Has anyone listened to Legacy speakers?

I have a five-speaker system with two Signature IIIs (front), two Mists (rear), one Silver Screen (center) and one Point One (sub), all powered by a B&K AVR507 Series 2 receiver. It required almost two years of listening to find the speakers I wanted and really liked. I burned a CD with various classical music tracks...movements of symphonies and string quartets as well as classical organ music...to use in listening to different kinds of speakers. The string quartets provided the most useful music to use in auditioning speaker systems because with only four instruments it was fairly "easy" to tell if the speakers sounded like the real thing. The overall system sound is absolutely awesome. Although I am a classical music buff, the most dramatic recording for demonstrating my system to friends is a surround sound DVD-Audio album from the Eagles called "Hell Freezes Over." The system also sounds terrific with surround sound for movies. One of the first movies I listened to was one of the later Terminator movies. The movie begins with a picture of the earth from space and a narrator talking about how machines took over the earth. I had the volume too low to hear the narrator well so I turned it up. About this time a rocket streaked toward the earth and exploded! The subwoofer had so much power that my wife, who was in another room, thought we had just had a earthquake. So, while the system is very musical it also can play pop music and sound tracks exceedingly well. I just wish I had space to use two more Sig III for my rear channels.

Many years ago, I worked hard to get my Sig IIIs to satify, from switching preamps, to amps, and finally gave up. Always sounded PRETTY good, just not satisfying. The bass was fast, but couldn't integrate properly with the kevlar mid. Then I though I need more smooth power, went for Muse Monoblocks, then Classe, both with no succeess - just not a musical whole. The best amp I used driving them was an older Forte, with a tube preamp. Still disconnected sound but it finally had a leading edge the other amps didnt provide. They may have improved some over the years, and I think the Whisper is hi fi, but the others down the line count for mid-hi fi to me..

I agree with Mikeam on the sound coming out of my Whispers. Its pretty special and I have no desire to upgrade internal wiring or anything else like that. I have also owned Focus and currently own Focus 20/20s which are operating as rears in my setup. The 20/20s offer a fuller sound than the older Focus, but nowhere near the detail, transparency, soundstage and sense of air around the instruments conveyed by the Whispers. The Whispers will reveal upstream problems pretty ruthlessly, but in a clean, highly resolving system, which I've finally pretty much achieved, the sound is tremendous.

The only nit to pick involves the Steridian equalizer, which was/is pretty much of a design nightmare. It has been discontinued in favor of an outsourced, much more expensive equalizer, from my understanding. In addition, the old Tech Support guys(Chris, et al) are gone, as well as Bob Howard, so there's no telling what kind of support is available.(Fortunately, I haven't need any after finally sorting out a Steridian problem a number of months ago.)

fOCUS 20/20'S are the best speakers Ive ever owned. Beat my Martin Logans Ascent i's in almost every area, including most important, musicality and musical enjoyment!

The largest music company in the world ( UMG ) has Legacy speakers in it's show room in NYC ( as of last June ). The questions or issues with the older speakers is a moot point now. If you have the older line there are those here who can help get them to sound best.

The new HD line has set Legacy back on the map again in respects to the demanding change in HD audio and video.

Legacy has changed everything.... it's drivers, cabinet design and internal and external hardware. They even ship you your speakers covered in a black velvet bag.

I am on my 3rd set of Legacy speakers. I can tell you that there is a NEW "house sound". Worth a listen.