Calling Floyd Droid.

[Babur72]

Hi mate,

I'd appreciate your advice for my friend Chris.He's on the lookout for some floorstanding speakers to go with his newly acquired Primare CD31 CD player,Pre-30 & A-32...I understand one of his kids was messing with the volume control on the Pre-30 & blew his B&W803S's bass drivers in the process!

Anyway.After my recommendation he was already considering hearing how the Focal Electra 1037be's would sound with his Primare gear.

Personally,i found the Focal Electra's more open & revealing than the B&W's - even though bass performance seemed a tad dry & the treble a touch fatiguing.Though i 've not yet heard Focal speakers driven by Primare amps. myself.

So,i'd appreciate you sharing your experiences with your own Primare/Focal Electra 1027be combination & a description of their sonic characteristics.

Many thanks.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

In a word smooooooth as you like. No fatigue,no ive had enough of listening to this etc etc. They will handle as much volume as you can take without breaking down,no danger. 1037s ? jeez,they are big mothers,is his room big enough to warrant them ?. The one thing i will say about them is that they are mega finickity positioning wise,i.e. toe em out an inch after you have plonked em down and had a listen,you will hear tthe difference. Toe em in a tad more ,same again. But its worth the effort in the end, simply brilliant speakers,ok somewhat pricey,but heyho

. Oh and do not put them on granite slabs they sound rubbish. Also dem a well run in pair otherwise they sound shouty and they take forever to run in.

 

[Babur72]

Cheers Geeze,

The dealer did mention the Electra 1037be's i heard weren't adequately run-in.I guess this would go some way toward explaining why they were fatiguing,with traces of sibilance at the top-end & the dryness they exhibited in the mid to low bass region.

Am i correct in my understanding that the Electra be's & to some extent Focal speakers in general,can take longer to run-in than many other manufacturer's speakers? In your experience,how long would be appropriate for running-in before the 1037be's begin to sing more sweetly & smooth out?

Your advice regarding how challenging the Electra 1037be's can be with speaker placement also seems to be a typical characteristic of many Focal speakers.Although he's lucky in having a fairly sizeable room measuring approx. 22' x 16'.With a large bay window at one end & French doors at the other...Lucky as long as he can keep his hyperactive kids out of the room for long enough!

Going by your own experiences with the 1027be's,would they sound fuller or more rounded,fired across or along the length of the room?

Yes mate,i can certainly appreciate that the 1037be's are pretty big & although they aren't that much larger than his late B&W803S's they are considerably heavier at around 51Kilos.Compared to his former B&W's weighing 41Kilos.

I know that he'd also appreciate your advice & experiences regarding brands of interconnect/speaker-cabling to avoid & those which you reckon would compliment the Primare/Focal combination.

Thanks again.

BABUR.

 

[Babur72]

Did you get my last post Floydy?

I'd be grateful if you'd address the points raised previously if & when you can spare a moment.

Thanks mate.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

Only just in from work bud. Gimme a bit of time to read your post more thoroughly.

 

[Babur72]

Sorry Floydy mate,

Didn't mean my last post to come across as demanding as it read.Only got back from work myself just over an hour ago.

It's just that i've planned to meet up with my chum Chris tomorrow night with the results of my initial enquiries.And naturally enough,i hope to go armed with as many experiences,as much information & informed opinion as possible.

Thanks chap.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

Well focal (loosely) recommend 20 hrs of continuous play with bass rich material. Standard stuff to get the drivers loosened up realy. But i reckon on nearer 60 to 80 or more to get em realy singing. Also,lets just say they are fully run in, what i do is wack em on with any old tripe running through them for around half an hour or so,find something else to do ( normaly half a dozen fags ! ) and then sit down to listen to some tunes. After a while they just dissapear if that makes sense,and im listening to music,not speakers ( cant convey this in words properly but i hope you get my drift).

I also have a bay window and fire mine down the room but even though they are down firing ports dont have them in the free space with the bay behind,it gets all muffled. Mine are around 1.5 metres from the side walls and just under 1 metre out from the bay wall. Arrived at this after what seemed forever shifting them around. My room is 32 x 18 ( excluding bay ) so could handle the 1037s but my wallet couldnt !.

Cables, ooh touchy subject here just lately

. So i will just say what i use and i like what i hear. Atlas hyper 3 speaker cable and depending on my mood, either Atlas explorer rcas or more often than not i run my system balanced with GA coalesce xlrs (defunct brit cottage industry i believe, i was given these and they are superb, found some second hand a while ago,mega bucks). I may try the new hyper rca just for a listen though.

The paintings will fall off the wall if he fires them across the room wicked up !!!!.

 

[floyd droid]

Your buddy will wonder what all the fuss is about regarding Electras unless he gets to hear a fully run in pair, have fun its only a hobby innit.

 

[Babur72]

Allright Floyd,

When you refer to your speakers 'disappearing' after a good half-hour warm-up,are you referring to an increased sense of openness,a multi-layered 3-dimensional soundstage,free of directionality(?) & being less conscious of their physical dimensions?

If these qualities are as you say,that's pretty impressive.I've not personally heard speakers with these specific attributes for less than £10,000!

I'm a little surprised that you think 60 to 80 hours running-in would be sufficient.The 1037be's i listened to had a bit more than 110 hours play.And yet i still felt they needed another couple hundred hours more.

Just out of interest.Were your 1027be's bought from your dealer as demo. models?

If i've remembered accurately,i don't think the Focal's can be Bi-amp'ed/Bi-wired can they?

I haven't seen any max. SPL's for the 1037be's either on the Focal website or in their product literature,but with the speaker's fairly high efficiency of 93db at 2.83V/m the 250 watts at 8Ohms of the A-32 should be pretty well used!

Thanks for getting back to me & sharing your experiences freely.

BABUR.

 

[Babur72]

floyd droid:Your buddy will wonder what all the fuss is about regarding Electras unless he gets to hear a fully run in pair, have fun its only a hobby innit.

Well,with a wife as domineering & kids as young as his are,he doesn't get the opportunity to attend auditions as often as i'm fortunate enough to.

Though saying that,we've provisionally arranged to hear the 1037be's within the next couple of months...Assuming permission for the acquisition has first been granted from his good lady wife!

My brow & palms get sweaty beforehand & she emasculates/intimidates me whenever i pluck up the courage to visit the poor sod...And i'm almost 18 stone!

If she let's him off the leash for long enough,i'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Cheers mate.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

Yes i got them ex dem, although i knew them from day one so to speak. Brain dead moment earlier,i was going on the time period before i noticed a marked change in sound. Totaly forgot about the number of hrs they had run through them in the showroom. They were only 4 months old,so your numbers are more near the mark. To my ears,yes they realy open up and im not conscious of them being there at all. However ive never had the pleasure of hearing 10k speakers but the focals were the best i had heard within my budget and thats why i bought them.

Nope , you get a black un and a red un and thats your lot !! . Focals way now, although earlier models could be bi-wired.

 

[Babur72]

Hi Floyd,

Just thought i'd update you.My chums' Mrs has given him the green-light to go ahead with auditioning & providing he likes the Focal 1037be's,eventually to purchase them.

That's not all.I understand she'll be covering about half of their cost.Partly as a present for their upcoming wedding anniversary & also because she feels responsible for leaving the hi-fi room door unlocked,allowing their kids to run riot & destroy his B&W803S's.

My respect for his good lady has grown beyond recognition...Hope he appreciates what a lucky chap he is!

I'll let you know how we get on at the demo. later this month.

Regards.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

Look forward to it mate. By the way, focals 'running in period is total pants' i had a word with my dealer regarding run in times. He has been a jmlab/focal dealer for a long time so he knows em inside out. Whenever he gets a new pair in for dem/sale they get the cd on repeat treatment for at least 350/500 hrs before they hit the shop floor ( he takes them home to run them in ) This could explain like plenty !!. He says he told me this but i was more than likely rummaging around in his shop cocking a deaf un at the time. Hint time, atlas elecktra interconnects, had /still have some on dem for the past 2 wks, superb, not exactly cheap mind.

 

[Babur72]

Hi Floyd,

Yeah.The 1037be's i heard certainly felt like they needed at least 300hrs more running-in.Even so,got a pretty good idea of their potential.

Speaking of Atlas cabling.I mentioned to my bud that i saw an ex-dem/used Atlas Mavros set of interconnects & speaker cable on offer for over 30% less than SRP,when i was in the West country last weekend...Do you reckon they'd be overkill for his eventual system?

And do you prefer/tend to use your Primare amp's. balanced or single-ended inputs & outputs? And purely sound-wise what do you feel or hear is the difference between the two?

One thing my mate would like to know is whether the Electra's sweet-spot is narrow & fairly directional,with any significant drop-off in imaging or sound-staging either side of the listening position?

This was one drawback of his former B&W's...Being so directional,the sweet-spot was so narrow it felt like we needed a neck-brace to ensure our heads didn't move out of the ideal position!

Thanks for sharing your experiences...It's much appreciated.

BABUR.

 

[floyd droid]

Funny you should mention the sweet spot as a buddy was over having a listen to the atlas ints last friday and he actualy passed comment on the sweetspot. Obviously there is a drop off but not so much that you are diving back into your designated listening chair asap. I wouldnt like to say if the mavros would be overkill but thats a walloping price drop, a dem with the mavros and elecktras would answer that question methinks. There are some good offers going on the high end atlas stuff just lately dunno why unless they are going to push hard on the asimi price structure soon.

 

[floyd droid]

Missed a bit ............. i run balanced. Tightens everything up just nice, fuller sound lower noise floor. Bit like the speakers mind , get well run in xlrs as they take longer than rcas. Atlas do a cable burn in disc for this ( not sure if its snake oil or no but i used it anyway as it was in the box with the demo ints, although these are fully run in ). Im not sure if its against house rules to mention who ive got the demo cables off ? ( help mods team

) because he is a great guy to talk to regarding atlas wires.

 

[Babur72]

Hi Floyd,

Just an update for you.

Arranged an audition for both me & Chris to hear the 1037be's partnered with complete Electrocompaniet based(EMC-1UP,EC-4.8 & AW-250R &/or AW-400M) & Primare based(CD-31,Pre-30 & A-33.2) systems within the next couple of weeks.

I realise this is a contentious subject but,could i prompt you for suggestions regarding the cabling we should use on the demo.?...As this particular dealer only stocks cables from Chord,Ecosse,Nordost,QED,Siltech & Van den Hul...No Atlas cables,i'm afraid!

Cheers mate.

BABUR.

 

[Babur72]

Hi all,

Breaking news...Just spoken with a local Focal dealer about an upcoming audition & heard that Focal are about to introduce new revamped 'Electra be' & 'Electra S' ranges in a couple of months - around Sept./Oct. i understand.

The new Electras will incorporate some of the technology from the recently introduced flagship Utopia III series...If they prove to be even half as good as the Scala Utopia III i heard a few months ago then,they should be something worth waiting for.

As they will supplant the existing 4 year old Electra models,this also means that some good deals could & should be had soon for the current Electra models.

I can't wait.

BABUR.