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Focal Alpha Evo line - new speakers

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Deleted member 12642

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Surprised those guys haven't been measured, at least I can't find anything on them.
 

Nithy

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Anyone seen indepth reviews of these yet? I haven't been able to find any.

I'm in the market for near field monitors and these fall within my budget (<= $500 CAD / speaker).
 
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D

dfuller

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Anyone seen indepth reviews of these yet? I haven't been able to find any.

I'm in the market for near field monitors and these fall within my budget (<= $500 CAD / speaker).
Unfortunately nothing yet. Soon, I hope.
 

eberhwang

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Hello AudioScientists,

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

A bit about me (so you can take my information with context):
- Primarily bedroom DJ who plays House/Techno and records my sessions and uploads to sites such as Soundcloud, MixCloud, etc.
- Was using Yamaha HS8's for the past 7 years and recently decided get rid of them since they didnt work very well in my untreated space.
- Currently have Adam T7V and just recently received the Focal Alpha 65 EVO
- Current space is a small bedroom in an apartment with zero treatment and beyond abysmal position of my studio/setup.

So I recently sold my pair of Yamaha HS8 with matching subwoofer (HS8S) after moving into an apartment and basically had my creative space downsized pretty hard. Just the HS8's alone in a small room created way too much "boom" and overall huge clashing bass response even at low volume. This really disrupted me being able to hear any detail in the mids and highs and overall killed any kind of critical listening and no enjoyment to be had.

I have been following this thread for the past month just to get more details on someone personal experience with the Focal Alpha EVO line since they are so new and only just started to become widely available for purchase.

After selling my Yamahas I was left speaker-less and the wait for the EVO's became very real. During that time I managed to try a pair of Adam T7V while waiting for the EVO's.

My experience with the Adam T7V was actually very nice especially for my current room even in the terrible position and lack of treatment. The clarity, staging and separation of detail was definitely noticeable especially having been on the HS8's for so long. Just to be able to hear a different sound profile in my personal space was very interesting. However, the speakers themselves seem to top out at a decent volume when I have my master volume at maximum without going into the "reds". Definitely left something to be desired and even then Im pretty sure they were close to distorting anyways. But sound vs price and obviously just a different league overall it was expected.


Now for the Focal Alpha 65 EVO which I just received over the weekend. Barely even had time to really burn them in if at all. I'm giving my experience right out of the box and playing with them for slightly over the weekend.

First off they were immediately more powerful then the Adam T7V and already very comparable to the volume of the HS8's which I enjoyed very much especially if I felt like wanting to crank them up in those certain times. I set up the T7V & EVO's back and fourth a few times listening to the same tracks and the difference was night and day. Made the Adam's sound weak.

As I settled into the EVO's I was very impressed just how much bass the 6.5"woofers put out....it was more than enough that I wouldn't even consider a sub (not sure why I even had one when I owned the HS8's). Speaking of HS8's these completely blew them out of the water in every way. The EVO's were just as loud if not louder, cleaner bass and equal to that of an 8" Studio Monitor....but I was able to hear much more separation between kicks and low end bass synths, same went for mids and highs.

Sweet spot was actually very forgiving to as I was able to move outside my listening position without compromising the mids/highs. What surprised me more is that I had the same bass output and "boom" as the HS8's but never once did I have any difficulty making out any of the separation or over quality from clashing and droning bass in my un-treated tiny room. I can't describe why that is, but is a testament to me not missing my HS8's at all.

Although the Adam T7V probably make much more sense for my space...I refuse to return these. My space is temporary and I plan on treating the room to see if I can disperse and diffuse the bass waves no so much for improving sound but hopefully to lessen the clash for my neighbors sake lol.

Hope this helps even in the most novice sense since I know I can't really speak how this translates in a much more critical listening environment and application.

I'd be very curious to compare the old gen Alphas to see if I can distinguish the difference in terms of price and performance gained in the new gen EVO's since they cost almost double of the non-EVO's.

Looking forward to hearing more feedback from more serious users/owners of these monitors.

Cheers!
 

napilopez

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Hello AudioScientists,

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

A bit about me (so you can take my information with context):
- Primarily bedroom DJ who plays House/Techno and records my sessions and uploads to sites such as Soundcloud, MixCloud, etc.
- Was using Yamaha HS8's for the past 7 years and recently decided get rid of them since they didnt work very well in my untreated space.
- Currently have Adam T7V and just recently received the Focal Alpha 65 EVO
- Current space is a small bedroom in an apartment with zero treatment and beyond abysmal position of my studio/setup.

So I recently sold my pair of Yamaha HS8 with matching subwoofer (HS8S) after moving into an apartment and basically had my creative space downsized pretty hard. Just the HS8's alone in a small room created way too much "boom" and overall huge clashing bass response even at low volume. This really disrupted me being able to hear any detail in the mids and highs and overall killed any kind of critical listening and no enjoyment to be had.

I have been following this thread for the past month just to get more details on someone personal experience with the Focal Alpha EVO line since they are so new and only just started to become widely available for purchase.

After selling my Yamahas I was left speaker-less and the wait for the EVO's became very real. During that time I managed to try a pair of Adam T7V while waiting for the EVO's.

My experience with the Adam T7V was actually very nice especially for my current room even in the terrible position and lack of treatment. The clarity, staging and separation of detail was definitely noticeable especially having been on the HS8's for so long. Just to be able to hear a different sound profile in my personal space was very interesting. However, the speakers themselves seem to top out at a decent volume when I have my master volume at maximum without going into the "reds". Definitely left something to be desired and even then Im pretty sure they were close to distorting anyways. But sound vs price and obviously just a different league overall it was expected.


Now for the Focal Alpha 65 EVO which I just received over the weekend. Barely even had time to really burn them in if at all. I'm giving my experience right out of the box and playing with them for slightly over the weekend.

First off they were immediately more powerful then the Adam T7V and already very comparable to the volume of the HS8's which I enjoyed very much especially if I felt like wanting to crank them up in those certain times. I set up the T7V & EVO's back and fourth a few times listening to the same tracks and the difference was night and day. Made the Adam's sound weak.

As I settled into the EVO's I was very impressed just how much bass the 6.5"woofers put out....it was more than enough that I wouldn't even consider a sub (not sure why I even had one when I owned the HS8's). Speaking of HS8's these completely blew them out of the water in every way. The EVO's were just as loud if not louder, cleaner bass and equal to that of an 8" Studio Monitor....but I was able to hear much more separation between kicks and low end bass synths, same went for mids and highs.

Sweet spot was actually very forgiving to as I was able to move outside my listening position without compromising the mids/highs. What surprised me more is that I had the same bass output and "boom" as the HS8's but never once did I have any difficulty making out any of the separation or over quality from clashing and droning bass in my un-treated tiny room. I can't describe why that is, but is a testament to me not missing my HS8's at all.

Although the Adam T7V probably make much more sense for my space...I refuse to return these. My space is temporary and I plan on treating the room to see if I can disperse and diffuse the bass waves no so much for improving sound but hopefully to lessen the clash for my neighbors sake lol.

Hope this helps even in the most novice sense since I know I can't really speak how this translates in a much more critical listening environment and application.

I'd be very curious to compare the old gen Alphas to see if I can distinguish the difference in terms of price and performance gained in the new gen EVO's since they cost almost double of the non-EVO's.

Looking forward to hearing more feedback from more serious users/owners of these monitors.

Cheers!

Welcome to the forum!

And thank you for sharing your impressions! There's very little data about these speakers and though I'm tempted to ask Focal for a review unit I have a bazillion reviews to get through.

Do you have a measurement microphone like the MiniDSP Umik-1?
 

eberhwang

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Welcome to the forum!

And thank you for sharing your impressions! There's very little data about these speakers and though I'm tempted to ask Focal for a review unit I have a bazillion reviews to get through.

Do you have a measurement microphone like the MiniDSP Umik-1?

Thanks! I can't imagine, but looking forward to hearing your review whenever that happens! Unfortunately I don't have a measurement mic.
 

YSC

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Welcome to the forum!

And thank you for sharing your impressions! There's very little data about these speakers and though I'm tempted to ask Focal for a review unit I have a bazillion reviews to get through.

Do you have a measurement microphone like the MiniDSP Umik-1?
Somehow personally I am more interested in how good these really budget lines can go, and compare to something below $1500 a pair.

after all these are the main products most looking for reviews will be interested at compared to the mega dollar stuffs
 

cidel fastro

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Hello AudioScientists,

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

A bit about me (so you can take my information with context):
- Primarily bedroom DJ who plays House/Techno and records my sessions and uploads to sites such as Soundcloud, MixCloud, etc.
- Was using Yamaha HS8's for the past 7 years and recently decided get rid of them since they didnt work very well in my untreated space.
- Currently have Adam T7V and just recently received the Focal Alpha 65 EVO
- Current space is a small bedroom in an apartment with zero treatment and beyond abysmal position of my studio/setup.

So I recently sold my pair of Yamaha HS8 with matching subwoofer (HS8S) after moving into an apartment and basically had my creative space downsized pretty hard. Just the HS8's alone in a small room created way too much "boom" and overall huge clashing bass response even at low volume. This really disrupted me being able to hear any detail in the mids and highs and overall killed any kind of critical listening and no enjoyment to be had.

I have been following this thread for the past month just to get more details on someone personal experience with the Focal Alpha EVO line since they are so new and only just started to become widely available for purchase.

After selling my Yamahas I was left speaker-less and the wait for the EVO's became very real. During that time I managed to try a pair of Adam T7V while waiting for the EVO's.

My experience with the Adam T7V was actually very nice especially for my current room even in the terrible position and lack of treatment. The clarity, staging and separation of detail was definitely noticeable especially having been on the HS8's for so long. Just to be able to hear a different sound profile in my personal space was very interesting. However, the speakers themselves seem to top out at a decent volume when I have my master volume at maximum without going into the "reds". Definitely left something to be desired and even then Im pretty sure they were close to distorting anyways. But sound vs price and obviously just a different league overall it was expected.


Now for the Focal Alpha 65 EVO which I just received over the weekend. Barely even had time to really burn them in if at all. I'm giving my experience right out of the box and playing with them for slightly over the weekend.

First off they were immediately more powerful then the Adam T7V and already very comparable to the volume of the HS8's which I enjoyed very much especially if I felt like wanting to crank them up in those certain times. I set up the T7V & EVO's back and fourth a few times listening to the same tracks and the difference was night and day. Made the Adam's sound weak.

As I settled into the EVO's I was very impressed just how much bass the 6.5"woofers put out....it was more than enough that I wouldn't even consider a sub (not sure why I even had one when I owned the HS8's). Speaking of HS8's these completely blew them out of the water in every way. The EVO's were just as loud if not louder, cleaner bass and equal to that of an 8" Studio Monitor....but I was able to hear much more separation between kicks and low end bass synths, same went for mids and highs.

Sweet spot was actually very forgiving to as I was able to move outside my listening position without compromising the mids/highs. What surprised me more is that I had the same bass output and "boom" as the HS8's but never once did I have any difficulty making out any of the separation or over quality from clashing and droning bass in my un-treated tiny room. I can't describe why that is, but is a testament to me not missing my HS8's at all.

Although the Adam T7V probably make much more sense for my space...I refuse to return these. My space is temporary and I plan on treating the room to see if I can disperse and diffuse the bass waves no so much for improving sound but hopefully to lessen the clash for my neighbors sake lol.

Hope this helps even in the most novice sense since I know I can't really speak how this translates in a much more critical listening environment and application.

I'd be very curious to compare the old gen Alphas to see if I can distinguish the difference in terms of price and performance gained in the new gen EVO's since they cost almost double of the non-EVO's.

Looking forward to hearing more feedback from more serious users/owners of these monitors.

Cheers!

I have the HS8 for more than a year now and love them but they are quite overkill for my room as well same as you im bedroom producer who plays same generes. You had the chance to compare some mixes on both and hear how they translate on other systems? Im thinking on selling my HS8 and getting these but there no much info and reviews so im quite hesitate.
 

eberhwang

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I have the HS8 for more than a year now and love them but they are quite overkill for my room as well same as you im bedroom producer who plays same generes. You had the chance to compare some mixes on both and hear how they translate on other systems? Im thinking on selling my HS8 and getting these but there no much info and reviews so im quite hesitate.

Hi Cidel,

Funny you mention this because that was the same situation for me as well. So unfortunately I feel like the Alpha 65 EVO will likely still be overkill for your room. The bass response is very similar to the HS8's...which is amazing for 6.5' woofers.

If you're concerned about disturbing your neighbors like me that might be a problem. However if you are not disturbing anyone and concerned more about clarity and details due to the size of your room I can tell you that in a small room the HS8's lack the detail and separation when being used in an untreated small apartment bedroom. Definitely not-ideal.

However the Alpha 65 EVO's sound night and day better then the HS8's in the same space. Even with the heavy low end accumulation in my room the clarity and separation is so good on the Focal's at low and high volumes I was never left disappointed.

So to be clear the Adam T7V make more sense for my space, but the difference in sound quality, details, separation, staging were just so much better than the HS8's an T7V I decided to keep them.

If you have been used to listening to HS8's for a while now I would definitely start trying out newer models of speakers since Im certain there are newer technologies that give you more bang for your buck over an aging Yamaha design. The Focals are definitely a step up that matches the price IMHO. I'm blown away by DJing on these and the detail and separation across the lows, mids, and highs have allowed me to beat-match cleaner with more precision. Listening to tracks all over again and being hear more.

I may end up investing in some bass traps and/or diffusers.

Hope this helps whatever decision you make ;)
 

MDel

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There is a measurement for Focal Alpha50 Evo: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=195953&page=1

He measures speakers in his listening room, but they're still valuable.

FR.jpg


horizontal.jpg

vertical top.jpg

vertical bottom.jpg

harmonic.jpg





Here are some other reviews for comparison
Genelec 8030c: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182154
Adam T5V: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182395
ㄴ His distortion measurements before August 12th should be given about -10dB offset
 
Last edited:

richard12511

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There is a measurement for Focal Alpha50 Evo: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=195953&page=1

He measures speakers in his listening room, but they're still valuable.

View attachment 151704

View attachment 151705
View attachment 151706
View attachment 151707
View attachment 151708




Here are some other reviews for comparison
Genelec 8030c: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182154
Adam T5V: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182395
ㄴ His distortion measurements before August 12th should be given about -10dB offset
Looks really good.
 
OP
D

dfuller

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That looks legitimately excellent. Maybe a new king for sub-$1000?

@amirm @hardisj or @napilopez - any of you able to get your hands on one of these for testing?
 
Last edited:

ernestcarl

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There is a measurement for Focal Alpha50 Evo: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=195953&page=1

He measures speakers in his listening room, but they're still valuable.

View attachment 151704

View attachment 151705
View attachment 151706
View attachment 151707
View attachment 151708




Here are some other reviews for comparison
Genelec 8030c: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182154
Adam T5V: https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=speakers&no=182395
ㄴ His distortion measurements before August 12th should be given about -10dB offset

Found the multitone comparison with the KH120s (EVO looks better, BTW) very interesting.
 
OP
D

dfuller

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really looking excellent! basically flat sens the 13khz +4db peak from 50hz-20khz!
that peak is probably waveguide diffraction which probably isn't audible as it would mostly disappear if smoothed to 1/12 octave - so for all intents and purposes, this is flat flat flat.
 

napilopez

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Doesn't look too shabby! And they seem to be quasi-anechoic measurements?

The scaling for the on-axis makes it look a little prettier than it is, but for the directivity measurements those look like some of the best performance I've seen from Focal. Better than the Solo6 Be for sure. And the waveguide barely narrows directivity if at all, still at roughly -10dB at 90 degrees horizontal from 1kHz to 8kHz-- much wider than the vast majority of studio monitors. Most of the waveguided ones are down about 15dB by 8kHz.

On axis doesn't look perfect but it doesn't seem to be very tonally unbalanced either. There's enough information in those graphs to make a mostly-accurate spinorama, maybe i'll go ahead and trace those curves later

Edit: In the meantime, here's the on-axis at a more reasonable scaling. Of course, not knowing the methodology and such I can't know how reliable this is but to me it looks flat enough. Biggest issue is the overall scoop from 400Hz to 1kHz.
On-Axis.jpg
 
Last edited:

napilopez

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Alright, it goes without saying that it is an unreliable way to create a spinorama out of someone else's data with no information on methodology and incomplete measurements (only front hemisphere, 15 degree intervals). But as I've shown here, usually you only need the front hemisphere to get pretty close to the 'real' thing on a typical monopole speaker. The data was also smoothed to 1/12 octave and you can ignore everything below 200Hz for the off-axis data as that was basically very roughly blended in vituixcad.

Still, assuming the above measurements are accurate, this should provide a decent idea of what to expect and recontextualize the measurements in a format we're more used to:
Alpha 50 Evo Spin Estimate.jpg


Seems like it might be ever slightly recessed in the mids and/or bright in the presence region, which is pretty much the case for almost all of focal's speakers, just to varying degrees. Otherwise it should throw out a very wide soundstage with good imaging and be mostly tonally balanced. For nearfield use, the listening window looks mostly peachy so these seem to be a very solid contender for $700 a pair.
 

flyhigh

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Doesn't look too shabby! And they seem to be quasi-anechoic measurements?

The scaling for the on-axis makes it look a little prettier than it is, but for the directivity measurements those look like some of the best performance I've seen from Focal. Better than the Solo6 Be for sure. And the waveguide barely narrows directivity if at all, still at roughly -10dB at 90 degrees horizontal from 1kHz to 8kHz-- much wider than the vast majority of studio monitors. Most of the waveguided ones are down about 15dB by 8kHz.

On axis doesn't look perfect but it doesn't seem to be very tonally unbalanced either. There's enough information in those graphs to make a mostly-accurate spinorama, maybe i'll go ahead and trace those curves later

Edit: In the meantime, here's the on-axis at a more reasonable scaling. Of course, not knowing the methodology and such I can't know how reliable this is but to me it looks flat enough. Biggest issue is the overall scoop from 400Hz to 1kHz.
View attachment 151823

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)
 

Pearljam5000

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I don't know what the measurements mean but I had the old Alpha 80 and tweeter was just bad... But I'm not sure if The the Alpha Evo uses the same one.
No comparison to Genelec / Neumann.. Not even on the same planet.
But it had a ton of bass...
 

napilopez

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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)

Thanks for that, I figured by the images it was all quasi-anechoic since the methodology appeared to be quite similar to my own
 
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