Focal Sopra N°1 Bookshelf & Center Speaker Review

[Pogre]

I'm more a fan of later Star Trek, like Deep Space 9, which is my favourite. "Star Trek: Voyager" is another one I really like. I even like "Star Trek: Picard" oops and "Star Trek: Discovery " oops.

I'm sorry. We can no longer be friends. You have a different opinion than I do.

I kid, I kid!

*Edit: Star Trek: Discovery = STD...

 

[Trell]

I'm sorry. We can no longer be friends. You have a different opinion than I do.

I'll be your Master instead.

I kid, I kid!

I'm not, I think

*Edit: Star Trek: Discovery = STD...

Edited the wrong post? Editing a post is generally what you do to your own posts, just saying

 

[ryanosaur]

Since a complete derailment of this thread seems necessary at this point, I gotta say that DS9 was what opened me to the Star Trek Universe. It was a very good series for most of the run. IMO, what set it apart from NG was the more interesting character development, and slightly less formulaic plot devices. While I enjoyed NG, Voyager and Enterprise, they tended to suffer from what kept me from becoming a complete Trekkie.
I kind of enjoy Picard, but something about it just leaves me scratching my head... and frankly, it seems to be a vehicle for PS to have one last hoorah.
I do find myself enjoying Discovery. It is flawed, but for whatever reason, I keep going back.
*shrugs

Now, when's the Obi Wan series coming out!

 

[Pogre]

I kind of enjoy Picard, but something about it just leaves me scratching my head...

It's because he's not Picard anymore. He's a shell of the man he was in TNG. He's almost pathetic, constantly apologizing for past mistakes that were retroactively made into something bad. That's part of it for me, anyway.

DS9 was pretty good, I agree. The older Treks did have pretty formulaic plots and some don't hold up as well as they did when they were new. I thought both Enterprise (tho still a product of its time) and TNG were pretty progressive for their time. Now Picard seems to be portrayed as more of a screw up than an idealist.

 

[Hubbard32]

It's because he's not Picard anymore. He's a shell of the man he was in TNG. He's almost pathetic, constantly apologizing for past mistakes that were retroactively made into something bad. That's part of it for me, anyway.

DS9 was pretty good, I agree. The older Treks did have pretty formulaic plots and some don't hold up as well as they did when they were new. I thought both Enterprise (tho still a product of its time) and TNG were pretty progressive for their time. Now Picard seems to be portrayed as more of a screw up than an idealist.

Uh-oh Nerd alert!!!!

 

[Hubbard32]

Anyway...I've measured and tested to no end using various tools. I've been in this house for 26 years. I know my room pretty well and it is indeed terrible. It has seen electrostatic, isodynamique as well as electrodynamic speakers over the years, all more or less in the same exact positions, give or take a few centimeters. These Sopras are just exciting the room modes much too much in reference to my fixed listening position. I'm not moving house, nor will we redo the interior decorations or change the layout of the living room. Therefore a solution must be identified, which includes banishing the entire system from the living room as an option. It doesn't work here at all, insisting in full desperation mode seems pointless and counterproductive.

As for GIK, they do not do consultations outside of US and UK. Their online "consultation" is a joke at worst and at best it's a gimmick to lure unsuspecting victims into buying their products. I know this for a FACT as I have received their proposition based on my initial request which included room photos, a room design software mock-up and several .mdat files from REW. They responded with a proposition for me to buy 12, as in TWELVE, soffit products (the biggest and bulkiest they make) and to position them here, there, and pretty much everywhere in the room with no apparent rhyme or reason. If you know what the GIK soffit product is, and if you imagine 12 of them in a medium sized room...you know somebody has been abusing some controlled substances. Frankly, their proposition was anything but scientific. So back to the drawing board. Brgds.

Oh man, just catching up on this thread as Ive been tweaking my room since hooking up my new Sopra 1s. I will say these speaker sound amazing, but I am having issues tuning the room a bit with DIRAC with bass Control. The sound is pretty thin, and that’s with 2 subs in the room!
Obviously this is a software issue, as the sound right out of the box with my old DIRAC settings sounded really nice.
It’s going to take some twaeking for sure.
As far as your issue, might it make sense to have a professional come in and do some tweaking to make these Sopras sing? It could be a lot cheaper than selling your speakers at a loss and purchasing new ones.
I’ve invested so much in my system that I’m thinking it would be a wise investment to spend 1K on professional help optimizing my room to get the most out of what I have.
Good luck!

 

[DavidParis]

Frankly, I don't think giving money to someone to tell me the speakers are totally unadapted to my room will constitute a solution. I've done everything possible that I can think of over the last 10 days and there is strictly, unequivocally no means to get these speakers to a point where they're listenable. I even pulled them nearly 8 feet out from the front wall, as an extreme joke, and even there the bass was off the charts. Just one massive ungodly one-note thundering rumble that nobody would tolerate. In fact, I'm beginning to realize that these speakers are an acoustic and commercial failure for use in domestic hifi setups. This is certainly why the dealers systematically discount them atleast 30% from MSRP and why the secondhand market is a nightmare for those who need to ditch these things. There is no doubt this was an enormous mistake my part.
Brgds.

 

[Pogre]

Frankly, I don't think giving money to someone to tell me the speakers are totally unadapted to my room will constitute a solution.

I don't think that's what anyone is suggesting. All rooms are a problem, and there are solutions. If you're not interested in exploring them then I s'pose just keep buying more speakers til you figure it out...

 

[DavidParis]

I don't think that's what anyone is suggesting. All rooms are a problem, and there are solutions. If you're not interested in exploring them then I s'pose just keep buying more speakers til you figure it out...

Yes, thanks, that hadn't occurred to me. Thanks for the useful advice.

 

[Pogre]

Yes, thanks, that hadn't occurred to me. Thanks for the useful advice.

I offered some advice along with others and you're summarily rejecting all of it without even looking into it! What more do you expect? Lol.

 

[Hubbard32]

Man... I'd like to see what this room looks like... Sounds like the deepest corner of Hell (literally a corner,....full of bass), given the poor listening experience and time suck trying to make it work... yikes!

On a positive note... My new Sopra 1's sound amazing on my 17'x17' media room (I can hear David from here yelling "well goodie for you, you SOB"!!!)...
Even with these positive results, I'm still interested on hiring someone who knows far more than I about room tuning to see how much better these speakers can get. I figure if you've already spend ungodly amounts of $$$ on a room full of top flight gear, you might as well spend a little more to optimize your investment.

 

[Pogre]

Man... I'd like to see what this room looks like... Sounds like the deepest corner of Hell (literally a corner,....full of bass), given the poor listening experience and time suck trying to make it work... yikes!

On a positive note... My new Sopra 1's sound amazing on my 17'x17' media room (I can hear David from here yelling "well goodie for you, you SOB"!!!)...
Even with these positive results, I'm still interested on hiring someone who knows far more than I about room tuning to see how much better these speakers can get. I figure if you've already spend ungodly amounts of $$$ on a room full of top flight gear, you might as well spend a little more to optimize your investment.

That's what I'm sayin'! I have enough invested in my speakers and gear, why would I not want to optimize as much as I can for the best possible sound? I also think that unless one is extremely lucky you pretty much have to use some eq, treatments or both to, at a minumum, tame bass peaks and play nice with your room.

Otherwise, if you want to dismiss experienced advice and make no effort to explore other options then you've limited and resigned yourself to a position where you're just gonna have to live with it.

 

[MrBoat]

"Superbly neutral response" Where have we heard this before? So much so, that it has become this nerdly elephant in the room with just about every mentionable speaker design. I don't see $10k worth of anything here. Especially with AI doing most of this heavy lifting these days. I design and build high-end products for a living. I know how much these, and most associated manufacturing processes cost, including that done entirely by schooled and skilled hands.

I would give you maybe $2k for the pair.

 

[Trebdp83]

The best speakers in the world at any price point using the best room correction available will never overcome poor placement and troublesome rooms. You work with what you've got and try to get the most out of it.

 

[Hubbard32]

"Superbly neutral response" Where have we heard this before? So much so, that it has become this nerdly elephant in the room with just about every mentionable speaker design. I don't see $10k worth of anything here. Especially with AI doing most of this heavy lifting these days. I design and build high-end products for a living. I know how much these, and most associated manufacturing processes cost, including that done entirely by schooled and skilled hands.

I would give you maybe $2k for the pair.

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I’m sure you could personally build a better speaker bla, bla, bla….

 

[Trebdp83]

… …

 

[shadyJ]

"Superbly neutral response" Where have we heard this before? So much so, that it has become this nerdly elephant in the room with just about every mentionable speaker design. I don't see $10k worth of anything here. Especially with AI doing most of this heavy lifting these days. I design and build high-end products for a living. I know how much these, and most associated manufacturing processes cost, including that done entirely by schooled and skilled hands.

I would give you maybe $2k for the pair.

If you know of a loudspeaker with comparable build quality and sound quality for $2k/pair, please let us know...

 

[MrBoat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I’m sure you could personally build a better speaker bla, bla, bla….

Don't make it personal, I didn't.

Never said I could. Just said what I thought they are actually worth. . . . to me.

 

[Hubbard32]

Don't make it personal, I didn't.

Never said I could. Just said what I thought they are actually worth. . . . to me.

Just wonder if you’ve actually heard and seen this speaker line in person, and not in a horrible room? You were right there with a price, so you must have some hard data to back up the valuation, right?

 

[MrBoat]

If you know of a loudspeaker with comparable build quality and sound quality for $2k/pair, please let us know...

Build quality with regard to performance is rather redundant. The fact that speakers of this quality cost more than $2k with the available technology, is more telling, than not. It's not as if some pedigreed Swiss watchmaker is painstakingly assembling each one by hand out of all hand cut parts, and that's how they are priced. They are priced that much because someone will pay it. If they don't move at that price, they would either be discontinued, discounted, or passed off to the highest bidding liquidator, or all of the above.

Sorry but, "superbly neutral response" is not magic, come 2021. This is still (by today's technological standards) crude, mechanical technology. CNC machined cabinet parts, are no mystery either. People have CNC capabilities in their garages, these days.

I can certainly find audibly perfect (what is the actual weak link of all this tech?), well constructed speakers for much less. For less than half, the JBL 708P, would certainly contend, and include amplification. What would I be giving up? $4k worth of additional styling?