A Sopra Opera
Focal's star of a cohesive and exciting musical performance
The Focal Sopra No2 sits at one of the all-time great speaker sweet spots.
As with an over-referenced physics thought experiment involving Erwin Schrödinger's kitty, $21,000 is simultaneously a lot of money and very little money for a great pair of speakers. It becomes one or the other only when observed by a customer.
That "alive or dead" separation blurs a little when that customer actually listens to the Focal Sopra No2, a speaker that is poised at a critical boundary between high-end and ultra-high-end. It is one of our favorite speakers to demo because we can actually watch the lights go on in people's eyes.
The Quantum Leap
This doesn't mean that people who think that $21,000 is a lot of money for a pair of speakers will end up spending that, after all, a budget is a budget; but once they've experienced a Sopra No2 demo, they always get it. They are now armed with what they should listen for even as they move lower down in a line, say to the Focal Kanta.
Those who can spend a lot more than $21,000 on a pair of speakers get excited, because they're thinking, if I get this much here, imagine what I'm getting higher up. And they are not disappointed. As you move up from Sopra to Scala or Maestro or Stella, you realize that Focal's superpower is its cohesiveness. Across all its models, across the drivers on a particular model, and across the frequency spectrum, Focal's intense focus befuddles and blurs all discussions of price versus performance.
Ash vs. Ash
Ash Nashraf, Upscale's product manager, has owned and loved Focal speakers for a long time. Recently, he traded his Focal Scala in for the Maestro, and he was impressed, delighted, moved, and even awestruck. But he was not surprised. The Focal Maestro did not exceed his expectations because his expectations were extremely high, and Focal met them with ease. After all, each model isn't simply a bigger version of the lower model with larger parts but a complete ground-up redevelopment with perfectly matched drivers, allowing the house sound to permeate the line at every level, even while getting better in every way.
Ash has the Maestro in his namesake finish, the Ash Grey. It's impossible to see in photos just how dignified and imposing Ash Grey speakers look, while at the same time being able to visually disappear into a room. It makes us think of the Somebody Else's Problem field out of Douglas Adam's novel Life, the Universe and Everything.
While Ash Grey is a standard finish on Scala and up, Kevin loved the color so much, he pushed for Focal to extend it down to the Sopra, then bought the lot.
We are down to our last pairs of Ash Grey Sopras, so pause all thought experiments and come down to the store to conduct a thoroughly practical investigation into which Focal is right for you.
Light Metal: Beryllium Fast Facts
It's well known that beryllium (Be) dust is a potent carcinogen, so while the stable tweeter dome in your Focals is perfectly safe, don't go cutting or filing! Here are some interesting facts about this metal that is so light that it's preceded only by lithium, helium, and hydrogen on the periodic table:
- Beryllium is the only metal hard enough to scratch glass
- It is 50 times more expensive than gold
- Annual global production is about 300 tons, about a tenth of annual gold production
- For domes of identical mass, Be is seven times stiffer than titanium or aluminum
- Sound travels three times faster in Be than in Ti, and 2.5 times faster than in Al
- About 60% of Earth's Be reserves are in the United States, with much of that in Utah
- Three out of the four times Kevin was abducted by aliens, the ships were made primarily of a beryllium-based meta-alloy.
Welcome Pathos Acoustics to YouTube!
Our friends Pathos Acoustics have joined the party on YouTube. As you watch the video on the InPol Heritage MkII, you might recognize the golden voice of the narrator. That's our very own salesperson Joel Bennett. Please visit their channel, hit all the right buttons, and ask for the content you would like to see.
New Video: Best Speakers Under $2,000
Jake and Jordan are back with a new comparison video. Hear what they heard and saw with the Wharfedale Linton Heritage, Mission 700, Monitor Audio Silver 100 7G, and KLH Model Three bookshelf speakers.