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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…

onehorsepony
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,563 posts
 

Three things can help.

First, your choice in amplification is not helping. Those Classe Class D amps were not known for their warmth. if you want to stay with Class D, move to something like AGD and it will improve the situation. I know Classe and B&W were sister companies and voiced together, etc… but I had one of those amps here and I think you might benefit from a switch. Naim is a better match for Focal than Classe ever was for B&W IMO.

Second, with Focal, over toeing the speakers can help. Instead of having the toeing right at you, have it toed so the sweet spot would be about 3’ in front of you. This will help with Sopra and Kanta and might solve your problem.

Third, dampen your room. Over damping will deaden the treble. Curtains, tapestries, etc….

 

The best alternatives for a more natural sound while not losing anything in terms of detail and image in this price tier, check out Perlisten. The S7t towers. Despite beryllium tweeters, they are not even a little bright. Another alternative is the Wilson Benesch Precision series. I had a customer move from Focal Electras to Wilson Benesch P3.0s and they solved his brightness issue and he said they are better in every way.

 

full disclosure, I am a dealer for all of these brands except B&W and Classe.

 

mtrot
804 posts
 

Yeah, if you are sensitive to brightness in speakers, I don't see Focal as your solution.  I've listened to Aria, Kanta, and Sopra and they are all going to be pretty detailed and hot in the treble.  As others have mentioned, I would give a listen to Sonus Faber Olympica or Olympica Nova. I think they are on to something with their DAD tweeter.

You might also check into Audio Solutions out of Lithuania. They are very neutral and the tweeters are not "bright".

erik_squires
17,538 posts
 

Focals do not do well pointed at your head.  They need little to no toe in.

Having said that, I like Monitor Audio and speakers from Fritz better.

winoguy17
1,324 posts
 

^^^ 

 what Erik said. I have very little toe-in on mine. I do not find them to be bright, but rather very revealing of every thing else in the chain. I did change my cabling after I had them for a short while, they do not need silver to shine. I love these things, they just do every thing to my liking, and if you want to rock, they go beautifully loud effortlessly.

 

johnlnyc's avatar
johnlnyc
59 posts
 

Interestingly, we often let the visual impact the aural. Conventional wisdom emerges. 
In my experience for example, tubes look warm, are warm yet do not necessarily sound warm (or warmer).
Tweeter materials don’t necessarily sound a certain way. metal domes are shiny looking but don’t sound “bright.” A speaker’s sound is dependent on far more than tweeter or woofer cone materials. I have some experience with Revel (Voecks designs going back to Snell) and never found them “bright”…I never found my CJ preamps (with Krell SS amps) to be “warm”….

This is worth perusing

Finally, the made in China issue.

I just found out Dynaudio speakers (at least some) are “Made in China.” Some Revel’s are “assembled” in Indonesia (not sure about China). There is a difference between design, engineering, parts manufacture and assembly etc. Regardless, quality control is critical…here, there, or wherever.

 

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