From pro to hi-fi and a little confused...

Hi JohnK,
As a whole I agree with your statements about Large Hi sensitivity speakers, but your statements aren't entirely fair. I'll just take dyns... "You have to sit very close to smaller loudspeakers to reduce this if not music peaks will sound harsh" Yes, they are less sensitive and require some power, but dyn has a lower crossover point on most of its smaller speakers than most to make them completely listenable without it being a must for nearfield, I've listened to some great 6 1/2 inch from 12 feet away without issue, next "Thermal compression". These guys use 3" coils on their woofers and normally 1.25" coils on their tweeters and are quite capable of playing all frequencies with a fair amount of power without heating up and compressing frequencies. "Undersized Cabinets" & "Weak Magnets",
You know these drivers have Plenty of motor structure to do as designed and in proper cabinets to support their driver size and qts/vas capabilities....No, they won't compete with large high sensitve speakers in sheer dynamic range, but with the right amps are dynamic and smooth in their own right.
To the others, John makes some wonderful High Efficiency speakers, he knows his stuff, I just wanted a fair comparison.

Hi,
I have a pair of Focus 110A's and I really like them a lot. My audio system completely changed for the better with them.
I also have a pair of BM5A's and have compared the two briefly in the same system. The 110A's have better imaging, a tighter grip on the music, and are more holographic sounding. The BM5A's produce lower bass but also seem a bit boomy. Cello sounds better through the BM5A's. I preferred the 110A's for every other type of music.
The bass may seem lean at first but I believe it is the accuracy of the true active design of the 110A's that eliminates the muddy or boomy bass of many passive speakers.
The great part is that you can adjust the bass output depending on the placement of the speakers.
They are very revealing, to the point that I now prefer listening to my vinyl rather than CD's.
They tend to make aggressive rock music sound slightly polite which takes a bit of getting used to. As someone mentioned earlier, rock music comes from 15" woofers.
There are times when I cannot walk away from the music playing through these speakers because it is so lifelike. Good female voices give me goosebumps.
You will need a very good source to really enjoy them.
Good luck.

84db 1 watt 4 ohms you can bet that 3in coils near melting point at peaks. I do think its a fine sounding loudspeaker but its not without flaws or weakness like all things. To me I hear smaller designs compress dynamics and when played loud I here the effects of thermo compression. Maybe I'm just jaded but to me small is a compromise I do not want to make in my main system.

The smaller designs definitely compress and also suffer from port chuffing ( non linear port effects at large excursions). John is correct that big really is better in this case, however, small near fields are practical and bring aesthetic advantages over big bad boys.

There are measurements for focus 110

There is significant thermal compression at the low impedance points when playing loud. As volume increases from 90 to 95 dbSPL you lose as much as 3db at 50 and 150 Hz!

Provided you listen at a distance of 3 feet or less and do not require concert listening levels that should not be a huge problem. If these are used for mixing then a second pair of larger monitors will be required for bass checks.

Honestly, if your looking to maximize your $2k budget, I don't think powered speakers are what you should be looking at. The most "bang for your buck" is going to be a reasonable mix of an amp & speakers... preferably used. If my suggestion of Klipsch Haresys was too big, maybe something like Linn Kans, or Spicas, either one would sit on a desk top, or stand in a small room, and mate well to your subs. With all the money you'd still have, an amp should be no problem. Maybe a small Bryston, or even a Spectral DMA50... if you can find one. Point is, I don't think a powered speaker is really the most musical choice, given your budget.