Dynaudio Sappires vs Focal Sopra 2's

I've heard the Sapphire and thought they were okay... and while I have not heard the Focal's, they have the advantage over the Dyn's in being fairly efficient, making them suitable for use with moderate powered tube amps.  The Sopra's do appear to be getting a lot of love over the internet, but they do have a modern look that may limit their appeal to the masses (as do the Sapphires).   I'm old school and prefer the look and sound of my big box Harbeth M-40.1's.

I do not have any experience with these two speakers but wanted to say that the Sapphire uses my favorite tweeter, the Esotar.  For my tastes, and provided that we are talking about similarly sized speakers, I would not change from a speaker that uses that tweeter (provided it is implemented well) to a speaker with a metal tweeter.  However, in my speakers I upgraded the internal wiring (to Kimber TCX) and crossover components.  I took my crossover outboard which permitted me to use much better capacitors (Duelund CAST-Cu) and inductors (Mundorf 10AWG ribbon).  Upgrading the resistors makes a big difference too.  Depending on where one is trying to take the speaker the Duelund CAST resistors can be used to good effect, as well as the Mundorf M-Resist resistors, which is what I ended up using in my crossover.  If one wanted to keep the crossover internal there are other capacitor and inductor options available that would still make for a substantial improvement, in my opinion at least, over the stock crossover.

The other piece of the puzzle, and what I should have asked sooner, is what about the Sopra 2 speaker impressed you over the Sapphires?  I've had friends ask for my help in upgrading their speaker components and the first question I ask is what are their goals for the project, so that's the question I would pose here.

But for me the Sapphires use my favorite drivers and a first order crossover - the perfect starting point for a nice crossover upgrade project.

Cheers,

John

Hi John,

I love the detail / imaging of the Focal Sopra 2's. I'm currently Swapping out my Sapphires with my older Dynaudio Contour 3.3's (love these!) in my system but got "The Itch" again and I was really impressed with the Focal's. Will sell at least 1 pr. of my 3 Dynaudio sets (also have Audience 82's in my Family room H/T) to help $$$ with this new purchase. You know how this hobby goes...always something!!!

Thanks for your input.
Paul.