cool review...even if they are very different speakers. the focals are really meant for mixing and mastering. i certainly appreciate your insight and so refreshing to see you reviewed critical listening monitors. would be very cool if you could offer other comparisons of critical listening monitors: ATC, Genelec, Neumann KH 310, PMC... fascinating! love your channel. you are one passionate audiophile person!!!
Yes a comparison of studio 3-way monitors for audiophile use would be great. Focal Trio6 Trio11 & SM9, Kali in8, Neumann kh310 and kh 410, genelec "the ones" range...
Have the Navis and love them. They scale really well and are very transparent to the source. The better your dac/preamp the better they sound. Elac Navis absolutely kills it in the midrange. They blew away the LS50 Wireless in that respect with a much bigger sound when I A/B tested them.
Navis has a 3d soundfield that fills my large listening room with crystal clear natural vocals and instruments. The sweet spot is larger than the couch for critical listening, and the phantom center is glued to the screen from all listening positions. I use DAC in Elac DMS, or DAC in Parasound P5, or Chanel Island DAC2, or for Video the DAC in my Sony xbr900h or the one in my Denon x4700
Have to begrudgingly agree with Jay. I been living with my Navis a couple of months now. They are absolutely brilliant and can throw all the hifi superlatives at them......yet, they bore me with extended listening. This is in a hifi environment, by the way, not studio. Watching this review piqued my interest in the Focals. I studied what other reviewers had to say about them. All very positive, and eventually went for the 50's which allegedly had a better mid range than the 65's reviewed here. I was not interested in the decreased bass response as was running with subs. Out of the box, the imaging was superb and easily matched the Navis. They felt quite tight and constrained, but started to open up after a couple of hours. Now they have 75 hours, and I can compare with Navis. Not sure what it is. When I change back to Navis I think they are superb, but this wears off quickly & long to get back to the Shapes. I have noticed on Techno material, the Shapes keep it together better, and I think this has to do with the Passive Radiators vs Open Port. They seem to have more control, whereas the port adds a certain amount of bloat (4' from rear wall) which obstructs the mids giving a slightly veiled presentation to the Navis. This is with max HPF applied to both and subs running. I thought the midrange would excel with the Navis, being a separate driver, but the Shapes keep up with no issue. I agree with all the other observations Jay has portrayed and add the 50's match the Navis in Midrange. So if you sum it all up, it appears the Shape 50 could be a serious contender, especially coming in at half the price! Note, this is my personal observation, and your mileage may vary.
We encourage you to watch the reviews. Yes, the Focal is designed for nearfield, but in Jay's Shape 65 review he explains how it excels at both nearfield and traditional.
@@soundstagenetwork I did. It wasn't an attacking comment although I admit it might have sounded like one. I was referring mainly to the more analytical and nearfiled oriented sound of a pro studio monitor as it is expected to highlight and help editing rather than enjoyment. cheers
@@riefnezsketo3365 While true, it appears the Shapes still retain the focal 'house sound', which is a fairly smooth one that is pretty nice for casual listening as well.
Get you a denafrips aries II and a burson soloist amp with these focals and you get a warmer sound which spanks the elac navis into oblivion...omg the coloration on these is beautiful!
I've got a Denafrips Venus II with the Soloist 3XP and they are simply magic together with Shape 65. Looking at upgrading to Trio 11be in the near future.
Could you compare the Shape to the KEF LS50 Wireless, specifically in terms of clarity ? Also Focal Shape Twin is an interesting one, reviews say it has a little less lower end but more clarity than the Shape 65, but measurements show its only worse than Shape 65, I mean its less flat and drops faster in the lower end.
Thank you for this review its clear simple and informative.
Love these Speakers. Best hifi purchase i have ever made.
cool review...even if they are very different speakers. the focals are really meant for mixing and mastering. i certainly appreciate your insight and so refreshing to see you reviewed critical listening monitors. would be very cool if you could offer other comparisons of critical listening monitors: ATC, Genelec, Neumann KH 310, PMC... fascinating! love your channel. you are one passionate audiophile person!!!
Would also love a Neumann KH 310 review. Interested how they would fare from a standard hifi point of view
Yes a comparison of studio 3-way monitors for audiophile use would be great. Focal Trio6 Trio11 & SM9, Kali in8, Neumann kh310 and kh 410, genelec "the ones" range...
Greath review ...Just got my Focals 936 this weekend waiting on my cables inpatienly...Also love that t-shirt
Nice and clear review, thank you a lot Jay.
Have the Navis and love them. They scale really well and are very transparent to the source. The better your dac/preamp the better they sound. Elac Navis absolutely kills it in the midrange. They blew away the LS50 Wireless in that respect with a much bigger sound when I A/B tested them.
Hi JM, just wondering what Dac you are using? Cheers.
@@ohnonate I'm using an LKS MH-DA004.
Navis has a 3d soundfield that fills my large listening room with crystal clear natural vocals and instruments. The sweet spot is larger than the couch for critical listening, and the phantom center is glued to the screen from all listening positions. I use DAC in Elac DMS, or DAC in Parasound P5, or Chanel Island DAC2, or for Video the DAC in my Sony xbr900h or the one in my Denon x4700
Have to begrudgingly agree with Jay.
I been living with my Navis a couple of months now. They are absolutely brilliant and can throw all the hifi superlatives at them......yet, they bore me with extended listening. This is in a hifi environment, by the way, not studio.
Watching this review piqued my interest in the Focals. I studied what other reviewers had to say about them. All very positive, and eventually went for the 50's which allegedly had a better mid range than the 65's reviewed here. I was not interested in the decreased bass response as was running with subs.
Out of the box, the imaging was superb and easily matched the Navis. They felt quite tight and constrained, but started to open up after a couple of hours. Now they have 75 hours, and I can compare with Navis.
Not sure what it is. When I change back to Navis I think they are superb, but this wears off quickly & long to get back to the Shapes.
I have noticed on Techno material, the Shapes keep it together better, and I think this has to do with the Passive Radiators vs Open Port. They seem to have more control, whereas the port adds a certain amount of bloat (4' from rear wall) which obstructs the mids giving a slightly veiled presentation to the Navis. This is with max HPF applied to both and subs running.
I thought the midrange would excel with the Navis, being a separate driver, but the Shapes keep up with no issue. I agree with all the other observations Jay has portrayed and add the 50's match the Navis in Midrange. So if you sum it all up, it appears the Shape 50 could be a serious contender, especially coming in at half the price!
Note, this is my personal observation, and your mileage may vary.
one is a studio monitor designed for near field, the other a hi-fi active speaker
We encourage you to watch the reviews. Yes, the Focal is designed for nearfield, but in Jay's Shape 65 review he explains how it excels at both nearfield and traditional.
@@soundstagenetwork I did. It wasn't an attacking comment although I admit it might have sounded like one. I was referring mainly to the more analytical and nearfiled oriented sound of a pro studio monitor as it is expected to highlight and help editing rather than enjoyment. cheers
@@riefnezsketo3365 While true, it appears the Shapes still retain the focal 'house sound', which is a fairly smooth one that is pretty nice for casual listening as well.
@@riefnezsketo3365 Doesn't matter the focal's are one of the few that can be used for casual listening. I own them.
Allways happy to see the reviews, great job dear
How would I connect the two Focal Shape 65 to a TV that only has optical digital audio out or H/P out, without spending hundreds of dollars?
Get you a denafrips aries II and a burson soloist amp with these focals and you get a warmer sound which spanks the elac navis into oblivion...omg the coloration on these is beautiful!
I've got a Denafrips Venus II with the Soloist 3XP and they are simply magic together with Shape 65. Looking at upgrading to Trio 11be in the near future.
I've been using a Benchmark DAC1 HDR (USB to PC) with my Shape 65 monitors. Would be interesting to try some other dacs though.
Wondering how you think the Acoustic Energy AE-1 Active would would fare in this situation?
Hoping we see a Take 2 review of the AE-1 now that they have been reviewed
I have the AE1's, Navis & Shape 50. 50's are clear winner (see my comment). AE1 suffer from bloat.
So the shape is better in pretty much everything
You should test Focal Solo 6 Be - the best-kept audiophile secret!
plz, compare the both with the dynaudio lyd series.
Can you do Focal Shape 40 and Adam A3X, please?
Could you compare the Shape to the KEF LS50 Wireless, specifically in terms of clarity ? Also Focal Shape Twin is an interesting one, reviews say it has a little less lower end but more clarity than the Shape 65, but measurements show its only worse than Shape 65, I mean its less flat and drops faster in the lower end.
the bend in the wood is where it shouldn't be... I really wish they had placed it as a C shape on the sides.
Reviews of jbl 4305p vs reviews of focal shape 65 active speakers
What about room filling with shape 65?
Please review Elac BS312 speakers!
Just noticed it's a different channel. Doppelganger?
Focals are deafeningly bright
I will not buy rear ported speakers, especially as monitors.
Opinions !!!!
None of he elac lines I have heard have a great treble. Too polite. Polite to me= soft and inaccurate.,