Has anyone listened to Legacy speakers?

I guess I will have to be the bad guy in this thread. More playing devil's advocate, someone with a different perspective. Legacy speakers look very good on paper. And, in person. Ad copy and cabinets are beautiful. However, this hobby is about sound. It is here where I have to criticize them. First, let me say that if someone is looking for a dynamic speaker, one capable of moving a lot of air, Legacy is quite good. The Focus is a nice sounding speaker. If I was considering Legacy, it is the only one I would look at. I find it has the least amount of negatives of any speaker in the line. But, as Sean says, Legacy is definitely boom and sizzle oriented. Nothing wrong with that, if that is your cup of tea. The other speakers in the line make enough serious mistakes, that I believe a lot of people will find them fundamentally flawed. Let me start with the models larger than the Focus. The crossover between 15" woofers and the 7" mid/woofers is more than audible. It is as if the drivers are playing audible ping-pong. One thing about music, if you notice that sound is bouncing back between two drivers(which aren't even positioned close together), you should find it quite off putting. At least I did. Treble is overetched across the line, and another thing that draws too much attention to itself in the bigger speakers. Shifting toward their smaller speakers, I will use the treble as a springboard to the Studio Monitors. The metal dome tweeter is harsh, bright, and shrill. Definitely ranking as one of the worst sounding tweeters in high end. The 1990's saw us make a lot of progress in tweeters. Well, here is one that is definitely stuck in the 80's. This driver would easily cause fatigue, making this a difficult speaker to listen to for more than a short period. On the plus side, this speaker(and Legacy speakers in general) does a very good job of not falling apart when the volume control goes up. Far, far too many high end speakers CANNOT rock. Legacys CAN. The best characteristic of the Studio Monitors is that they play clean when faced with a lot of power. Most high end monitors become distorted, congested, and lousy when faced with the spls this speaker doesn't even flinch at. But oh, that treble... The Classics and Signatures(not exactly sure what they call this speaker today) are amazingly unremarkable and bland. I find them both the definition of uninvolving. Really suprising considering how impressive they appear with all of those drivers. The one thing I have to say is that like anything else in audio, a thorough audition is essential. Do not buy anything based on ad copy. I almost did that a decade ago with Legacy speakers. The fact that I did not was one of the best moves I ever made. When I did audition them, it turned out to be my biggest disappointment in audio. Ever. And, it forever taught me that one should always approach things with their eyes closed, and their ears open.

It seems logical that the quality of the construction improved when Bill sold some of the interest in the company to outside interests. Hopefully, there was some capital influx that paid dividends in R&D, machinery(CAM) and QA/build. I don't know who those people are, I didn't ask when I met him. I know that the electronics are made by Coda(straight out of Duddleston's mouth), so I would not be surprised if they had some ownership in the company. He made a lot of statements. Many of which would get him into a major disagreement on this site. I still cannot get over the upper mids/treble(especially treble) of Legacy speakers. I do know how they sound currently, as I attended their Philadelphia showing(Valley Forge Convention Center) on April 21st. As I took my girlfriend, I will defer to her comments on their speakers(women always seem to sum up things better than us - they can see the forest through the trees). "Dynamic, and able to play very loudly without strain. But, very, very irritating". I will simply say it is way past time they upgraded their tweeters. If they want to proudly list the companies they use in their ad copy(Eton, Seas, Focal, Solen, etc.), how about using at least a Vifa D26 tweeter? I found a version of it in a $129 Goky(Gold Sky) speaker my dealer is selling for $79 this month. It had a most pleasing sound. It did get compressed if you played it very loudly, but $79? I have seen a lot of $1000+ speakers that behave no differently. Now, that is audio on a budget.