Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
These speakers have been out of production for a long time, so probably nobody is even reading reviews of them anymore. Nonetheless, I felt compelled to sing out.

I've owned my pair for 10 years. I first heard them a year earlier, when I was a poor grad student in Iowa City (thanks, Hawkeye Audio!), and they absolutely mesmerized me. I could not stop listening to them. I came to be a regular at that shop, stopping by every couple of days; and every time, I was as gobsmacked as the first. As I recall, they were being driven by a BAT preamp and a CJ solid-state power amp. The music that blew me away that first time was a Joshua Redman cd, whom I had never heard of. His sax was the most present, balls-on accurate sound I'd ever heard come out of a stereo system. And the stand-up bass solo runs were just as astonishing.

A year after I moved out of Iowa City and had landed a nice job, I called that shop and asked them to send me a pair. The only pair they had left were the very demo speakers I'd listened to so often in their shop, so I hesitated not so much as an instant before agreeing to buy the demos. They generously threw in a set of excellent Tara Labs cables, and I was in business. As soon as my speakers arrived, I went out and bought that Joshua Redman cd.

I've been using these speakers ever since, and I've loved them every second. Walking through my living room even today, I'm still struck by them: I'm still sort of amazed that those magical things I heard 10 years ago are sitting in my house.

Strengths: incredibly fast, tight and tuneful bass, with excellent extension; tremendous air and presence in the midrange.

Weaknesses: that famous Focal Tioxid tweeter is very detailed, but quite unforgiving of source edginess or glare in the top frequencies; they do eat some living space.

Overall: I love these speakers. Love. I love them as much today as I did 10 years ago, and they are still dead solid. If you can find a used pair and have the space, I highly recommend buying them. At this point, the price is bound to be an outrageous bargain -- especially compared to a pair of comparable speakers from JMLab's current lines.

Summary:
I got this pair of speakers just recently at an unbelievable price. This speakers are easy to drive. I have used a self built 10 watts Class A amp to drive it and the sound is just so clean and pure and balance. I am now using Sherwood 945 MK II to drive is as a home theatre front speakers and it is wonderful. When I added a subwoofer to my home theatre system, the bass extension made the entire system even better. If you can lay hands on this speakers, it is a very well made pair of speakers.

Strengths:
Solid build. Nice overall balance sound from low bass to highs.

Summary:
Fantastik! This loudspeaker is simply fanstastik. Excellente image sonore. Si vous avez la chance d'en trouver une paire n'hésitez pas un instant. I love it!

Summary:
These speakers brought to life the acoustic music that I used to audition them. The accuracy, focus, and detail brought to guitar and vocals was amazing. I was even more pleased when I put on 'Nils Landgren Unit - Live in Stockholm' which convinced me that these speakers are capable of a real punch as well. In a price point comparison, I found B&W to 'linger' a bit in the high end and I found the thiels not to have as much balance in the low end. (having said that, the Thiel CS7's are among the best speaker I've heard but of course, cost much more).
If you are looking for speakers in the $US 5000 - 7000 range, you should give these a chance. They are worth the money (and yes, I bought them)