I own the Focus 20/20 in the Ribbon Mahogany finish. They are a very musical speaker with excellent dynamics, bass, and vocal reproduction. Some say the highs and therefore, ultimate inner detail is not state of the art. Perhaps this is true, but I don't regret my purchase one bit. If you are not looking for a "hi-fi" sounding loudspeaker system, then this one might be for you. |
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I have owned a pair of Legacy Signature III's for a little over a year. I upgraded to Sig III's from a pair of Dunlavy's before that company shut down. I have found the Sig III's incredibly satisfying on every level. One of the aspects of Legacy speakers that is most immediately obvious is their excellent bass response. But as the recent Stereophile review of the Focus 20/20 reveals, bass response isn't the half of it. The Sig III's do very well with female vocals and acoustic guitar tracks, which are particularly important to my musical tastes.
My Legacy dealer tells me that the drivers for the Focus 20/20 and the Signature III are identical, aside from the Focus' 12 inch woofers compared to the the Sig III's 10 inch woofers. The Focus provides higher quality internal crossovers, but otherwise the speakers are very similar. For that reason, my dealer has advised me to look to the Whisper as a future upgrade, rather than stepping directly up to the Focus. What I'm getting at here is that you're not at all out of line in considering Legacy models that are lower in the line relative to the Focus.
Regarding your question about "looking nice," the cabinets (mine are rosewood) are rock solid and beautifully done. I wouldn't say that they're innovative in their cabinet design, though. You won't get sweeping lines or polished aluminum with Legacy. You will get traditionally styled cabinets, high quality, well matched wood grains, and precise woodwork.
Having recently secured budget for some system upgrades, I audiotioned a few lines of speakers, but concluded that I am so content with my Signature III's that I'm going to have to look to other aspects of my system to find what I consider to be an upgrade in sound. I could get into the details, but this post is already too verbose.
Happy hunting. Don't rule Legacy out without listening to them first. |
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I used to own a pair of Legacy Focus speakers. They were very nice, and made the Classics sound like they were under water. Despite their very efficient ratings, you will need a high current amp to get the best and tightest bass out of the 3 huge woofers. They also need a bit of room to sound their best. |
Oh yeah, the furniture finish if terrific! Great quality and looks. |
FWIW, I've owned a pair of Legacy Classics for just over 5 years - very, very happy with them. |
I'm very impressed with the Legacy Focus speakers both musically and their beautiful construction. They sound fantastic with my friend's KSA-250.
Good hunting,
Steven |
Yes I am another happy owner of the Sig III . IMO tough to beat at the 4K pricepoint. The finish {especially in rosewood is beautiful}. You will need space for them, at least 2 feet from the backwalls , not to close to the side walls and despite their good effiency rating, you really need some quality upstream compnents , CDP, Pre and and good power to make them shine. But again thats true of any quality speaker. If you buy them new be prepared for about three weeks of boomy bass, after which they loosen up and sound great. They also sound superior in my experience shotgunned bi wire. Ive gone back and forth with different speaker cables, single and shotgun, and evertime The Legacy has presented a much larger open sounstage Biwiring. Best of luck ! |
Very pleased with my Legacy Classics, mine are the curly maple upgrade- my wife has no complaints and they are in the living room. Also, Legacy's support has been excellent, answering set up questions when I moved them, sending me new jumpers when I decided to stop bi-wireing and couldn't find my original ones(I'm a long way from a dealer), etc. Just very nice people. I shopped probably 10 or more speaker lines before buying and am happy with my decision. I recommend you audition them. |
At a lower price point (?), has anybody auditioned the new Victoria three-ways? They look like a substantial improvement over the much older Studio two-ways (both are stand-mounts). |
i have a pair of studios,solid cabinets awesome sound.Al |
They could be better but they should be look at the price difference,Al |
Legacy makes some great speakers. I used to own 5 of the Studios and was very happy (I gave 3 of them to my brother in law who enjoys them, and sold the others).
Legacy's tower speakers are also superb in my opinion. The Signature IIIs mentioned earlier may be their best value in the line, but the Focus are superb speakers too for the money (and outright).
If you have a medium sized room to even a room on the largish side, then the Sigs may be just what you are looking for. If your room is very large, then the Focus should be ideal. They need a lot of space to sound their best.
In any case, I don't think you will be dissatisfied with Legacy Audio, especially at some of the used prices out there nowadays.
---Dave |
I used to own the Focus and very much enjoyed them. They have two features which are critical for good sound. They need alot of room. They need to be placed well out into the room to sound right. They produce a prodigious amount of bass. They need a large room, a somewhat dead room acoustically, and need room treatments for the low frequencies. If these criteria are met they can sound excellent. I ultimately ended up selling them because I couldn't solve the bass problems( I have a very lively room and am unable to treat the room acoustically since it is my living room and my wife would kill me if I attempted to do so). It sounds like the signature 3's would be a good option. Have you considered VMPS or Gallo? Good luck and enjoy listening. |
Well where should i start?I have a pair of Studios,very very good speakers.Woodwork is outstanding.All Legacy speakers are probably as solid as a pair of speakers as you will find.Rock solid cabinets.A totally no nonsense high end speaker company |
Dear Sir,
All of the above posts are right on target. The Legacies demand high current. Get a high current amp that will drive four ohm loads at 250 - 400 WPC for Classics or Sig III's and 400 - 600 WPC for Focus 20/20 and Whispers. You will be amazed at the sound you will get from ANY of the Legacies. The Legacy / Coda amp would do well, but my favorite is the Aragon Palladium 1K monoblocs.
I have Classics, SigIII's, and Whispers. I have heard Focus 20/20. They are all marvelous! Classics would work in medium sized rooms. Focus is probably the best rock and roll speaker, because of the bass response, but they need room to work! The Sig III's are no slouch, AT ALL, and would work in medium to large rooms.
Whispers would be your best classical / rock and roll combination performer. They have it all - except the extremely low bass response of the Focus 20/20 - and the imaging is phenomenal! Good luck! |
I own Focus 20/20's in Rosewood and they sound great, especially for Rock and movies. Recently got bit by upgradeitis(carried by mosquitos in my area) and got a pair of Whispers in rosewood. Pushed my 20/20 to rears and am biwiring with Sunfire Cinema Signature (405w X 5 into 8 ohms, 810w X 5 into 4 ohms). It is quite an experience! (the amp has dual voltage and current outputs to the front 3 channels, so sending current to mids and tweets and voltage to bass). Benefit is power of SOlid State with warmth of tubes(almost) without spending $10-20K to do this.
The Whispers are AMAZING and having the 20/20's as REARS is really a treat for movies and multichannel SACD and DVD-Audio.
Also incorporating Velo DD-15 to compliment the Whispers. Needless to say, my experience with Legacy Speakers has all been quite positive. Pretty hard to go wrong anywhere in the line. |
Depending on the caliber of your other equiptment, you should notice a pretty dramatic difference between the Focus 20/20's and the other speakers in the line below it. They are all good - the Focus just brings more of verything to the table, so to speak.
Best thing to do is listen yourself at a Legacy dealer with music you are familiar with, through comparable equiptment to either what you have or will be getting. I would also give Chris a call at Legacy and see if he can help with your decision, or at least point you to some dealers in your area.
Hope this helps. |
I have been changing various components around my Focus 20/20s and have been amazed at the results...although they [the results/improvements] have been unpredictable.
Dave |
My father has them, and he studied pipe organ in college and he has over 20,000 recordings..my point is he is very musical and critical, and he loves them, he also has the complete 7.1 HT , all Legacy...except for a 15' definitive tech sub. |
I have a pair of Legacy Signiture IIIs that I really enjoy. Want a simple, effective upgrade for your Legacy speakers? Change out your stock binding posts and replace them with Cardas copper binding posts. You won't be sorry. |
