Speaker and Amp dilemma

upgrade then amp IMO

I think you would be best to move on from the Legacy Focus 20/20's. There is no guarantee that even more power would make them sound better, or get your toes tapping. I was a fan of Legacy speakers in the early years, I owned 3 pairs between 1987-2000. Then I found that there were better sounding speakers out there.

As others have mentioned, ML's can also be difficult to drive. 200/400 wpc should be plenty to drive most speakers out there, you should have plenty to choose from. Look for a nice pair of Vandersteen, Vienna Acoustics, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, etc., grab a pair, and move on.

Let's recap, one vote to change amp, one vote to go for M-L's, and one vote to go for a different speaker. Having owned Forte amps, listened to other Legacy speakers, and read the Stereophile review on the 20/20's, I'm not totally convinced amp/speaker is the problem for toe tap. Would you care to list your preamp, source, and speaker cables & interconnects?

Thanks for asking Tls49. My preamp is a Parasound Halo 3 and I acquired a very nice pair of 12 foot Legacy speaker cables when I bought the speakers. I must confess that I have only compared them to plain Monster 12 gauge OFC zip cord style speaker cables. And they were noticeably better than the less expensive Monsters, in an all around way. I guessed they were probably better than most anything else I could afford at that time, best I have ever had anyway. My interconnects are single ended Harmonic Technology Truth cables. After trying a few others including some Van Den Hul and Audioquest I really liked the Truthlinks, and after tying one pair I now own 3 pair, and the pair I have between preamp and amp is the next model up, forgive me for forgetting their name and not looking back there to see.

I have also heard some Vandersteen model 3's at the salon before, and found them to be most impressive. It is easy to speculate on a thousand brands out there that may or not bring me more satisfaction, and so hard to pick one.

I also do wonder what if I were to drop a few grand on a preamp, phono pre, turntable or cartridge, but while the source is of utmost Importance, the amp/speaker is really what controls the character of the system. So while I know a new preamp will make a difference, I want to do what will make the largest difference first. On my fixed retirement income, I am limited to perhaps one new component per year! Or two years, depending on how much I spend. So perhaps high end is not the best hobby for me? Well my previous system was actually far cheaper than my present one, and I loved it! (In a different room in a different house.) And got great satisfaction from it for 20 years! But alas I gave that system to my daughter Christmas before last. Audio is a hobby we are responsible to pass on to the next generation, to keep the market healthy.

I hear from those who say that my amp is fine, should work great, and I hear the same said for my speakers, but obviously they are just not meant for each other. And while cables do make a difference, I am looking for a greater difference than I believe cables can make, I am trying to set the overall character of my whole system here. But just as I knew before I opened this post, there are no easy answers, trial and error is about my only course of action. But it is good to hear what others would do in my place, it does give me a lot to think about.

Alpha_gt, thanks for sharing the rest of your system. Your Legacy speakers do have a high sensitivity, however there is some issue with impedance and phase angle at certain frequencies as noted by the Stereophile review. This would be a problem with a tube amp, but the Forte should have no problem at all, since it is a high current design and stable with a low impedance load. I don't think more power will accomplish anything except a little more ultimate volume.

I am curious that when you say "wow factor", are you refering to dynamics?