Attention all Legacy Whisper owners ??

Whispers and the focus 20/20s are the best out there in musical enjoyment!

Except if you own other speakers.

I switch out a pair of speaker about every month. I love trying new speakers. However to this day, the focus have remained in my system since there purchase 2.5 years ago. That means they have beat out aprox. 22-26 other speakers in the $1000-$4000 used range.

The only speakers that I felt were as enjoyable to listen to, were the magnepan 3.6 and maybe the Martin Logan Ascent i set up right, with a nice clean sub. That being said, the bass in the focus is absolutely perfect! Its not to much, its not to little, and it extends deep when you want it to, and doesnt thin out at loud volumes unless powered by a very weak amp.

I have read some of your past posts on the quatro having better bass then the focus. I found this to be interesting as stereophile stated the vandersteen not even to be a full range speaker. The focus goes to the low 20's. I have a svs ultra/2 with a sms-1 and I have always felt I needed to use it somewhat with every other speaker but the Focus. With the Focus I leave the sub off.

I also read your positives on the focus, which is one of the reasons I purchased them 2.5 years ago when looking through the forums for another speaker to try in my home. The Focus blew me away then, and they blow me away today.

Obviously, everyone hears differently. I would highly recommend the Focus 20/20's to anyone, and suggest putting it on there top of the list in the $3000-$4000 used range.

My father owned them for a few years but they were replaced and never thought of again......there are much better speakers and designs out there but we all have our own opinions.

Sthomas, very impressive to have conducted so many direct comparisons between speakers. What is your system like, specifically amplification, but also source, cables, etc. if you don't mind sharing. I'd be curious to know what amps you use with the Focus, and which you feel were among the best.

The Monarchy Audio SM-70 Pro is a very affordable mono block design which is quite nice with the Focus HD. It's incredible how far along toward very high end sound one can move today with the affordable equipment options available from many manufacturers.

You might want to hear the Focus HD version, as Bill Dudleston has done a complete redesign; I enjoy the planar mid and neo-ribbon tweeter which gives the speaker elements of a planar presentation, yet with the authority of a dynamic speaker in the low end. I would think that many more companies would be trying to move in this direction than are currently. I can imagine it to be difficult to integrate these drivers, but when it's done well it's quite nice.

Regarding specs, the HD version is listed as 16Hz - 25kHz. I am not sure if this is +/- 3dB or not. Bill ususally lists response as +/- 2dB on his other speakers. I am assuming that is an indication of usable bass, and that the tight measurement is closer to 20Hz on the low side. I also unhooked the Vandersteen subs; in fact I sold them, because the Focus has such good low end response; adding them just muddied things.

Though I have not reviewed the Whisper, I have heard it and it has the same "house sound" as the other Legacy products. Interestingly, it's bass response is listed as being higher than the Focus HD (not radically, but significantly), however the nature of the bass from the whisper is more controlled/tight, which should be expected from the radically different bass driver configuration.