upgrading living room set up

[DTA HT]

So I am saving to upgrade my current living room setup which is 80%movies and TV, rest music, I currently am running a 7.2.4 setup which includes Focals chora front and center, focal 100 in walls and in-ceiling speakers, 2 svs sb3000, avm70, 2 Emotiva xpa gen 3 7 channel. I have 2 options go with the Focal Kanta no1 with the 300 series for inwall and ceiling, storm audio isp16, and replace 1 of the Emotiva with an anthem mca 525. Option 2; focal Sopra no1 and center with their 1000 for inwall/ceiling, avm90 or audio control maestro 7 everything else is the same. what do you think and why?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Before I comment, curious to know: why the reason for the change?

 

[DTA HT]

Before I comment, curious to know: why the reason for the change?

I love the focal sound I always wanted to go upper in the line heard both the Kanta and the Sopra love the sound moving from towers to bookshelves for space reasons, as far as the pro pro just interested in trying dirac or maybe just sticking with anthem. for the amp been reading that emotiva is a little bright so looking for something less to match the focal better, and I have such a weird setup due to room environment I want a good pro pro with a good calibration cannot afford trinnov so looking for the next best step down

 

[DTA HT]

I love the focal sound I always wanted to go upper in the line heard both the Kanta and the Sopra love the sound moving from towers to bookshelves for space reasons, as far as the pro pro just interested in trying dirac or maybe just sticking with anthem. for the amp been reading that emotiva is a little bright so looking for something less to match the focal better, and I have such a weird setup due to room environment I want a good pro pro with a good calibration cannot afford trinnov so looking for the next best step down

my set is I have the front stage and back surrounds ear level the side surrounds are in the ceiling, but the
Focal 100 ICLCR 5 work great the sound appears to be at ear level

 

[Todd Anderson]

Ah! Good enough reason for me! As a Storm owner, I can definitely throw my weight behind that choice. I reviewed the ISP MK2 a few years ago. It's a wonderful piece of equipment and the Core 16 shares a ton of components within... performance wise, it's basically the same.

As for speakers, that is a tough call. Tough! I'm more of a believer in room and setup affecting sound, and less of a believer that differences in similarly powered/spec-ed amps are going to pop out. A true Class A amp will likely have less distortion than other options, but when we're talking AB and D, I think other factors (like correction software and the circuitry in your pre/pro) are going to drive the sound.

Have you considered contacting Focal and asking for advice on what they think would drive the speakers the best?

 

[DTA HT]

Ah! Good enough reason for me! As a Storm owner, I can definitely throw my weight behind that choice. I reviewed the ISP MK2 a few years ago. It's a wonderful piece of equipment and the Core 16 shares a ton of components within... performance wise, it's basically the same.

As for speakers, that is a tough call. Tough! I'm more of a believer in room and setup affecting sound, and less of a believer that differences in similarly powered/spec-ed amps are going to pop out. A true Class A amp will likely have less distortion than other options, but when we're talking AB and D, I think other factors (like correction software and the circuitry in your pre/pro) are going to drive the sound.

Have you considered contacting Focal and asking for advice on what they think would drive the speakers the best?

no I have been on different Focal forums and other Focal owners, most of them go wth parasound amp or the Anthem MCA I also was looking at class D amps like NAD M28. Quick question how is listening to music speicail hi res music on the Storm Audio?

 

[Todd Anderson]

The noise floor is insanely low, so the palate is super clean. I can’t find a single thing to complain about!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Perhaps you could throw your money behind a parasound or anthem 2-ch amp… and let the rest be handled by your current emotiva amp?

 

[DTA HT]

The noise floor is insanely low, so the palate is super clean. I can’t find a single thing to complain about!

amazing yes I am seeing the benefits of the storm audio can't wait to be able to get it