5-10k budget... so many choices

Ok, at the expense of being ridiculed... Tekton DI or DI SE. Get a demo from someone in your neck of your woods. 

@mofojo beat me to it. He posted while I was finishing this up:

A few years back I heard some Legacy’s at the California Audio Show. They were my favorite among many other high-end speakers on hand. As a result of that experience, the Legacy Audio Focus SE got on my wish list … money being the only thing standing between me and them.

That said, if you can get past the looks, you might consider the Tekton Design Double Impacts (DI). There has been lots of buzz about them here on A-gon, and there are quite a few testimonials on the Tekton website. In fact, one happy owner traded in his Legacy Focus to pick up a pair. There have also been very favorable comparisons to Golden Ears as well as the DI’s holding their own against the likes of Dadelus. The DI’s go down to 20 (not quite as low as Legacy), but should work equally as well in a 3.0 configuration - like @mtrot suggested.

Now before anybody jumps on me with name calling such as “fan boy”, all I’m suggesting is the OP take a bit more time and do the research. The other great thing about the DI’s: they are efficient enough to be driven by low powered tube gear. That means one has much more flexibility in power selection.  You can truly grow into something of your liking. For example with all the options available with something like the Jolida 3502 el34/6550 tube integrated [which includes HT bypass], there would be enough budget left over for a nice front-end – digital or analog. I’ve been involved in this hobby for a while and knowing what I know now … with a $10K budget that is exactly what I would do. Just my 2 cents.

As someone who just recently had a 2 week in home demo of the Tekton DI with upgrades, I’ll say this . There is absolutely no comparison (when compared to) our newest member of the family ... Legacy Focus SE’s. Not even close. ..... They cost more....and they sound like more.

Google Elac Adante AF-61.

DeKay

Khost, what you smoking, every Focal ever made can sound a bit forward, any Beryilium tweeter is going crystal clear out to 40k, this tends to pull the ear towards the top, hence the slightly fatter tuning in the midrange which makes the Sopras sound punchy and lively, these are the charms of the speakers.

Do you not think we have heard Sopras, we have and we have said they are excellent speakers personally we think the Sopra series are the best overall set of speakers Focal has ever made, they are very revealing part of their problem is the wide bafles which create a big but less focused sounstage compared to others. Great speakers.

If we didn’t have the equilly fantastic Paradigm Personas we would get the Focals. The two lines are too similar, we feel that the Persona is a bit better with the pure Beryilium midrange being a better driver with less coloration than a sandwich W cone made out of a different material then the tweeter, vs then the incredible coherence you get when the tweeter and midrange are made out of the same material.

As per Heil drivers being bright, most Heil tweeters sound like electrostatics, which means detail and air but not as much of that in your face clarity of a ribbon. What is a Heil tweeter? They are usually made out of a folder mylar diaphram ever heard a bright electrostat? Most electrostats tend to roll of at 16-18k.

One of our clients had a pair of Martin Logan Montis he added a set of Enigma super tweeters which use a new type of film and stator design and these actually go way up there, if the Montis were delivering shimmery highs the supertweeters would not have made an audible difference. My point is mylar films tend to produce smooth slighly soft top ends.

You gonna now tell me ribbons don’t have a tendency to be very bright.

We took a trade in pair of Monitor Audio Platinum one with the Ribbons they sound like Radihos, very impressive detail a tad hard to live with.

Newest Monitors now have a Heil guess what they sound much more laid back.

Khost, we got over 30 years of retail and show going experience, we have sold and setup more different brand of hifi then you can imagine.

Repeat: Sopras are great, Heil tweeters tend to sound smooth, ribbons tend to sound bright.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ