Focal-JM Labs speakers

I realize that this thread is extremely old, but figured I'd added my experience with the Chorus 816v and 836v speakers that are related to this thread for future searchers.

I narrowed my speaker search to the 816v and the 836v with a $1,000 cost difference. The 726v wasn't available at the store that I was planning to purchase and, for an unexplainable reason, I really didn't have a strong interest in the 826v model. I loved the 816v and almost purchased them before opting to go big and get what I really wanted.

The biggest difference between them, from my listening, wasn't the additional bass from the 2 additional drivers, it was actually instrument seperation. I think this resulted from the full 3-way design of the 836v compared to the 2-1/2 way 816v. There were aspects of the music in the 836v that simply didn't exist in the 816v. The bass extension was better, but was secondary in my choice.

I've since had the opportunity for short listen to an 826v, but the environment wasn't similar enough to make any real comparison. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them, but the 836v is my clear favorite.

focals are a very polarizing speaker--people seem to either love 'em or hate 'em. i agree with aball that their models are hit and miss, though they all have that magnificent tweeter. what's curious is that (to my purely subjective ears) their sound quality doesn't seem especially price-dependent--some of the lower cost models sound better than their pricier ones. i own an older pair of cobalt monitors, which i preferred to the pricier profile/electra. i also recently heard the $50k utopia maestros at a dealer showroom and was surprisingly unmoved--fantastic soundstage and detail, but a really wooly, uncomfortable-sounding low end. on the other hand, the very modestly-priced chorus line are getting rave reviews. go figure.

I have only had the opportunity to hear the 706v, 816v and 836v in the Chorus line and the Diablo, Scala and Grande in the Utopia line. I really like all of them, but can't speak to any of the others. My father-in-law recently got a pair of the 706v speakers and loves them. As you say, the tweeters sound great.

The store recently changed amplifiers and I have not been as impressed with any of the speakers with the new untit. With the old Krell amps I couldn't imagine being any more happy than the Diablo's did during several listening opportunities. The addition of a JL Audio subwoofer was more impressive to me than the Grande's were connected to the same system.

I know the store I deal with is very particular about what models they have in the store. They stock and recommend, as the best values, the Chorus 706v for bookshelf application and the Chorus 816v or 836v for floorstanding models.