Legacy focus 20 20 speakers

Just listened to the Legacy HD's. Used my own source material that I'm very familiar with. After 2 hours of listening, I wound up with mixed feelings about what I had heard. The bass for instance. During the opening passage of "Pictures at an Exhibition" there is some pretty hefty bass provided by the bass drums that the HD's handled extremely well. But when I put on Marrilion's "The Thieving Magpie" a c-d loaded with alot of deep bass, alot of it didn't seem to come through as well as it did on my existing system. (When I had a subwoofer) Did the HD's forget how to produce bass in between the "Pictures at an Exhibition" and the Marrilion c-d. Of course not. So what happened? Room acoustics? It could be they weren't set up the way they were meant to be. Not sure how fussy they are about that. The room was 12' wide and about 30' long. The speakers were about 2' off of each wall. The listener was seated about 10 in front of them. They were towed in so the inner side of each speaker was just visable. When I listened to the opening heart beat of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" I turned it up a bit to see how they could handle it. There was so much in the room that was vibrating, including the drop cieling, it was hard to concentrate on the sound coming from the speakers. These things could definitely move air and shake the room. Why so much of the music I played did not come through with the audible deep bass I was expecting, I dont know. Another critizism I have is in the upper region where some of the music seemed to come through as being a little hard, or strident. One example was a rather loud choral segment on one of the test c-d's I brought with me. I played it at a rather loud level, but soon turned it back down because it was somewhat irritating. Was the room to lively? The walls were all dry wall with some treatments. When clapping you could hear a slight echo, but it decayed rather quickly. There was a large on the wall tv screen in between the speakers. May that have had an effect on them? The speakers were broken in for about 100 hours. Is this enough time? Is there a proper or prefered way to break them in? Is there a wrong way to break them in? All questions I dont know the answer to. I am not giving up on these yet. I did hear alot of breathtaking sound coming out of them. And I've heard nothing but high praise for them, from well respected people and magazines that have heard and reviewed much better equipment then I ever will. There is a Legacy dealer in Long Island that I will at least call, and perhaps go out there to listen to their setup. I should also mention that the associated equipment at this audition was good stuff, but not extremely high end by any means. I should have taken notes, but if I recall it consisted of a Pioneer Elite C-D player, B&K preamp, and a Legacy monoblock Amp. Not sure about the make of the interconnects or speaker wire, but they seemed to be of a high quality. Of course it that doesn't mean they all work together well. If anyone can shed some light on this, I am all ears. If it really is a room environment issue. I would do whatever it takes to make them work. I was hoping I could audition a pair at home with the option of returning them if not satisfied, but the dealer said that really wasn't an option since they are a made to order speaker.

Ghoepher, looks like the Legacy speakers have not changed all that much from what you describe and my long term experience with the 20/20.........now try the Vandersteen Quatro and see what real bass and a speaker that doesnt bark at you sounds like..........you love them!

I hope a dealer is close enough that I can check them out.

I've been standing by on this one. But, I must chime in. I've never in 30 years of this audio journey heard any speaker that didn't benefit from a sub. Exceptions being Vandersteens or some other powered bass speaker and even most of them still need that last little bit of extra that only a sub can do. The sub just pressurizes the room a little better. It's not so much of what you hear but,what you feel. Now, I'm sure that in small rooms, with large speakers that some sub/speaker combos can be too much. I'll have to admit that my experiences have been in larger listening rooms (at least 17X 20). Also, in defense of the Legacy's that you heard, 100 hours is just the beginning for speakers. I wouldn't judge any speaker until they had at least 250 hours minimum. The bass is always,IMHO,the last thing to come around.

My room give or take is app. 18' deep x 24' wide. The cieling goes from 8' high at the front (speaker location) wall to about 12' high above the listener if he were sitting 12 from the front wall. I have plenty of room for speaker placement.
I wonder if the 100 hour break in period may be more like 50, or 40, or whatever because they weren't broken in properly. Perhaps the wrong material, or not played loud enough. Thanks