Focal CMS 65 Studio Monitors. Are They Worth It.

    I know, here I am again asking about Studio Monitors again. But, I was offered a deal on the KPA for $1650 if I go with a pair of Focal CMS 65's. The Focal's are also 18 months, same as cash. But, the big question is are they worth the almost $1800 price tag and are they a good match for the KPA. To be honest, the reviews are all stellar. Almost to good. What I mean by "almost to good" is the reviews say you can hear every little detail, super clean, outstanding clarity etc. Can they be so clear and clean that you may hear things with the KPA that you don't want to hear? The other thing is they are 6" drivers and I was going to go with 8".


    Anyway, if they will sound superior with the KPA to cheaper studio monitors, I don't mind spending the money.

    Can't go wrong with the Focal 65's, they are superb. You'll definitely hear things you do want to hear. Plenty low end, too. The revealing aspect of Focal is that they expose bad mixing very well. They'll reveal sloppy recording and playing too. Personally I want to hear those things.


    Not that they ever show up with me.


    :D


    Night and day vs cheaper, so called, studio monitors.

    I use CMS50's the smaller brothers of the 65's, they don't have quite as much low end punch, but they're just as detailed and IMO are totally worth it. The KPA sounds great through them.

    Quote from Per

    I use CMS50's the smaller brothers of the 65's, they don't have quite as much low end punch, but they're just as detailed and IMO are totally worth it. The KPA sounds great through them.

    If you think your KPA sounds great with the CMS50's, that's definitely a less expensive option. Are you getting enough low end with the KPA? Would you rather have the CMS65's? What type of music do you mostly play (clean, OD, high gain).


    Thanks

    One more thing I've been meaning to ask, the Focal's are "Nearfield", how do they work in different room sizes? Do you need to be sitting close to them to have them sound good? I'm not sure I really understand this Nearfield/Midfield deal.

    Among other things, a nearfiled (couple of) monitor(s) is engineered so that the reconstruction of the virtual stage is correct even with the monitors really close to each others and the listener. A farfield monitor can't do that.


    It also means that two NF monitors far from each others can't correctly rebuild the stereo scene.


    But this applies to mixed music or live playback, for a single instrument the stereo reconstruction is much less critical, of course.


    Another characteristic of the NF monitors is how euphonious they are al low level-close distance. OTOH, they can't usually produce very high SPLs, since they're meant to be kept close to the listener.

    I use the Focal CMS 65 and I can onestly say that they sound fantastic. Even if I have some resonance issue in my room, this monitor are incredible for mixing, it's absolutely true that they give you the possibilities to hear everything and understand easily what to you want and what you don't want to hear!


    Let's say that bad mix or bad sound are shown exactly how they are, so they don't hide nothing...
    For the KPA it's the same, you can easily tweak your sound to use after in any pa system without bad surprises. But if are hearing a bad sound for your guitar that's shown in front of you directly!
    I believe in general that for the kpa 8 inch woofer is still better... this monitor have 6,5 inch, and anyway the bass response is still full, rich and harmonic, plus the monitor are the smaller I found with such great performance. If you don't have problem of space think about an 8 inch monitor but be careful that the sound remains still linear and that the bass response doesn't cover meedle freq spectrum!


    For the nearfield stuff, you can use it without problems until 2-3 meter of distance and appreciate all the clarity and power.
    So, let us know your final decision ;)