Hi Tom,
This is really frustrating for you. The Sopra 1s are well considered so if you have to sell you will hopefully not lose too much.
What is the house construction? Is the room straightforward, not lots of glass and L-shaped?
M
Hello,
Here in my third-world country there are gobs of these boat anchor substitutes for sale and nobody is buying them. The house is straight forward enough but like any room, there are bass frequency resonances and peaks to manage, my problems are at 42 and 64hz primarily.
I've heard the Sopra 1s at length and AT HOME on a demo Unison Research Unico 90 (hybrid design with 6 driver tubes in the preamp stage) and it did indeed sounded good, meaning satisfactory enough to where I'd shut my big mouth and get on with the music.
BUT...the SN2 with HiCapDR sounded fine also. I tortured the system with all kinds of tracks (Roon, Core library and Qobuz). Bass was strong, indeed quite present but not overwhelming. 2 days later all I hear is BASS, BASS and more BASS. Not sure how this came about as all system parameters have remained unchanged. I think I have offended the HiFi gods in another life or something.
If you know the Sopra 1s, Focal has provided foam bungs or plugs for the rear port. I called them in Saint Etienne and asked WTF?
They replied that the speaker's cabinet volume for the mid/bass driver will tolerate the bung's effects without altering the overall tonal balance of the speaker. Logically enough, they were intended for my very situation. Currently they are installed as I write and listen. They do function but my ears tell me they "thin out" the tonal balance ever so slightly. It all depends on the recording of course and the period during which the recording was made, intended for vinyl or cd, etc. 1nd whether the sound engineers were on drugs at the time.
Some of my favorite 80s music sounds like death through streaming services. This was much less evident when I was spinning discs.
Anyway, I'm trying to relativise the matter and be happy that I don't suffer from an advanced case of leprosy. That said music is damn important for me, as it is for most of us, so mucking about with a system that created more frustration than joy is a massive dilemma. Brgds.