Travelinjack,
I have owned Focal speakers out of the Chorus line for an old home theater. Nice for the money. The higher end Focals keep the same sound but are on another level for clarity and soundstage while maybe a little leaner.
Revels (that I own now) have a very similar house sound as focal. The Sopra to the Revel performa-be line are similar in sound. The Sopra has more air in the highs and upper mids. The Revels are a hair more rolled off in the highs and a touch tighter in the bass. Cost no object I like the Sopra 3 the best but at $24,000 in the US now seems silly next to the 228be for $11,000. Across the pond prices are about the same I would take the Focal every time for the looks alone and I like the added air but I feel the revels are more accurate.
A short A/B video of the Focals and Revels.
https://youtu.be/Y7xJjesFGKkTo the original poster I doubt he will like the Revel as they are not really lookers but they play nice being close to the front wall too with the early rolling down of the bass like the sopra’s. You might be surprised how close the 226be gets to the Sopra in performance. Once you add subs all these speakers are splitting hairs.
Another model to add is the Sonus Faber Olympica III. Really great speaker and used for $7500 -ish. Looks amazing. Every time I go speaker shopping the wife ask if I like the Sonus Fabers lol.