Has anyone listened to Legacy speakers?

I live in Chicago and went down to Springfield and visited the factory before my purchase. I own the Legacy Whispers. I have owned the Talon Audio Khorus, (Highly Moded) Infinity RS1b's, Speaker Art Clefs, Rush Sound Monument II's and various others at one point or another. I have also had the latest Avant Garde Duos (Horns) in my home for an Audition as well as listening to he Avalon Eidelons. I have also listened to the Martin Logan Statements(I think the 1st version of that speaker), Wilson Watt Puppies (5.1), Willson Baby Slamms (the one that costs $38,000.00).

Ok, all that to say that no other speaker I have ever come across can communicate the event like the Whispers. It is absolutely the finest speaker I have ever heard, and by a HUGE MARGIN. A buddy of mine had the $70,000 Wilsons delivered to his home for a live in demo, and then the Whispers. The Wilsons went back to the dealer and he now owns the Whispers, this is in fact where I first heard them. They are dynamic like no speaker I have heard before. Now having said all that, I will add that I also purchased 2 of the Legacy LFXtreme subs for very low end bass reinforcement. The Whispers go down to 22HZ, but without the subs, they wont kick you in the chest. The system sound so much like live music now it is downright puzzling. The guy I have mentioned is very wealthy and will jump on a plane in a minute to audition a sound system (around the world if need be, and has done so many times), he has listened to about 75 so far with everything from JM Labs Grand Utopias to probably anything else you can name. his statement was that nothing he has come accross can touch the Whisper. Check Legacy out, they are for real, they just don't advertise in Stereophile or pay off reviewers like some of the unamed bigger monikers out there.

Best regards,

Mike

I have a five-speaker system with two Signature IIIs (front), two Mists (rear), one Silver Screen (center) and one Point One (sub), all powered by a B&K AVR507 Series 2 receiver. It required almost two years of listening to find the speakers I wanted and really liked. I burned a CD with various classical music tracks...movements of symphonies and string quartets as well as classical organ music...to use in listening to different kinds of speakers. The string quartets provided the most useful music to use in auditioning speaker systems because with only four instruments it was fairly "easy" to tell if the speakers sounded like the real thing. The overall system sound is absolutely awesome. Although I am a classical music buff, the most dramatic recording for demonstrating my system to friends is a surround sound DVD-Audio album from the Eagles called "Hell Freezes Over." The system also sounds terrific with surround sound for movies. One of the first movies I listened to was one of the later Terminator movies. The movie begins with a picture of the earth from space and a narrator talking about how machines took over the earth. I had the volume too low to hear the narrator well so I turned it up. About this time a rocket streaked toward the earth and exploded! The subwoofer had so much power that my wife, who was in another room, thought we had just had a earthquake. So, while the system is very musical it also can play pop music and sound tracks exceedingly well. I just wish I had space to use two more Sig III for my rear channels.

Many years ago, I worked hard to get my Sig IIIs to satify, from switching preamps, to amps, and finally gave up. Always sounded PRETTY good, just not satisfying. The bass was fast, but couldn't integrate properly with the kevlar mid. Then I though I need more smooth power, went for Muse Monoblocks, then Classe, both with no succeess - just not a musical whole. The best amp I used driving them was an older Forte, with a tube preamp. Still disconnected sound but it finally had a leading edge the other amps didnt provide. They may have improved some over the years, and I think the Whisper is hi fi, but the others down the line count for mid-hi fi to me..

I agree with Mikeam on the sound coming out of my Whispers. Its pretty special and I have no desire to upgrade internal wiring or anything else like that. I have also owned Focus and currently own Focus 20/20s which are operating as rears in my setup. The 20/20s offer a fuller sound than the older Focus, but nowhere near the detail, transparency, soundstage and sense of air around the instruments conveyed by the Whispers. The Whispers will reveal upstream problems pretty ruthlessly, but in a clean, highly resolving system, which I've finally pretty much achieved, the sound is tremendous.

The only nit to pick involves the Steridian equalizer, which was/is pretty much of a design nightmare. It has been discontinued in favor of an outsourced, much more expensive equalizer, from my understanding. In addition, the old Tech Support guys(Chris, et al) are gone, as well as Bob Howard, so there's no telling what kind of support is available.(Fortunately, I haven't need any after finally sorting out a Steridian problem a number of months ago.)

fOCUS 20/20'S are the best speakers Ive ever owned. Beat my Martin Logans Ascent i's in almost every area, including most important, musicality and musical enjoyment!