Club Focal

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  • alebonau
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Oct 2005
    • 992

    Club Focal

    hmm doesnt seem like theres a club focal on htguide. perhaps this mini review of mine of the 1027be's might kick things off....

    Focal 1027be Hmmm, Beryllium dreaming …

    On the premise of providing a 2nd opinion for a friend plus to satisfy my own curiosity in regards this speaker I headed into E-home at Carnegie in melbourne, for a demo I had pre-arranged with Geoff there.

    Found Geoff had already setup the Focal 1027be’s with the MF A5 CD & MF A5 integrated

    all hooked with Chord interconnect & speaker cables. The back demo room is really ideal for 2channel listening.

    Speakers setup in an equilateral toed in back to the sweet spot where there was a nice comfy recliner. In distance between speakers and back to the listening spot it didn’t look far off to the way I have my own speakers setup.

    The 1027be's looked gorgeous in their classic timber finish which set off well in contrast with the graphite/gun metal black front and. The black glass on the top of the speakers and down the back look very classy and overall the looks of this speaker are tops. Impeccably finished, top class really.

    Anyways after drooling around the speakers for a while it was time for a listen and Geoff was really nice to leave me to my own devices especially since I was completely at home with the MF electronics,

    I had a few select discs for listening including

    Nitin Sawhney - Beyond skin
    Dr John - Duke elegant
    Linn SACD compilation
    Test Disk compilation

    I spent a bit of time listning to some of my favs on the test disc. What was very apparent was the lovely imaging & soundstage of this speaker. The voice of vocals was solid in the centre, soundstage both deep and wide and coming right out into the room. They really gave a full room experience that really brought a smile to my face as it’s a characteristic of my missions I really like.

    One aspect that was not totally comfortable with initially was the bass that tended to sound a bit muddled/muffled. I noticed then that the right speaker was about 5 deg off from pointing to the listening positioned - I straightened that up which seemed to bring further into focus the top end and midrange and helped even up the balance with the bass.

    I continued listening to my music collection at all times the one thing that really stood out was just how clean and clear the top end and mid range was. Liked the character of the mid range and the top end smooth and yet detailed and defined. At no time did I find the speakers hard or harsh sounding which was a real relief to me.

    My overall conclusions, still a bit suspect about the bass, maybe my mf power amp might tighten that up further, noticed the speakers weren’t on spikes which might have solidified the bass further. Also with the bass the speakers were still reasonably close to the walls perhaps a room, placement induced issue. Styling think they really look fantastic only thing perhaps theyre not the most conventional looking speaker with their round speaker grill, perhaps for some the looks might take some getting used too ? Apart from that really quite happy with the way the speakers sounded, liked their character and that they seemed a good notch up in what I’m used to in detail, soundstage & imaging from my missions.

    So where to from here, I hope there will be a part two to this review. Geoff was amenable to a home demo of this speaker at my place, maybe I can do that in the next month or so. Really the only way to go to find out how they sound in my system(MF A5CD, A5 Pre+Pwr & Velo DD15) and in my room, plus will give some quality time with them to get a better feel for their sound. Anyways that will be in a month or two hopefully..in the mean time might have to start doing some fundraising …..just in case hehe

    A friend of mine once said he dreamed of speakers...hehe think there'll be some berylliums I'll now be dreaming about :blush:

    some pics from the demo..
    Attached Files
    Last edited by alebonau; 09 March 2007, 19:00 Friday.
    "Technology is a drug. We can't get enough of it."
  • Cambs12
    Senior Member
    • Jul 2006
    • 191

    #2
    Hi Al,

    Interesting review! I am looking to upgrade my speakers soonish,probably B&W but i must admit the Focal speakers look good and the Beryllium tweeter interests me.I have not heard these,but your observations seem to bear out what a lot of reviews say,great mid and top end,but possibly a bit lacking in the Bass,perhaps if the sound appeals to your friend,he could possibly try supplementing it with a Sub? I haven't bothered doing this with my CDM9nts,
    but it may help the Focals..
    Are you thinking of changing your 753s in the future?

    Comment

    • alebonau
      Moderator Emeritus
      • Oct 2005
      • 992

      #3
      Originally posted by Cambs12
      Hi Al,

      Interesting review! I am looking to upgrade my speakers soonish,probably B&W but i must admit the Focal speakers look good and the Beryllium tweeter interests me.I have not heard these,but your observations seem to bear out what a lot of reviews say,great mid and top end,but possibly a bit lacking in the Bass,perhaps if the sound appeals to your friend,he could possibly try supplementing it with a Sub? I haven't bothered doing this with my CDM9nts,
      but it may help the Focals..
      Are you thinking of changing your 753s in the future?
      hi cambs, if yoru considering upgrading to the b&ws I would most definetely consider having a listen to the focal be's as well. The focal 1027be for instance is I beleive better to my ears than any B&Ws below say the 802D. But then the 802D is twice the cost of the focal.

      if wanting better bass perfomance apparently the 1037be would be a better choice but would be way out of my league plus is a bigger speaker perhaps not so well suited to my lounge room setting.

      in regards subs I am usign a velo DD15 already to supplement the bass of my mission 753s so if were getting a speaker liek this would be intendign to do the same. Still I think with a speaker of this league would still be expecting the bass performance to be reasonably decent on its own.

      Anyways got a call from geoff at ehome sayign he had foudn the spikes and they seemed to be helping the speakers sound with some bass heavy stuff he had listend to. I'm hoping to head in there for a listen again sometime, will probably take my mf a5cr power amp along to check out what the speakers are like with them. the additional grunt of the power amp might help tidy up the bass response as well.

      hehe when went in to listen it was pure curiosity that draw me to demo. but yeah since listening have considered purchase, but will most defintely have a home demo first to make sure it is perfectly what I'm lookign for in a speaker to replace the 753s which does a great job already !
      "Technology is a drug. We can't get enough of it."

      Comment

      • Cambs12
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2006
        • 191

        #4
        I will be interested how you get on in demo 2!

        I heard the 753s a couple times a few years ago when upgrading from heybrook HB1,really liked them but at the time was moving house etc so had to go a bit cheaper,with TDL RTL3s which i had til my B&W CDM9nts..
        The 753 was a very enjoyable speaker,i can see why you stay with them. :T

        Comment

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