Moabs definitely do have a full, robust sound and are extremely cohesive. Sorry you were so horribly misinformed.
Mine sound great with everything. Classical- full orchestra and intimate quartet both equally compelling and realistic. Rock- U2, Springsteen, Roxy Music, Nilsson, Styx, you name it. Jazz- Satchmo, Sinatra, Brubeck, does not matter. Male vocals, female vocals, chorales, organ, piano, are you getting the picture?
Moabs are easy to drive and put out monster sound levels with real punch, authority and drive, and that’s with my little 50 watt tube amp.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 I was playing Nilsson Jump Into the Fire last night at realistic drum levels, actually louder than I probably should be listening (had a bit of ringing afterwards!) and yet the volume wasn’t even cranked to full power. Look at my room. Its not a small room. People using more power, or saying they need more power, either they really like damaging volume levels or its not registering just how loud it really is because the speakers are so freaking strain free at any volume level you lose track!
But they don’t need to be cranked up loud to sound good either. One of the more pleasant surprises is realizing I can enjoy listening at lower volume levels. I still turn it up sometimes and when I do its really nice because its surprising how loud I can listen without any sense of strain or fatigue. But its equally surprising how good they sound even at lower levels.
They are not- repeat NOT - made for people who want a work of art. They are presentable enough, but that’s about it. Good honest speakers that do not pretend to belong in the pages of Architectural Digest. And yes they are big. But while they are big they are not two-man speakers. I was able to bring mine in, unpack and set them up all by myself no problem.
Mine are the normal Moabs with only the standard cap, wire and terminal upgrades. About the only thing I would - might - do different would be to order Ulfberhts instead. Encore and Ulf are the same MTM array as Moab, but with somewhat upgraded drivers. Although if you read my thread you will see when talking with Eric he said the Ulf tweeter is better, but the difference is hard to hear. He even said I probably wouldn’t hear it. Which mirrors what teajay told me. He owns Ulfs and reviewed Moabs and straight up told me to get the Moabs. Said except for the one little region of upper bass where the Ulfs have the extra drivers, except for that little bit they are the same. This is a guy who owns Ulfs telling me to buy Moabs.
Like teajay told me, you could buy a lot of stuff for the price diff from Moabs to Ulfs. A lot of stuff that would make a lot more difference than there is between the speakers. Like in my case I could (and probably will) get a Raven Osprey.
The Focals are probably quite good speakers for what they are. Old technology. Eric has pretty much obsoleted everything. For now. The market will catch up. But for now, if you want the best sound - and not the best looking Faberge egg - then you want a Tekton.
