Focal Electra 1008 Be - Still good by 2020 standards?

[Archsam]

I noticed recently there are are many sellers on Ebay UK (and some hifi shops) offering used Focal 1008 Be for a very good price (broadly in the £2000 range). This is a speaker that came out nearly 10 years ago so no surprised to see them coming into the second hand market.

Measurements looks pretty decent to my (novice) eyes. There is a slight dip just above the 2kHz mark but otherwise pretty flat response across the board:

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153

I am interesting in trying a pair of speakers with 'contemporary' designs, having enjoyed my Harbeth P3esr for the last 4 years. While I still love their sound I am looking for the next step up in terms of detail and clarity. I think my upstream gears are now good enough to drive speakers a level above the little Harbeths. I have been impressed with the reviews on Revel speakers and I wanted to find a pair of M126Be, however they are not the best deal in the UK (£4000 a pair new, and there is zero second hand market for Revel speakers here in the UK). The 1008 Be, while a little older, has Focal's second gen beryllium tweeters that I suspect is still state of the arts today. I can see the Focal and Revel are very similar type of speakers, so I wonder if it will be worth trying out.

I live in a small flat in London with neighbours all around, so I don't play loud. I have a REL T5i sub that can fill in the LF whenever I feel like it, so these stand mounts are perfect for my needs.

Any thoughts on this will be much appreciated.

 

[flipflop]

Yes, the measurements are decent, but the speaker isn't really price competitive. For £1300, you can get a pair of KEF R3, which should sound better.
https://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-41643-kef-r3-bookshelf-speakers.aspx
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-r3-speaker-review.12021

 

[andreasmaaan]

I wouldn't bother worrying about what material the dome diaphragm is made of. A wide range of commonly used materials including cloth, aluminium, etc, are more than adequate for clean, smooth, low distortion high frequency output.

What I would look at are the measurements of the speaker as a whole. This speaker seems to measure quite well IMO, so if you like the look of it, I would a suggest giving it a listen.

The shortcomings that can be identified in these measurements are quite minor, but FWIW are:

• a small dip around 2kHz, which may give a slightly laid-back presentation
• a slight directivity mismatch between the woofer and tweeter, which may translate to some emphasised detail
• rolled-off top octave, which could result in a slight dullness to the sound

I agree with @flipflop that there are better-performing options that cost less, although this is clearly a decent speaker.

 

[Archsam]

The KEF R3 is a curious one, as Amir stated he found them subjectively uninteresting even though the measurements are very good. I own a pair of KEF Q1 from 2005 (their early uni-Q driver design) that I never fell in love with. I faintly remember reading at the time (and agreed with my listening) the early uni-Q drivers has a significant dip in the crossover frequency which sucked out the midrange and making voices sounded overly recessed. I am sure the driver design have since moved on but perhaps my experience with them sort of put me off with this particular design. Mind you, the KEF Reference 1 is a superb speaker in measurements and in subjective reviews, but that is north of £4000 and not what I would consider spending.

I also like to try a pair of Dynaudio Contour 20 which is well know for their soft dome tweeters. They are another speaker that measures well and sounded great:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/dynaudio-contour-20-loudspeaker

However these are just over £3000 new and not many appears in the second hand market. So again, I do wonder if the cost / performance ration is there.

Which brings me full circle back to the used Focals. The second hand price is just about affordable at £2000, and all that I read about them suggested they are fantastic in detail retrieval and is exactly what I am hoping for.

Lastly I have to consider whether any speaker I choose will simply be a lateral move from my Harbeth. This is a difficult one to work out, and it doesn't help that it is not really possible to go out for a listen during the lockdown.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Why don't you spend a lot less money and grab a pair of Elac DBR62. Measurements are not bad at all and it is cheap. And sound is...

 

[Archsam]

Why don't you spend a lot less money and grab a pair of Elac DBR62. Measurements are not bad at all and it is cheap. And sound is...

Not sure if these are any better than my Harbeths? To my eyes the P3esr has a even flatten response in the mid bass to lower treble.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/harbeth-p3esr-loudspeaker-measurements

Subjectively I still love how my speakers sound, I am just thinking if I can get even more details and resolutions than what I already have, so not sure if the Elac are going in the right direction.

 

[echopraxia]

Not sure if these are any better than my Harbeths? To my eyes the P3esr has a even flatten response in the mid bass to lower treble.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/harbeth-p3esr-loudspeaker-measurements

Subjectively I still love how my speakers sound, I am just thinking if I can get even more details and resolutions than what I already have, so not sure if the Elac are going in the right direction.

The off-axis plots of that speaker look pretty bad. Reminds me a bit of my Bowers and Wilkins 702 S2 before I gave science-based speaker purchasing a try, and realized how awful the B&W were compared to other speakers half their price. I thought they were detailed and high resolution, until I found how much better speakers can sound that measure well.

Do you know exactly what you mean by “detail retrieval“? I suspect not, since aside from we know from the science of psychoacoustics, such descriptors are fairly useless. Generally, speakers that measure flatter and have smooth and well-behaved off-axis performance will be perceived as higher fidelity / higher resolution / better across the board for all music and other audio content.

Even if you believe that there are dimensions to sound quality not captured in the measurements performed here, it’s very hard not to agree that limiting your search to speakers that measure really well will at least limit your options to speakers that don’t have flaws, and are far more likely to sound amazing with a wide range of music to a wide range of people.

My (and most people here) advise to you would be to wait for more measurements to come out from Amir, or use the existing reviews to decide, or use the help of others here to help you interpret what measurements that may exist for other speakers not yet measured here.

 

[Archsam]

Playing with my speaker set up a little bit over the weekend, I started playing with my Yamaha amp's tone control - I know the Harbeths start rolling off above 10kHz, so I compensate by turning the treble up around 2.5dB (1/4 turn of the treble dial - according to the spec the Yamaha tone control can adjust +/- 10dB). I also open up the toe in of the speaker position just very slight - literally by 1 degree or so by eye.

This added the little bit of extra sparkle that I was looking for, but without pushing the treble too 'hot'. The toeing out helped spread the soundstage every so slight, the sound is a bit more relaxed than before. Ah, it's sounding really nice now. All this time I had the tone control at my disposal but never used, I should have played with them sooner.

Will definitely hold off from the itch to upgrade speakers for now.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I noticed recently there are are many sellers on Ebay UK (and some hifi shops) offering used Focal 1008 Be for a very good price (broadly in the £2000 range). This is a speaker that came out nearly 10 years ago so no surprised to see them coming into the second hand market.

Measurements looks pretty decent to my (novice) eyes. There is a slight dip just above the 2kHz mark but otherwise pretty flat response across the board:

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...&catid=77:loudspeaker-measurements&Itemid=153

I am interesting in trying a pair of speakers with 'contemporary' designs, having enjoyed my Harbeth P3esr for the last 4 years. While I still love their sound I am looking for the next step up in terms of detail and clarity. I think my upstream gears are now good enough to drive speakers a level above the little Harbeths. I have been impressed with the reviews on Revel speakers and I wanted to find a pair of M126Be, however they are not the best deal in the UK (£4000 a pair new, and there is zero second hand market for Revel speakers here in the UK). The 1008 Be, while a little older, has Focal's second gen beryllium tweeters that I suspect is still state of the arts today. I can see the Focal and Revel are very similar type of speakers, so I wonder if it will be worth trying out.

I live in a small flat in London with neighbours all around, so I don't play loud. I have a REL T5i sub that can fill in the LF whenever I feel like it, so these stand mounts are perfect for my needs.

Any thoughts on this will be much appreciated.

Focal is all made in France. That means something to me. NOTHING against made in China at all, just that when possible I am pro make stuff in the country where you are based and I do give props to those companies that do that. There is a sweet Focal factory tour video online a member here went there.
https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2020...ome-of-the-worlds-fanciest-speakers-are-made/
As another side note, while I have never heard the Focal speaker you ask about the 2 sets of Focal speakers I have owned were very nice speakers and I would deff give another Focal set a shot. I am looking forward to some Focal tests here, I heard the Aria was in line and I maybe others. If you buy the 1008 Be let us know your subjective (and if you can measure em') findings.

 

[Mindcool]

How would 1008 be compare to Kanta 1?

 

[andreasmaaan]

How would 1008 be compare to Kanta 1?

They are appear to be quite similar speakers. The Kanta 1 performs a little bit better in terms of having a slightly flatter on-axis frequency response and smoother off-axis response. Otherwise the differences seem to be quite small.

 

[Archsam]

They are appear to be quite similar speakers. The Kanta 1 performs a little bit better in terms of having a slightly flatter on-axis frequency response and smoother off-axis response. Otherwise the differences seem to be quite small.

The 1008 can be found on ebay here for under £2000, whereas the Kanta no. 1 is £4500 full suggested retail.

Sounds like the 1008 is a good bargain?

 

[andreasmaaan]

The 1008 can be found on ebay here for under £2000, whereas the Kanta no. 1 is £4500 full suggested retail.

Sounds like the 1008 is a good bargain?

It seems a good price relative to the Kanta 1. To answer your question in general, I'd stand by my comments in post #3.

 

[Archsam]

It seems a good price relative to the Kanta 1. To answer your question in general, I'd stand by my comments in post #3.

In the end I have decided to go with a pair of Revel M105 and couldn't be happier, so that answers that!

 

[andreasmaaan]

In the end I have decided to go with a pair of Revel M105 and couldn't be happier, so that answers that!

Ha, great to hear

 

[Mindcool]

I decided to go for a pair of used Revel F206 for 2000 €, upgrading from Focal Aria 906.

 

[ironhorse128]

I decided to go for a pair of used Revel F206 for 2000 €, upgrading from Focal Aria 906.

Would be nice too hear your thoughts on the f206. I am also considering upgrading to these from m16s.

 

[Mindcool]

Would be nice too hear your thoughts on the f206. I am also considering upgrading to these from m16s.

Sure, I will send you a PM once I get them.

 

[daftcombo]

I decided to go for a pair of used Revel F206 for 2000 €, upgrading from Focal Aria 906.

Hi,

Did you get the F206? How do you like them compared to the Aria?

 

[Mindcool]

Hi,

Did you get the F206? How do you like them compared to the Aria?

Yes, I got the F206. They are neutral, that will say good for me. The first difference is going from 2-way to 3-way and with more drivers: movies and games sound great with no strain at high SPL peaks. I do run my speakers full range of plus LFE sub (haven't got through buying audyssey app for limiting eq, full eq does not sound good for me). The second and biggest difference is the lack of distortion with the F206: with the arias I felt that certain sounds where too bright, which coincides with my REW measure and the distortion peak in the 906 review.