Focal Alpha Evo line - new speakers

[Kronk]

There is also a comparison between the 50 Evo and the 60 Evo.

 

[dfuller]

There is also a comparison between the 50 Evo and the 60 Evo.

Tricky comparison as it's an in room compariosn, but the Evo sounds cleaner and more open to me. The original Alpha sounds messy in the upper bass and sort of... weird, in the top end. I can't quite describe it other than kind of lifeless.

 

[Filio45]

How about build and reliability with Focal monitors? I had a pair of Focal Spirit pro headphones a while back that developed a crack in the headband. Turned out to be a common issue and for many happened just outside the warranty period. So not a happy first experience of the Focal brand for me. There's a two year warranty on these Alpha's, which is okay but not overly long either. Is their customer support decent and would it cost a lot to get them repaired outside warranty? Not that I would be expecting issues ...

 

[dfuller]

How about build and reliability with Focal monitors? I had a pair of Focal Spirit pro headphones a while back that developed a crack in the headband. Turned out to be a common issue and for many happened just outside the warranty period. So not a happy first experience of the Focal brand for me. There's a two year warranty on these Alpha's, which is okay but not overly long either. Is their customer support decent and would it cost a lot to get them repaired outside warranty? Not that I would be expecting issues ...

I've owned a set of Alphas and a set of Shapes. One of the Shapes had a driver get destroyed in shipping; support was quite helpful at getting me a replacement part.

 

[Filio45]

Just wanted to chime in regarding the Focal Alpha 65 Evo's and see if I can offer some insight.

Hi. Just wondering what size your small room is and assume you tried turning down the bass to -6 to reduce the boom? I'm trying to decide between the 65 and 50 evos..

 

[Filio45]

Another Korean review; this time the Evo 65's and he takes some basic measurements fwiw.

 

[Andre]

I had the old Alpha 80 and tweeter was just bad...

Was it beacause of the presure? I have alpha 65 and I did measured with calibrated mic peak over 21kHz. I cannot hear it but I can feel the presure, so I did cut it off with eq.
I'm using them with a room eq and love them, sounds perfect. I did tried alpha 80 but those are bad - soundstage is only in backward behind speakers and 8" plays mids without juice. Alpha 50 on the other side supposedly have only forward soundstage.
But:
1. When I listen on low volume stand-by turns them off. Even though I have a newer revision(they are 3 years old now), supposedly first rev. had even higher threshold. (Found a mod to disable stand-by, pcb with a few parts, but I'm too lazy to do it.)
2. I can hear a transformer humm.

So I have just ordered Alpha 65 Evo. I will post a measuremet comparison. Hopefully D-class amp hiss will not be loud and annoying like on Adam T7V.


// here is my Alpha 65 (not Evo), u can see that peak over 20kHz, mic is umik-1 calibrated by cross spectrum labs
blue before, red after eq, one speaker, 1/12 smoothing graph
(peak on 50Hz and 100-400Hz is only cause of my room)

 

[Andre]

So I have just got 65 Evo and I'm already returning them. Volume of the hiss and humm is the same, but hiss is more annoying - fluctuating and with a quiet high fluctuating tone. Sad that Focal has not shield them better.

 

[sweetchaos]

The author (Nuyes) described his methods in Korean.
https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view?id=speakers&no=196111

According to Nuyes's post (and my understanding),
Frequency response was measured by
1.
Measurement of room response before arrival of first reflective sound.
The time of arrival of first reflective sound was determined using Impulse response (REW IR windows)

2.
Near field measurment (close miking) of woofer and port in a room(relatively well damped) with additional inclosure baffle diffraction compensation (~600Hz) http://audio.claub.net/software/jbabgy/BDBS.html
Due to round edge of Focal Evo, baffle diffraction compensation may be incorrect around 700Hz and above.

3. Combining 1(around 600Hz and higher) and 2 (below around 600 Hz)

That's awesome. Thanks for this information.

Is there some way we can get him to consider creating quasi-anechoic spinorama graphs as well?
He can refer to Napilopez's article here.

If he starts making them, we can digitize the data (assuming he doesn't provide the full spin data in raw format) and then we can calculate the preference score.

I would message him on that website, but I don't think it will translate well into Korean.

 

[Muelli]

Sound&Recording just published some measurements of the Focal Evo 65.

 

[dfuller]

Sound&Recording just published some measurements of the Focal Evo 65.

Hmm... That's not horrible, but not amazing either. Definitely the best spin I've seen from Focal...

 

[napilopez]

Sound&Recording just published some measurements of the Focal Evo 65.

Hmm... That's not horrible, but not amazing either. Definitely the best spin I've seen from Focal...

Woah! When did S&R start doing spins? First time I've seen one. Great to see them adopt the format for easy comparison.

Anyway, agreed, that's one of the better measuring focals. Directivity seems more even than usual, probably thanks to the small waveguide. Main issue that's likely to be audible is the overall scoop between 400-1000hz to my eye and the typical focal directivity shape

 

[mightycicadalord]

dem tweeter resonances

 

[sweetchaos]

Wow first spin from S&R!

Earlier, I donated and Amir has purchased the 65 Evo. So we should see a review soon.

 

[Pearljam5000]

 

[mightycicadalord]

Wow first spin from S&R!

Earlier, I donated and Amir has purchased the 65 Evo. So we should see a review soon.

I feel like I've been seeing spins on their site for a long time

 

[sweetchaos]

I feel like I've been seeing spins on their site for a long time

I don't mean the on-axis frequency response that they normally post:

I mean the full CEA 2034 spinorama that they posted with this review:

 

[mightycicadalord]

Ah gotcha. Wonder if the tweeter spikes are from the inverted dome.

 

[dfuller]

Ah gotcha. Wonder if the tweeter spikes are from the inverted dome.

The lower one is probably diffraction related, might be audible might not be. If it's annoying, PEQ it down.

 

[mightycicadalord]

The lower one is probably diffraction related, might be audible might not be. If it's annoying, PEQ it down.

I had the pre-evo alphas for awhile, I liked what the woofer did, but the tweeter always had a zing to it and I had hard time judging what was happening up there. I guess those spikes are probably why. Can you EQ down spikes that narrow?