Focal 1038be In-Home Demo Coming

[scirica]

I just got confirmation that my dealer has secured a pair of 1038be's for an in-home demo. They should be arriving tomorrow. While I've heard and enjoyed the 1028's in his showroom, this will be the first time I've had a set of be's in my living room.

I've been living with the Focal Aria 948's in this room for almost a year now, so I'm expecting to hear something quite different than what my ears are used to.

Stay tuned...

[-E-]

/evil grin: you could still save up for Scala...

[scirica]

Originally Posted by -E-

/evil grin: you could still save up for Scala...

Yes Dr. Evil, I could do that. And we haven't seen the year-end commission check yet, so who knows!

[scirica]

1038be's arrived today. Unfortunately this is my busy season so not much time to listen. I think I get to keep them for a month. Listening impressions to follow.

[EfeTe]

Happy for you scirica. Did the speakers come straight from the factory to the dealer, as in no break in whatsoever? Or do they have a few hours breaking in already before you start testing them?

[audioguy3107]

Your dealer's letting you keep them for a month? You have a good dealer, that's quite awhile.

- Buck

[scirica]

Originally Posted by EfeTe

Happy for you scirica. Did the speakers come straight from the factory to the dealer, as in no break in whatsoever? Or do they have a few hours breaking in already before you start testing them?

That's a good question. As I understand it, there are quite a few hours on these speakers while they were in a dealer's showroom. At some point the speakers were moved without proper packing and one of them was scratched in the tweeter area and the tweeter itself was replaced. What we don't know is how many hours are on the new tweeter, so it's good that they'll be here for 30 days to get proper break-in.

With just a couple of hours of listening last night I'm already very aware of the differences between my Focal Aria 948's and the 1038be's. Same impressive soundstage as the 948's, but the 1038 mid-range and those be tweeters combine to bring such "reality" and "effortlessness" to vocals that it's almost eery. They are no slouch in the bottom end either. There were bass notes in Ray LaMontagne's "You Can Bring Me Flowers" that I hadn't heard before. All this is playing with the MC205 powering the 1038's and my MX121 as the preamp (in pure direct mode). Once I add the C2500 and MC452 to the mix, I'm sure they'l open up even more.

Now back to work so I can make that upgrade a reality!

[scirica]

Originally Posted by audioguy3107

Your dealer's letting you keep them for a month? You have a good dealer, that's quite awhile. - Buck

It's good that one of my best friends is also my dealer and took the effort to ask his rep if there were any "demo" 1038's in the States that he could loan out. Given the cost of just shipping these things around the country, I'm impressed with the Focal sales network.

[BeerCan]

Can't wait to get your impressions. Can I ask what size room you will be using these in? Do you feel they were easy to place?

[scirica]

Originally Posted by BeerCan

Can't wait to get your impressions. Can I ask what size room you will be using these in? Do you feel they were easy to place?

They are in my living room, which doubles as my movie and two-channel room. The room is approximately 24' deep by 19' wide, but opens up in the back to a formal dining area. Ceilings are about 15' in the center of the room. Bottom line, there is a lot of space to fill here. Also, the room is treating with acoustic paneling.

To start, I positioned these in the exact same place that my Focal Aria 948's sounded best. That's about 2 feet from the front wall. In this positioning the imaging seems very stable and the vocals are to die for. When I put on Ray LaMontagne's "You can bring me flowers" I heard a realism in his voice that I just didn't hear from the Aria's.

I've spent a lot of time with the 1028's in a friend's room, so I was interested in hearing how the 1038's with the lower extension would play in my room. So far very nice. Getting very close to what I'm looking for in a speaker, and this might be the one! Of course what this has done for me is just given me the desire to hear what the Scala would sound like in my room with that 11" woofer.

Only a couple of days listening so far. I'll play with positions and see if it gets any better.

Keep in mind that I'm driving this with my MC205, and they could really use the dynamic power of an MC402 or 452 to really perform. That would be my next step when I purchase the speakers (1038 or Scala).