Legacy focus 20 20 speakers

Hey Doug,

If you have the speaker there open it up, maybe they have changed since I worked there 7 years ago..

Ghoeper, No, I have not heard the 20/20 or else I would have mentioned a direct comparison; I tried to be careful not to mislead on that aspect. I surmise that there is quite a difference in sound since the "transition" driver is eliminated, and a second true woofer added in its place. Bill made quite a point of the advancement of the 7" silver-graphite drivers over the Kevlar. The soft dome in the 20/20, which always caused Bill grief in its difficulty to adjust and integrate is totally removed, and an absolutely stunning sounding (IMO) mid planar element added. The Neo-ribbon tweeter is superb in delicacy. Because of these things I think the presentation would be quite elevated over the 20/20.

The second half of the review is really the marrow of the matter, with mention of the electronics paired with them. I think most audiophiles in the hunt for speakers will find that the most helpful aspect of the review.

The first part of the review is concerning design and the second part will delve into the listening experience. I put quite a bit into description of the sound in the article, so you should get a good feel for it.

What speakers are you using now? Impossible to say what your experience would be, unless I know what speakers you now have. Then I can most likely let you know what to expect if you change.

The speakers I'm using are the Altec Lansing 401. They are about 20 years old. Listed for about $1000.00 a pair new. They are a 3-way floor standing speaker with a 12" acoustic suspension woofer with a woven carbonfiber cone. The mid and high frequency drivers are 2" and 1" dome radiators. They weigh about 60 lbs each. When I first bought these speakers all of my upstream equipment really was garbage, including very heavy 12 guage speaker wire that you bought off a roll. Listening to anything at a high volume level was nothing less than an all out attack on your ears. In their present configuration you can actually get involved and lost in the music for some time. But after a while you still find yourself saying "okay, thats about enough of this" I feel they are the weakest link in my system at this time. What I'm looking for in a speaker is one that will be a big step above what I have now, one that my system will be able to give justice to it's capability's, and one that is good enough so that future epuipment upgrades will benifit from their quality. I really appreciate your time and input on this.

Ghoeper, Ah, Altec Lansing. Man, I haven't heard that name in ages! Memories...Altec was one of the speaker brands that everyone knew back then. I'll bet a lot of Agoners owned them.

They've seen better days, and the technology is WAY better (on virtually all speakers)now. If they've served you well for two decades, it's time to reward yourself and get some contemporary speakers. You won't believe the difference in sound!

Your goal: "What I'm looking for in a speaker is one that will be a big step above what I have now, one that my system will be able to give justice to it's capability's, and one that is good enough so that future epuipment upgrades will benifit from their quality."

There are many speakers which can achieve that goal. If you're serious about the Focus HD's, while I must leave guarantees to the manufacturer's, let's say I don't think you would have any problem whatsoever in more than meeting those goals with the HD's. These speakers fit very comfortably in $30k rigs. So, you'd have some upgrade room.

If you get them here's what you'll notice, in general:
World's better treble, with far cleaner highs, less enmeshment of cymbals, triangles, and synthesized effects etc. Mids will be magical, extremely listenable and placed at a realistic height to be authentic sounding to the ears. Your gear is pretty strident, so don't expect absolute warmth. In fact, with your current gear, you will hear much more treble, but if it's too much for you the attenuation switch can be activated until you get some more forgiving components. However, as you progress in components the speaker will get more and more rich and captivating, and absolutely non-fatiguing. Bass will be intoxicating; far cleaner and fuller than the Altec. It would be difficult to get this degree of improvement in a speaker without spending much more money (possibly double).

Again, many speakers now can offer vast improvements over the Altec's. I have heard many excellent speakers. I do know that if you get the HD's, you're likely to think, "I've really reached it, the ultimate in sound." Not even close. There's LOT's of upgrade performance in them, even with $20k of components. I'll be curious what you end up doing. Make sure to post it on this thread.

CpK, no need to open it up; I toured the factory and saw everything - crossovers, wiring, etc. for the HD's. Yes, there is some clear 12Ga cable used on the harness and with the bass drivers. It's sourced from an audio cable manufacturer, not generic electrical cord. That cable internally and drivers he's using are working extremely well (I'll leave potential buyers to determine if I have good ears on this matter).

As I said, I didn't get a chance to hear the 20/20, but I'll say this, if Bill could get this sound out of the HD's using chicken wire, I wouldn't care (Well, ok, I would, but I'd really struggle because the parts would bother me, but the sound would be undeniable). As an aside, the drivers are matched. I have heard many speakers which boast pristine, perfect cabling and they haven't overwhelmed me. The HD's are just plain impressive, truly outstanding at the $7k mark. You'll see that I state similar sentiments in the review. I think that anyone who hears them on a good system, with $25k of components and cabling or higher, would understand why.

I had one audiophile in for a listen, and he thought they might be in the range of $20k. When I told them they were $7k he said, quote, "That's a lot of speaker for $7k" It's hard to remain objective when excited by a product. There are several outstanding speakers (maybe four or six?)in every price range. In my world, this is one of them (Anyone can think my world is weird and my perceptions horrible, but I leave it up to the pool of potential purchasers to determine if I am right).

Whatever Bill Dudleston is doing, my ears tell me he's doing things RIGHT at this time with this model.