Focal Sopra No. 2 Review

Mike

Mike

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Just read the September HiFi News this morning. Andrew Everard does a great review of these brilliant new speakers from Focal.

The verdict: "Big - though not as huge its Utopia stablemates - the Sopra No. 2 is one of Focal's best designs to date. It offers an explicit, involving sound with stereo imaging and soundstaging bordering on the magical when you manage to get the speakers set up and 'dialed in' to suit the room. All that work has paid off and the bonus is a speaker with an arresting visual style - especially in bright red or orange!"

88/100 rating (Note: the highest I've ever seen for ANY speaker, regardless of price, is 90/100).

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At the back of the magazine, Paul Miller does wrote an opinion piece on the Focal Sopra's.

He writes: "On a very rare trip away from the coalface that is Hi-Fi News, I was given a preview of Focal's new Sopra range of loudspeakers at the company headquarters. Joined by a few European colleagues, we were treated to some truly sublime sounds from the standmount No.1 and floorstanding No. 2 models. I was struck by the astonishingly tactile imagine of vocalists and accompanying performers alike, all played out in what only be described as magnificently spacious soundstaging. This was one of the most uplifiting and communicative systems I'd ever heard..."

He continues, "....I was exposed to another Sopra No. 2 at the EISA Convention in Brussels, accompanied by many of the same editors. Here the Sopra delivered much the same experience, driven by far more modest amplification. And it did it again...when the Sopra No.2 finally made it to Blightly and my listening room. Fed via a Melco-USB-Devialet 800 combination, this was now one of the most involving, informative and 'real' reproductions of music I'd enjoyed in my own space."

-----------

As I told the Focal executives when I was invited to Montreal in April to hear the Sopra line for the first time, "you've priced them way way too low." At $13,999/pair, these are an absolute home run. I've already sold several pairs.

d06b71017c7e57bb6fe14a857b8fedb3.jpg


preview_sopra-2-black.jpg
 
Seems like No. 3 will be priced around $20K? Any guess?
 
Mike said:
Just read the September HiFi News this morning. Andrew Everard does a great review of these brilliant new speakers from Focal.

The verdict: "Big - though not as huge its Utopia stablemates - the Sopra No. 2 is one of Focal's best designs to date. It offers an explicit, involving sound with stereo imaging and soundstaging bordering on the magical when you manage to get the speakers set up and 'dialed in' to suit the room. All that work has paid off and the bonus is a speaker with an arresting visual style - especially in bright red or orange!"

88/100 rating (Note: the highest I've ever seen for ANY speaker, regardless of price, is 90/100).

------------

At the back of the magazine, Paul Miller does wrote an opinion piece on the Focal Sopra's.

He writes: "On a very rare trip away from the coalface that is Hi-Fi News, I was given a preview of Focal's new Sopra range of loudspeakers at the company headquarters. Joined by a few European colleagues, we were treated to some truly sublime sounds from the standmount No.1 and floorstanding No. 2 models. I was struck by the astonishingly tactile imagine of vocalists and accompanying performers alike, all played out in what only be described as magnificently spacious soundstaging. This was one of the most uplifiting and communicative systems I'd ever heard..."

He continues, "....I was exposed to another Sopra No. 2 at the EISA Convention in Brussels, accompanied by many of the same editors. Here the Sopra delivered much the same experience, driven by far more modest amplification. And it did it again...when the Sopra No.2 finally made it to Blightly and my listening room. Fed via a Melco-USB-Devialet 800 combination, this was now one of the most involving, informative and 'real' reproductions of music I'd enjoyed in my own space."

-----------

As I told the Focal executives when I was invited to Montreal in April to hear the Sopra line for the first time, "you've priced them way way too low." At $13,999/pair, these are an absolute home run. I've already sold several pairs.

d06b71017c7e57bb6fe14a857b8fedb3.jpg


preview_sopra-2-black.jpg
Click to expand...

Mike,

Mine are breaking in nicely and thanks for all the support!!

I've had lots of speakers in my listening room and these are by far my favorite. Strengths are amazing detail and imaging without any harshness. I was concerned about the lower range but no need for a sub and very tight non flabby bass. Highly recommend a listen !!

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Gotta say I absolutely love the looks of those No2s! Would love a pair in white!!!!

Mike are these gonna be at RMAF?
 
jaxwired said:
Gotta say I absolutely love the looks of those No2s! Would love a pair in white!!!!

Mike are these gonna be at RMAF?
Click to expand...

I sent a note to my rep, but he's on vacation the next two weeks. I have a pair of Black Sopra No. 1's I would be happy to send to anyone who is serious and wants to give them a listen.
 
I have had my Sopra No2's for about six weeks now and I am smitten. The speakers were not difficult to "dial in" to the room, fills my 26'x26' "man cave" with very rich, detailed sound (especially the midrange and hi frequencies), great soundstage, excellent timbre and incredible "musicality".
If you select these speakers, the only caution I would have is to make sure your electronics are smooth sounding, as the tweeters in the Sopra's is so accurate and detailed, an "edgy" sounding amp might cause fatigue.

PS Audio P10 Power Plant, PS Audio DirectStream DAC, Autonomic MMS-5A Media Server, McIntosh C50 Pre-Amp, McIntosh MC452 Power Amp, Focal Sopra No2s, JL Audio F113V2 Sub Woofers (2), Wireworld Cabling
 
You guys are killing me. I found pics of the 2 in my batch from Newport Beach but I don't remember hearing them. :S I can't believe I drove down there and missed hearing them. :( I think they were in a ball room and I assumed, like other Focal speakers, they were out of my price range. Or maybe they were playing sucky music (or none at all) when I peeked in.

I am also limping now from hurting my knee while kicking myself in the butt. I think the white is classy.
 
Dizzie,
My search started at the beginning of 2015, having the hots to replace my excellent Totem Fire monitors in the system in the living room. I listened to a number of other monitors, all sounding "good" but "different" than the Totems, but not "better". I was not a fan of the beryllium tweeters in the Wilson Sasha W/P's (which are sourced from Focal), but just for grins decided to audition the 1038BE's and was just blown away by them...all I could do from pulling my credit card out...needed to check with "the boss" about putting large, floor standing speakers in the living room. On the way home, called one of my audio buddies who just found out that Focal was about to release the Sopra's to the market. In the mean time, "the boss" thought I should move my audio stuff down to the family room, and make a "man cave"...gave me freedom to get any old sized speakers.

My neighbor wasn't around to help me "hoof" those 150 pound boxes down to the "man cave", I was sore for a few days after getting them setup. When the sub woofers arrived, I did have help with those beasts.

My dealer tells me there's a six month wait for the Sopra No2's in black (the color I got), might not be a wait for white.
 
I'm contemplating to play around from my current raidho x1 into sopra# 1 or 2, what would be the the more and less sound char. across this 2 brands ? I'm driving them with d400.

I have yet engaged the local vendor, probably soon.
 
ejr1953 said:
Dizzie,
My search started at the beginning of 2015, having the hots to replace my excellent Totem Fire monitors in the system in the living room. I listened to a number of other monitors, all sounding "good" but "different" than the Totems, but not "better". I was not a fan of the beryllium tweeters in the Wilson Sasha W/P's (which are sourced from Focal), but just for grins decided to audition the 1038BE's and was just blown away by them...all I could do from pulling my credit card out...needed to check with "the boss" about putting large, floor standing speakers in the living room. On the way home, called one of my audio buddies who just found out that Focal was about to release the Sopra's to the market. In the mean time, "the boss" thought I should move my audio stuff down to the family room, and make a "man cave"...gave me freedom to get any old sized speakers.

My neighbor wasn't around to help me "hoof" those 150 pound boxes down to the "man cave", I was sore for a few days after getting them setup. When the sub woofers arrived, I did have help with those beasts.

My dealer tells me there's a six month wait for the Sopra No2's in black (the color I got), might not be a wait for white.
Click to expand...

How would you describe the improvement from 1038Be's and the Sopra's? I currently have 1038's and waiting for the No. 3 release.
 
kzhtoo said:
How would you describe the improvement from 1038Be's and the Sopra's? I currently have 1038's and waiting for the No. 3 release.
Click to expand...

I was just floored at the sound the 1038BE's had when I auditioned them, now having the Sopra No2's for a while, I think I'd say that they have a little better detail in the high end & midrange, maybe more of an improvement in the midrange than the highs. I'd also say that the soundstage might have more depth with the Sopra's. Both speakers have a "large", room filling "presence". Your 1038BE's might have deeper, more forceful bass, but in my case I'm using sub woofers, so I didn't concentrate on that during my auditions. The bass that the Sopra's have is excellent and very well integrated with the other drivers, but with that last octave in the bass range, they don't seem to go that low.
 
Milk_vanilla said:
I'm contemplating to play around from my current raidho x1 into sopra# 1 or 2, what would be the the more and less sound char. across this 2 brands ? I'm driving them with d400.

I have yet engaged the local vendor, probably soon.
Click to expand...

I did audition a set of floor standing Raidho's (maybe the C3.1's, not sure though) and the Dynaudio C2 Platinums and found both to be very "easy on the ears". Though the Raidho's have ribbon tweeters (I'm not particularly a fan of most ribbons), I did not find them to be "harsh" or "fatiguing" at all. I was truly surprised at the "size" of the Dynaudio's sound stage and how low in the bass range they went, might have been the differences in the room acoustics and the electronics, but I thought the Dynaudio's were a better buy (the Raidho's were significantly more expensive).

Having said that, the Focal's just floored me! They seemed to have a very large "presence", excellent sound stage, excellent detail in the midrange and highs. My only caution about the Focal's, with their beryllium tweeters is that if the electronics driving them have any harshness, they may be "fatiguing" to listen to for long stretches. I have found the last version of the Wilson Sasha W/P's (with an older version of the Focal beryllium tweeter) to be really "harsh" sounding, even with tube amps driving them.

I was just floored by the McIntosh C50/MC452 driving the Focal 1038BE's, snagged that pair of electronics before my Sopra's arrived, and they match up very well.

If the D400 you mention is an Audio Research amplifier, I did hear a solid state amp from that company driving the Dynaudio's and it seemed like a really smooth sound as well.
 
Thanks Ej,

Just wondering how significant dampened difference on their beryllium between 1038 and Sopra with the same amp (Mcintosh) according to your listening experience?

Sorry for being not clear enough, D400 mentioned was devialet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Milk Vanilla,
To be honest, my auditions of the 1038BE & Sopra No2's were at different dealers with really different rooms & acoustics. The 1038BE's were in a room I'd say was about 24'x24' with lots of other speakers in the room, carpet and other sound absorbing treatments. The Sopra's were on the short wall of a room that was about 12'x18'. One of my audio buddies from Ohio has compared them side by side in the same room, I'll check with him, but I called him on the way home from auditioning the 1038BE's and he was the one raving about the additional detail from the Sopra's, he told me he thought the tweeter was just a little better. I think the biggest difference you'll find is in the detail from the midrange, which I thought was excellent on the 1038BE's, but after I've put over 100 hours on the Sopra's, they are just outstanding. It's really spooky, when a vocal track is really well recorded, with the Sopra's, the singer appears to be standing right in front of me!
 
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