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..
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..
Comment