Stereophile review of Escalante Fremont

JKalman: Metal tweeters take a long time to break in, as do crossover parts. Manufacturers tend to say "100-200 hours", but 500 hours is what it generally takes with speakers to get to 95%. The final 5% in my experience takes another 500 hours. Verity is honest about this and says "750 hours" (it's in the specs for their speakers). I would call Harmon out in California (NOT Harmon International in New Bedford -- I have spoken to shockingly ignorant techs there) to confirm that it is okay to wire one speaker out of phase for purposes of break in (should be fine, but call), and then just play the hell out of them 24/7 for a month (of course, if you live in a house, are single and can just crank them normally, do that). At that point, you'll be able to position them and start to draw some conclusions.

Unfortunately, Dhaan above is correct about the WP and the hot Focal tweeter -- the breakup resonance indeed causes distortion throughout the presence region, and this is plainly audible in the original Focal (JM Labs) Utopias and the Wilsons. I once heard the Grand Utopia run with the On-Gaku, and the combo of the tweeter with typical high-ish tube amp output impedance made the speaker absolutely unlistenable (it was owned by an industry pro in NYC who is famous for being partially deaf).

Unfortunately, Dhaan above is correct about the WP and the hot Focal tweeter -- the breakup resonance indeed causes distortion throughout the presence region, and this is plainly audible in the original Focal (JM Labs) Utopias and the Wilsons.

I don't agree if you are referring to the W/P8 tweeter. I even ran some tests and eliminated it as the cause of issues Dhaan said he had heard with soprano and violin (he said any soprano and violin material would reveal it). He won't give me any specific recordings to test, so I can't figure out specifically what was causing the issues he was hearing. The break up mode should be below adult hearing threshold unless you are a pre-pre-teen.

If you want to give me some music you heard the problem on, as well as specific times and locations on the albums, I'll be glad to figure out what you were hearing. If it was tweeter break-up, which I doubt because of the high frequency location of the break-up mode, I'll be glad to confirm it or figure out what it is. I also have the ability to test it on three decent speakers (as I did previously with only two speakers).

I'm not sure about the W/P7 if that is what you are referring to... The W/P7 and W/P8 use different tweeters...

God God Jaybo, is there anything you haven't heard?

Undertow :
I have received your PM .
Thanks for your recommendation .

I was referring to the WP7 and was not aware that the WP8 uses a different tweeter. The WP7 tweeter exhibited harshness in the presence region (3 Khz. - 7 Khz.). Atkinson wrote the following in the measurements section of Stereophile's WP8 review:

"Despite my caution about the tweeter's dome resonance being close to the audioband, very little delayed energy seems to be associated with it, which will minimize any audible problems. The latest version of this Focal tweeter is definitely better than the one used in the W/P7."

That is good news!