I personally found very poor synergy with my Focal Sopra No 2’s and a Luxman M-900U; Bass energy was flat and anemic; tried lot’s of things; It’s not my room acoustics; The same amp on Dynaudio Contour 60’s flat out destroyed the Sopra’s in the bass/energy/impact area...making for a wonderfully rich and moving musical experience; room acoustics and listening position were 100% identical as was the front end and all cables. The only difference was speakers. I tried moving the Sopras all around but the bass sounded like they had rags stuffed inside the ports; a very disappointing experience; I have had the Aria 946’s which are major overachievers; they had a tiny bit of top end bite but overall very good speakers for the coin; I still have Aria 906’s in my simple home theater. I really wanted to love the sopra 2’s they are beautifully crafted;
I had the Luxman 509x on the Dyn Contour 60’s and that was a great match. Actually, the 509x is an incredible value-- probably one of the best in all of high end audio. The M-900/C-900 gets you more headroom and a bit more of the "ethereal experience", but that 509x is one amazing package; My ears and personal experience suspect a dubious pairing with Sopra 2’s based on the bad synergy with the M-900...but who knows maybe the output stage on the 509x since it has lower damping might find favor with the super stiff woofers on the Sopra 2’s (they were broken in, btw) by letting the woofers overhang a bit;
Hegel H590; I really would like to hear this one myself. I have since moved on from the Sopra and Contours to Confidence 30’s; I have them paired with M-900 now;
Like you, I am always in the hunt for trying things out; Someday I will run out of energy (money) in this pursuit and will just stick with stuff, but for now it’s way too much fun (wife does not agree);
Good luck!
I had the Luxman 509x on the Dyn Contour 60’s and that was a great match. Actually, the 509x is an incredible value-- probably one of the best in all of high end audio. The M-900/C-900 gets you more headroom and a bit more of the "ethereal experience", but that 509x is one amazing package; My ears and personal experience suspect a dubious pairing with Sopra 2’s based on the bad synergy with the M-900...but who knows maybe the output stage on the 509x since it has lower damping might find favor with the super stiff woofers on the Sopra 2’s (they were broken in, btw) by letting the woofers overhang a bit;
Hegel H590; I really would like to hear this one myself. I have since moved on from the Sopra and Contours to Confidence 30’s; I have them paired with M-900 now;
Like you, I am always in the hunt for trying things out; Someday I will run out of energy (money) in this pursuit and will just stick with stuff, but for now it’s way too much fun (wife does not agree);
Good luck!