakers are cabable of producing. However the overall fidelety of either of those speaker system are noticabley superior to the Focus. On the other hand Comparison to simular priced products is where the Focus system really shine I've auditioned Hale's Transcendance 3, InnerSound Eros, NHT 3.3, Theil 3.6, Martin Logan Request and Alon IV.
The Focus are just a competent in their fidelity and soundstaging as any of these brands. Trade offs are made in
either treble clarity, midrange clarity, or base response. To me the best speaker of this lot in midrange and treble clarity are the Innersound and the Martin Logans. Base resonse is not as tight or as deep as the focus. The other speakers had pretty musch the same type of midrange response compromises made in the treble as the Focus. Of all of them only the Focus could handle the Cannon shots
from Tel Arc Tchaikovsky's 1812 with any real authority. On all the other designs the base either response was rolled off or not as disticnt.

In Comparison to other big bang for the buck sytems like Magneplanr 3.6, PSB Stratus Gold, Paradigm Reference 100,
or even Focus's own little brothern the Classic and the like.I would say those speaker sytems are better choice than the legacy. $5400 is lot a money for a speaker and in my book does not qualify the Focus as a budget speaker.

The Final analysis is that the Legacy Focus is a solid full range system that trades offs a little hardness in the treble for extended frequency response, wich only presents itself as touch of spittiness on bright recordings.(a trade of I also have heard on other sytems as well) But offers solid midrange with deep clear base. Of all the speakers tha I've audition only the Focus offered solid extension on things like cannon shots and 16 hertz organ pedal notes. Others came close and some superseded the legacy in definition but none could match it in both areas of depth and definition. Final recommendation is that the Focus are very good choice for peoples who listen to an wide variety of program Materials wich demand playback from the full audio range eg big and orchestrial and rock pieces that stretch to the full audio sprectrum. And also does a marvelous job on small scale instramental pieces on small scale vocal extended treble make voices sound sibliant to a small degree. For people who do not listen to material that does not require base reponse below 30 hrz the more laid back treble and higher sense of immediacy from the Innersound, Maggies, Thiel products offer are a better bbargain.

Similar Products Used:

Inner Sound Eros $4995.00, Hales Trancendence 3 $4500.00,
Theil 3.6 $4600.00, Medowlark Huron HotRod $5000.00, Alon IV $5500.00.

My Focus frustrate me with harsh sound and weird "phasey" lack of realistic image. I've been inside them and defeated the bass-toggle wiring to avoid that stretch of thin wire which, yes, actually carried current in the default mode. I've put plastic wood in the stripped holes on the woofer screw-downs. I've cursed the plastic rails serving as feet.
I spent days, weeks wondering if the drivers were in-phase on these speakers, because there are some serious imaging problems that show up as funny drops and sizzle-points of the treble image. Audiophiles out there can help understand what these impressions are imputable to, but I know only that they made it impossible to imagine what seems to be the listener's dream of having the speakers seem to disappear in the soundstage.

I've been told so many things by so many people. Some say that 3 twelve-inch woofers in this cabinet is improper design. Some say that the dome tweeters, at $35 each, are limited in quality and range, and that they are as well improperly mounted for imaging and timing accuracy. Some say that their bass extension is made possible only via circuitry, and that this is cheating. Some say that the two Kevlar drivers "break up" severely in their extended excursion range, and that the manufacturer makes newer ones which correct this problem.


If you have a big room and want to party with friends and blast with robust power, these speakers will impress folks. If you want to sit down and focus on musical fidelity and stage-presentation, with expectations of your $5500 giving you a realistic image and smooth tonal balance, you won't get it with these.

For my $5500, I really wanted to get it. I've tried and tried to get it, and to find pride and satisfaction in my purchase. But I guess it's just like the advice they give to beginning stock-traders regarding a purchase that begins to lose money: Get out while you haven't lost it all. In this case, that would be to take action while you have years in which you could be closing your eyes and really imagining the performers in front of you.

With all the complaints and arguing about this speaker that I see, it seems a simple and productive move toward everyone's satisfaction would be for the disigner, Bill from Legacy, to write us all in a forum like this and openly engage in a fun, informative, progressive discussion on the technical aspects of customer feedback. Maybe many of us are wrong about our design criticisms, or maybe productive improvements could be made from the RIGHTNESS of some of our comments.

If I were a speaker manufacturer, I would employ the wisdom that my college Biology professor instilled in me at age 19: There are no "BAD" data. That is, in business too, there may be plenty of dissatisfied listeners, but their input is as valuable as gold to the progress of a design.

Bill D., (designer of these speakers) are you available? This is no rowdy emotional challenge bent on slamming Legacy. On the contrary, I want to make my speakers better. It would be a privilege for your customers AND LEGACY to engage in some constructive dialog regarding the design and performance of this product.

How about us setting up a discussion regarding 1) bass extension as a function of drivers and cabinet dimensions 2) tweeter mounting/driver quality; 3) image quality as related to driver choice and placement; 4) midbass and midrange drivers and related excursion problems (if any).

Whatever might happen, if you are looking at these speakers seriously, read all the reviews that you can, and be careful to note which reviewers seem to have a high-level of technical knowledge regarding speaker design. Notice how these same folks often also have high expectations for the fine points of listening (image coherence, driver accuracy, solid frequency reproduction). Collect their concerns on a sheet of paper and call Legacy and ask for answers to the issues that are important to you.

This is not a showdown, nor is it necessarily a debunking quest; rather, it is an opportunity for the community to become more knowledgeable regarding the Focus design and what Legacy feels about its performance.

They should have some kind of minimal IQ requirement (at least the national average of 95) or some standard of education (5th or 6th grade would be nice) for people to post here.
The Moron (strict dictionary definition) below said "(t)his overpriced coffin is only for the richy riches that can afford it."

Huh!? If you are a good researcher you often get what you pay for.

"It's 3 12 inch woofers can only move 400 cubic inches of air."

Again, What!? how many other speakers move that much air?
The B&W 801 only moves around 176 inches with it's lone 15 Inch woofer

It is only a mere 500w RMS.

Thats, pretty damn high! continous. Of course most good electronics, especially Class A Amps don't have that much power (excluding the really big ones, Krell, Mark Levinson etc.)

"It's low 96 db efficiency is seen on $200 Cerwin Vegas."

Low? what are you stupid? With this level of efficiency you can drive it with a single ended triode tube amp! (300B's would be nice I bet)



"For the same cost you could purchase a JBL MOVIE THEATRE system with
a 140+ decibel maximum SPL, 1500+watts, and as good as sound quality as
anyone could expect from ANYTHING."

I'm sure that is good for your ears!

"The Legacy Focus is what a BOSE would give you if you paid $5000. It would make a good $600-$800 speaker."

Yeah, about as good as the JBL junk. I bet the Woofer drivers alone cost more than that.

Well there you have it. Why not go and listen to them yourselves, which I suspect the last reviewer never did. Where is his e-mail address? (He probably works at a Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's etc.. (There's that whole education thing again)

Frank

With hundreds of "Hi-End" companies in business today; it comes as a supriseto find one every once in a while, that is actualy committed to recreating
the live musical experience. Legacy Audio in Springfield, Illinois is such a
company.

The FOCUS,(Field Optimzed Convergent Source)loudspeaker is a large floor
standing design. It incorporates seven drivers in a four way, full range
system. The treble is produced by a combination of a 1.25" cloth dome and
a 4" ribbon. This combination produces an airyness of sound quality I have
only heard elsewhere in very expensive electrostatic designs. The midrange
is handled by two 7" Kevlar drivers, located to produce a coherent point
source, coincident with the treble units and help cancel some of the early
room reflection problems that are usualy encountered. The Kevlar mids are
also some of the best I have heard. They impart a fast rhythmic and crisp
yet warm nature to the sound reproduced. This is not to say that they color
the sound! The overall impression is a natural, balanced presentation, more
reminiscent of the difference between digital and analog playback. Vocals
are particularly well rendered through the FOCUS. The image portrayed with
good input is emotionally stunning and immediatly involving. Bass reproduction
is an area where the FOCUS also excels. Usually it is a trade-off, you can
get good imaging and mid/trebel response or you can have slamming bass, not
both at the same time. The FOCUS gives you both, true 16Hz. extension without
a sub, and airy extended high/mid response. The bass is produced by three 12"
poly/carbon woofers and will provide house shaking bass if proper source/amp
input is applied. The bass is tight and fast and goes as low as you could want.
These big speakers are also efficient, (98db@2.8V). You could drive them to good
levels with a 12Watt triode if you had to (but why waste all that bass piston-
area). I have found the best match with these speakers is bi-amping with powerfull
solid state amps. If you feed them well with good gear and source material you
will be well rewarded. If you try to scrimp and match mediocre electronics or
bad source material, you will hear it! These speakers are very revealing and will
not cover up for Mid-Fi nasties.
So is it all "peaches and cream and rainbows"? No, the FOCUS are big speakers
and will never disappear like the best monitors. They are room dependent, like any
speaker. I have them "shoe horned" into a 12'X 20' room that is really too small
for them. I will not realize their full potential until I treat my room to a
greater degree.
If you have not guessed, I realy dig the FOCUS speakers! Legacy is a great
company to deal with and they make high quality products. Unfortunately the
FOCUS, like any statement level gear comes with a price tag. Approximately
$5,000. If you like what you read about FOCUS but can't swing 5K, check out
the "Classic" I have heard it described as "a mini FOCUS". It incorporates
the same mid and treble drivers but uses a different configuration and smaller
bass drivers. Legacy will also work with customers to help them obtain used
Legacy products, they even keep a waiting list for items like the FOCUS.

For pictures and more detailed specs check out Legacy's cool home page @
http://www.legacy-audio.com


-WGH.<

I recently acquire a pair of Foci... right out of the Box.. it is an incredible sounding speaker.. very airy non-metallic sounding and tight!
After I broke them in they sounded even better... let's start from the bottom up..=)

At the foundation consists 3 12" drivers... peeople may think.. geez 3 12inchers, that is going to sound boomy... Actually it is the opposite.. I get none of the boominess, but rather a clean powerful bass with distinct bass notes.. try the Chesky Ultimate demo Cd ... put it on the bass response test and you'll see what I mean.... it is extremely quick and upbeat.. I had it up to 118 db's they sound absolutely musical, no compression, no strains, effortless and at ease.. I was going to put them up to even higher volumes, but my ears can't take it..

Now move to the mid-range the mid-range is made up of 2 7" eton kevlar drivers..they are extremely light and quick... also extremely stiff a tap on the cone will reveal their stiffness.. the mid-range is nothing short of perfection(or near perfection)... it is transparent,,, natural and with the warmth that will bring your cold digital cd sound to live!!! INCREDIBLE... the best mid-range I have heard anywhere... it reaveals so much... so pure...so detailed and clear..

The highs..make you feel like you are in thin air... the 1.25 inch tweeter tells you exactly what kind of instrument that is on the cd.. a cymbal sounded like a cymbal.. triangle sounded like a triangle... it tells you so much such high resolution and to coupl with electrostat quality ribbon tweeter... so much air it makes you feel like you are listening to Marin-Logans.. except when the bass notes hit..then you know you are not listening to a pair of thin sounding membranes..

the Rosewood finish is nothing short of fine furniture.. actually much better than a lot of the funitures I saw in funiture stores...

The Foci is extremely dynamic.. with 96 db of sesitivity.. you can drive this monster with a 15 wpc amp to a reasonable loud level..!! the soundstage is huge and tall... mixed with excellet depth the sound coming to your ears are in "layers" you are not at home listening..you are in middle of a live performance concert!! I have listening to some pretty costly and good speakers... the Wilson watt/ puppy is extremely well built speaker with excellent details... but too much mid-bass and placement is extremely sensitive.. the bass is NOT even close to half of what the Foci output... not to mention the low dynamics.. ?I have listened to the Von Schweiker VR4's and the Foci are all over the VR4's the only thing the vR4's can stand on their own is the ambiance ( due to the adjustable ambiance output tweeter due to the nature bipolar design..) the only thing I heard so far that is comparable to the Foci would be the Dunlavy SC VI's ... but they are too stinky ugly and huge.... I much prefer the looks and aesthtics of the Foci..will the demo stops here..this pair of Foci is here to stay... I will fight anyone who tryes to take them away from me... go audition one for yourself..... They are REALLY that great! and to give 5 stars would be an understatement...

Power (efficiency), range, clarity.

Phase quirky, harsh dome tweeter.

These speakers are great for sorting out the various levels at which we listeners stand in knowledge of speaker function and performance.

No one level is really any better standpoint than another, unless it is a level that turns out to be completely unrelated to audio, like that projected by Nikki, below.

Rather than make chuckle-points regarding her financial insecurities, I think I'd like to just request more specifics regarding the speakers, 'cause nothing whatsoever relevant to anything about Focus speakers on any informative level is said in the review.

(And, really, rich folks don't buy Focus speaker, hon. Can't see where you got suckered into adding these to your snob set. You could have spent much more and furthered your quest to seem wealthy.)

But, back to the point: there is nothing in the two quippy reviews that has any meaning other than an implication that money can get you a big house and then your speakers can sound better.

Gosh, these speakers have some seriously interesting design issues (strengths and weaknesses) centering on phasing, coherence, tuning and whatnot. No one here wants to hear you forcing contentions into this context about how much you want us to think you earn.

Gee, it's really too bad you're still working, frankly. Sorry you still need the cash ...

I put some ScanSpeak Revelators in my Foci, replacing the dome tweeters. I now have extremely durable drivers with much more refined response and tracking in that frequency range.

I bypassed all the back-panel toggles, replacing wire when needed and/or simply eliminating wires when possible and ganging on crossover posts. If you look at the switch logic and the signal path when in their neutral positions, you can kind of postulate that some of the wires (signal path) are not necessary. Out they fly.

I drive 'em with Monoblocs, and master all my studio work with them. They rock, but they don't always "orchestra".

I certainly wouldn't replace 'em with B&Ws or the like.

Similar Products Used:

Lots

I have to agree with Al's comment regarding imaging. When i first heard these speakers, it sounded somewhat flat. Still, these are great floorstanders when played on loud volume even if they are a bit overpriced. 4 stars for the sound. 2 stars for the price.

I recently bought a pair of these after my old faithful Infinitypair succumbed to subtropical humidity and the surrounds began to
transmogrify. Legacy has posted extensive impartial reviews on their site
so I will not echo what is said there except to state that I agree
with most of it. The tweeters are as close to perfect as I have heard,
and beat out even the electrostatics for "open air" sound. No sibilance. Martin-Logan
runs a close second in the treble department followed by Thiel. (in my
listening evaluations anyway, I obviously couldn't listen to everything).
The only possible complaint about the low end is that there may be too
much of it for you or your room. The eclipse 12s are extremely tight and fast in
my listening room, which is a "Great Room" and is approx 28x32 with a
vaulted ceiling. Bass is somewhat boomy but it's because I am using a
dreaded EQUALIZER and I LIKE IT THAT WAY. All you purists can start
thumbing your nose at me now, I don't care. I'll really aggravate you
and tell you that I have them placed 10" from the back wall, and I
LIKE THAT TOO. Go figure.

Anyhow, the Focus is supposed to be strongest in the midrange.
I have found this to be a double-edged sword. The resolving power of
the kevlar mids is remarkable, and I have had to re-listen to my CD's
to see what I've been missing. However, I do notice that these mids
reveal EVERYTHING which can also include bad recordings, mikes too close,
overmastering. Modern rock guitars processed through fuzzboxes, especially when overlaid in a complex mix with vocals, occasionally
sound raspier than usual to me, and this may take some getting used to.
I should also say that my dealer (yes, I found a salon which had a new
pair in stock, so I guess a Legacy dealer does exist) says that this
overexuberant raspiness could be the switching power supply in my Carver amplifier and that I couldn't
hear it before because my Infinitys weren't high-definition enough. So,
bottom line is, go listen to them yourself with the type of music you
normally play and see what you think.

One other thing...Legacy has a reputation for outstanding build quality and
customer service...I wonder if they may be slipping a bit. Now, my situation
was unique since I bought a pair from dealer stock instead of factory-
direct, but still there have been a couple of problems. The finish on
one speaker was rubbed in shipment and had a black mark and compromised
seal, I reported this to Legacy and they firmly suggested that it was the
dealer's problem and not theirs. Not quite up to the reputation of bending over
backwards, especially for someone who just spent $6K on their product.
Additionally, there was one minor problem with the feet. There are 2 ABS
(yes, plastic) feet which need to be screwed to the bottom of the speaker
after delivery. One of the pilot holes for the wood screw was already
stripped out before I ever touched it. I mentioned this to Legacy and
they suggested wood putty in the hole. If I had considered it a big deal
I would have told them to put wood putty in their ear, I don't expect to
have to do repairs on a brand new set of $6K speakers. Fortunately, I
have a brain, and just found a bigger screw. Overall best speakers I have
ever heard, but only 4 star instead of 5 for less-than-perfect purchasing
experience.