Legacy Focus SE or Magico A3

Yeah, running $10,000 speakers through the preamp section of a $1400 AVR, even a good one, will be a huge bottleneck to your sound.  If it were me, I'd split the $10k to get both a good stereo preamp (that you can continue to use in conjunction with your MRX 520 for surround/movies) and speakers.  You'll get much better overall stereo performance than just adding $10k speakers IMO. 

I have a set of SE's. Love them . I tried a set of  Tektons DI's  and sent them back . And , we listen to them loud ( not always) and usually with mild rock and roll and jazz.  Just purchased a Marantz 8805 ( from a 8801) . I was happy with the 8801, but the adjustable sound correction looks like something these speakers might really like. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with them.  

I use the Legacy Signature III's. I know several people who use the Focus' ... From what I understand, the model that came before the SE is better sounding. Very efficient too. 

A'gon member Fleischer loves his Legacy Focus speakers. You might want to hit him up with a PM. He'd be happy to give you some guidance on which model to buy. If you can use the same model Fleischer has, it will save you a ton of money. I think they are going for around $2500 for a mint pair in a nice finish. 

How do they sound? I've heard Steve Fleischer's system several times. With the proper room treatments and specific tweaks, they sound like planer speakers, or point source speakers ... with much better bass and highs.

Good luck ...

Frank 

Alcurd, we sell quite a numberof high end loudspeakers in that price range, including the Kef Reference, the Legacy line, and the Paradigm Prestige and Personas.

The major issue with you system is the Mrx and the Rotel  You really do need to upgrade these pieces. 

The Prestige are actually really good, we do prefer the Personas and the Legacys over the 95 which are great punchy speakers but lack the subtitley in the highs vs the Legacys.

The Legacy sound is also very punchy with a smoother midrange and a bigger soundstage. The bass of the Legacy's is a bit on the wamer side the Prestige bass is a bit more dynamic and punchy. 

The Magico's tend to sound a bit more anaylitical and are less forgiving so if you are planning on keeping your existing setup stick with the Legacy's.

If you are on the East coast we would love to have you over for a demo.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Paradigm and Legacy dealers

I own the original Legacy Focus speakers. I have heard that the Focus HD is inferior sounding despite the higher quality drivers. The SE version is very similar other than the placement of the ribbon tweeter. The Focus has 3 woofers as does the Focus 20/20. The Focus 20/20 has a slightly more difficult impedance than the original Focus. Besides sounding better, the original Focus sells for about $2500/pair. It can be driven for rock and heavy metal with a 35 watt Yamaha CR-600 ($150) and sound great.

I mention this speaker not because it’s the best but because it provides me with a balanced sound with great detail like a planar or electrostat, wide soundstage, good imaging (with Shakti Hallographs), plenty of bass, beautiful tonality, quick transients (not as quick as a Magico) and dynamic (not as dynamic as a big horn system). It is revealing of your equipment and tweaks, so there is always an upgrade path to owning them. I used to own electrostats, big ones, for 20 years. Then I found out about the Focuses from my friend Robert Pincus. Steve Hoffman, Tom Port and several other friends own(ed) Focus speakers (the originals). There is a good reason for this and it wasn’t because we couldn’t afford a better speaker. My wife of 20 years thoroughly disliked my electrostats because they lacked dynamics, bass and required center only seating to enjoy them. She likes rock and heavy metal. The Focus and Signature IIIs were a perfect replacement for both her music and my music (opera, jazz, orchestral and earlier pop).

Also, Magico’s are more difficult to drive and you can buy 4 used pairs of Focus speakers for the cost of one Magico pair. I hope this helps.

P.S. Be sure that the Focus mid-range drivers have plenty of dacron or other dampening material behind the drivers; otherwise, they are brash and especially bad on brass instruments.  My pair needed a pillowsworth of dacron for the 4 drivers because the prior owner left the chambers bare when he rewired them.