Electra 1028 Be

[milpai]

Flemming,
Thank You for the kind words. I am more than happy with GIK products. The monster bass panels are pretty good, if you sit close to the rear wall. You can put those directly behind your listening position. I purchased them a couple of years back when I was in a much smaller room. You would also need the corner bass traps to tame the low end. I suggest that you also look at some of GIK's newer offerings with diffuser/traps built into the panels.


Alpine,
That is one awesome setup. Thank You for sharing the picture. I am not looking for a speaker that goes down to 20Hz. I would be more than happy if "in room" it can go down to 30Hz. Most loudspeaker manufacturers mention the spec +-3/6db at (lets say) 35Hz, which is anechoic room. But I know that the "real world in-room" goes a couple of Hz down. And speaker placement also makes a huge difference. In fact my "little Quads" have bass that sometimes surprise me. But after listening to the 1008, I know that it is time to upgrade. And it was not the bass that got my attention, but rather the upper frequencies - the way they were rendered - it was so polished and dimensional compared to my speakers. I am not looking to use a subwoofer in my system at this point in time. But I will try to audition the 1038s at the dealer. Thank You for the suggestion.

[Venere]

Originally Posted by Dr Tone

Yep that was the move I made. 1028BEs -> Sabrinas.

totally happy with the Sabrinas? Any issues or concerns?

[FDPDK]

milpai
Thank you very much, i am already in the process, and have recommendations from GIK but i always think its great to hear from people who have experienced the products for real.
It does seem to me that GIK is really serious and very customer oriented, which i find really great.
I will start out with the Monster Bass Traps behind my listening position , and then probably ad more over time.

Flemming P

[Dr Tone]

Originally Posted by Venere

totally happy with the Sabrinas? Any issues or concerns?

No. This explains my overall feeling about them:

[buggs1a]

I have the Paradigm Studio 60 v5 and CC590 and Monitor surround 3. Great sound but the 60 is too forward. Midrange too strong for me. Sometimes even with the vol low certain sounds from the midrange hurt my ears. But everything else is great. The one thing that blows me away is on the 60 v5 playing a bass cd bassgasm song and others the woofers only vibrate. The don't move hardly at all yet it puts out a ton of bass. Not 30hz type but it's got me one time thinking my SVS PC12+ 525 watt sub was on. It was not. Vol was very loud too. I don't understand how they can put out that much clean bass so loud yet the drivers barely move. Amazing. The speakers are cherry except the surround is black. Because I don't like the strong midrange I've wanted to upgrade.

Thursday I go to see a friend who works for a place. I met him there years ago and we became good friends. I was thinking my budget would be about $10k. I wasn't sure how to use it. Do 5.0 or 3.0 for now with surround later or get the best mains I could and the rest later. I heard a McIntosh XR100 couple years ago and was blown away. They are amazing. I heard the B&W 804D not sure if D2 or the new 3. They were amazing. But treble with one snapping finger beginning of the song hurt my ears and my ears flinched at each finger snap. Amazingly clear sound. Great everything. So I listened to both again now. Sound was more similar then I remember. The first time the Mac was very neutral and the 804D was more bright a bit. Now side by side the sound was more similar then back then. Hmm. The B&W treble I think was a bit brighter and I liked it. They were connected to a Mac pre amp and amp. Cable was Transparent Cable.

He suggested I hear these bookshelves on the other side of the room. Amazing looking. Very nice stands. I never heard anything so good except maybe the other speakers across the room. They were connected to an 80 watt NAIM integrated amp. Streaming music from Tidal controlled from iPad. Same music on all speakers. I was more excited about these little bookshelves then the 804D and XR100 yet they're not so little. For bookshelves I think they're huge. The sound totally blew me away. Chest thumping bass from many feet away. Sitting in the middle of the room in a nice chair. The imaging was incredible. Voices sounded totally in between the speakers. Wow. And one song towards the end I heard a sound from the speakers but also from behind me to the right. And a few feet behind yo the tight. I actually looked back over my shoulder. The sound was the same instrument. It was synth though. But what amazed me was it was separate from the speaker. You could hear the sound from the speaker but then it was separated from the speaker behind me. Amazing. These speakers were so clean. So clear. Bass was amazing. Now get this. I thought they might have better bass then the Mac or B&W. especially the B&W 804D. The treble was not harsh and they never hurt my ears. They were very loud. So clear. I thought maybe even better then the Mac XR100 and the B&W 804D. I was told they're $4k pair. And that blew me away especially when I just heard before this room, the B&W CM10. These blew away the CM10 and for the same money. And I thought they even might be a bit better then these $10k speakers on the other side of the room.

Which speakers? They were the Focal Electra 1008 Be II.

So I was in a bind. What do I do? What do I prefer? I think the size and cost just floored me. How can they be better then those $10k speakers? They were gorgeous too. Did I want two pair plus the center? Mains and surround and center? Or did I want the McIntosh XR100 and get the McIntosh LCR80 and XR50 later? Or the B&W 804D and the center later and maybe the B&W 805D for surround later or the dipole surround from the 600 series? Or,,, what about the bigger brother Focal 1028 Be 2 and center or just the 1028? They didn't have the 1028 to demo. After a bit of thinking I bought the Focal 1028 Be 2. As good as the 1008 was I figured the bigger brother is only better.

I inboxed them today. Gorgeous speakers. The wood is the one that starts with the letter D. I forget the name. It rocks. The way it feels right out of the box is great.

My only thing is I'm in an apartment so I can't turn them up much. (((. So I'm not as excited or pleased yet. Plus I am going to put 12"x12" egg cartons on the walls to help the room. It will deaden the sound and really help. I did this in a smaller bedroom years ago and it made a huge difference. So I'm sure they'll only get better after the egg cartons. I'll need over 70. The room is 14'x11'. So maybe the 1008 Focals would have been the better choice with stands. I'm not sure.

But I'm bummed cus I can't turn them up a lot or I'm afraid to. It may be ok but I'm afraid. I did pop in a cd by Cause and Effect. Their first album. Even at very low level I felt bass slightly on my couch. Makes me wonder how it might be turned up. Well, I plan to get the center in the future. Not sure what I'll do for the surround cus the 1008 are too big for that. I'm using the monitor surround 3 Paradigm right now.

The 1028 so far is nice. But I need more time and break in too. Plus I'm using a Marantz SR7009. I have on order the new NAD T777 v3 which hopefully comes asap. It's like a preorder I guess since it's not out yet.

I'm totally looking forward to getting the NAD and getting a better taste of the 1028.

Ok whew.

[Formerly YB-2]

Congrats on your 1028Be's. Post a pic or two once the NAD has arrived.

[buggs1a]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Congrats on your 1028Be's. Post a pic or two once the NAD has arrived.

Hi. Thank you! I will post a pic for sure but I don't know how from my iPhone.

[mdelrossi]

Congrats on the 1028 be. I have the 1008 be in an 11X16 room and they sound fantastic.
They have actually spoiled me, and I'm considering the 1028 or 1038 for my other system.

[Formerly YB-2]

Think you have to be a subscriber, or higher level, to post pic's.

[buggs1a]

This sucks. I'm still waiting on my NAD T-777 v3 (((
So far I've played a few movie soundtracks. The score to Forest Gump, Timecop, Terminator 1 and 2, Daylight, Startrek First Contact and Independence Day ID4. Forest Gump score on the 1028 Be2 is amazing. Sooooooooo clear. These speakers rock!