Focal Kanta No.2

@mmeysarosh 

I don't agree with your assessment at all, and neither did RD at Stereophile. If you'd read the measurements instead of just glossing over them for a chart you'd have noticed JA pointing out that the measurements weren't accurate due to the near field technique he used. The 6-7dB you're talking about doesn't exist. It's maybe half that. It does NOT suggest uncontrolled behavior by the speaker. I have a guess as to why they measure with a hump where none is actually heard. 

Lets take a look at the entire comment. 

The complex sum of these nearfield responses, taking into account both acoustic phase and the different distance of each radiator from a nominal farfield microphone position, is shown as the trace below 300Hz in fig.4. A large part of the upper-bass peak apparent in this graph will be due to the inevitable exaggeration of the nearfield measurement technique. But with the overlap between the outputs of the three woofers and the midrange drive-unit in the same region, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Aria 936 will have too much upper-bass energy in all but very large rooms. I note that Bob Deutsch found that the Focal's bass sounded extended, but without the low frequencies sounding "boomy or bloated," which suggests that the woofer alignment is on the overdamped side. Though the tuning frequencies of the ports bracket 40Hz, close to the frequency of the lowest string of the electric bass and double bass, RD did comment on the Aria 936's excellent low-frequency extension; I suspect that this is actually related to the speaker's exaggerated upper bass.

JA doesn't note the near field measurements causing some of that result, be he clearly feels it is exaggerated. Even with that, boundary reinforcement is going to push some of that level back up, but will vary room to room. Take the Sopra 3, which had used the same measurements method practiced by the same tester and this much larger speaker produces around half the boost in the same region. 

Now the Kanta2 wasn't measured at Sterophile, but Germany's Stereoplay and they also have the Sopra2 for good comparison. The Sopra2 does go deeper, but those curves are more similar than different.

In the end, I think you'll find them less cleaner but less dynamic. I'm sure well hear your response in the near future.


Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-aria-936-loudspeaker-measurements#mSEBZCCqef7HYJtX.99

"A large part of the upper-bass peak apparent in this graph will be due to the inevitable exaggeration of the nearfield measurement technique."

He doesn't note that exaggeration being part of the measurement technique??? Yes, he does. He also seemed to struggle to explain what he described as the complicated behavior of the woofers and 3 ports. Don't ask me to explain it, but those things don't sound like what the raw numbers might suggest. 

He still has the opinion of the bass being exaggerated in his closing remarks and expects that over damping is being applied to preclude the expected effect of bloated or excess boom, which is a very common practice applied to a good number of designs.

There is a downside to the practice and its often resulting in the bass not having quite the tactful, taught, and resolute sound. A good example of this comparison would be the Revel F208 and its very similarly configured Studio2. Driver compliments are nearly a match and they share a good deal of design traits. The bass driver arrangement is similar, but the F208 shows some elevated response and measures down a bit further compared to its much more elaborate stablemate. The F208 is damped further than the Studio2 and the overall bass depth is a bit more obscured due to the down vs. front ported design. The Studio2 shows greater speed, articulation, and resolve compared to the F208 in listening, but I will tell you in certain genres of music the F208's bass outshines its more expensive twin. This is highly recording specific and and is bit of more fun choice in the F208's implementation vs resolve in the Studio2. A massive amount of this has to do with how and on what a recording was mastered on and what platforms the recording was tested on when finalizing.

My expectation is something similar will play out in the Aria vs Kanta2. A choice for greater faster and more articulate bass was likely made also with a goal of reduced distortion. That is something I see across Focal's upper end designs as they really try to push distortion much lower in upper end designs.  The Kanta2 is certainly taking its page from the Sopra series.

I don't think you're very far off in your assessment, however, I think that overlooks the strangeness in the port alignment. The 3 woofers don't appear to behave identically and I think that may be how they negate the more obvious artifacts of over-damping while enjoying the benefits.