Sopra No.2 + McIntosh MC275VI = Good combo?
 

Curious if anyone is driving 2's with a MC275VI. I know not a ton of power...:scratch2:

Driving my Sopra 2's with a MC352 and a MX121. Waiting for my C47 stereo preamp to be delivered soon. Will run it in bypass mode. The Sopra and MC352 is a great combo.

They're pretty high sensitivity and Focals are always pretty easy to drive. I've not heard that combo but have heard the Sopra on 50 Watt Sim Audio ACE and it was plenty unless you want to make them get up and run.

Cool! Thank you.

I do always recommend listening for yourself. What I hear and like might sound like crap to you! I'm just a guy on the internet.

Perhaps apples to oranges but I drive my Focal Scalas very well with monamped MC275’s.

Bet those speakers look great with a warm orange glow on them.

I have a few questions but the inability to post a new thread until I'm fully approved is really quite barbaric ! At any rate, I am allowed to comment so here goes:

I'm on an upgrade path to a 2 decade old system. I just upgraded my tube pre to a Moon 740P and was very happy with the results. The rest of my system is : Bluesound node 2 (soon to be Lumin 2), Esoteric DV-50s (don't use much), MC 352 amp and B&W 802 Nautilus speakers (circa 1999). My next purchase is going to be new speakers. My budget is $20K + or - . So, I'm in the range of Focal Sopra No. 3s or B&W 802 3ds, neither of which I've been able to audition yet. Will I be able to drive the Sopra No. 3s with the MC 352 ? I was hoping to use it until its last breath but don't want to drop $20K on speakers I can't appropriately drive. If its a toss up between the B&Ws or Sopras, I'll go Sopras because they are quite attractive.

I am driving my Sopra2's with a MC352 amp a C47 preamp. The combination sounds very good. No strain on the amp at all. Currently using a MVP871 CD player but am looking to purchase a MCT450 or MCT500.

Thats great news ! Thank you.

I don’t own either speaker but have heard both.Both like plenty of current to perform at their best.
The 802 D3 is a lot of speaker for the money.I was never a fan of B &W,but this speaker changed my mind quickly.
Good luck with your search.

I helped a friend dial in his Sopra No. 3’s with McIntosh C2300 and MC 452 which is similar to MC 352. It sounds just fantastic m, more than enough power and really controls the bass very well.

For around the same price if you can try and audition the T3s. Amazing sounding speakers!


https://www.stereophile.com/content/...t3-loudspeaker

I'll check them out, thanks ! Would be a BIG savings over Sopra N3 or 802 d3 !

I have enjoyed a pair of Sopra No2's driven by an MC452, in a 24x26' room. The Sopra's are really efficient (91 db) and for me, when I'm really "cranking it", the needles on my amplifier dance around the 4.5 watt level.
Depending on how large your room is, and how loud you like to drive your Sopra's, I suspect an MC275 might be sufficient.
I have found that Sopra's need a "warm" sounding amp to sound their best, so the MC275 should be a great match.

I have the Sopra 3's and drive them with the ARC Reference 150 (150W/channel). It works wonderfully in a 24x14 foot room but I would not skimp on power. The Sopra's can project a big, wide, deep soundstage with a lot of weight behind it and that takes power.

I chose the Sopra 3's over the 802D3 because I thought it was a more musical, emotionally engaging speaker, at least for classical music which is what I listen to 90% of the time. I would characterize the B&W's as more clinical and cooler sounding but with outstanding bass response. To my ears the Sopra 3's sounded more coherent and transparent, with superior soundstaging.

I generally prefer warmer myself. How sensitive are Sopras to room placement ? Thats my big concern because I have no wiggle room .

I was in the same boat--little wiggle room for the Sopra 3's. However, I was able to get the sound dialed in by playing with toe in (aimed directly at the listening position worked best for me) and front/back adjustment of the spiked feet to get the tweeter aimed exactly at the listener. I have the speakers about 8 feet apart and 9-1/2 feet from the listening position, not quite ideal but that's what I was constrained to work with. They are about 2-1/2 feet from the rear wall and about 3 feet from the side walls. I have heavy sound treatment on the side walls to kill unwanted wall reflections. All my audiophile friends remark that the imaging and depth is unlike anything they have ever heard.

I have lots of side wall clearance, but only 1 foot from back walls, unless I gradually sneak them forward so my wife doesn't notice :)

See if you can get away with it, mine are positioned very similar to jakegt3's. They really open up and the Soundstage depth and layering increases further from the back walls.

So I'm going to audition the Sopra 3s on Wed at a dealers store in Denver. I'll also audition the B&W 802 D3s. I need to choose one and they will bring a pair to my house for a home audition. I hope its an easy choice :). I currently have B&W N802s so its going to be interesting !

With 350wpc you can drive about any speaker you want in your $20K price-range. You might also look at the Wilson Sabrina and/or Yvette. They might work better for your location requirements.

Thanks for the Wilson mention. I am going today to audition some Sabrinas, the dealer didn't have any Yvettes at the store.

For what it's worth to the OP-and he posted this a long time ago-I drove my Focal Sopra 2s temporarily with a Yamaha home theater receiver from circa 2000 with a 75 watts per channel rating. I had to have a minor repair done to my McIntosh C2300 preamp and my only alternative for nearly 3 months while the repairs were done was with this old receiver. While it sounded awful musically, in terms of power, that Yamaha receiver didn't choke at all and I typically listen to music that peaks in the upper 80s db. The Sopra 2s are remarkably easy to drive; I can't imagine the MC275 not being able to drive the Sopras with authority-and in actuality the MC275 delivers closer to 90 watts. Unless you're listening at concert levels, I'm sure you'll have more than enough juice.

I know the Sabrina has received a bunch of favorable reviews. However when I auditioned them, I was hugely disappointed. There wasn't anything about them that impressed me. The Sopra 3's were far superior. But have a listen for yourself and see what you think.

for $20k you can get a new pair of Scala V2's

I liked the "house sound" of the Sabrinas but its not enough of a speaker for my large room. They did not have the Yvettes at the store, but assured me if I liked the Sabrina that I would love the Yvette. They offered a home audition of the Sabrina. The Sabrinas sounded very nice in the sweet spot, but that was not really sustained off axis. I do a lot of background off axis listening at my house. I feel like my current N802s fill in pretty well off axis. Would it be correct to say that I am looking for speakers with a larger soundstage ?

On Wed I will store audition the Sopra 3 and B&W 802 D3. This dealer will let me choose one of those for a home audition. I'm excited because I've never heard a Focal speaker before.

I'm not really very experienced with auditioning speakers. I plan on having a short list of tracks that I know. One think I do know is that I am bothered by bright sounding speakers, so I'll be listening for this. Any other words of advice for in store speaker auditions ?

I'm a newby so please take that into account. I recently went through the same exercise and maybe in the same store (Listen Up, Denver ?). I closed my eyes and listened as the salesman switched the speakers and repeated the track just heard. There were 3 pairs of speakers during each demo and the speakers from each channel were side by side. I found that the speakers furthest apart tended to sound better as the sound stage was more spacious. Instead of switching speaker placement and trying again we listened to one brand at a time with a mono source. I rated the speakers in these two scenarios to come to a decision. The demo electronics were high end Simaudio Moon solid state units. I ended up with a tube preamp which has a warmer sound; I doubt repeating the demo with tube equipment would've altered my decision but I can't be sure. If you know what will drive your speakers you might get a better preview if the store can at least approximate the type of electronics you'll be using. I enjoyed the experience and felt confident in my choice when all was done. Good luck and please give us a follow-up.

When I audition components, I don't really compare one model against another. I audition each and try to assess how closely it recreates the illusion of a live musical performance. Of course this presumes you know what live music sounds like. I listen mostly to classical music and I have the experience of attending live concerts. I am particularly critical of midrange performance and recordings of voice and piano are very useful for making this assessment. I would go for the speaker that generates the "goose bump" factor the most for you.

Thanks, yep same store ! I have a high end Moon pre but a Mac MC352 amp, all solid state. I will give a follow up !

Thank you. I've only been to a few live classical concerts and despite that 50% of my listening is classical. The other is rock, movie soundtracks (love em) and techno. I'll keep the live music idea in my mind. For my new speakers I know I want a tighter, faster bass than my current N802s and I'm really sensitive to overly bright highs. A lot of this audition will be to make sure those two aspects are satisfactory.

Great choice in music-we need more audiophiles like you.
Favourite techno tracks?

Cool ! I think techno plays really well on good systems because most of the content is pretty well mastered with individual frequency groups having their own space.

A couple of my favorites are: Christopher Lawerence : Rise->Phreaks, Christopher Lawerence : Trilogy Part 1-> Rhythm of life (love the TB-303 synth), also a few tracks on Donald Glaude: Mixed Live -> Planar and Under Pressure.

Its kind of funny when I audition equipment at stores and ask them to play some techno tracks :banana:

I auditioned the Sopra 3s and B&W 802 D3s today. I first heard the Sopras hooked up to all Mark Levinson gear. They sounded very nice, but I immediately realized that they were not warm enough for my taste. I much preferred the B&Ws, which were driven by McIntosh equipment. They did not have any Scalas to listen to. I ended up ordering the 802 D3s.

I always found b&w diamond tweeter to be bright and biting with female voices. That wasn't the case for you?

Congratualations, you chose well. The 802 D3s are stunning - you'll have many hours of enjoyment with them.

Thanks for the heads up. Admittedly I did not play any female vocals at the audition. Female vocals probably occupy a small percentage of my listening, yet I hope this isn't the case when I get them home. I was listening hard for any brightness and heard none in the content I listened to . There is a very fair 30 day satisfaction guarantee from my dealer and I really hate bright sounds, so I'll be alert for this. Maybe the Mac equipment mellows it ?

Thank you !

I own Sopra 3s and I almost bought 805 d3s recently when I got my Contours. I wouldn't worry, when set up correctly I don't think there is harshness in either speaker.

Congrats!
Hope you have many hours of techno listening.:music: