The previous review at first gave me the impression that he had not listened to the Focus, since many of the accounts for DSP are inaccurate. Fact is, the Focus uses a variety of toggle settings in the analog realm to help the listener tailor his listening environment. The rear firing woofer and tweeter can be concelled according to room characteristics. Also, there is a fair amount of crossover tailoring to help with pesky room harmonics that the listener can turn on or off. All of these effects are subtle, however. And they work.

The 3 12" drivers of the Focus provide bass response that is both clinical and powerfull as well as plenty of dynamic impact. Simply the best there is for a passive speaker model under 10 grand. Sub woofer owners would give their 200watt 15" coffins to their kids when they hear the focus coming. B&W 801 owners will cancel their checks when they realize the Focus offers the same driver quality but far greater piston area - and better looks.

Mid range is a Di'apalodo configured kevlar arrangement that is extremely clinical but warm by contrast. This configuartion pulls the listener into the recording but will show poor mixing of any recording instantly. If the band plays in a 10' studio the focus will recreate a 10' studio. This is the only speaker that I have ever listened that has this kind of dynamic realism.

The high end is handled by a 1.25" soft dome that hands off to a lightning fast 4" ribbon that is at the top of the food chain in commercial tweeters. This is where I think the previous reviewer may have found the Focus to be tiring to listen to. By nature the 4" ribbon emits a very symetrical sound field compared to the conical 1.25" dome. This can be fixed by backing off the amplifiers (a single 200wpc B&K is sufficient) and backing off the anechoic effect of your listening area. The twin tweeters of the Foci are simply too detailed for many recordings.

Over all the before mentioned B&W 801 may be "easier" to listen to if you invest $10,000 more in electronics, but the Focus is superior.

It always amazes me that someone can rate these speakers a one. They either have not set up the speakers properly or their room dynamics have changed. If you believe Paul Hales designer of Hales Loudspeakers he emphatically stated that your room is the most important component. Go to their web page for a detail discussion on rooms. Most people never take into account their room, big mistake. Bass boom is usually, not all the time, based upon placement of speakers and the sonic character of your room.
Legacy makes some of the best, not the best, speakers on the planet. They are always worth more than 5 stars.

Legacy Focus are great speakers. 5 stars! The wealthy braggards who boasts of their wealth deserve 0 stars. Fellows, now, who gives a flying fuck about what you are worth? While I am at it pardon my diction and English(it is not my 1stlanguage). I belong to the class of 9 to 5 workers, and I should feel inferior.
Excuse me!

Legacy Focus is loud.....very loud. Explosive. That also translates in having to listen to music loud....very loud in the future (your hearing is shot). It goes much the way of a person who drives a minivan then gets a Porsche 911. You simply have to rev the engine up all the time. I have brought sound pressure meters to rooms where the Focus is played. I came to hear to hear a refined and accurate depiction of music not to be taken back to my teens. I go the gym and work out to get that feeling. I have never heard Focus get played without the sales person feeling obligated to blow your head off. Exactly the same mentality as I have seen car stereo dealers use. Few people realize that Legacy constantly scrambles drivers around. Your Focus this month may not have the same drivers as next months. Upgrading or cost cutting? If you like these speakers check out the used market. 40 - 50 percent off in one year is not uncommon.
Close your eyes when you hear any speaker. You might be surprised at how the grade of veneer on the loud speaker becomes a mute point. At realistic listening levels Focus is bland compared to the likes of Theil, Dunlavy, B&W, and Aerial. If you like Focus then you should hitch a ride with some high school kids as they cruise the street with 4 15-inch subwoofers announcing their presence.

I spent more than a year auditioning loudspeakers. I wanted to findthe last pair of loudspeakers I would ever buy or feel I needed. Nothing
short of the ultimate loudspeaker would do. I didn't care what material
they were made of, what color they were or even what shape, size
and weight. I wanted THE best sounding loudspeakers made...period.
To accomplish this I visited high end dealers in three states and read
everything I could get my hands on.
My front end was decidedly not the most expensive. I was running
all Carver gear. But in order to upgrade the electronics I felt my
"chicken or the egg" answer was loudspeakers first.
I called Legacy numerous times and was always treated like a VIP
rather than a long term undecided looker. When I finally decided on
the Legacy Focus I was shocked when the salesman advised me
of a recently purchased new pair that the owner wanted to sell. The
gentleman lived ajust a few miles away and I saved BIG BUCKS.
The Focus sounded simply WONDERFUL from the first note. I was in
absolute hog heaven.
My electronic upgrade quest only proved my loudspeaker selection
to be a great one. I tried ARs, McCormack, Sonic Frontier, Sumo, and
even borrowed a friends Krell gear for a spin on the Focus. They were
all MAGNIFICIENT.
In summary, I completed my electronics upgrade to a well recognized
manufacturer and paid more than I would have liked to. The sound in
my listening room went from "wonderful" to "magnificient", so dollar
amount, my salary or percent of annual income spent, physical weight
of the amps or weather in Fiji in March has no significance. The Legacy
Focus sounded wonderful with a consumer grade electronic frontend
and sounds ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICIENT with monster high end
amplification/electronics. The service at Legacy remains responsive
timely and professional at all times. I have since finished a home
theater with their speakers and feel equally as stong about that expereince
and result.
It doesn't get any better.

In reponse to the input from Gary N., I wonder if we're missing the point. True, prices may be increasing, but let's not factor out new innovations and technology into pricing schemes. I believe that Legacy offers the best speakers for the money in the industry. I own a pair of FOCUS and Studios and I am willing to make the investment into music. That's the bottom line. Legacy is also rising in demand. Good for them--great for us! Audiophiles deserve the best products available. When weeping to Dvorak and James Horner, and the like, we listeners choose to pay large amounts of money. I'm on a limited income and some how I find a way to squeeze out enough to upgrade my system. We all do; audiophiles expect to pay for what they receive. In most cases(especially Legacy) YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Secondly, I haven't witnessed any monumental price increase. I've yet to receive the 1998 Reference catalog, so maybe I'm speaking prematurely. Until then, my stance is that Legacy has to stay in business, make a reasonable profit, and still produce the best transducers for the bucks.
Perhaps Gary N. caught Legacy on a bad day. When my Studios arrived with shipping damage, I called and immediately a touch-up kit was sent, including steel wool, detailed support, and the same finish material as my rosewood speakers. That's service--all over night.
Those auditioning speakers for purchase, don't make any early assessments from the reviews posted here--both good and bad. Every listener is biased. I'm willing to say that the bias is so rampant that if Stereophile were to review some miracle amp behind a curtain, not knowing its brand or price, it would do far worse if it turned out to be radio shack's finest, by name alone, regardless of its quality.
O.K., I'm rambling. You owe it to yourself to give Legacy an audition. Mform your opinions by yourself. Be willing to pay for what you love as well...

I've been following the Legacy brand ever since late high school. I couldn't afford them through college and medical school, but I kept reading about them. I knew they would sound awesome judging from their design (especially those kevlar midrange drivers). And when I finally started working to be able to afford one of these babies, I was not disappointed. The upper midrange was impressive, as was the bass. I have always felt that Legacy offered a great product at a good price. This is partly due to the fact that they are only a mail order business without any local dealers, and therefore can afford to charge less for their products because of the lack of a middleman. In fact, they SHOULDN'T charge more, because a potential customer must take the risk of buying something they have never heard before. I realize that the customer can return the speakers after a specified amount of time, but in reality, this is no small task, given that the speakers are very heavy. Therefore, even if a customer where not completely satisfied, he might opt to keep the speakers just to save himself the trouble and not so small expense of shipping them back. In the past, Legacy has kept the prices of their products reasonably low, and produced speakers of incredible craftsmanship and sonic performance. Today, the craftsmanship and performance are still breathtaking, but the prices continue to be increased at a rapid rate. It was very disappointing to me, who has had so much faith in this company for so many years, to see them increase the prices of their products by hundreds of dollars every few months. One could argue the price increases are the product of supply and demand. I have no doubt that the Legacy name is becoming increasingly recognized, and the factory is getting more orders than they can handle (just look at the recent wait period increase from 6 weeks to 12 weeks). Therefore, it made economic sense for them to raise their prices given the demand. After all, aren't they in it for the money? I'm just disappointed that the company has taken the path of other speaker manufacturers such as Dunlavy and ProAc, which produce great products but charge excessively for them. Of course, Dunlavy and ProAc have local dealers, and the wait time for them is significantly less than 12 weeks. This being said, it is incontrovertible that audiophiles still value these speakers enough to endure the almost endless wait and pay the rising prices to acquire one of these speakers. I am just disappointed that Legacy, which I somehow unrealistically believed was above mere profit making, has gone the way of other manufacturers. Their salesman, who were once polite, courteous, and helpful, now seem to want to rush you off the phone. Their technical support has gone from good to down right aweful. I have called the factory about six times, left messages on one of their mailboxes about three, and have never once gotten a chance to talk to someone. I would get the same answer every time: "Troy is out of the office. Would you like to leave a message on his voicemail?" All this just for a simple question. I've since given up.
What is my point? Legacy speakers are great products. They were once, in my opinion, the best value in loudspeakers on earth. Since their last wave of price increases, they are now about average in terms of value. When compared to B&W speakers of comparable price, they have better bass. Their midrange dynamics are similar, but the B&W's have a somewhat more airy and detailed high end due to the separate mounting of their tweeters. The Legacies have better imaging, but the B&W's come VERY close when their 801's and 802's are mounted on good stands instead of having them sit on the ground. In terms of looks, the B&W 801's and 802's are the ugliest things I have ever seen compared to the beauty of the Legacies. My point? I can now get B&W speakers for about the same price or less than a comparable Legacy speaker, and I don't have to wait 3 months (I have a local dealer who gives me a considerable discount off of the B&W list price). If Legacy continues to increase the prices of its products (which I have not doubt they will), then they will no longer be worth it, in my opinion.

In conclusion, the Legacy Focus and Signature III's deserve 5 stars, since I bought them before the latest price increase. However, they will soon drop to 3 stars. Just keep your eye on the ever rising list price....

(Sorry for the spelling errors and bad grammar, I'm pressed for time but had to get this off my chest).

I have owned a pair of Legacy Focus speakers for about a year and a half now, I traded in a pair of Legacy Classics for them, which I owned for about a year. I wanted the Focus from the very start, but I could not afford them at the time, so I bought the Classics because I knew Legacy would take them in trade when I saved up enough to buy the Focus. I can say with absolute certainty that the focus are the best sounding loud speakers I have ever heard, and I have heard just about everything there is, though not in my own living room. I have had nothing but positive experiences with Legacy Audio as a company. They built me a pair of bass traps for my Classics, free of charge, because I had no choice but to squeeze them into corners of my cramped living room in my last apartment, and had a problem with bass boom.
Having read the other reviews at this web site, I can only conclude that audiophiles have a great deal of passion for their hobby. There seems to be an overwhelming feeling of one has to better than the other when it comes to loudspeakers, particulary the B&W vs. Legacy situation. I suppose the same probably holds true for audiophiles and their systems, Joe's is surely better than Bob's because he spent an outrageous amount of money on cables, etc.. While I consider myself a very good judge of what sounds good and what doesn't, and I have a pretty darned good system, I don't care to consider myself an audiophile, because in my mind that would make me a snob. Let's get real here. If it sounds good, enjoy it. I have every reason to believe that B&W 801's would sound great in my living room hooked up to my system, and had I not heard the Focus, I would probably own a pair of B&W's right now. I preferred the sound of the Focus, that's all.

In conclusion, I highly recommend the Focus speakers. They are beautifully made, gorgeous to behold, and wonderful to listen to. The sound that comes out of them is clean, detailed, and as close to transparent as I have ever heard. If you are considering loudspeakers in this price range, go to Springfield Illinois and listen to them for yourself. It's worth the trip.

The best speakers I had ever auditioned until listening to the $13,000Legacy Whispers recently. But one serious problem - too much bass!
Place these speakers AND your ears at least four feet from room corners
and two feet in front of walls -- not easy to do with such large boxes!
AFTER moving these speakers away from the walls, I heard the most natural
bass I've ever heard in a home. Better than the famed 18" Velodyne subwoofer,
in my opinion. No other faults were heard -- better than my previous favorite
the B & W 801 matrix 3, especially the bass. Not for use in small or medium-
sized rooms where room gain would boost the bass below 50 Hz.

Well, its about time I post my own review of the Focus and not only am I endorsing them here, but I'm putting my money where my mouth is, and have just sent a deposit to Legacy to order a pair. These speakers are fantastic. I auditioned them about 2 months ago, and have since been auditioning just about every other speaker available, either comparably priced or considerably well over the cost of the Focus. There are many fine speakers on the market, each with their own distinctive sound, but unfortunately I had to choose only one. The Focus impressed me with its "total" sound. No compromises. While its three 12" woofers reproduce the low bass frequencies with the accuracy and realism that I heard only in dedicated powered subs, the midranges and highs were as pure and detailed as any I've heard in any other speaker. These speakers have 7 drivers each, and they move a lot of air. Its a very full sound. When I spoke of them to audio dealers, the only complaint I heard of them was that because of the number of drivers they weren't able to present an accurate soundstage image, but in my listening I actually heard just the opposite. I auditioned them twice, at two distinctly different sites ( different room dimensions, acoustics, source equipment, etc.) and I found the soundstaging to be very realistic. I heard things on my CDs that I didn't realize were there. On Roy Hargrove's Habana, crystal clear brush strokes on cymbals seemed to materialize out of thin air, without being overwhelmed by blaring trumpets or the driving bass. Each instrument could be seperately heard and precisely placed in the soundstage. I don't tend to sit in one spot while listening to music, so I made a point of moving around the room each time I listened to the Focus. To me they sounded very realistic and "live" no matter where I was in the room. They're very flexible that way. I asked to hear them placed rather close against a wall, as thats the way my room dimensions at home will dictate I place them. They had a more dispersed sound and the bass was more open when they were placed further out in the room, but placing them about 6" from the back wall sounded fine to me too. A bit flatter, more neutral bass is the only difference I heard. I have a fairly large listening room, about 21' by 21', and these should fill that area easily, without any strain. They're as efficient (96db) a speaker as I've seen. I plan on powering them with Legacy's 250 W per channel, high current stereo power amp, so the system should really be able to just cruise easily through any musical demands placed on it. Oh, I've also ordered the Legacy Silver Screen center channel, and a pair of Mist surrounds speakers as my HT speakers. My only problem now is waiting the 10 - 12 weeks anticipated time til delivery. Legacy matches and tunes all of their speakers before they ship them to you almost like a custom built set of speakers, so they should be worth the wait. My thanks go out to all of you other Legacy speaker aficionados whose comments have encouraged me to trust my instincts regarding these fine speakers. The camaraderie and the enthusiasm Legacy owners have for their speakers is understandable to me. 5 speakers, or more considering their value.Mike M.