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Focal Sopra n1 - mids are a bit recessed compared to Lumina IIs

I upgraded my speakers from Sonus Faber Lumina II's to Focal Sopra N1. I am using the Luxman 595 class A amp, which I used for the Lumina IIs as well. 

I love the bass and imaging of the Sopra N1s. Really good! However, one thing is bothering me. The mids or vocals seemed more recessed on the Sopra N1s when compared to my much cheaper Lumina IIs. Why is this? I miss the liveliness of the Lumina IIs from having those mids more forward. 

Also, when I heard the Focal Sopra N1s at the store on a McIntosh 12000, I did not detect the mids being recessed. So it's very confusing also in that respect.  

dman777
danomar's avatar
danomar
17 posts
 

Just my 2¢: I auditioned a pair of Sopra 1s using my Luxman 5M20 and a streamer/DAC as source with no preamp. They sounded very nice across the frequency range. I was listening to mostly classic jazz.

blancpain1
9 posts
 

Yep, I love the looks of the Sopra's but to me, sound isn't as good for classic rock and heavy vocal stuff as many other speakers and most much less costly. But these others don't look as good as the Sopra's:)

dman777 OP
25 posts
 

Just to follow up on this, I did the break-in period of 50 hours and the speaker sound 100% better. I think that was the issue

auroravengeance's avatar
auroravengeance
134 posts
 

@dman777 Speaker break-in is a real thing. My current pair of speakers sounded heavily distorted out of the box and it took like 50 hours for the distortions to subside and another further 50 hours for the sound balance to settle. 

@blancpain1 For French speakers, Cabasse IMO is the fastest and has the most luscious mid and vocal. I auditioned Triangle Duetto, Focal Diablo, Apertura Adamante, and Cabasse Baltics. I ended up with the Baltics. It can handle everything thrown at it, including speed metal. 

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