I used to sell them, boring in my view. These are good www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gamut-El-Superiore-S5-Loudspeakers-with-crates-21-000-retail-/252507133818

The Focal Electra 1028 Be are excellent speakers, boring is not something I'd call them, but each to their own.

The are superb in the vocal department (best I've heard in many a price bracket), with a sweet treble and deep, full bass. They have to be partnered well to work at their best though, as they do sometimes have a tendency towards brightness if incorrectly matched. They're an relatively easy load though with a reasonable 97db.

Being as I think I'm correct that you're in France, you'll also pay a more reasonable price for them, if you were to buy new.

My Mezzo Utopias were very nice speakers.

I’d heartily recommend them based on my experience. It might be the system I use them in but I would describe them neither as boring or bright. I actually would describe them as both revealing and smooth. They will also show up, very readily, changes you make elsewhere in your system and I reckon in my own system they would be the last component I would upgrade. With them being ported at the front base of the speaker and with supplied foam bungs for the rear ports I’ve also found they’re very tolerant of different room shapes and sizes, from 35’ x 20’ at one extreme to 13’ x 11’ at the other.

If it also helps I’ve got a couple of friends who have, or have had, much fancier systems than my own and they are big fans of my speakers, albeit one did own 1037be in one of the much earlier iterations of his system.

Interesting that you say you don’t find them bright, it kind of confirms my suspicions and what others have suggested, that in my system the amps I use are probably unsuitable for the speakers, as I do get some brightness, more so on certain recordings, with certain voices at their most extreme.

Which Exposures? Old Farlowe ones were big hearted and full bodied. Early noughties Exposures had Kevin Edwards design influences I was told and these are more assertive as the Talk Electronics amps were I remember.

I'd politely suggest an alternative speaker cable to the Talk 3, as for whatever reason, the insulation material does seem to have an excessive dampening effect on the sonics. I ditched my related cable Talk Excel4 (fig-8 version of 4.1 and similar gauge to the current Talk 3) and replaced it with the not expensive Turkish made H-07V installation cable NVA use (seven strand at 2.5mm cross section). I found the sound 'fresher' and less 'cloudy' despite the same copper cross section.

I used to find *smaller* Focals all boom and tizz. Damping the ports with the optional bungs cleaned the boom up but the tizz was filling-removing I remember on the stand mounted sub £1200pr models I heard. I never heard the larger ones from this era but I have to say a recent hearing of the Kanta's at the Audio Show East left me totally underwhelmed by a kind of bland 'droning' quality all through the range (I need to hear them in different circumstances and preferably away from Naim)- Rega RX3's across the hall communicated in a far superior manner and the large domestically unsatisfactory JBL Synthesis models were so utterly wonderful they brought tears to my eyes...

Deep breath..... I actually agree with Dave's assessment of the Exposure amps and his cable thoughts. I think the 17 and 18 were updates of 7 and 8 but I'm unsure of the sound changed much. If they are anything like the earlier Exposures, I can attest to H-07 V being a highly suitable cable that you can buy for pennies. It saw off much more expensive and fancy cables when I used it.

I haven't heard any Focals so I can't really comment on their intrinsic qualities. They just aren't something I'd seek out as I couldn't live with their looks, no matter what they sounded like. 

Far be it from me to ever discourage someone from trying new boxes
it's always a fun learning experience, and buying used means no losses if you want to try something else.

J M Lab were the high end brand but they were merged with Focal which is the brand used for the whole range now.