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How to make the Focal Kanta No. 2 speakers sing?

Hi!

My first post here and I would like to hear your thoughts and tips for "warming up" my Focal Kanta 2 speakers.

 

TLDR

The sound from my Focal Kanta 2 speakers in my room is a bit shouty, bright and thin sounding, clearly lacking level and emotion in the lower mid range. Bass is good, quick and quite deep though.

Any tips for getting more "vocal warmth" into the system? Tube preamp, Dirac, ...? I see that many use old school power hungry amps that can heat your house during winter to drive Focal speakers. Is that really needed or can I get away with a modern amp that doesn’t cost a fortune.

 

More in depth information

In my living room (5.3 x 4.1 x 2.4m) I have a setup with both 2 channel and a multi channel setup. They share the same front speakers and front speaker amp.

2 channel setup:

 

5.2 channel setup:

 

I focus mainly on the two channel setup here. Multichannel is used quite much also for streaming movies, but is ok.

So the main issue for me is that the sound in in the two channel setup is thin sounding with mids clearly lacking in the lower end. It can be fatiguing to listen for a few hours. Bass though is enjoyable, fast and fairly deep.

Earlier I had the Focal Aria 936 speakers as front speakers in the same room (connected to the Yamaha AVR at that time). I liked them but wanted to upgrade to the next level after a few years 😄 The Arias were more forgiving than the Kantas, had more enjoyable warmth in the mids and were a bit rolled off in the top compared to the Kantas. Not fatiguing at all. But everything else the Kantas do better.

I have also had some other speakers, up to half Kanta price range, in the same room where all have had fuller mids and a more forgiving sound: Dynaudio, Totem and Triangle floor standers as well as Buchardt and my really old B&W 602s3 (super full mids but super rolled off in the top) stand speakers. The Kantas are different animals to all these and seem to require the a more delicate and correct chain of components to perform.

I have messed around with speaker positioning quite a lot. It’s mainly the bass region that is affected. Mids not very much.

Options I’m considering:

  • Upgrading the Yamaha AVR to a Marantz Cinema 50 for example to get Dirac room tuning, and run the 2 channel system through this also. The quality of the Marantz might not be the best here to use as a 2 channel pre amp/processor.
  • Use a dedicated pre amp for the 2 channel system. Budget up to 2000€. Not sure what to look for? Used equipment is fine.
  • Tubes? Never really listened to tubes but from what I understand you generally get a more warm sound from them. Tube preamp? Not very modern but might do the trick. Schiit Freya + seems to be within the budget range for example.
  • Other 2 channel amplifier. As mentioned I have tried to avoid the nuclear power plants of amps. I see people recommending amps from manufacturers like Musical Fidelity, Sim Audio, McIntosh, Accuphase etc. But these are really costly and I feel they generally belong in an older age that we are moving away from. But it might be what is needed, I don’t know, haven’t really heard them play.
  • Treat the room more. I have a big sofa, a really big carpet and a few acoustic panels in the room (no real science behind them now). The room in itself is a bit "bright" so here I can make a better effort of course, regardless of other taken measures.
  • Get other speakers. I can also just face it that the Kantas are what they are, sounding thin in the midrange and lacking emotion in voices. Getting other speakers might be the easiest upgrade. But it’s not that easy to find and test speakers in your room either...

 

Long story. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

donald_dac
erik_squires
16,121 posts
 

Hi OP,

I’m a big fan of bass traps when needed, and they often do make big improvements, but the big issue you have already felt is excess mid/treble energy.

First reflection points are important but you need a certain amount of critical mass of absorbers to change the tonal balance in the room. Audiophiles often focus on first reflection points, but my experience is that alone they do almost nothing. They need the rest of the room to be treated to really feel their benefit.

If your attempt is to minimize changes to the room, I would add more absorbers and forego bass traps for now. Also, GIK offers some very decorative solutions that let you pick your own artwork.

Consider also combination absorbers / diffusors between the speakers, while focusing on absorbers on the sides as well as the ceiling between the listener and speaker. Not only does treating the ceiling add height to the images but they are a great, unseen space to add more absorption in the bands you care about.  In the case of the Focals, that tweeter has the same excess mid-treble energy vertically as horizontally.  With my previous pair treating the ceiling was a really big improvement over the sides alone.

mjmcubfn
37 posts
 

I had these speakers for awhile and the Gaia II’s made a HUGE difference. If you can find them used, it’s a $500-$600 tweak and the difference for me was night and day. 

drayard1's avatar
drayard1
4 posts
 

I pair my Kanta 2's with a MacIntosh integrated, which provides a bit of a warmer sound to begin with.  I thought the highs were almost perfect but there was some thinness in the mids and even lows.  I added a Rel subwoofer and now I'm pretty happy with th sound.

tunefuldude's avatar
tunefuldude
197 posts
 

@donald_dac Do you know anything about the way Lyngdorf utilizes, (what they call), their "voicing" 's?

It would be very complicated for me to explain to you the way it works, because the way they approach what most people refer to as "tone control" is literally a completely different ballgame. Period.

 

It's such a completely different approach that (I guess?) unless you've used it, my experience is, you can't appreciate how it works.

 

But it is exactly what you're asking for.

 

I have been the very proud owner of a TDAI 2170 for about two months, so I'm speaking from experience.

You should check out their approach. I want to personally recommend that you look at a (used) MP-40. The processor will so deftly allow you to reduce the higher frequencies which will have the "effect" of taming those fatiguing highs.

It's cool stuff. Very expensive, but very cool. Lol.

I've been using my 2170 with a pair of very high performing bookshelf speakers, running them full range w/ no sub at all. Hence I've been using their "Bass 2 voicing" as opposed to Bass 1 or Neutral. You have to see the curve, to appreciate it. Go online I'm sure you'll be immersed in a much better explanation of how their "voicings" work.

Not sure if you've ever heard he saying that you don't know what you don't know? But that's what's going on here. I'm personally excited for you to discover a solution so you can appreciate those sexy Kanta's.      : ) 

tunefuldude's avatar
tunefuldude
197 posts
 

@donald_dac I'll leave it to you, to read reviews etc. to learn the pros and cons of going that direction.

 

It would be interesting to hear what your family says about the experience of only using the front 3 speakers until you figure out how you're going to amplify a couple of the other speakers you already have.

What will create such a different listening experience for you using anything Lyngdorf is their Room Perfect software. Again, I encourage you to read about how completely easy it is to setup and use in the real world. And how good.

One review I read said they didn't call it Room Good or Room Great because it performs so well it should be called Room Perfect. 

Can't wait to hear what you decide to do!

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