After tormenting myself for several months, auditioning lots of floor standing speakers, I became smitten the first time I heard the new Focal Sopra No2's.
I was lucky to order them just after they first became available in the U.S. and have been enjoying them for over two months now. My dealer says they have a six month wait for them now.
These speakers have enormous amounts of detail in the mid and high frequencies, most high-detail speakers made me really exhausted quickly, not these. They also have huge sound stage. The bass that they have is excellent and very well integrated with the other drivers, but only goes so low (no problem for me, I'm wedded to a pair of excellent sub woofers).
Two cautions. I heard a pair driven by electronics that I'd not characterize as "smooth sounding", with that incredible tweeter, I thought it was "too much". Also, I'm not sure the speakers would sound so good in a smaller room, as I auditioned a pair of 1038BE's in a room about 12 x 14 and they sounded very "constricted".
I was lucky to order them just after they first became available in the U.S. and have been enjoying them for over two months now. My dealer says they have a six month wait for them now.
These speakers have enormous amounts of detail in the mid and high frequencies, most high-detail speakers made me really exhausted quickly, not these. They also have huge sound stage. The bass that they have is excellent and very well integrated with the other drivers, but only goes so low (no problem for me, I'm wedded to a pair of excellent sub woofers).
Two cautions. I heard a pair driven by electronics that I'd not characterize as "smooth sounding", with that incredible tweeter, I thought it was "too much". Also, I'm not sure the speakers would sound so good in a smaller room, as I auditioned a pair of 1038BE's in a room about 12 x 14 and they sounded very "constricted".