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Focal Chora 816 Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 1.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 27 9.1%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 168 56.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 96 32.4%

  • Total voters
    296

PierreV

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It seems Focal keeps delivering respectable products regardless of its lineup. The only "negative" surprise I've had with the brand is when I realized their Kantas delivered a performance that was, to my ears, very close to my Utopias. I could probably have aimed lower without any real drawbacks. I try to comfort myself by telling myself that, as far as punchy delivery in a large room, the Utopias still have the edge... Probably true, not that I take much advantage of it.
 

dogmamann

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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of Focal Chora 816 floor-standing/tower speaker. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $499.
View attachment 272090
Despite the low price, the speaker is beautifully finished with a curved port and beautiful light oak finish:
View attachment 272091

A magnetic grill covers the dual woofers but leaves the port and tweeter alone as there is nothing to damage there.

Speaker is made in France which again, is surprising given the low cost.

The design is 2.5 way, seemingly aimed at home theater applications. Past 2.5-way designs we have reviewed have had issues so let's see if they persist here as well.

Note: by experimentation, I arrived at the reference axis at the upper rim of the mid-woofer below tweeter.

Focal Chora 816 Measurements
Let's start with our usual anechoic frequency response measurements:
View attachment 272092

At "macro" level the response is good with more or less flat on-axis. There are however small chewiness especially in midfrequencies. And somewhat elevated treble. Sensitivity is high at 91+ which is a benefit of large enclosure of a tower speaker. Bass extension is down to 45 Hz or so (F6). Measuring each driver at point blank gives us more insight at the reasons for above:
View attachment 272094

With cabinet/port and lower frequency woofer resonating, we get fair bit of variations in mid frequencies as noted. Nicely though, the mid-woofer (blue) resonances are at higher frequencies and lower amplitude so not as destructive.

Early window reflections average out to smoother response but with a pronounced peak around 8 kHz. Given how broad it is, it will be pretty audible:
View attachment 272097

It shows up clearly in predicted in-room response:
View attachment 272098

So we are going to have some brightness but otherwise, response is pretty smooth.

Benefit of the 2.5 way design comes from two woofers holding hands to produce much more power relative to distortion they produce as each working in more linear region:
View attachment 272099

View attachment 272100

Horizontal beamwidth is fairly controlled which was a pleasant surprise:
View attachment 272101

From memory, I thought it narrowed sooner than typical 2-way designs:
View attachment 272103

Vertically there is good bit of narrowing so best to position your ear at the upper rim of the mid-woofer:
View attachment 272104

Impedance curve is complex due to the design but has a typical 4 ohm low point:
View attachment 272105

Waterfall display shows fair bit of resonances:
View attachment 272106

And here is the step response for fans of that:
View attachment 272107

Focal Chora 816 Speaker Listening Tests
Upon power up, I immediately noticed the extra sharpness. Mind you, it was pleasant in the way it brought out so much detail but still, it was too much. Per measurements, I dialed in a single filter for that:
View attachment 272111

The sound was still a bit bright but I wanted to keep that character there so did not play with it more. On bass heavy material, the response from speaker went down low enough to activate the room mode I have at 105 Hz so I quickly dialed in a dip for that (not a fault of the speaker). That tightened the bass and now the sound was very enjoyable. What really impressed me was the incredible dynamics and power handling of this speaker. Powered by my 800 watt amplifier, it played effortlessly with impressive, gut feeling bass. Sub-bass response (below 30 Hz) was there and only slightly distorted. Certainly far, far above any 2-way speaker I have tested in this regard. And probably the best sound I have heard out of a tower speaker at this price point!

I sat there in amazement and enjoyed track after track. Yes, small filters for the various resonances in mid frequencies would likely make things better yet. But I was satisfied enough to not want to mess with them.

Conclusions
The positive look and feel of Chora 816 put me in good mood for testing of the speaker. On the other hand, once I saw the 2.5-way designation, I thought we were going to have problems. It seems that Focal has managed to keep most of the negatives of this approach to acceptable levels while bringing its high output capability to the table. The tweeter plays a bit bright. I imagine this is by design to give it some "showroom sound." In that regard, it is much more tasteful than others in its price class. A single filter was enough to deal with that. Alternatively you could toe out the speaker to accomplish something similar (I always listen on-axis).

Story becomes very convincing when one considers the low price and manufacturing in France! Clearly Focal knows what they are doing in their vertical integration to bring such a solution to market.

The Focal Chora 816 is an easy recommendation for me given its amazing power handling, great looks and very good performance at low price. It is now my favorite in this price range (and even higher).

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
„Benefit of the 2.5 way design comes from two woofers holding hands to produce much more power relative to distortion they produce as each working in more linear region:“

Actually they don’t hold hands here, the crossover point is 270Hz. So one woofer works below that point and the other above this point. So with lower notes the bottom woofer can distort but the upper midbass would remain calm.

Also you seem to be more relaxed about scoring them good ;) that enhanced treble response isn’t anything close to a reference sound, though I prefer this wrong sound than the dull wrong sound KEF is known for.
 

Steve Dallas

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That makes sense, but why would Amir give the price for one? Does anyone ever buy main stereo speakers for home use other than in pairs?
People with audibly transparent screens often buy a single for the center channel.

And, all of Amir's reviews quote single pricing (unless only sold in pairs) for consistency
 

eddantes

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$499 vs $800 is quite a big gap in that budget
List seems to be 800ish... The 499 seems to be some sort of a sell off. Crutchfield lists them as discontinued. So not sure of there's an apples to apples price comparisson here. But I might be wrong - I just did a casual google.
 

dogmamann

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I was happy to see Amir's R2R again. It felt like meeting an old friend by chance encounter. And things just got better from there. A well engineered big box for a very good price.


Yes, isn't it interesting how that works? I know how you feel. Now imagine hypothetically that Amir had reviewed it as a dud. Have you thought about how you and your friend would deal with such a review?
You can easily make the audiofool move and say : “measurements doesn’t tell the whole story” !!
 

AudioSceptic

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People with audibly transparent screens often buy a single for the center channel.

And, all of Amir's reviews quote single pricing (unless only sold in pairs) for consistency
OK, but that is *not* how just about everyone buys them. Centre speakers are, of course, a different matter.
 

delta76

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subframe

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Chora are discontinued, I was told. Not that it matters in terms of the quality of the speaker, but it’s good to know.

I recently picked up a pair of 806 on deep discount, and am quite enjoying them.
 

AlexanderM

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Really good to see this review, I've looked at them quite a number of times on Amazon.ca.
 

Talisman

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Also you seem to be more relaxed about scoring them good ;) that enhanced treble response isn’t anything close to a reference sound, though I prefer this wrong sound than the dull wrong sound KEF is known for.
why shouldn't it?
These are two towers with an extremely cheap price, with good build quality, nice aesthetics, good deep bass, little distortion and a clearly recognizable hump of brightness that can easily be equalized even with a graphic equalizer.
The TAD towers reviewed a few months ago had an equally not perfectly flat response and cost 20,000 euros and were equally defended in the comments
 

Draki

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Actually they don’t hold hands here, the crossover point is 270Hz. So one woofer works below that point and the other above this point. So with lower notes the bottom woofer can distort but the upper midbass would remain calm.
Yes they do. They both start at full range, then the lower bass (the red trace) driver rolls-off at cca 270 Hz at a shallow rate (6 dB/oct or so).
There is no high-pass filter on the upper driver. A typical 2.5 way configuration.
 
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maty

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Focal Chora 826
[Polish] https://audio.com.pl/testy/stereo/kolumny-glosnikowe/3256-chora-826

To English
61500-laboratorium-focal-chora-826-fot1.jpg

61501-laboratorium-focal-chora-826-fot2.jpg


[ However, on this axis the characteristic has a pronounced attenuation, concentrating at 2.6 kHz. It cannot be ruled out that the sound on the main axis is OK, weakening in this area is often intentional, but theoretically the best balance is obtained on the +7º axis and it can also be assumed that the constructor aimed to achieve it.

Sitting "normally", we would be close to this axis if... the column was not tilted. It looks a bit as if the person tuning the column (crossover) did not know anything about someone's intention to tilt it, and this decision was made later "upstairs" or was not communicated to the designer in advance, for whom it would not be a problem to obtain characteristics without weakening on the axis main.

If you want to hear it without sitting on a high stool, you can screw in much longer spikes at the back and thus "align" the loudspeaker or ... do not screw the plinth at all. You should definitely not sit too low (or tilt the column more!), because then you will fall into a deep hole on the -7º axis. ]
 
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maty

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[ Sitting "normally", we would be close to this axis if... the column was not tilted. It looks a bit as if the person tuning the column (crossover) did not know anything about someone's intention to tilt it, and this decision was made later "upstairs" or was not communicated to the designer in advance, for whom it would not be a problem to obtain characteristics without weakening on the axis main. ]

focal_chora-816_photography.png


Focal Chora 816 - 117/8x159/32x409/32" (30.3x38.8x102.3cm)

Focal Chora 826 - 117/8x151/4x411/2" (30.3 x 38.8 x 105.3 cm)
 
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goldark

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Since they're within the same price bracket, how would this compare to something like the JBL Studio 580? (for those that have heard both the Chora and Studio 5 series)
 

maty

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Nov 2019

Focal 806

14 measures!

and... :(


Focal 906 Aria

5 measures

and... :confused: :confused:
 
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