Has anyone listened to Legacy speakers?

I've been a Legacy owner since 1987 and I hate you Sean. Just kidding, I've been around long enough to know variety is the spice of life. Currently I own the Classics, I feel Sean's post is fairly accurate, I describe them the same, I wouldn't use less than 200 wpc on these even though the rated sensitivity is 92db. Those big woofers generate back emf that needs a muscle amp to keep them under control. I've also found that Coda and Classe amps sound better than Krell or Madrigal products. The former being a tad softer in the highs than the latter. I would say the highs are detailed and sound better mated with more musical type componants than the componants more noted for being detailed. In their price ranges I think they are still good values. I don't think them as good a value as they were in 1987, but they have much more advertising to pay for nowadays. That means more overhead, oh well, maybe I should start looking for a new up and comer. I still recommend them though, one pair of Focus would probably rock that whole sub, might give away your position. Enjoy.

I guess I will have to be the bad guy in this thread. More playing devil's advocate, someone with a different perspective. Legacy speakers look very good on paper. And, in person. Ad copy and cabinets are beautiful. However, this hobby is about sound. It is here where I have to criticize them. First, let me say that if someone is looking for a dynamic speaker, one capable of moving a lot of air, Legacy is quite good. The Focus is a nice sounding speaker. If I was considering Legacy, it is the only one I would look at. I find it has the least amount of negatives of any speaker in the line. But, as Sean says, Legacy is definitely boom and sizzle oriented. Nothing wrong with that, if that is your cup of tea. The other speakers in the line make enough serious mistakes, that I believe a lot of people will find them fundamentally flawed. Let me start with the models larger than the Focus. The crossover between 15" woofers and the 7" mid/woofers is more than audible. It is as if the drivers are playing audible ping-pong. One thing about music, if you notice that sound is bouncing back between two drivers(which aren't even positioned close together), you should find it quite off putting. At least I did. Treble is overetched across the line, and another thing that draws too much attention to itself in the bigger speakers. Shifting toward their smaller speakers, I will use the treble as a springboard to the Studio Monitors. The metal dome tweeter is harsh, bright, and shrill. Definitely ranking as one of the worst sounding tweeters in high end. The 1990's saw us make a lot of progress in tweeters. Well, here is one that is definitely stuck in the 80's. This driver would easily cause fatigue, making this a difficult speaker to listen to for more than a short period. On the plus side, this speaker(and Legacy speakers in general) does a very good job of not falling apart when the volume control goes up. Far, far too many high end speakers CANNOT rock. Legacys CAN. The best characteristic of the Studio Monitors is that they play clean when faced with a lot of power. Most high end monitors become distorted, congested, and lousy when faced with the spls this speaker doesn't even flinch at. But oh, that treble... The Classics and Signatures(not exactly sure what they call this speaker today) are amazingly unremarkable and bland. I find them both the definition of uninvolving. Really suprising considering how impressive they appear with all of those drivers. The one thing I have to say is that like anything else in audio, a thorough audition is essential. Do not buy anything based on ad copy. I almost did that a decade ago with Legacy speakers. The fact that I did not was one of the best moves I ever made. When I did audition them, it turned out to be my biggest disappointment in audio. Ever. And, it forever taught me that one should always approach things with their eyes closed, and their ears open.

Trelja, could you tell us how you REALLY feel ??? : )

No, i have never worked on any Focus'. I have been told that they use some very low grade wiring internally though. I do know that some of the wiring that they used to use had REAL problems with heavy oxidation and corrosion. This can be evidenced by looking for GREEN colored copper : (

For the record, my Father has a set of the Legacy 1's (early version of the Classic's) and three Studio's ( used as center and surrounds ). Much of my experience that i have spoke of has come from working with these specific speakers. I also know a few other folks with Legacy's that i've done some work for.

My experience with ALL of these has been that their crimping of wire terminals and spade lugs is TERRIBLE. I have literally had spades FALL OFF the wire as i have unscrewed the "factory jumpers" from the bi-wire terminals !!! I have also run into very poor soldering resulting in intermittent operation of drivers, unequal amounts of damping material from one speaker to the next, different placement of damping material inside of identical speakers, a stereo pair of speakers where one had damping material inside and the other had none, etc.... These are the things that i was talking about when i said "lack of consistency". Unfortunately, this is not THAT different from MANY other mass produced products. While we have come to expect this from many of the "low budget" products that are imported, it is the last thing that we expect from a product that costs hundreds and even thousands of dollars and is "built & designed in America". Maybe Sony was right..... Sean
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As Lak said early on, you will hear different opinions on Legacy. I believe they have become very controversial due to their claims in their ads and brochure. I had owned the Classic for a year then upgraded to Focus the last 2 years, after auditioning speakers for about 5 years until I found what sounded good to me. I basicly built my system around the Focus with a 300 watt high current amp initially but now bi-amp with solid state on the low end and a tube amp for the mids and highs. This combination gives me solid controlled bass and liquid midrange and highs. I am no longer looking for better speakers or better amps or preamps. I can now enjoy the music. I would also take with a grain of salt my opinion and others here as well, as people tend to favor what they own because that is what sounds good to them. I would personally give more weight to reviewers in the audiophile publications and they would seem to have heard a wider range of speakers. For more opinions, due a search on this board under Legacy and also over at audioreview.com. But to find the correct answer to your question, listen for yourself. Legacy allows you 30 days to return the speakers. Very few are ever returned.

This is my second pair of Legacy speakers. As a compulsive and heavily addicted trader, speakers sometimes come and go more often than bowel movements. Oddly enough, I ended up trading a pair Planars (one pair stats and one pair ribbons) for each of the pair of Legacy's. My first trade was for a pair of Legacy Classic's. I was heavily impressed by their good looks. Stunning rosewood and (what seemed to be) a very technically sound design. It seemed that everything that one needed for a hi-end speaker was there. Obviously, there was much attention paid (by Legacy) to the cabinet work. Trendy mat'l usage, such as Kevlar mid's, ribbon tweets and WBT terminals suggested that these may be the mother of all box speakers. After about a month with them, I could not have been more disappointed. The bass seemed weak and anemic, the midrange was honky and directional. Then there were the highs !! They could bore a hole through you with their bright and sizzling edge. The crackling sound that water makes as it strikes a cast iron skillet full of boiling oil, or perhaps the last sibilant sounds of a wheezing road kill snake is my best explanation. Zero imaging and the transparency of lead. I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. The person that bought them (thankfully) did it for home theater. He loved the sound. It has been two (speaker filled) years since the. I decided to give a somewhat different style of Legacy's a try and completed the trade with my planars. These are (and I still have them) a pair of Legacy Convergence (in a nice gloss black oak). The Convergence is an early model "Focus" (The name "Focus", according to Legacy, is an acronym for : Field Optimized Convergent technology wahoo). Production stopped for the Convergence in 1993/94. They used top quality drivers in this speaker. Two 12 inch Poly's (Eminence ?), two Focal 6.5 inch Polyglass mid/bass w/phase plugs and two high quality metal dome tweets (one mounted on the back baffle). There are no ribbon drivers and no passive radiators as in the Focus. The Legacy Convergence is 51 inches as compared to 55 inches for the Focus. Otherwise, they look nearly identical. The Convergence sold for 3500.00 (black) and the Focus for 5400.00 (black). It looks like 2000.00 is the difference for a just couple of years in age, two ribbon's and passive woofs.
To say that I am impressed with the Legacy Convergence very understated. There is no nasty high end and the bass is rich, full and tight. The Legacy's are open sounding, very involving and musical. The imaging is solidly defined with the resolution and detail of an electrostat. They throw a very large and transparent soundfield with images extending beyond the outside boundaries of the cabinets. They can get intense without edginess or listening fatigue, both at low volumes and at high. They are efficient (Very: 98 db). I would like to try a pair of SET's or new generation "Mini" Triodes with them (ala: VTL, Quicksilver, AES on and on). They can also absorb mega watts and play loud enough to remove paint..... so you can unpack your Bryston 7B's.. The Legacy's will draw one into the "music" and they will seem to disappear into their vast soundstage. They will (with the best recordings) leave just "you" and the "music" in the room. As the dynamic range increases on the recording, so does the speaker, without compression or signs of strain. They (the Convergence) shrink and grow as the music demands. From Leo Kottke's 12 string Martin guitar to the Dorian recordings of Saint-Saens Organ, these speakers can outperform anything that I know of (with a reasonable price tag).The mid's and high's are equal to the feeling that one gets with the light and airy presentation of the best mini-monitors. Voices are very seductive, involving and delicate. Pianos have weight, impact and authority. The taunt skin of drums is reproduced with snap and presence so fast it seems that it is felt instead of heard. The bass-lines are much better than most separate subwoofers. The Legacy's drop lower in their reach and they are much faster (Legacy say's: 21 hz). The low end also sounds like it is a part of the rest of the system .... rather than a separate entity. Cellos and string bass have that vibrant rasp that comes up through the floor and envelops you. Kick drums lock onto the room as if it had been shaken by a small quake. Amazing power. I have not looked inside them. Perhaps I should. If there is a way to make them sound even better (wire .. cap's .. terminals, etc) it would be worth any and all effort. These just may be keepers ..... although (unfortunately) I doubt it. I am certain that this sick and pathetic hobby (spelled: addiction) will force me to inject myself with the needle of audio change at some point. I am certain to grieve the loss of these fine performers as I claw my way on to the next fix. It's too bad. After hundreds of different speakers in my life, these are among the best .. if not 'the" best. I will assume that the Focus sounds similar. I am very suspicious of that ribbon/dome combo in the newer Legacy's though. The Legacy Convergence is at the very top of my list of the speakers that I truly enjoy the company of. That long list must even include my all-time favorite ... the Quad ESL-63. In some ways the Legacy's are as good and perhaps better. I feel that they can be as involving and perhaps as musical (on some mat'l). Of course they can play louder, but I have heard some people flatulate louder than a straining Quad (although it was impossible to determine who or what was straining harder). The strain of loudness is not the point. It has become trendy fodder for audiophiles to use the cliche regarding the inability of the Quads to become Klipshhorns. The point is that they (the Quads) are a fine instrument built with art of musical reproduction as it's intended purpose, but only within it's limitations to absorb power. The same is true for the Legacy's, but with far more impact and dynamics. They do all of that, and without showing themselves in the picture. What more could one ask for ?? What-cha got to trade :-)

Tubby ......

BTW: All amps and pre-amps used for this evaluation were either Tube or Solid State.
All CD players, Dacs, Transports, Turntables, Tonearms, Cartridges and Head Amps were either Digital or Analog.
All CD's and Records were flat and round.