Focal Kanta No.2

Kanta no3 will be out soon enough. Two 8.25” woofers and bigger cabinet. Should easily satisfy your “full range” needs for about $3,000 more...

As someone who has actually heard and spent a lot of time with the no2’s (what a concept!), I find the bass to be intensely impressive based on cabinet size.  Can’t wait to hear the no3.

The measurements are from German magazine Stereoplay and I would expect a -6db @ 29hz and that specification from Focal is likely specified for the average room. They also tested the Sopra 3 and came up with -6db @ 29hz for the larger twin 8.25", which would give you a pretty full range performance.

The Sopra's and Kanta alike have a quick roll off in bass, in due to keeping driver distortion at a minimum.  There are likely no 6.5" driver that could go realistically below 30hz at an appreciable level without getting into excessive distortion. They did the appropriate thing by keeping the design low distortion, which would be an expectation for most at this price. Now as for its bass performance to its size, hard to really tell since the size isn't easy to determine with the dimensions being taken a bit from the footer. But the speaker doesn't appear overbearing in size by any means. 

Does anybody know if Kanta No. 2 is going to be demoed at AXPONA?  I have reservations and tickets in hand!  I really need to hear these before proceeding with any speaker purchase.  Nobody within hundreds of miles from me seems to have these, sadly.

@mmeysarosh 
No. The Focal published specs are anechoic measurements and generally reflect the anechoic measurements taken by JA at Stereophile. Nobody takes measurements, especially in the bass region, in a room. The measurement results would be as much a product of the room performance as the speaker performance. 

This is the core of the point I'm trying to make. People look at frequency responses which are universally taken in an anechoic environment or something simulating a speaker responding in a free air half sphere, and the assume those are the figures they're going to get in a typical room. They absolutely aren't. Something with a -6dB low point at 29Hz will likely be completely flat to at least that point in a real room with sensible placement. 

The sharp roll off is a product of the port tuning point which is probably 35Hz, give or take. The port quickly unloads the driver much below that point and does the exact opposite of stemming distortion. Once the woofers are unloaded by the ports mechanical damping takes over. This is why Focal aggressively damps their drivers. 

You can also look at the NRC measurements for the Sopra 2 and see that Focal's figures don't correlate at all with Focal specified frequency response for the Sopra 2. That test is in the NRC chamber and you can see crossed response the steps into the port response and requires room reinforcement. Stereophile had indicated the larger Sopra 3 had its port tuned to around 32hz. Based on the NRC chart, the Sopra 2 is around 36hz and I would likely guess the Kanta could be around 38hz port tuning due to its slightly lesser specification as compared to the Sopra 2. The takeaway is simple, The Sopra 2 or Kanta 2 aren't full range designs and neither are they meant to be. The Sopra 2 does have decently low distortion at pretty honest 90db. The tweeter does lose linearity at 95db. I would expect distortion would be increasing anything above that level. Look at the distortion the NRC recorded for the Sopra 2 at 95db, it doesn't rise to appreciably from the bass drivers. I consider this to be a good design choice as you really don't want it to muddy the mid bass and lower mids. Now look at the Kef Reference 3 at the NRC. They decided to permit their small drivers to push just a bit lower than Focal had. When pushed at 95db, the distortion levels rise notably above what the Sopra 2. I prefer the Focal design route here in not pushing a smaller driver further than need be. The Sopra 2 distortion ends well below 200hz, the Kef Ref 3 end just shy of 400hz.  Kef had done a better job in keeping the mid and tweeter driver in terms of linearity and distortion, but the Sopra does have a wider dispersion in most the the usable audio band. 

Now lets be honest hear, Focal's spec sheet is lacking just like every manufacture throughout the speaker world. Also, not a single speaker designer on the planet will attest to 6.5" drivers being able to appreciably reach full range response without significant distortion of driver itself, or any driver in production at least. To engineer drivers that possibly could might take half the cost of the speaker given the use of four in a stereo pair. The spec sheet is a rough guide, but none are a gold standard as every maker knows that they need to market any product in the best light possible, even some notably fudging with the numbers to get there.

If you want to see some impressive NRC figures, the Magico S5 is superbly impressive in the bass area. The tweeter distortion is also great, just not linearity. He has seem to made some strides since then.

I will give the Sopra 2 a nod for being one of the better speakers at its price point. Even the Sopra 3 is pretty damn good at its point and I would say the Canton 3K the nod for best competitor to the Sopra 2. The Kanta 2 is well priced in Europe, just not here. The Contour 60 is quite the opposite being nine thousand euro and ten grand here. I consider the Kanta slightly expensive in the US, but it does have the best aesthetics of any of the close competitors.  The Kanta 3 might very well be the overall ticket since I'm not very appreciable to the stature of the Contour 60. The Magico A3 seems interesting, but a certainly a very plain looking box. The listening later on shall tell all.