Focal Chora 826 or B and W 603 s2

[oldaudi]

Afternoon,
I’m going through a pretty miserable time at the moment (cancer thread) but I have to continue decorating our house which we started 2 months ago before my wife died in August.

So, I’m treating myself. I’ve got an old Audiolab 8000q and 8000p pre and power combo. I’ll be using the Cambridge Audio streamer cxn v2. The Naim and Linn kit suggested to me was out of my league.

I want some floorstanders but wondering if spending over £1000 is worth it given the rest of the kit. The Focal Chora 826 have caught my eye but I’ve always had stand speakers from b and W. The 603 s2 being their current offering within my budget.

The front room is about 25 square metres. Stick with a quality pair of stand mounters? Any other speakers up to £1200 I should consider?

They’ll be setup alongside my b and W 602 s2 , b and W centre and Denon Dolby digital amp. Separate systems

[Sheets Tabuer]

Have you thought about the kef ls50?

I've had quite a few B&W over the years but I find them quite fatiguing, perhaps it's my overly predilection towards electronic music but the tss, tss, tss gets very tiring very quick with B&W.

I was also quite taken by monitor audio.

Again it depends on what you listen to.

[oldaudi]

I listen to a lot of electronic music. Kraft werk, tangerine dream, Jena michel jarre and lots of modern synthwave/ 80s synth music. I quiet like the high treble found on b and w but then I’ve not really given much else a chance. I’ll check out the other models you recommended thank you.

[J.R.B.]

I've got the Aria 948s and they are fantastic (if bloody massive) things. I tried various other speakers when I bought them about 5 years ago and these were noticeably better.

I think Focal are good value (relatively speaking) compared to some of the other brands. Would definitely recommend them as a brand so would certainly suggest you have a listen to the Choras if they are the Focal model at your price point.

[Lucid_AV]

oldaudi said:

Afternoon,
I’m going through a pretty miserable time at the moment (cancer thread) but I have to continue decorating our house which we started 2 months ago before my wife died in August.

So, I’m treating myself. I’ve got an old Audiolab 8000q and 8000p pre and power combo. I’ll be using the Cambridge Audio streamer cxn v2. The Naim and Linn kit suggested to me was out of my league.

I want some floorstanders but wondering if spending over £1000 is worth it given the rest of the kit. The Focal Chora 826 have caught my eye but I’ve always had stand speakers from b and W. The 603 s2 being their current offering within my budget.

The front room is about 25 square metres. Stick with a quality pair of stand mounters? Any other speakers up to £1200 I should consider?

They’ll be setup alongside my b and W 602 s2 , b and W centre and Denon Dolby digital amp. Separate systems

You need to find a good dealer. Where in the country are you?

A decent Focal dealer will let you take in your electronics to try with the speakers. You should then be able to have a listen to the standmount Choras before swapping to floorstanders.

Personally, I find the additional depth that floorstanders add to the sound quite intoxicating. Unfortunately, my room isn't suitable for floorstanders. They need more space to breath than I can really give them, so I have JM Labs (Focal) Electra 905 stand mount speakers allied to a large REL sub. I'm so smitten with them. There are other speakers I'd love to try. The Tannoy Prestige Autograph Mini Monitors were just sublime when I heard them.

I've sold and installed all sorts of speakers up to and including B&W 800 Diamonds at £20K pair. I so wanted to love the DM601 when they launched in the 90s. Those yellow Kevlar drivers - WOW! But what a disappointment to listen to. I know other people love B&Ws, but I find them fatiguing too.

[toon10]

Firstly I'm sorry to hear about your terrible situation.

Your Audiolab kit is highly regarded as is the CXN so I think spending your budget will give you some tangible improvements. There's plenty on offer at that sort of budget too. Monitor Audio do some good floorstanders at that range. I paid £700 for some silver 6 speakers (think they were about £1100 retail but end of line). I'm not sure what the current equivalent are (silver RS6 maybe?)

I rant those with a sub £500 Yamaha amp for a couple of years and was happy enough. I went out and bought a Naim Nova and was thinking I needed to improve the speakers but in all honesty, I'm really blown away by how good it sounds so a decent set of speakers don't have to be changed when and if you change the rest of your kit.

I remember being impressed with the Dali Zensor 7's at the time but the MA just pipped it for me. I prefer a warmer sound with a bit of bass (not too much boom) but we're all different and what sounds good to me doesn't necessarily translate to others. I also tried some Tannoy's but wasn't impressed.

I will say that when I bought my Nova the Hi-Fi shop had one connected to a high end set of Focals. They are supposed to pair well with Naim (same group) but I wasn't that impressed to be honest. To be transparent, this was not in a demo room but an open plan shop with other shoppers walking around so not a fair test. They do review well although I'm not sure of the system matching with your Audiolab kit.

I don't really know what B&W speakers sound like to say whether you should stick to them or not. I do have some P5 and P7 headphones and a Zeppelin air dock and have always thought they sound very warm and a little bass heavy yet I keep hearing their Hi-Fi speakers tend to sound on the bright and fatiguing side.

[anonymous-user]

If considering the focals be aware that they can very current hungry at certain frequencies so the amp needs to consider that, particulary if enjoy a sound that fills the room.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/focal-chora-826-l...

This is a problem I am having with my Focal Aria 936's so have been demo'ing several amps.

As per Lucid_AV's comment about listening fatigue, this is the problem I have with my Arias, my current analysis is this is down to the current sourcing ability of the amp I have (old Denon AVR). Additionally Focals have a reputation for being 'bright' in the treble, how much you want to read into that is up to you.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 8th September 18:41

[mgv8]

I think the Fyne Audio make a interesting option.

[49Flipper]

Hi OldAudi

II purchased a set of Wharfedale Evo 4.4 from Richer Sounds and I've been blown away by how good they are. I have them in white to match the room and they bloody amazing too with the grills off. They are slightly out of your price range, but if you ask nicely Richer Sounds does discount them and I paid in the region of £1240 for them.

If you don't mind going second hand you could get something like a set of PMC Twenty 22 (they are standmount though).

Of course, floor standers in your price range are plentiful too... Speakers £900-£1250

Cheers, Paul

[heisthegaffer]

49Flipper said:

Hi OldAudi

II purchased a set of Wharfedale Evo 4.4 from Richer Sounds and I've been blown away by how good they are. I have them in white to match the room and they bloody amazing too with the grills off. They are slightly out of your price range, but if you ask nicely Richer Sounds does discount them and I paid in the region of £1240 for them.

If you don't mind going second hand you could get something like a set of PMC Twenty 22 (they are standmount though).

Of course, floor standers in your price range are plentiful too... Speakers £900-£1250

Cheers, Paul

I'm interested in a pair of Evo 4s, how do you find the ribbon tweeter?

[oldaudi]

Afternoon,
Thanks for the suggestions. I was very tempted to buy a b and W 704 S2 ex demo pair I found on line. Man maths took over and thought a £2000 pair of speakers for £1599 made sense. In the end I’ve purchased a pair of Focal 826 for £1099 instead of the normal price around the £1299 price. Focal sending stock to the shop and then the shop to me by the end of the week.

Couldn’t listen to them anywhere and rather foolishly gone in blind but they’ll be better than what I have and gone for white oak colour.....

Cheers

[conkerman]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Q Acoustics offer excellent value and I think the concept 40 look smashing. I have the 2050i and they seem to be reasonably neutral.

Wharfedale Evo 3.4 also look pretty interesting with the dome midrange.

[49Flipper]

heisthegaffer said:

I'm interested in a pair of Evo 4s, how do you find the ribbon tweeter?

Hi HTG

I’m am very impressed by this speaker, I power them with a Naim Uniti Atom and I live in a medium sized house with an open plan (almost 40ft long) living/dining/kitchen area. Just to make matters worse one wall is just bi-fold doors. They have a lot of depth and the detail from midrange and top end is brilliant. Ideally I’d have some acoustic panels up but I have been overruled……

If I was to change something I’d probably upgrade the Atom. I just think it’s a bit under-powered for the room and I do need to whack the volume up a bit to get them going. Plenty of time to change that though, I’ve just upgraded my garage speakers, so that’s my focus for the next couple of months until upgrade-itis strikes again!!

[heisthegaffer]

49Flipper said:

heisthegaffer said:

I'm interested in a pair of Evo 4s, how do you find the ribbon tweeter?

Hi HTG

I’m am very impressed by this speaker, I power them with a Naim Uniti Atom and I live in a medium sized house with an open plan (almost 40ft long) living/dining/kitchen area. Just to make matters worse one wall is just bi-fold doors. They have a lot of depth and the detail from midrange and top end is brilliant. Ideally I’d have some acoustic panels up but I have been overruled……

If I was to change something I’d probably upgrade the Atom. I just think it’s a bit under-powered for the room and I do need to whack the volume up a bit to get them going. Plenty of time to change that though, I’ve just upgraded my garage speakers, so that’s my focus for the next couple of months until upgrade-itis strikes again!!

Thanks mate - fantastic set up.

[49Flipper]

heisthegaffer said:

49Flipper said:

heisthegaffer said:

I'm interested in a pair of Evo 4s, how do you find the ribbon tweeter?

Lots of stuff

Thanks mate - fantastic set up.

Cheers, that’s the wife friendly set-up. I’m very lucky to have a HT room with a Kef R range setup and a Hegel amp powering the fronts. (SWMBO is very tolerant too..)

[heisthegaffer]

49Flipper said:

heisthegaffer said:

49Flipper said:

heisthegaffer said:

I'm interested in a pair of Evo 4s, how do you find the ribbon tweeter?

Lots of stuff

Thanks mate - fantastic set up.

Cheers, that’s the wife friendly set-up. I’m very lucky to have a HT room with a Kef R range setup and a Hegel amp powering the fronts. (SWMBO is very tolerant too..)

Lovely mate.

I have a far more modest set up in a cabin with my prize Castle Severne II up front. Sounds great to me and all for a very modest outlay. One of the joys of this hobby, something good for all budgets big or small!

[Sheets Tabuer]

You'll have to come back and let us know how it sounds with the cambridge, I don't own any focal speakers but I do own some focal clear mg headphones and the build is impressive so have always wondered how the speakers sound and the build quality of them.

[oldaudi]

They’ve arrived. Ignore the spacing and the general mess, this won’t be their final placement. I’m decorating. Cambridge audio streamer has been ordered and should be here next week.