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

@donald_dac , 

Good grief dude, it looks like you are about to go down some major rabbit holes and continue resurfacing with  disgruntlement and vexation of spirit, simply because you haven't explored what you already have in its entirety. Fortunately, you have a nice piece of Yamaha gear that could deliver you and provide salvation in these times of darkness.

Step a) Unplug the eversolo and set it aside for now.

Step b) Unplug the Audiophonics Class D crap and sell it to a Class D crap lover on Audiosciencereview.

Step c) Plug your front speakers directly into your Yamaha Class AB RX-A2080. The RX-A2080 is a step lower than their former flagship receiver (RX-A3080) and would possibly have many of the feature sets in their former flagship prepro (CX-A5200). As far as your 2 channel music listening goes, that receiver is a full featured/polished up streamer+good DAC implementation+great preamp sections and.... poweramp sections which are a bit weak (as is typical of multichannel receivers). Your Eversolo and the Audiophonics crap are not gonna beat it for 2 channel listening. I don't know much about your specific Focal speaker, but Focals i've heard are generally abrasively bright with thin mids, etc (like some of the ear abusing hometheater Klipsch speakers).

The following will also be a very important exercise for you to fully study/understand the type of sound signature you like...the signature that pleases you most without spending money...

Step d) Run YPAO calibration correctly for your hometheater. First mic location with tripod will be at your primarily listening position/sweetspot. Set additional positions within 1 foot of this primary location (your sweet spot is all that matters). At the end of the cal, disable "YPAO volume" and "enhancer".

Step e) Go into your configuration, YPAO would have have set your EQ to "YPAO flat", "YPAO natual", etc. That is for entry level users. You would go into MANUAL PEQ.

Step f) Use the manual PEQ to warm things up and improve spatial qualities without contributing to shoutiness, reducing brightness, etc. The perception of warm, chunky, chocolatey, delicious, etc can vary in frequency band for different types of guys....So try the following as a starting point, an example....
~99hz, Q=0.5, +2 dB
~198hz, Q=0.79, +1db
1khz, Q=0.79, +2.5
8k, Q=0.5, -1db
16k, Q=0.5, -1 db

If it is still shouty, pull the 8k band a bit lower with low Q's still....You see this type of utility? Sky is the limit on how you change the sound of a speaker with full featured PEQ and examining the sound you like.

Step g) Moving on....You will have "pattern settings" (saving all your specific settings) in your receiver. Set pattern 1 for specific hometheater settings and pattern 2 for 2 channel stereo. In 2 channel stereo (if you wanna be more of a purist), don't setup a subwoofer crossover in its bass management module. Run the 2 fronts "LARGE" and turn on "extra bass", which will dovetail your subs in where your mains drop off. Manually set the subwoofer crossover knob on sub to around 60hz or so. The Yamaha will do the rest/do a seamless blend.

Step h) After you get satisfactory results from your PEQ experiments and the full featureset/utility level of your receiver, you will also have a much better understanding of the type of sound you like. Now, get meaty Class AB or Class A power amps for your receiver's preouts into your 2 front speakers for music.  I would recommend preouts to a pair of the Schiit TYR monoblocks for your fronts, i.e., a weird type of Class Aish topology with gobs of power that sounds exquisite.

After you fully read your Yamaha's manual cover to cover and understand the insanity levels of its feature set and utility, you may never be able to let it go. At the least, it is a very good experimentation tool. At that point, upgrade to a Yamaha prepro, either get a used CX-A5200 or wait a minute for the upcoming flagship prepro (CX-A5300 or whatever else they may plan to name it).

When you go into purist gear, you will lose all such flexibility and just keep diving from rabbit hole to rabbit hole like most dudes around here...unless you've fully experimented with what type of sound signature you really like and become surgical with the type of purist gear you get.

 Good luck.

that receiver is a full featured/polished up streamer+good DAC implementation+great preamp sections and.... poweramp sections which are a bit weak (as is typical of multichannel receivers)

@deep_333 So, a $1700 AVR has a great preamp section???  I beg to differ, and a good stereo preamp is absolutely critical.  I’m a fan of Yammy AVRs, but no $1700 AVR has a “great” preamp section.  Period. 

@soix 

+1

If I were you, with those very fine speakers, I would want to hear if a tube amp in place of the Class D would be more to your liking. I’d consider something like a Rogue Cronus Magnum personally.

Note I run good quality Class D amps on all my systems personally but being familiar with the Focal sound that particular combo might be a bit too much in the manner you describe  for many. 

In my experience, Focal speakers are excessively sensitive to amplifier current capabilities.

The Kanta’s, like many of Focal’s floor standers with dual woofers, suffers from excessively low impedance in the mid bass. IMHO, a bad match for most tube amps. They need careful positioning relative to the rear wall to get maximum reinforcement and a solid amplifier.

Other positioning tips are to minimize toe-in and increase mid/treble absorbers in the room which will better balance out the speaker.  Those inverted domes have resonances which make them sound best off-axis.  You'll know you did it right when you go from having a Left, Center and Right image to an image that is seamless from left to right without a gap. 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-kanta-no2-loudspeaker-measurements