Agree. Just doing thought experiments.
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Focal Kantas 2 - Will they be underpowered with my amp?
- Thread starter dman777
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I have the Kanta 2s and I'd say they are definetely not easy to drive speakers as their 91 dB claimed sensitivity would suggest. No multichannel AVR will be capable of bringing the best out of them. The impedance drops below 4 ohms between 80 and 180Hz, as low as 2.97 ohms at 105Hz and the electrical phase angle has an extremely high value between 70 and 90Hz, where the impedance magnitude is low.
Focal speakers get more and more demanding in terms of power higher up their range. The difference is not only in volume levels but also in detail. I have used them with a Naim SuperNait 2 for some time and it simply didn't have enough juice for these Kantas. The recent upgrade to a Michi X3 finally made the difference. I would have gone for an X5 if my budget allowed. Michi is HT bypassed with the pre-outs of a Marantz SR6015 which on its own also had nowhere near enough power to make the Kantas sing.
Check out this post for more information:
Amplifier for Focal Kanta Nº2
Welcome, Speaker cables make a clear difference with the Kantas. No, they do not. With whatever speakers. the Purify It's Purifi. Clearly more revaling than the Arias (no surprise). Why "no surprise"? Just because these are more expensive? Love the bass punch and bass stretch downwards...
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I looked at the wrong Yamaha amp, the S3200 may well be capable especially at low volume.
If an amp cannot maintain voltage into a low impedance load it will clip.
I have the Electra 926, essentially a much older version of the same speaker, also I have lots of amplifiers. It's not hard to hear the difference between one that will cope with the low impedance and one that will not. So far only Krell KSA100, Krell KSA50S and Neurochrome 686 have managed to drive the speaker to my satisfaction.
I suspect this issue is at the root of many people's dissatisfaction with some Focal models. Watts per channel and sensitivity ratings do not tell the whole story.
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Sell your amp and buy active speakers. For that kind of money you can get a pair of genelec 8361/8351or the upcoming Kii Seven. Way better.
DSJR
Major Contributor
I only heard the Kanta 2's properly once and that was with a Naim streamer... The sound was bland, totally two dimensional and bloody boring frankly. No criticism of the speakers or amp as such, merely that I'd suggest a far more capable (into the load) amp would arguably bring them to life as suggested by @Mart68 above with his earlier models.
Got to say that as the OP has found his way here, changing amp and speakers totally as per the post by @Puddingbuks may rankle a bit, doing so may well open up new vistas altogether in the music played
Got to say that as the OP has found his way here, changing amp and speakers totally as per the post by @Puddingbuks may rankle a bit, doing so may well open up new vistas altogether in the music played
Galliardist
Major Contributor
Maybe, but he will then also need some subs and a more complex setup, and at 8m away I'd want to check speakers designed for near field listening in the room first - even at the lowish listening levels. 8361 would probably work.
If we're doing active, I'd throw in the LS60 as an option at this point as well - and they're cheaper.
Not so sure, I've had several demos of the Kii3 as I was considering them but after demo 3 I was not convinced they were better. At least not comprehensively better than my passive set up with Krell/Focal.
Okay this is my personal subjective experience, but if they really were 'Way better' I'd have bought them on the spot after demo 1.
D
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Isn't those designed for nearfied?
In any way the question from OP is not which speakers he should buy and given that he has the Focal Kanta 2's I'd say aesthetics is also a priority and those Genelecs surely look like tools. Well, they are tools.
Galliardist
Major Contributor
He doesn't have them - he heard them at a dealer and liked them, as described in the first post. He appears to have a pair of small standmounts from, seeing the photo with the SPL meter. He's considering buying them. If you look, he's asked a lot of questions about different speaker upgrades over a few months- so something of a quest going on there.
Actually, looking at that picture, that bare wooden floor won't help a lot, and a decent large rug would be the first upgrade to be made there!
Yes, it looks like reflection central in there.
Contemporary décor is just no use for good sound. Velour and shag pile carpets was were it was at.
D
Deleted member 48726
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Well, yes. That's true. But his question is not which speakers he should buy. And yes, that room looks nice and reflective.
Galliardist
Major Contributor
The underlying question, I suspect, is should he buy the Kanta 2's and, then, will he buy a new amp. People sometimes go around the houses here.
The actual thing that he should do is tell us what he has at the moment and ask how to upgrade it, if indeed he is serious about wanting/needing an upgrade, and actually needs one.
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