@onehorsepony Kanta is the starting point.
Is your room treated? Speaker placement will only get you so far. At a minimum take care of first reflection points.
Focal Sopra, Kanta, Aria
I’m confused. I’ve been in the market to replace my B&W 802D speakers. I’ve had them for 10 years and finally cannot take the brightness of them anymore. I’ve replaced amps, preamps, cables, sources, and yet the fundamental brightness is there, fatiguing me after only 1-hour of listening.
I auditioned the Focal Sopra 3 which I am told are not as bright and more musical. LIstened to them a few times, and honestly felt that they were also on the bright side similar to the B&W’s.
Another time I listened to the Focal Kanta 3 speaker. Like the Sopra it also has the Beryllium tweeter. Yet the one time I listened to these, they didn’t seem as bright.
Anyway, recently a friend of mine was in the process of moving, and I stored his Focal Aria 936 speakers at my home. I decided to hook them up to my electronics in my listening room just out of curiosity.
What I found were loudspeakers that were not bright (non beryllium tweeter), a warmer sound, probably due to a better mid-bass then the big 802’s. The extreme resolution was not there, and the midrange seemed congested at times. Yet, I found I could listen and enjoy these speakers for hours at a time. Bad recordings sounded good, and great recordings sounded, well, good also. Speaker placement made minimal difference.
My questions is at what is the sweet spot for Focal speakers. The point where they sound wonderful with extended listening, vs the point where they become a finicky pain in the ass to live with (aka 802D).
I was expecting to spend around an equal amount of money as the 802’s as a starting point, now I’m not so sure if I need to.
Thanks in advance for everyone’s input…
- ...
- 47 posts total
@audphile1 +1
OP: I realize we all hear differently and prefer different sound. However, I can’t possibly understand how one can describe B&W 802 D4 as “bright”. Very odd |
I have never owned the 802D. That’s like four generations ago. I own the 803 D3, for about three years now, and they are definitely not bright to me. See my profile for my current gear. Definitely “sparkles” in spades, but not bright. I like sparkling sound. My room is fully treated though, and measured for proper placement, although that’s not a deal breaker.
I listened to the D4 series at my dealer. Several times. And I have listen to a large range of speakers over the years, at dealers’ and friends’ and many audio shows. If I were to ever be swapping my speakers, it will still be the B&W. Likely the 802 this time around.
Anyways, I sense you are set for changing your speaker brand. Which is perfectly fine. Been there, done that, I know the feeling. Good luck with your pursuit and enjoy the process |
I owned N803 for many years and listened to 802D3 several times. B&W has its own sound. Some like it some don’t. But the 800 line of speakers is resolving and dynamic. I would not classify it as bright. There’s some midrange hump that emphasizes the vocals and goes into the presence region. Could be pleasant or fatiguing depending on your set up and room acoustics I ran my B&Ws with Pass X250.5 amplifier and ARC LS-25 preamp and that set up sounded amazing. |
- 47 posts total