Focal Kanta No.2

Focal unfortunately decided to price the Kanta 2 quite a bit higher for the US market in comparison to the European market. It sells around $8,500 in Europe sans VAT, which I would expect a $9,000 USD price, but not more. It does have a certain style and I believe Focal is banking on this being a compelling high end lifestyle speaker. 

It appears to have that odd suck out right where the mid crosses to the tweeter, but oddly flares back up at the 30 degree off center mark. Possibly something lost out in not using the more curved baffle shape from the upmarket Sopra. Speaker toe in is going to have a very notable affect on the balance.

It enters the market at well contested segment. B&W offers the 804D3, Dynaudio has the Contour 60, Paradigm has the Persona 3F, PSB offers the Imagine T3, Canton has the Reference 5K, Magico and Revel will be putting in new entries very shortly. Each speaker mentioned brings its own set of traits the table and are all easily competitive with one another.

I'm sure they'll be fine speakers, but value will likely be considered fair or simply just good, but nothing great. I do intend to pick up a new pair of speakers in the next year right around this price point. Should be good fun. 

All they really have to do is be as good or marginally better than the 1000 series Electra line which I suspect will be phased out soon. 

Some of my favorite speakers have had all sorts of measurement issues...My Wilson WP 6’s and 7’s, B&W 802D2’s, Totem Forest’s etc..yet they can sound amazing and all have quite a following.  Some measure while others listen.  A particular piece of the audio chain is just that...a piece.  How you put the pieces together is the art.  It’s all about balance and synergy!  Anyone who would buy a system based on measurements alone is chasing a fools dream.  

Measurements are a tool and just like any other, you are free to use them as you like. With them, you can certainly gain inference on how you might set up a pair in your room.

The exmaple of the B&W 802D2 isn't know to have linear dispersion across the audio band due to B&W's design which pushes the mid-tweeter crossover point well out of the mid range. With judicious setup and in room response measurements, I've seen them put in one very nicely done in room frequency response that belies its measured response.

One example is having the phase and impedance plot of a loudspeaker system can give you insights to what amps might be unsuitable or in the least not an ideal pairing.

As for this new Kanta 2, bass response has a quick fall which is certainly in place to keep distortion low. Deep bass will be missing and full range performance will need the assistance of a sub. Impedance does dip rather low at 100hz at 2.9Ohm and I would pair this speaker with amp that is known to be stable at that impedance range. Treble response is slightly shelved. Other that the toe in work, it shouldn't be to hard for room placement and I would think a good solid state amp that can provide current would work best. There are certainly enough options out there to fine tune the final result.

 I do think they will be overall as good as the Electra, but they are a bit different overall.

@mmeysarosh 
I'm going to pick on you because you said something that echos a sentiment I see tossed around here a lot about any speaker that doesn't dig down to 20Hz -3dB. 
The Kanta is going to perform very flatly down to it's 29Hz low point considering typical boundary reinforcement of the bass in a real room. Do people forget that these figures are free space "anechoic" performance measurements and that isn't the result you're going to get in an actual room?  
I'd expect bass response to be very comparable to my 936's being the difference in low point is 3Hz. I wouldn't even briefly consider a sub with mine. Any additional bass reinforcement above 32Hz would be insanely unrealistic.