Sopra 1 and 2 new/recent purchases, are we mad?

Dan, don't let him back, even Sopras can't make the Smiths sound good! 

are these sopras 'in room placement' or 'boundary placement' ? and no, i'm not about to change my SL2s, with all their weaknesses...

enjoy

ken

Good point about the attraction of SL2 needing to be hard up against the rear wall. Most speakers seem to need to be well clear of rear and side walls, resulting in them protruding a long way into the listening room, which can be awkward, intrusive and unsightly.  Indeed, the positioning need of the Sopra 2s in my room is the reason I won't/can't have them.      

dayjay posted:  ...........  even Sopras can't make the Smiths sound good! 

 

J'était heureux dans la brume d'une heure en état d'ivresse , mais Dieu sait que je suis malheureux maintenant.

excellent, mais les forgerons sont ennuyeuses

Qui .

I owe wenger2015 an apology.  Black is the new white.  I was attracted to the white finish by photos like this one:

However, I live in a 1971 Barrett house, not an 18th Century French mansion.  And I hate to think what the dog would do to that sofa.

Anyway, the Naim stack is black, the TV is black and so I ordered black speakers.

wenger2015 posted:

Qui .

Google Translate is your friend.

Right Decision, apology excepted, congratulations my friend, you will not be disappointed.....just don't play the smiths!!!!

No, strictly a diet of Beefheart.

The Magic Band, as I recall....perfect..

I love that picture Noogle, just like my place. Wife's purse left scattered on the floor, two sets of Sopra, one for each room of course, pictures left unhung on the side, hedgehog guarding them, dodgy looking dried fruit in the bowls, random images clustered by the end of a sofa. AND the window clipping too hard loosing detail, shadow direction inconsistent, bloody amateurs :-)

Where do they employ these people to make such a hash of a nice looking enviroment and create such foolery?

Speakers do look good in white.....just saying 

Black here on order, but the image on another thread of the S400 in white looked great too.

wenger2015 posted:

I had a little bit of a speaker journey over the course of last year, had Aria 926's...traded in for focal electra 1028be, which were a good step up, went to my dealer to listen to an xps and ended up demoing the electra 1038's, the kef blades, and then finally the Sopra'2s, as soon as I heard them I finally had my wow moment ... followed by an offer from the dealer that was way to good to turn down. (The dealer was wanting to bring in an orange pair) I loved the black, I may be biased but they look extremely sexy, no apologies for using that description. 

I was told it's about 180 hrs to run them in, which is not important really because every time I'm in the listening room I smile even before switching on....

I have the Focal 1038be's-can u recall the difference between the Sopra 2's and the 1038's?  Just curious ......

david

Surprisingly, although the 1038's were very good, the Sopra'2s were really on another level, in fact their was little difference between 1038's and 1028's , the Sopra'2s are really a step up....

What about bass - the 1038's have 3 woofers compared to just 2 for the Sopra's 

Yes, hence you would expect more bass, but it was unexpectedly disappointing, don't get me wrong ,in their price bracket they are an extremely good speaker, I had originally considered them, hence the demo, but when you listen immediately from 1038 to Sopra'2s, you really do notice a difference in all areas of performance..

I'm afraid I do not own either Sopra 1s or 2s but have heard both at dealers. I first heard the Sopra 2s with a NDX (or was it NDS?), 282/SupercapDR and both 250DR and 300DR. Very, very impressive. So much so that I thought the the Sopra 1s could only be a pale imitation of the 2s. Wrong!

I very briefly heard the Sopra 1s with 552/300DR/ndac and was, quite frankly, blown away. OK the system driving the Sopra 1s was superior but I was simply astounded that a small (ish) 2-way stand mount could sound so amazing.

In my view the Sopras (2s and 1s) are really rather special and I would love to join the owners club one day. It seems that the Naim/Focal relationship is really starting to bear fruit.

Now where did I put my lottery ticket?

MDS posted:

Well, Dan, I suspect you can guess my response to your original question.  I think you've just ordered a pair of the best speakers I've ever heard. 'nuf said, really.

Looking forward to pics and write-up, though.

Mike

    

Agree with Mike.

Heard the Sopra 1 @ 2 ' s last year with 272 - 250 Dr and thought they stunning.Your going to love them.....enjoy !