New Sopra No. 3 owner
 

I just took delivery today of a brand new pair of Sopra No. 3's (in imperial red)! I don't upgrade speakers very often, so this is a major event for me.

I auditioned the following speakers before settling on the Sopra's: Focal Diablo Utopia, Sopra No. 2, Sopra No. 3, Wilson Audio Sabrina, Sonus Faber Guarneri Evolution, B&W 802D3, Magico S3, and Rockport Atria. To my ears the Sopra No. 3's were clearly the best of the group.

I listen mostly to classical music and reproduction of instrument tone and timbre (particularly strings), and especially in the midrange, is very important to me. Soundstaging and transparency are also key attributes that I listen for. The Sopra No. 3's excel in these areas. The other speakers I auditioned sounded like very good loudspeakers but the Sopra No. 3's sounded like music. When listening to high quality recordings, they performed a disappearing act that none of the others could match.

Some questions for other Sopra No. 3 owners:

What do they need for break-in time? The owner's manual suggests just 20 hours, which seems rather minimal.

What suggestions do you have for toe-in and rake adjustments? I listen from a single "sweet spot" and want to optimize imaging and depth at that location.

John,

Congrats on the Sopra No3 purchase! I bought a pair of Sopra No2's when they first became available and am in love with them, no plans to replace them anytime soon! I have paired them with a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers.

My dealer recommended that I start off driving them quietly, with material that had little bass for the first few dozen hours, slowly increasing the power I delivered to them until I had about 100 hours on them. I followed his guidance.

I had my Sopra's for about six months and one night (listening to orchestral music) it hit me that these babies had really "settled down" and sounded more "relaxed".

As for placement, I think you just need to experiment with them. I have mine with a lot of "toe in" and they have that "performer in the room" sound stage.

Excellent choice! I hope you enjoy your new speakers half as much as I enjoy mine!

Congrats on your new speakers.

I can only attest for the no 2's, and I bought mine as a pair of demos with lowish hours on them.
I never experienced any major break-in changes on them.

I have mine toed in to cross a few feet behind me, and raked slightly backwards.
Spikes are 3,2 mm in front and 3mm in the back.

Congrats, beautiful speakers!

Can you characterize the differences between the sopra and the diablos? I was considering diablo for a second system, would love to hear your opinion.

Congrats on the new speakers John! Get us some pics of the setup when you get a chance.

- Buck

Actually I was somewhat disappointed in the Diablo's. I was hoping they would capture some of the sound qualities of the bigger Utopia speakers, minus the bass, but that's not the impression I came away with. Yes, the bass was kind of thin, but the Diablo's did not exhibit the same transparency and wide open sound stage of the Sopra 3's. I know that speaker setup and the equipment driving that's driving them can make a difference, but the Sopra's in the same listening room, driven by the same electronics (Audio Research) simply sounded more musical to my ears. It's not that the Diablo's are a bad speaker but rather the Sopra 3's are simply magnificent speakers.

Congratz on your new speakers! I've heard the Sopra No 3's as well and liked them.

John, congrats!
You do know we like photographical evidence... :D

John,

Congratulations on the new speakers! Going out on a limb here, doing something new by requesting you to post pictures of new setup and speakers :D !

Pictures will be coming soon...!

John, gratulations with your new speakers
i heard them with Naim Statement amplifiers , and waouu they are great.
I also heard Sopra No.2 on 2 occasions and can say the better gear your put behind them the better they seem to get.

Flemming

Congrats ! And in red ? Quite stylish of you :) what are you running them with ? I feel they took way longer than 100 hours of break in, more like around 200. They are amazing speakers, I love them. Pics please !

I am using the Audio Research Reference line of electronics to drive them (see my signature). I have about 40 hours of playing time so far and they continue to sound better and better. If I ever get a free moment (hard to find recently), I'll take some pics.

John, i would also really love to see pictures of that great speaker in an amazing colour.

Flemming

oh yeah, the signature! i don't internet so good, ha. Beautiful system!

Congrats on the 3!

How did you find the Sonus faber evos and the BW 802d3?

The Sonus Faber's had some strong points, like a high degree of transparency, a rich midrange, and a big, wide, deep soundstage. Obviously the low bass was not there, but that's less important to me because I can fill in with a subwoofer. However, I found its tonal balance to be quite dark, which was not so much to my liking.

The B&W's were pretty good but somehow the sound lacked the coherence and ultimate musicality of the Sopra 3's. The bass of the 802D3's was the best of all the speakers I auditioned, but I found the midrange to be a bit cold and clinical, whereas the Sopra's midrange was warm and full of body, like real live music.

Here are some pics of my new setup:

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=4182

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=4183

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=4184

The main amplifier is an Audio Research Reference 150 (on the floor next to the left-side speaker). The subwoofer amplifier is a 500W Hsu Research amp (on the floor immediately next to the right-side speaker). I run the Sopra 3's full range without any crossover in the signal path. They start to roll off around 33-34 Hz in my room (measured with a signal generator and sound level meter). The subwoofers, a pair of Hsu TN1220's, cross in at 28 Hz with an electronic crossover internal to the subwoofer amp and measured response is flat to 18-19 Hz.

John,
Congratulations - great looking setup. Look forward to your impressions.

John, congratulations it looks good and the color of the speakers are great.

Diablo
 

The Diablos need a REl sub to sound their best. In a smaller room they certainly work magic. In a larger room they beat a pair of Electra 1028 beIIs but the image wasn't as big in that room.

I now have the Sopra 3s and they fit that big room very well, while the Diablos are certainly playing very nicely with a small REL sub fed by PL gear and a chord DAC

jakegt3,

Congrats. It looks absolutely amazing and I'm sure sounds even better than it looks.

There’s a pair of sopra3’s about 4 hrs away from me I’m seriously considering, has anyone used a hegel h360 with them?

Got my Sopra 3s 2 months ago. Sound is getting better by the day