Another very interesting video! I love the comparisons, even with not obvious contenders.

Great video! Love kantas. Thanks for reviewing these.

Nice review - very good description of the character of these speakers and the comparisons really help - I love my 936s but always looking for that next upgrade - kanta and sopra are definitely on my shortlist

These have been my dream speakers ever since they were first released. I would love to have a Kanta 5.1 setup. Unfortunately, I have to think about retirement someday as well. 😆 Thank you as always Nemo, for another awesome review!

Great review and great looking (and sounding speakers). Another good comparison would be Dynaudio Contour 20i with the Esotar tweeter.

Great review as always! Cheers! You're bang on about both reasons we watch your vids! 😄 P.S. - Hate the look of the Kanta. I have personally experienced only the Focal 826 and they seemed cheap and plasticky.

Clean speaker design, classy and indicate quality without standing out too much.

Great review! And I dig your style :-)

Man $4K per speaker. Must have been amazing to have in for review. Congrats on being able to listen to elite speakers.

You're making me want to buy these so bad 🤦😁👍 I own the Focal chora 806 and love them immensely, but after this review I'm totally considering these! FOCAL handmade speakers rule 🤘 Extremely great review 👏

I own a pair of Focal Sopra No2 and those sound absolutely beautiful. I can imagine how nice Kanta 1 sound.

These are the SEXIEST, most GORGEOUS speakers you have ever featured on your channel. Just awesome!!! More of this please…Great review as always!!! Please consider becoming the #1 high end bookshelf speaker review on KZfaq! Because you already are the best subwoofer reviewer ❤️😇

I've owned some Kanta No2's for about 2-1/2 years now. I became a Focal fanboy when I first heard the Utopias back in 1995 - I wasn't alone as I spent a great afternoon at the Stereophile Show with Roy Hall and Sam Tellig (Stereophile, RIP) listening to them in the demo room drinking Roy's Scotch. With the Kanta's, the combination of the 3rd gen tweeter and flax make for an incredibly articulate and warm presentation paired with the right electronics. I'm always blown away when I see speakers like 2's in a tiny 12x15 room. They _need_ room to breath. I first had mine in a great room that was approximately 50x30 with a 20' ceiling and central staircase. The bass was amazing (slab floors). 3's would have been overkill. I had been looking at the 1's when I lived in a townhome with room about 30x17, they'd have been perfect. You just _can't skimp on electronics,_ or you'll be greatly disappointed. Go for Arias and spring for a good amp instead, upgrade later. Mine are paired with BAT amp/preamp and don't need half the power, but appreciate the current. TBH, I think the Sopras are sexy AF, these need to be seen in person to fully appreciate (I have white/oak). Some people don't even know what they are! One listen however and all is forgiven regarding looks. I had originally been ready to purchase 1028 be's on closeout (I love those too!), but the dealer offered these as demo units barely broken in as the lockdown panic was just hitting. What better way to spend months inside? The W drivers are very different, and people looking for a slightly more analytical presentation with slam should look there. I'd upgrade to Sopras, and might at some point if the Kanta No2's weren't so darned amazing.

Nice review as always.... Wish I could experience them someday... !!!

These look so nice. The thing that has prevented me from giving up my towers is the effortless dynamics. It’s like they don’t break a sweat on even Hans Zimmer. When I rotate stand mount speakers in, it’s like they have to try so hard. It’s like your great Mustang to Porsche GT analogy. You don’t know it’s an issue until you go smaller and have that feeling of loss.

I wasn't focal fan until I bought sopra 1 . Wow😲

I have a pair of Focal 1038be and happen to love metal, edm, vocal trance on them almost more than anything else. By the way that's probably what I'd recommend too. Buy a used set of premium Focals from a few years ago. They still are amazing and cost less. I'd have to hear these though in the same room though to see what the real difference is. They seem to be working on time alignment a lot now.

Diablo utopia!! Get em man! I've seen used sets for around 10k with stands. Mere bargain shopping lol

Nice overview/review! Still loving my Choras, your right though Focal can get all the detail and presentation out at very low volumes, both my Sonus Fabers and Pioneer Andrew Jones speakers sound great but they demand you crank them up a bit! I’d like to get some separate amps for my Marantz NR1200 my Sonus fabers are plugged into, the AVR is enough power to drive them but just barely, I think I’d unlock more detail at lower volumes if it had more juice. Focals don’t demand a lot of power and sound awesome at all volumes! Love your style never melodramatic, simplified but detailed review! Love the comparison to other brands I’m always curious cause I really prefer that forward presentation you get with brands like Focal and B&W… always curious what the other hot brands sound like, like you talked about here. Sounds like I’m going to be a Focal guy for a long time.

Love when you review higher end speakers. Great stuff. I’ve never personally been a Focal fan. I have found them a little thin. I prefer a warmer speaker. That being said, after watching this I’d love to demo these.

Dope!

Aria to Kanta is already a big jump in price. But if I am ever in the market for a higher end Focal, I would rather pay even more to get Sopra solely because of the look. I just can't stand the Kanta's baffle haha. Great review as always!

Another great review. I bought a pair of REL T5x after watching your review recently, your review was spot on. Thank you very much. Have you come across Magnepan LRS, I would love to know your thoughts on it .

The GR Research crossover upgrade for the Special 40 transforms them to be more dynamic and transparent. Money well spent.

You've got me intrigued in focal even more than I already was. I definitely need to hear some mid-high level focal. They sound exactly my flavor! Plus it sounds like my JL E112 subs would work great with them. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience, it's always appreciated. Ps the look of the Kanta is growing on me. Still not my favorite design of theirs but not bad. I assume Kanta has iner beauty shining through. Kind of like a plain Jane with a personality so great that when you look at her you see beauty.

Great review as always. Since you like reviewing speakers that few people review how about the Martin Logan Motion 35XTi’s. Very few reviews on these yet they are popular with consumers. I would love to get your take on these.

Hey bud, this is your fan from Mumbai again. Never get tired of saying this, but you speak to me, the constrained audiophile (financially, space-wise etc.). And I truly appreciate it. What I have found is that every room (most rooms anyway) have unique solutions from an audio set up perspective. A unique fingerprint if you will. Sonic physics is situation-dependent, not absolute. More elitist audio folks on YT (as or less knowledgeable as / than you) will say shit like NEVER place a subwoofer between your loudspeakers. Like it's a law. IMHO this is not the case, my b&w sub sounds its best right between my psb bookshelves. Your comments? Thanks as always.

Great and beautiful speaker. Wonderful sound. The gold standard for speaker wire connection is Speak-On, but the inertia to replace standard binding posts that have been in existence for decades is huge. In addition to the market for overpriced aftermarket or custom binding posts from companies like WBT or Cardas ….. Speak-On connections are the industry standard in safety and reliability. It’s a shame that high end speaker makers don’t make the switch to a very inexpensive but highly reliable and SAFER connector. Safety safety safety. And cheap!

Great review and I love the look of the speakers. What is that color combination?

I have not heard the 1, I do love the kanta 2 towers though. It be interesting to hear your thoughts on the bmr and atc scm 11.

The look? The look of that pair is gorgeous!

The question for me is how do these sound compared to something like the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 1’s? That would be a great comparison. I wonder how these Kana 1’s sound with clean tubes like Nos rca’s and Sophia Electric tubes? Awesome review!! You peaked my interest in these! Time to demo at Audio Advisors.

Great review Nemo, curious if you could get your hands on some Naim amplification as it seems they have a partnership now. Is that supposed synergy worth just buying into those 2 brands?

I had 807w chorus and never found them bright either, so I’m not really sure what people are on about. I had a Naim amplifier too 🤷‍♂️. Either way these look absolutely beautiful and I’m sure the low level clarity must be off the charts! Great review

Love the look of these super cool. Space age like. I found a pair for 4K Canadian. It’s the cheapest way for me to enter focal berillyium range, but I’m afraid of losing out on the dynamics of my Focal Vestia No 3 towers. Not sure what to do. Do you have plans on reviewing speakers from Focals Vestia line? It uses the same slate drivers from the Chora, but they actually implemented a new tweeter tech dubbed “TAM” which is actually taken from Focals automobile line.

You should do a video on which is better, 2 way vs 3 way. I’d be be curious on your thoughts. I hear a lot of people say 3 way is better.

I will have a pair of these.

Hello, I absolutely love your videos and this one is too good. You are one of the very best youtubers out there for HIFI gear. Very informational videos I must say. This one too you have explained it so so well. You being so experienced I wanted some help and guidance. I currently own the Choras 826 powered by a Nad C388 150w per channel Integrated amp, streamer being blusound node with the JL Audio E110 sub. I am planning to buy the Focal Sopra N2s and upgrade my amplifier later. Just wanted to know if the power on my Nad is enough to drive them at moderate volume? do not want to risk damaging them. Also, what amplifiers would you suggest with them when I plan on upgrading later. Thank you so much for your help in advance man. Cheers

Great review Nemo! Are Kanta 1 and Arcam SA30 a great match? Or any integrated amplifier you can recommend. Thanks and more power!

"Oh shit" sums it up. When I was shopping for speakers, I heard the Chora, Aria, Kanta and Sopra next to each other. I listened to the Aria first and I was like wow..... this is what Ive been missing all my life. That clarity and resolution just grab you and never let go. Then the Focal distributor switched to the Kanta and I was like god dayuuuuum.... I couldnt afford it though. Then he switched to the Chora and I thought to myself, it should be the worst sounding one of the bunch. I was wrong, I prefered the Chora to the Aria! I told the distributor right away that I liked the Chora more and he told me this "You are not the first one to say so, the Chora has a livelier and energertic sound and most people that came in to listen prefer a sound like this." At this point, I was ready to pay for the Choras and then he played the Sopra 1. When I heard them, I was thinking of ways to get the money to buy them. I even went as far as contemplating to sell my second car. Thats what the Sopra did to me. But alas, I have to settle for something I could afford so I requested for the distributor to switch between the Chora and the Aria (806 and 906, 826 and 926, and the 948). I first paid for the 806, then I bought the 826 a month later. Then I bought the 906 again a few weeks later and Im still waiting for a good deal on the 948. This has been my Focal journey so far, I dont know if I could ever afford a Sopra or even a Kanta because all my speakers, 806, 826, 906 and my future 948 dont even add up to a Kanta, let alone a Sopra. Heck I could add the Chora and Aria center and it still wouldnt cost as much as a single baby Kanta. Crazy huh? Then he led me into another room where they had the all the Utopia range in a row except the Meastro Evo I think. They had the Grande in a special separate room which I was too shy to ask for a listen. I only heard the Diablo for a while and I went home with this thought in my head : fuck the Sopra.

Viewing this 2/18/24. Great audio review of Kanta 1!! I'm definitely considering these speakers as next upgrade, but can't find anyone within 2-1/2 hour drive that has these to audition. Right around start of COVID found a retailer in SanFran, but wanted upfront fee of almost $200 for audition cost 🤨 !!! Focal Kanta 1 and KEF Reference 1 are in final choice. I've been able to demo KEF Ref 1 multiple times and REALLY like their sound in all areas of sound reproduction 🎉🎉!! Just from tech info the Kanta series have caught my attention. The KEF Uni-Q design for it's tweeter/midrange placement and sound is amazing for my ears!! Curious what you may have compared the Kanta 1s against before purchase 🤔?? Look forward to your reply for help on speaker decision... thanks.

Any chance to do a review on the new Kef Meta Reference one with stands. Hope so! Thank you.

Thanks!

I love focals, and use focal monitors, but if I was spending 8k I'd way rather a pair of old ATC hifi speakers, so much more accuracy and neutrality for the money, plus leaves some money left for a Bryston amp, and some change left to start off savings for a trinnov system

My only beryllium tweeter experience is with the Revel m126be. The detailed enveloping soundstage is really impressive but something about the response is fatiguing and I was never sure what was to blame because the measured response doesn’t look bright. Scared me off beryllium but you make me want to give the Kanta a try.

These speakers used to be much cheaper, they were $6000 only a few years ago. Focal has done multiple prices increases in the past few years which has reduced their value. Also the prices in North America bare significantly higher than Europe.

The front baffles on these look so weird to me. It looks like they're made out of "flesh" colored plastic like melted Barbies put into a baffle mold. Maybe it's just the angle, but they also seem to awkwardly overhang the dimensions of the box.

You should check out the dynaudio heritage special, Would be interesting to hear your opinion on these speakers.

Best way to get them is on the secondary market. They take a huge hit.

Interesting you mention the JL subwoofer meshing well with this setup. Any reasoning why the Rythmik G22 was not up to the task versus the JL sub?

I'd love to see you compare these to Revel M126Be.

I wonder how they'd compare to the B&W 805 D4s.

Absolutely fantastic review again…not real stuck on the look but I think it would grow on me , maybe a different finish….Those would be endgame speakers and a perfect match for my naim uniti atom.

I was really curious about these as I saw them when buying my Arias. Looking at the price I was thinking that they sound better than Arias , but from my point of view the design is not for everyone. I prefer my Aria 906 look. (showed them to my wife and she agrees, without knowing that Kantas are more expensive :) )

Enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the sound! I really don’t think the look of these are for me at all, though. Something about how the front piece just… protrudes. And looks out of place with the rest of the speaker in terms of material/colour. There might be great technical reasons for it to look that way but I don’t know if I could own a pair of speakers which I find ugly.

Hey Nemo, an interesting video would be a comparison between a sealed sub and its ported counterpart with the ports plugged (sealed mode).

Ever heard any Tekton speakers? I would love to hear your impressions of some Tekton towers with the 7 tweeter array like the Double Impact SE. I feel like you get a good amount of speaker for the 💰

I really like them. Design is a matter of taste. In this case it's either you love them or you hate them... I currently have an aria 906 in black lacquer at home and they are really stylish. Maybe in the future I will replace them with kanta no. 1. Question is, if it's worth it because I don't know how much better they are in terms of sound...all I know is that they are a lot more expensive than aria.

i have an experience with focal kanta before. What i recall, the 3d depth is so obvious. i can hear the singer singing from the back, and the music instrument is queue up at the front. the sound doesnt just come from the speaker but from the front as if the speaker doesnt exist. This alone is something that even the aria doesnt has. Aria for me is just a huge soundstage. that is it.

How do they compare to CSS 1TDX ? I think you reviewed those as well.. I heard Jay saying they could compare with 10k speakers, any thoughts ? Cheers and keep up the great work !

If you are itching to try new audiophile speakers, try ascend acoustics’ Sierra line Sierra 2ex are great bookshelves

Hi sir, may i ask; what is the name of the acoustic panels at the rear wall?

I like the aesthetics of the Kanta’s a lot. I guess i am not a fan of the standard looking rectangle sharp corner speakers that visually look like any cheap speaker on the market.

I using focal kanta 2 with jl audio fathom f112 and they sound amazing.....i pairing them with accuphase don't find the treble is extremely bright like the sparechange channel mention it......

Not a fan of the aesthetics myself. I’m more of a B&W type aesthetics. I’d be curious on your thoughts on B&W sound, specifically 805 D4, which is very similar in price to those.

Add the Focal Sopra SW 1000😉

How would you compare these (sound) to the B&W 805 D4's since they are about the same price?

Are they easy to drive by a low wattage tube amp? 2x30? And what about kanta 2 are easy too?

My man! Throwing some Arch Enemy references out! I almost gave my TV a fist bump, but then the rational part of my brain quickly intervened and stopped me due to it being an OLED, not that they're fragile, but some households warrant death for such actions, mine being one, lol. Great review as always!!! Have you thought about reviewing the Project speaker box 5s or Amphion Argon 1s? Curious if it's on your "honey do" list, lol Have a good one!

I also have both the s40 and kanta no1. My subjective experience have been the 40's are mellow the kantas are not. I said the kantas are about 10% better. Maybe its synergy with pma110 denon. So i will buy this agd class d amp in the next 2 years hopefully jumping from 4k amp to a 11k amp makes the kantas shine more in all areas.

Ive got a budget of €2K and im able to get a pair of focal aria 948s eithin my budget. Should i pull the trigger or is there better options for the price?

Hi, would a unison research 14 watt valve amp drive these in a smallish room?

Curious, if you could compare these Kanta No1 to Perlisten bookshelf S4B which costs $8K a pair and are well within the same price range. Thanks! 👍👍

You know what never gets diminished? Me coming back to see a new Nemo video. Would never in my lifetime spend that kind of dough on some speakers. But I don't judge others who would as it is their right to do with their money as they please. Especially if their passionate. Hell, my custom built watercooled gaming PC costed me $4000. Was it necessary? No. But boy is it cool and makes me feel good. You can't put a price on that.

Hi Nemo, I own a pair of Dynaudio Special 40. I have an opportunity on a used pair of Kanta 1. If I get the Focals and plug them in, will I go…dawn they just spank the SP40 all around or more like ….ok thats a bit better but nothing to bang my head on walls ? Looking for more air and separation between instruments, and resolution.

Addition to the binding posts being solid metal - topic. They can be metal - what you want to avoid is any magnetic type of metal. So for example brass can be an acceptable choice. But yes, I agree, good quality plastic is a fair alternative. Thanks for the review, Sean - I recently got the Special Forties, and I heard them yesterday with a Norma Revo IPA 140, and I am blown away. I need to sell my Hegel H190 and get the Norma (or the Kinki EX-M1+ maybe? I hope I can get that nice analouge-ish sound out of that amp the SP40's are capable of).

I have the Sopra 2's and they only showed what they were capable of when I upgraded my front-end. Very demanding speaker but when you get there, very rewarding. It also changed my understanding that the front-end is more important than what most people might think.

As far as sub pairing, what did the JLs do that the Rythmiks didn’t?

Right now the same color as you have in this review are $3599 but the other color options are $3999 at Crutchfield. Why do you think they gone down in price so much, do you think they will be phased out soon?

Can you Review The Cerwin Vega XL 215 ?

Not a big fan of the "house" sound of Focal myself and for 8k, so many choices out there...

Which would you prefer the kanta 1 or the fritz?

They are definitely very nice looking and I am sure they sound amazing but they could’ve been more Icandy to it for the price it’s not stunning

For that money, I can get Adam Audio S3V pro monitors. Will these Kantas sound better than the Adams? I know it's not a fair comparison, because, with electronics, the Focals are much more expensive than the Adams. For the record, I already own the S3V monitors. I just have a hard time believing that these 2-way speakers can sound better, even at several thousand dollars more for a complete system.

Rythmik subs didn’t pair well with these?

What's up homie !! ☕️ ☕️ I want to have a dedicated channel setup and get away from using the Yamaha rxa1050 but I don't know very much about tube amplifiers ? I really love the sound of the Focal chorus 807vnand would luv to had a dedicated 2 chan system

I am a DynAudio Guy (Contour 20s). Would love to hear a pair of these Focals as the sound is so much different, I think that the white models with the black accents are super moderne cool looking!

I am not the biggest fan of the look, because they look to modern. I mean they look premum, but I prefer more real woodveneer or even a real wood front baffle with a hard wax oil finish. For that kind of money I'd like to own speakers that look like they were handcrafted by a carpenter.

.. " So " .... =)

i like many of your videos however let’s be very clear in the fact that price has absolutely nothing to do with whether an amp brings out brightness or fatiguing qualities of a speaker or whether it causes a more warm easy listening characteristic - rather it’s the amp design and components that dictate this

for 1k less i woud get the paradigm persona b made in Canada

I hate the way the one two and three have the baffle that’s wider than the box

Nice speakers but I love my 805 d3

Personally I found death metal to be less acceptable on my Kanta No. 1’s

Ferrari speakers

I'm sick and tired of seeing expensive speakers with tiny woofers.

great review... aesthetically ugly

IMO - these speakers are ugly af. too many elements that do not coalesce. they should've stuck with either natural or composite all the way around - axe the wood veneer go for a solid color ala KEF and make the baffle seamless to the box - the woven cone would still stand out nicely. as for your take on diminishing returns? i totally understand where you're coming from as i've experienced it for myself. you may find yourself still searching for the perfect analogy to explain it all to someone who hasn't heard it for themselves. on the other hand, not sure you could've said it any better. soooo close... still - great vid!

I find it amusing that you compare with the speakers cannot do when less than $20,000 lol.

If these aren’t fatiguing no speaker is. Waaaay to much trebble