mid range clarity, depth, bass and lower mids, highs--could they be more transparent placed properly?

For those who like English electrostatics speakers the Focuses may be too overwhelming because the lower two or three octaves are present and the perceived clarity of JUST the mid range up is not there, because of the greater range and sense of real music in real space played by an orchestra at all frequencies.

Be careful and aware of the utter stupidity and, or deafness of those who give these speakers one star and dismiss them. These folks are either jealous, in the employ of another speaker company, or too lazy to move their focus speakers around to get the best sound. Bass is there to be found by trial and error. The right amp is also important. I have used Sunfire and now an Audio Research 100 watt a side amp. The sound is totally glorious, better than most of the concert halls that are in need of serious renovation. The poor people who know nothing but the sound of Avery Fischer Hall in NYC, for example, do not really know how a symphony orchestra can sound, or should sound with a rich lower mid range and bass. Try Symphony Hall in Boston, if you can. It may be a bit reverberant for those brought up on cold steely strings and dead air space. These folks might hate the Focuses. The difference between these speakers and those costing $40,000 or more is one of taste more than science.

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Vandersteen 3a's, closest at a much lower price are a good start up the sonic ladder. Sony SACD player and a passive pre-amp with Cardas cables.

Sound, which is all that matters.

Room placement sensativity.

Well after living with these for a year, I still have yet to find a loudspeaker with the clarity of the Legacy Focus. It is absolutely stunning! I've compared them to every audiophile selection available in Denver and still would only choose the focus. Movie playback and voice clarity is also outstanding. the only possible upgrade I would even consider is the Legacy Whispers. However I wish to point out one thing. To really make these puppies sing, room placement is absolutely critical. It is possibly the most sensative speaker to placement that I have ever owned. You will spend hours looking for that perfect sweet spot, but once you find it, you won't believe your ears. You will know it's perfect when the tone and clarity do not change no matter what volume you play it at. Excellent speaker, highly recommended.

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PSB, B&W, Dynavector, Sonus, Linn

clear highs and deep articulate bass. easily driven

Size

overall the spekers are great, the presentation these speakers deliver are larger than life.They are very dynamic with great bottome end and non-fatiguing highs. I have used a number of different speakers in many different price ranges and I am the happiest with these so far.They are very large speakers so the wife factor is definatley in affect but other than that I have no complaints what-so-ever

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Revel studios sonus electa amatorII Definitave Tech 2002TL

Truly a 20 to 20 capacity speaker

Their heavy

Having never owned the Focus but spending time with them and having owned three of the less expensive models, I have to comment of all the negative reviews I''''''''ve read. The build quality is second to only two or three speakers around. Anybody willing to spend this kind of money owes theirself a lengthy audition. All the dealings I have ever had with Legacy and buying their product or products from other manufacturers I''''''''ve always had great support and help.

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Legacy, Studio''''''''s, Classic''''''''s, Carver Amazing''''''''s, JBL 3100''''''''s, etc.

Few

Many

In reference to the previous post by NIKKI (our resident billionare), I believe you have difficulty spelling a relatively simple word. It's BELIEVE. You, my friend, are priceless.

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Yes

I must admit I love rock and roll...LOUD... I have a Crown Macro Reference amp this amp can produce 1176/watts into 4 ohms! I have cranked it up most of the way ,things fall off the shelfs and the room rattles ,but I got to tell you the Legacey Speakers will not distort ! Perfect for me.

I recently listened to several of Legacy's speakers (namely the FOCUS and the Signiture III) The build quality of the FOCUS is superb! The real wood finish makes for a fabulous looking speaker. Sound= Well, the FOCUS could definitely play loud and clean. The midrange was quite clean and the sense of dynamics in the midrange was incredible.(probably because of the numerous large midrange drivers they use) Even though the sound is very fast. The treble to my ears was alittle tiresome. This alone is good enough reason for me pass these speakers over. Even though I have yet to audition them with other electronics being that I was unfamiliar with the Legacy electronics driving them. Other than that, I have only one other quible. In the manual they state that they use a B6 assisted bass management system. What this is is a system used to tailor the bass to your room and soforth. It is a form of digital processing. At first a friend of mine pointed out to me the bass was messed up. After careful listening I agreed. The bass sounded like it was out of phase with the rest of the music, and just didn't sound natural. Once I read about thier usage of a form of DSP I knew why it sounded that way. When I heard the Signature III's the bass sounded much more right. Perhaps because there is no DSP on the Signature III's. Of course there didn't appear to be as much bass, but it definitely sounded better. So I wonder why Legacy is pushing something as absurd as DSP in 5000$ speakers and in some of their components if it messes up the sound.....

Huge sound stage if placed properly

proper placement is tricky

After reading some of these bad reviews on how cheap these speakers are built, I finally had to go and take mine apart and look, so let me save you the trouble. The internal wires from the rear terminal are 14 gauge soldered and run up to 2 crossover boards on each side about 18" up from the bottom. The wiring to the wolfers is still 14 gauge and 18 gauge to the tweeters. The wires to the switches are smaller, but do not carry heavy current, they are simply to switch out impedance changing components. The wolfers have no markings on them except a tag that states "assembled in Mexico". The 2 yellow kevlar drivers are made in Germany and stamped "engineered by Deutschland GMBH" and they weigh about 8 lbs if I had to guess. The soft dome tweeter is made in France by AUDAX (model TW034X0) and is quite heavy for it's size. The ribbon tweeter is fairly light and made in Japan. The kevlar drivers were sealed in large PVC pipes and the 2 ports were thick cardboard tubes. No screws were stripped or loose and they seemed very well constructed.

When I first listened to some of the lower model Legacy speakers, I thought they sounded good, but nothing out of the ordinary....until I listed to the Focus on a very high end system in someone's home. I had never experienced speakers that could produce such a high and wide soundstage (I have not listed to the Whisper yet). It sounded like the vocalist was 10 feet off the floor and dead center.

I thought the price for the Focus was more that I wanted to spend, so I searched the stores for a lowers price speaker that could produce this effect, and after a year just gave up because it was not there at any price. I never considered a lower model Legacy because I would not be happy. I purchased the Focus in Rosewood about a year ago and the longer I listen, the more I like them. My wife loves the way they look and sound and that really helped when it came to the Visa bill and future audio purchases.

Placing the speakers is a little tricky. I found that they NEED to be at least 2 feet out from the wall for good bass. I have mine about 6 feet apart and slightly angled in to produce a nice image. I use the brass studs to keep them solid and I leave the grilles off.

I have them bi-amped with 2 Carver amps for about 1000 WPC at 4 ohms. Try listening to Hotel Calfornia on the Hell freezes over CD and you should get very solid bass, and a huge sound stage. The high end and mid-range are stellar on all recordings. If not, you have something wrong...get more power or a bigger room.

I have heard better systems than mine, but they are at least 4 times the price. At $6000, they are 5 stars in my opinion.

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none

Sounstage, highs, mids, and all other Audiophilia lingo

placement, room size

Seems like there is a problem with these speakers, that draws this fierce debate over Legacy products, that is utterly non-existant anywhere else in Audioland.

Trying to figure this out, I tend to believe the reason is that poor Legacy owners are devoided of the comforting embrace and "protection" of Audiophile subscriptions, such as Stereophile et al. With the absence of this patronship, Legacy products are cast out beyond the City Gates, like the lepers of Yesteryears, left at the mercy of the occassional robust by-passer, to kick or charitize.

Let the truth be put on the table. These are speakers. For some, they might sound good, for others bad. Without the backing of a favorable review by some smart initials, they do not stand a chance in the "audiophile" debate (or debase in this context). However, there are problematics with these and other Legacy designs that should be addressed:

The first is that ANY multi elemnt speaker faces its owner with multitude of problems, the resolution of which means audio nirvana, the opposite - hell on Earth. This is much truer with multi-element speaker than with a 2 or 3 way design. And this is one of the main reasons these speakers do not work well for many people.

Multi-element designs, when not positioned properly, are prone to phase problems, associated with early and late reflections of frequebcies initiated by more than one element at the same time. Therefore, placing these speakers is a much more tedious work than other speakers.

Second is room size and acoustics. With the wrong room size (that is - too small), no positioning will do the trick, and not even BD's very interesting theory of out-chasing reflections by increasing piston area. I have had troubles verifying this theory with my scopes and measurements - but then again one can always recruire old Heisenberg to explain that.

So without the proper room and knowledge of placing a multi-element speaker in hostile envieroment, there is little or less chance this speaker would work out for YOU the way you want it.

Does that send you to the Steradian or the likes? I would not haste to run to these machines, as they only provide solutions for the sweet spot, and in case you have people over for wine and music, you could only have one ot two enjoying.

The same goes for other units, such as Sigtech, and now the amazing P1-A by PT. They also provide a middle-only solution.

So, what is there to do? Simple - either buy a house for your speakers, or buy speakers for your house. Do not attempt to coarse one on the other. I also don't fall for these with the perfect-Speaker-For-Any-Envieroment BS, although, as I satetd before, it would be MUCH easier with a 2 way speaker than with a multi-element one.

Other than that - if you have the room and patience - this is the speaker to go to.

I give it 5 stars, as there are no more stars here.

BTW: wait and see what would happen if one of those initials would give it a fair review in one of those initials-plagued audiophile magazines. It might just prove interesting to see the results across the board

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Too many to recalll

superb deep undistorted bass, uncolored midrange, distinguished treble

speaker is so revealing it is often unjustly criticized.

These speakers are superb. After listening to the above mentioned brands I took a chance and bought these on ebay. Although they are 6 years old they are in perfect condition.
These speakers make music come alive. To me what sets these speakers apart from others is thier ability to present a TALL huge soundstage. Other speakers emit a wide horizontal stage but thier vertical presentation lacks. The FOCUS presents the BIGGEST stage I have ever encountered.
The bass is ultra clean which is why some reviewers think these speakers lack bass. Midbass is extemely fast. Vocals are lifelike. Treble is distinguished. All frequencies stand out and are never muddled together.
These speakers stand out above anything else in the $3500 range by far. The cabinets are also beatiful and well made.
This was the best gamble I have ever made. If you can't afford $5800 (no speaker is worth this much) snag a pair used. 10 year warranty says it all.

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paradigm studio 100 v2, many NHT, PSB, Magnepan 3.6. Many more