It's interesting to see the contrast in opinion on the Sopras. I'm personally listening to the 2's right now and find them to be as close to suiting my tastes as I've heard from any speaker, regardless of price. I completely agree though that the room is an extremely critical component in any system. I find the Sopra 2's to be a bit dark and romantic in my system - which is intentional. They're being driven very successfully by a Pass XA 30.5 (which says something about their efficiency). The preamp is an Aikido Octal dual-mono 6SN7 which I put together and my source is streaming (mostly Tidal) through a Rega Saturn R. The Saturn does a great job of getting timing right and everything downstream - including the Sopras - follow suit very well. I think the tweeter adds a slight amount of energy up top which suits my system and preferences nicely. The slight added energy falls above the range (2-3K Hz to my ears) that can cause a system to sound bright or analytical and plays out as a little "air" on top. My system is cabled entirely with Audience's new (and very good) AU24SX cable.
For an extremely large room I wouldn't doubt that the 3's would be the better choice. But I find the 2's to work extremely well in a variety of more difficult environments. The bass is a bit more "manageable" and nimble to me. Where the 3's will just have too much in certain rooms, the 2's are easy to work with and very light on their feet while still maintaining a great deal of weight and impact. It you're interested in lower power (as I am), I think the 2 will play more nicely with tubes or in my case, 30WPC Class A SS. I listen relatively close to the 2's and they never punish me for that at all. I wouldn't say that they're the be-all-end-all in imaging and sound staging in my small room but I suspect they'd improve in a larger room and while I value those qualities, overall tonal balance and enjoyment is more important. I haven't spent a lot of time with the 1's but against say, the SF Olympica 3's, the Sopra's are far more forgiving of amplifier matching and room placement. While there were times I really loved the Olympica 3's, I think the Sopra 2's do more things better and, aesthetic preferences not withstanding, are an overall easier speaker to live with.
In full disclosure, I'm a dealer, though mostly CI and work with Focal, among other hifi products. I've spent time with Magico, B&W, Sonus Faber, Vienna and more and when I first came across the Sopra 2's I found their value to be unique. My first question to the rep was to whether they were made in China, which they're not. I'll qualify this by saying that HiFi skews the use of the term value, but within the context, I don't think there's a way to get more for your dollar than with the Sopra 2.
