Quanmer--
""soul stirring" factor "---? not quite sure what you mean by that. please elaborate.

focalfan--
no, i most likely would not have bought the tidal speakers, if i had the opportunity to do it again, based on my exprience with them.

galantdiva--
truer words couldn't have been spoken-speakers placement is cruical and essential.

ozy August 20, 2011 06:50

Bellissimo.......complimenti.

ciro71 August 20, 2011 06:23

Ver nicely done and in particular the speaker placement. You must be getting deep soundstage and very 3D sound. Speaker placement is a key to generating good sound. Unfortunately, audiophiles do not mind spening thousands of bucks on cables but hesitate to spend their mental energy on thinking about speaker placement.

gallant_diva August 19, 2011 19:50

ozy, you say tidal is "polite, reserve, laidback". i think you being too nice! if you wanted to buy it again 1.5 years ago, will you? i think 100% not!what do you think?
anyway,i agree with you on focal sound. it is very musical.

focalfan August 19, 2011 19:04

Ozy, the new system sounds promising, how do you compare "soul stirring" factor although Tidal is polite.

quanmer August 19, 2011 17:13

4orreal--

thank you ,ray! please see my comments to Quanmer re: the focal&tidal sound differences.
i can only add that mating speakers in your room/space , is crucial to obtaining good sound. some large speaekrs can overload /dominant the space, where too small of a speaekr will get "lost". i found that the tidals simply didn't integrate well into my room. was it due to their design, size, placement(which was hard to pinpoint due to their size and weight)? maybe all the above.
only you could and should decide if they are for you , the best, the last ,etc.
after 1.5 years with them, they were clearly not for me.

ozy August 19, 2011 11:27

Quanmer--

my current set up excells in several areas that the previous one didn't-- excellent dynamics,musicl accuracy, articulate bass, and coherency thruout the frequencies, with just the right amount of weight in the midrange and enough transperancy in the hf.
the tidals were polite sounding thruout the frequencies , with reserved and laid back sound charchter and presentation.
in my experience, i have found that mating amps with their own brand's preamp works the best. the vac sig.mk2 is certainly something you should audition with the statement 450s.

ozy August 19, 2011 11:17

Hi Ozy,
Congratulations on such a wonderful system!! Some of us can only dream of such a system. Anyway, I agree with Quanmer that some of us would like to know what your previous setup didn't do that the new setup is doing; primarily, the Tidal Sunray versus the Focal Stella EM Speakers. A lot of people consider the Tidal Sunray the ultimate, last, best, etc., so it will be nice for you to share your insights on both. Thanks!

4orreal August 19, 2011 08:14

Agreed %100. I was really floored when I went from having no treatments at all to 8 GIK treatments in my room. One of the biggest(not price wise though) upgrades I have ever made.

mikeduke August 19, 2011 07:48

Ozy, I guess is not fair to compare your previous system (Sunray + Gryphon), but how do you describe your current system vs previous one? I am also consider to buy VAC Statement 450s for my Tidal Contriva Diacera SE, so I need your input. And do you think to pair with VAC Pre is a must?

quanmer August 19, 2011 07:46

mikeduke--
well- placed gik panels ( or any other acoustic panels for that matter), make a world of difference in any room enviroment. it is often such an overlooked area of the utmost importance. just my $0.02

ozy August 19, 2011 04:50

Whoops, I guess I should have looked more closely. I see you are using GIK as well. I found that they really helped out in my room.

mikeduke August 18, 2011 08:37

Thanks for all of the explanations. I am sure they are fantastic sounding speakers. That room sure does seem like you covered all of the basses. So do those panels act as room treatments as well? Or do you have other, dedicated room treatments in the room. For ex, I am using a total of 8 GIK treatments in my room. I am glad the you found the speakers that "do it" for you. I know it is fun when that happens.

mikeduke August 18, 2011 08:35

jacksonkuo--
thanks alot.my electrican ran a dedicated line from the house's main panel to the isoclean sub panel.from there 6x 20 amps dedicated outetlets were wired out.
i'd consult with a master electrican before you proceed, to ensure that you have plenty of 'juice' for the sub panel.

ozy August 17, 2011 14:52

Quanmer--

thank you. yes, these are the vac statemnt 450 monoamps.

ozy August 17, 2011 14:47

Ozy

Amazing system ! ^^ I bet those Siltech is smooth as silk ! ^^

Just wondering on your ISOCLEAN,,,, do you run a dedicated line from your main box to the ISOCLEAN and then from ISOCLEAN to your room ?

Because right now I have 3 dedicated line from the main box , and I am already out of space for more on the main switch , so I am wondering if I get a ISOCLEAN and take one of the dedicated line into it and then from there output to another 3~5 dedciated line to my room ( but will that still be considered as TRUE dedicated line? )

jacksonkuo August 17, 2011 14:36

mikeduke--

my room is 35x15 x10, which was built from the studsup utilizing mineral fiber between the studs, homasaut isolation panels, rubber block all around and finally 3/8" sheetrock. all in all, a very inert and quiet room.
the em power supply has 3 settings which allows the user to tune +/- 3db incraments, depends on the room(the g.u has 6 settings). that's in addition to the cross over adjustments which allow the midbass , midrange and tweeter to be adjusted to your taste/room. for now, i have everything set at0(nautral) settings.
the em bass renders layers and layers of bass info. not only does it have the heft, but it also offers the ability to follow every bass note played!quite remarkable.
no sense of comparing previous speakers to my current ones-i simply find that the focals have more strengths and a lot less weaknesses, in the areas that are meaningful to me.

ozy August 17, 2011 14:01

Ozy, Congret on your new system, I saw a pair of VAC amp, are they Statement 450 instead of 450S ?

quanmer August 17, 2011 13:16

I am such an idiot. I forgot the most important question. How do you find the EM technology in the speaker. Can you tune it to your room? How does it sound compared to some of the other speakers you have had. I can't remember the name but I know you had some other top fight speaker for a while. Does the EM tech really make that much of a difference?

mikeduke August 17, 2011 12:09

It's a good thing my room and budget are small otherwise I could see me having some major issues :). I ended up with Live Line cables. How big is your room? I have always had a fondness for Focal. At the price I paid I don't see anything close to what the 1027's give me in my room. Enjoy the Stella's. I know I would.

mikeduke August 17, 2011 11:59

mikeduke--

thanks , the stellas do sound great! as for cables, where do we start? tried a bunch, some are good some are much better. but cables certainly play an important role in a system's overall synergy.

ozy August 17, 2011 06:31

I understand. The Stella's still look great in that room. We all have to go within the limitations of our rooms. I am sure they sound great. I hope to get down to a store at some point and check out the new series myself. I am just trying to get my room sounding better. I just got new chairs that allow me to sit more in the sweet spot. Boy does it sound great. I will leave it at that for me because I don't know how you feel about cables. But again, a big congrats for getting them.

mikeduke August 16, 2011 13:35

albert--
the be tweeter is the same new 27mm(vs. the 25mm in the previous be series)as in the g.u.
the other main differences is that the g.u has the additional mid-bass driver(11") ,the "crank" which adjusts the upper skeleton to the listener's position,
and a slighlty larger foot print.

ozy August 16, 2011 04:53

I opted for the stellas em, as i felt that another large/tall speaker like the g.u will not integrate well into the room and will overload it (which was the case with my previous 2 large pairs).
Ozy

Ozy, I heard the Grand Utopia at the Newport Audio show and was impressed enough to hang around and speak with Christopher from Audio Plus (the importer).

Do the Focal Stella use the same tweeter as the larger one? I see fewer drivers, is that and cabinet size the only difference?

albertporter August 15, 2011 13:32

milpai--
thanks a bunch. i'm really enjoying this current system. there's no question that the room's treatments and contorl add to the sound i'm getting now.and the system's synergy is an aspect really so often overlooked.
tt- it is a whole different sphere for me, and i'm just not sure i'm ready to dive in . maybe in time.

mikeduke--
thanks alot. i opted for the stellas em ,as i felt that another large/tall speaker like the g.u will not integrate well into the room and will overload it(which was the case with my previous 2 large pairs). don't get me wrong, they are still quite formidable ,heavy speakers, with great presence both acoustically and visiually, but setting them up was a breeze.

ozy August 15, 2011 13:05