The Focal Kanta 2 loudspeakers are with me for almost a week now. They are playing continuously now as per the dealer's advise. They require some 10 days run-in time.
I start to like them more and more: Bass is very much controlled and so much more apparent than in the past. The Kanta's go enormously deep.On Patricia Barber's album "Mythologies" there are various tracks that have very low frequencies. They made life difficult for the Allae's I used in the past. The Kanta's control those passages very well, the basses are superb and the tones seem to hold for a very long time before fading away in the 'darkness'. Similar experience when I play Yellow; super controlled bass tones that seem to hold way longer than I was used to. No booming whatsoever (the Kanta's are some 40cm of the back-wall with a 7° Toe-In)
The beryllium tweeter is a delight. It is soft, extremely fast and very (!) detailed. Yet, the high frequencies do have a sharp edge which I like. Just a bit rougher, I would say. This is a big difference compared to my previous Allaes, but also compared to the Q-Acoustics 500 and KEF Reference I auditioned. It gives the music more bite, and things become more "in the face". A matter of taste, but for me it suites.
Midrange is detailed and silk-soft with a lot of control and speed. I listen primarily to Woman vocals, Folk and Jazz and all of these styles are handled remarkably good. Good stereo placing and a lot of "air".
Which brings me to the area that made me choose the Kanta: imaging and space. The speakers completely disappear and the music is 100% loose of the speaker itself. There is so much imaging (both left/right as 3D) that I can almost literally point at where the performers or instruments are. It makes me completely re-disscovering my music collection. The sound is very mature and at a way higher level than I was used to in the past. This was what I almost dreamed of. Of course I know that also the new SuperNait2/HiCapDr/NDX (I have those only a month now) play a huge role here. Apparantly the Focal's make them shine.
A friend of mine has a pair of Focal Sopra N°1 at home audition and brought them over to me to compare. We spent 3 hrs comparing and listening. The y come very, very close to each other. Imaging might be slightly better with the Sopra's, but the depth-dimensionality and air in the music is better with the Kanta's. We both preferred the Kanta's. Maybe it is alos due to the fact my living room is 60m2 so pretty big. In a smaller room one could argue otherwise. My friend decided to bring to Sopra's back and ask to audition the Kanta.
Disadvantages?: oh yes: my new set is crystal clear when it plays an albu that is not recorded very well. Not god :-)
