Focal Electra 1008 Be - Still good by 2020 standards?

[GarageRat]

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.

I have the Focals 1008 Be II, I heard them against a lot of speakers, Kef, B&W, Kanta 1, Dali, etc..before I bought them. They are clear detailed and really, really good. For the price it's a great deal on a gently used pair. I did locate a brand new pair and got them for $2500 new as the line is being faded out. They are closer to Sopra for sound than Kanta. They don't best the Sopra 1 but are a fraction of the price and carry a lot of the same technology. So much so that the centers in both lines are the same shells.
They are in a secondary system for me but I listen to them all the time. Great with tubes as I switch gear around. Even though you are in a smaller area now, a subwoofer properly set up and dialed in to just fill it out not shake the room, I have a Rythmik, performs above a great deal of Towers. Even without a sub they are great speakers.

 

[Ucftechguru]

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.

I did a speaker shootout and the Dynaudio Contour 20 sound way better than the KEF R3. KEF R3 are overrated. I agree with Amir that they are uninteresting. You’d think they’d have more slam/bass for their size. The Contours are like the R3s on steroids. Easily fill your room with more sound than the R3s. These Focals are interesting to me too. On my short list because I want to listen to a Beryllium tweeter.

I have another sleeper pick. Heco Celan Revolution 3. They are my favorite speaker under $3K. Better than the Contour and Special Fortys. They are on the brighter side but the tweeter sounds amazing. I think it’d be hard to beat the quality of the Celan tweeter under $5K even.

 

[robh]

I have another sleeper pick. Heco Celan Revolution 3. They are my favorite speaker under $3K. Better than the Contour and Special Fortys. They are on the brighter side but the tweeter sounds amazing. I think it’d be hard to beat the quality of the Celan tweeter under $5K even.

I've never heard of those but I looked them up. A 6.7" woofer, 1.2" tweeter and crossed over at 2800 Hz. I'd love to see the plots on those. I wonder if the woofer beams...

 

[Ucftechguru]

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.

I did a speaker shootout and the Dynaudio Contour 20 sound way better than the KEF R3. KEF R3 are overrated. I agree with Amir that they are uninteresting. You’d think they’d have more slam/bass for their size. The Contours are like the R3s on steroids. Easily fill your room with more sound than the R3s. These Focals are interesting to me too. On my short list because I want to listen to a Beryllium tweeter.

I have another sleeper pick. Heco Celan Revolution 3. They are my favorite speaker under $3K. Better than the Contour and Special Fortys. They are on the brighter side but the tweeter sounds amazing. I think it’be hard to beat the quality of the Celan tweeter under $5K even.

I've never heard of those but I looked them up. A 6.7" woofer, 1.2" tweeter and crossed over at 2800 Hz. I'd love to see the plots on those. I wonder if the woofer beams...

The Celan woofer surprisingly performed about as good as the R3, KEF Meta and Special Forty. The Meta’s woofer may have been a bit punchier which I like. The Contour definitely has better bass. It has room filling bass and the rest really do not. However, I use a subwoofer and mostly rely on the sub for lower mid and lower bass. So it not being as strong doesn’t really bother me. For $1150 new and $750 used, the Celans are a true giant killer. Another audio friend said their friend compared the tweeter to the Dynaudio Confidence line and maybe even Dynaudio Heritage which is pretty high praise.