Blade 2, Sabrina, Fact 12, Sopra 2 or Scala ?


Having had my NAD C370/Canton Ergo RC-L for two decades, im now up for a very exciting and an serious upgrade. The Ergo is true full range, but a bit sharp in the treble, the combination gives a warm, intimate sound (a bit small soundscape, midrange with drawn, details ok), and by the way my Audeze LCD-2.2 with Burson Conductor Virtuoso sounds amazing to me.

Have spent quite some time auditioning speakers in different sizes, price ranges, brands, both here in Stockholm and last few years i was living in Singapore (Adelphi is a 6 story shopping mall with audio and high end only stores - go there if you get the chance!! ), ive made the following shortlist.

- Focal Sopra no 2 or 3
- Focal Scala Utopia v2
- PMC Fact 12
- Raidho C-2.1
- Kef Blade 2
- Wilson Audio Sabrina

i listen to Drum´n´Bass, EDM, Compressed Pop, Contemporary and classical jazz, some blues, opera and classical and modern and old fart rock. No LPs or CDs, only FLAC and lossless streaming.

Music and how the artform and the artists having created the music (-art piece) - moves me, affects me emotionally either by the fun and joy it creates or just being touched. I want the system to communicate feelings rather than presenting facts. Music and musicians play for me in the room, things should feel they happen in the room (in contrast to feeling transported into the recording, to another place) Slight warmth and very slight forgiving preferred to perfect neutrality.
Electronics? my NAD M51 and the Mac Mini + Amarra will stick for a few years but i intend to buy ML, Pass Labs, MBL, Boulder, Burmester, Bryston, Plinius (also preferably demo or preowned) depending on which speaker i choose.

Live in Stockholm and will buy in europe, either new, demo or pre owned (thus the huge price range from PMC fact 12 to Scala Utopia 2 for example).
havent had the chance to try any of them in my 5,5x4.2 room (23sqm) with 3.1 ceiling, will move in a year or two and expect 25 - 40 sqm livingroom or livingroom+kitchen in the new place)


Have listened to most besides Kef Blade 2 (heard Reference 1 and 3 though), and Raidho only the XT2.
The others ive listened to in different rooms, with different electronics (often weeks or months apart .... )

Anything ive missed and should include?
Any recommendations or suggestions how the speakers compare, and in home conditions and after owning them for a while etc? Any recomendations on matching with electronics etc.

hifishark.com is awesome for second hand by the way!


thanks in advance, anny comments, suggestions or feedback apreciated !

/Pontus
pontusj
No Bar81, I don’t. This gentleman is inquiring about Blades which we have a lot of experience in and Personas which we also carry.

As per shilling, not even close.

My personal feeling is along with our store owner, is that the Blades when setup properly rival a lot of way more expensive speakers, now same with the Personas.

However with that being said, you almost never hear prospective clients on these forums talking about the Blades, what you hear is Wilson, Rockport, etc.

We were at the NY audio show in 2013 and we listened to the $107 YG and they weren’t better than the Blades at $32k.

Most of the audio press is more beholden to their advertisers and very rarely will you ever hear that kind of honest expose that a product from a more mainstream company is building as good or perhaps better product then the boutique companies.

I am not saying Wilson, Rockport, Magico aren’t great speakers, we recommend that people listen to those brands as well as the Kefs and Personas.

Also if you have been following this thread the OP feels the same as we do.

I am just so sick and tired of hearing that company X is the best speaker when there are alternative sometimes at half the price that rival or may exceed their performance, and snobishness and eliitism is what is holding these brands back not performance.

I have never said that my brands of speakers: ATC,Dali, Kef , Legacy,, Paradigm, PSB, Gradient, Tannoy, etc are the best speakers, I have said that in many ways some of our speakrs, in particular the Blades and the Personas, may rival or in some ways transparency, and image holography may actually improve upon some of these others brands and do so for considerably less.

You can see the vitrolic attitudes when one guy met my friend and store owner, at an audio show and was pissed off that Dave was presentinng the Usher BE 10 as a rival to Wilson at $7k less.

Our store philosophy has always been about finding amazing products and were ever possible find products that perform higher then their price points.

It is our opinion that many stores sell by brand not by sound.

I would put it to you that how many $19k products have been compared to $120k worth of really expensive Swiss electronics with the conclusion of the reviewer being that the $19k piece was so close to the big rig that he had trouble determining which was constantly better.

If I was a regular consumer I would be reallly interested to check out that product and or brand and not sit back in my little ivory tower and not question about a possible upgrade if that product made sense.

Too many audiophiles will never question if there is something new and better from a different brand or one of these new vanguard products from the larger players.

All I know is we are commited to finding value as well as extraordinary products at sometimes at way lower products.

You don’t know us and you certainly don’t know of our motives gee Bar I wonder if I read your posts what brand of products are you enthusiastic about. If you are on the East Coast and you want to come in and meet us please see for yourself the kinds of products and sound we can make and then judge for yourself our character and motives.

Troy
Audio Doctor
877 428 2873






Post removed 
Sorry for the off topic I was responding to ZZsatntabarabera

This is an interesting list, except that the Sabrina should be Sasha in the same ball park.

Kef Blade 1 is more competitive vs Scala Utopia.

Blade more deep bass, plays louder, more focused image

Scala, more transparency in the highs, a bit fatter in the midrange, a punchy, airy sounding speaker,  it depends on what you like the Focal's Beryllium tweeter is more detailed and a tad more airy, Blade ones sound bigger with more deep bass. A harder call with the Blade 2, 

The fact 8 is a nice speaker less magical in all ways then all of the others, nicely balanced smooth treble tight tuneful bass. 

WIlson Sabrina or Sasha tweeter not as good as the Scalas, punchy big soundstage, not as articulate as the Blades or Scalas, a great rock speakers. I would probably take the Scalas, as the treble transparency is better, The Focals don''t have as precise an image as the Wilsons.

So it comes down to what you prefer, these are all great speakers, I would go for the Scalas or Blades.