I have owned a pair of Legacy Signature III's for a little over a year. I upgraded to Sig III's from a pair of Dunlavy's before that company shut down. I have found the Sig III's incredibly satisfying on every level. One of the aspects of Legacy speakers that is most immediately obvious is their excellent bass response. But as the recent Stereophile review of the Focus 20/20 reveals, bass response isn't the half of it. The Sig III's do very well with female vocals and acoustic guitar tracks, which are particularly important to my musical tastes.
My Legacy dealer tells me that the drivers for the Focus 20/20 and the Signature III are identical, aside from the Focus' 12 inch woofers compared to the the Sig III's 10 inch woofers. The Focus provides higher quality internal crossovers, but otherwise the speakers are very similar. For that reason, my dealer has advised me to look to the Whisper as a future upgrade, rather than stepping directly up to the Focus. What I'm getting at here is that you're not at all out of line in considering Legacy models that are lower in the line relative to the Focus.
Regarding your question about "looking nice," the cabinets (mine are rosewood) are rock solid and beautifully done. I wouldn't say that they're innovative in their cabinet design, though. You won't get sweeping lines or polished aluminum with Legacy. You will get traditionally styled cabinets, high quality, well matched wood grains, and precise woodwork.
Having recently secured budget for some system upgrades, I audiotioned a few lines of speakers, but concluded that I am so content with my Signature III's that I'm going to have to look to other aspects of my system to find what I consider to be an upgrade in sound. I could get into the details, but this post is already too verbose.
Happy hunting. Don't rule Legacy out without listening to them first.
My Legacy dealer tells me that the drivers for the Focus 20/20 and the Signature III are identical, aside from the Focus' 12 inch woofers compared to the the Sig III's 10 inch woofers. The Focus provides higher quality internal crossovers, but otherwise the speakers are very similar. For that reason, my dealer has advised me to look to the Whisper as a future upgrade, rather than stepping directly up to the Focus. What I'm getting at here is that you're not at all out of line in considering Legacy models that are lower in the line relative to the Focus.
Regarding your question about "looking nice," the cabinets (mine are rosewood) are rock solid and beautifully done. I wouldn't say that they're innovative in their cabinet design, though. You won't get sweeping lines or polished aluminum with Legacy. You will get traditionally styled cabinets, high quality, well matched wood grains, and precise woodwork.
Having recently secured budget for some system upgrades, I audiotioned a few lines of speakers, but concluded that I am so content with my Signature III's that I'm going to have to look to other aspects of my system to find what I consider to be an upgrade in sound. I could get into the details, but this post is already too verbose.
Happy hunting. Don't rule Legacy out without listening to them first.