Bar we are not selling this man anything! He lives in Canada where the Personas are made therefore it is impossible for a US dealer to make that sale.
Just a bone of contention: this mans room is 12* 16
the Focals bass in room -3db at 27hz
-6db at 24hz
You misunderstand that the Focals allow for basic boost/cut in reality this is a very primitive way of helping make a bad situation slightly less bad by offering a few positions of bass boost or cut, even in the EM Focal models you are controlling damping which can create tighter or looser bass but still can’t magically create in reality a totally shelved bass response, with tighter damping you will create a bit less bass, but the amount of air a large cone makes is why people use large bass cones in the first place.
If you notice I said the Personas might work, they are also go too deep in the bass for that size room. The only saving grace with the Personas is that they have very advanced room correction which is a sophisticated way of creating numerous digital filters in the bass frequencies designed to tame standing waves.
In a digital filter you can create a many position parametric equalizer and can therefore precisely affect the room in the ways you want to with the end goal of creating a flat bass response.
The ARC (Anthem Room Correction) measures numerous positions and then calculates the null points in the filters to compensate for the higher room gain caused by room positioning.
We had a pair of Personas in small hotel room that was about 13 wide by 16 deep and the sound in the bass was shocking, it was deep, tight and tuneful without boom. All the room’s participants were just stunned at how good the system was sounding. So we have direct experience that this system with careful tuning might work.
Without electronic room correction I would never venture to put that large a speaker in that size room.
Traditionally a room that small can handle bass to 30-35hz with out severe issues with bloat and boom.
As per Focal speakers they are great we really like them they are a bit more colorful than the Personas, personally the Personas image better, the Focals have always been tuned to offer punchy bass, a full bodied midrange and a bit aggressive treble with great clarity and a bit of air.
The Personas are the more neutral of the two and require a bit more work to add some color to their sound, we have found that when setup correctly they are very, very, hard to beat.
So Bar if you want to come to the shop and take a listen then maybe you might see things differently.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
