Saturday, October 13, 2007

Focal K2 Power 165K2P separates kit: Review

There are certain items where people feel that it’s already a big waste of money. Something that’s already way too expensive just for a simple purpose, and that lesser expensive items can already serve that simple purpose and more, that those items are already just for improving one’s status symbol. One such item is the Focal 165K2P.

Priced at Php 38,000, most people would be surprised on the price for just set of speakers. Some might even call it exorbitant. But for some, it’s audio nirvana disguised as a set of speakers.

Being one of the premium models from Focal’s high-end line, the K2 Power, it promises high-end quality all over it, and it actually does. It’s actually a couple of notches short from Focal’s flagship line, the Utopia Be, which costs at least five times what the K2P costs. Opening the box will reveal a set of beautifully crafted woofers, tweeters and crossovers. Though the box is very simple and shares the design with its lower-end cousins, it’s adequate to house the speakers until it finally gets to be installed and used. Everything comes complete with the kit: woofers, tweeters, crossovers, two sets of mounting cups, screws, brackets, grilles, warranty card and an instruction manual.

The woofers are definitely a work of art, fairly resembling to the high-end home speakers that cost a lot more. The pale yellow cone, called the K2 sandwich membrane by Focal, not only looks beautiful, but it has technology placed all over it. The cone, which is made out of Kevlar, aerospace-grade foam and glass fibers sandwiched together, promises rigidity and damping while being lightweight at the same time. I’ve held a piece of that cone, and it’s surprisingly light. Another plus is that the glass fiber layer on the back side of the cone provides protection from the elements, a huge plus if you are installing the speakers at the doors.

The motor structure is nothing to sneeze at either. Starting at the voice coil, it’s actually made out of materials common to woofers. It’s made out of a Kapton former with copper wires wound around it. Nothing much really, but the difference lies in its size. The diameter is actually 40mm (1.6 in), a huge size considering most 6.5 inch woofers use a 25mm (1 inch) voice coil. From there, one can see that this is a serious woofer.

A voice coil this size definitely needs a larger magnet, and it’ll be a surprise if this woofer has a small one. The magnet, sandwiched between two beautifully machined chrome plates, is huge. Using a large single ferrite magnet, it’s made to match the huge voice coil mounted on its center. Definitely serious indeed.

And finally, the cone is topped off by a beautifully crafted aluminium phase plug, something that adds a touch of high-end to these speakers. Plus, these plugs add directivity to the sound for improved imaging, which is its main reason for being there. I think these plugs made up much of the Php 10,000 difference from the K2P’s little brother, the 165KP. The KP, which is essentially the same as the K2P, lacks the plugs and has a smaller motor coupled onto it.

The tweeters, dubbed the TN 52, are just as serious as the woofer. A huge upgrade from the TN 45 titanium tweeters paired with the K2P’s ancestors, it’s an inverted dome tweeter utilizing a Tioxid dome, titanium coated with titanium oxide for reduced brightness. What sets the TN 52 apart from the TN 45 and the TN 47 is that it already has an independent surround made out of PE foam, where the latter has an integrated surround on it. The foam surround would reduce brightness further and promises linear sound reproduction. Another plus is that the tweeters now have a pair of wave guides located on the top and the bottom of the tweeter aside from the phase plug in the middle. These would give further directivity plus better imaging as well. The tweeters come with two mounting cups: surface mount with two angles, and flush mount.

The crossovers are also a definitely a work of art. A true audiophile-grade network and not something that was thrown together and labelled “audiophile-grade”, this one has very expensive pieces carefully built all over it. Encased in a huge Zamak alloy case, the alloy promises not only added rigidity, but also improved cooling. The sheer size of the crossovers already shows that it means business. Opening the polycarbonate cover reveals what separated the men from the boys. Using Axon polypropylene capacitors, carbon resistors and heavy-gauge air core inductors, these items define the read deal from the pretenders. Tweeter level protection ranges from 0 to -7 dB, with at least +/- 1dB increments via three switches marked -1, -2 and -4 that can be pressed or depressed in combination, this would allow fine-tuning combined with a midrange presence switch for great sound quality wherever the drivers may be located. Truly a great piece of work.

The manual supplied are 20 pages long, with 8 pages each for English and French, and is printed on glossy paper. The English version is properly translated (I don’t know about the French version though), and are properly arranged, with the words on the right side of the manual and their corresponding illustrations on the left side. Very impressive. The next two pages (17 and 18) are guidelines on how to dispose the kit properly once its operating life ends in several languages. The manual’s last two pages (19 and 20) are warranty sheets in both English and French in which you fill up, detach and send it back to Focal. I find this impressive as well as it eliminates the chance of losing your warranty cards before filling them up.

These speakers require at least 100 watts at 4 ohms for it to run properly, and with a slightly lower sensitivity than the Polyglass, these speakers require an external amplifier for it to sound properly.

THE AUDITION

I have acquired a 165K2P kit as an upgrade for my system; replacing the Polyglass 165V2S (see previous post about them).The tweeters are mounted in the dash using the surface mounting cup and were aimed slightly off-axis by at least a few degrees. They were aimed towards behind the map light. The A-pillar is wrapped in cloth to reduce reflections.

The woofers are mounted in the OE position, but due to the larger motor structure, the woofer won’t fit without modifications, so a pair of fiberglass door pods was fabricated to make them fit. Procon deadening was applied on the door skins and Cascade Deflex Power Pads were placed behind the woofer for reducing distortion. To further eliminate resonances and coloration, Dynaliner acoustical foam was applied on the door sidings. Clearaudio interconnects were also installed along with Belden wires for smooth signal transfer.

Crossover settings were set at -3 dB for tweeter attenuation and midrange presence is set to “Flat”. HPF is set at 63 Hz with a slope of -12 dB/octave while LPF is set at 50 Hz with a slope of -18 dB/octave.

A word of warning though, the TN52 is an extremely directional tweeter. If they were improperly aimed, they will sound poorly. In fact, if your tweeters were just off by at least a millimetre, expect drastic changes in sound quality. Aim the tweeters properly in order to get the best tonal accuracy and optimize soundstage and imaging (watch out for reflections). You have been warned..

Also, the speakers require a running-in period of at least 200 hours. That’s roughly three and a half months if you are planning to play them for at least an hour a day. Before evaluating them, they were fully broken-in in order for them to play at their best.

Time to listen.

Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits (Tonal Accuracy/Spectral Balance)

One of the hit songs from the British rock band, Sultans of Swing cover nearly the entire frequency spectrum and has the instruments commonly used in a rock band.

Playing this track on the K2P is a perfect harmony, the vocals and the instruments are quite accurately reproduced and neither is overpowering the other. Vocals are full and crisp, and the electric guitar is smooth and powerful. The drums exhibit good transient response and have body, although it’s still a bit thin for my taste. The cymbals are my favourite instruments on this track, as the speakers perfectly reproduced the “sizzle” that can be normally heard on cymbals, which shows that the tweeters are perfectly capable of high frequency extensions.

When God Dips His Pen of Love in My Heart – Allison Krauss (Stage Depth/Imaging)

This track is relatively simple, with only three singers, a bass and a banjo behind them. Both instruments are beside each other, and the singers, Allison Krauss in the middle, are side by side with each other and at front.

The K2P definitely proved itself well in this test, as the stage was quite deep, ranging from the front edge of the dashboard to just barely one inch from the rear edge. Not exactly very deep like most people would like, but good enough.

Imaging was good as well, as the three singers’ voices did not blend with each other. Each of them can be perfectly distinguished from each other, especially when each of them sings individually. Also, the instruments show good images as well, neither too big nor too small, nor does it overpower the vocals in terms of size.

Afterglow – Kendra Shank (Stage Width/Imaging)

I used this track on my Polyglass review. But this time, I’ll be using the track for a different purpose. The track consists of a single vocalist with a guitar and a triangle on the far right.

The K2P did well here as well, with the guitar/triangle combo on the right-hand edge of the dash, just near the sail panels. Although more can be expected, it’s to be expected since the tweeters are placed on the dash. Maybe some small adjustments might improve the width.

Improvisation Track – Focal Disc No.3 (Transient Response/Attack and Decay)

This track is basically a drum track, where a drum set can only be heard, with a wind instrument on the background during the middle of the track.

During the start of the track, the two cymbals can be heard. Again, it was reproduced perfectly. However, the same can’t be said for the drums, especially the snare drum, where it sounded a bit thin and causes my ears to grow tired. However, they sounded very fast, with no delays. Even the bass drum sounded fast, and blended very well.

In A Sentimental Mood- Jacqui Dankworth (Sibilance)

This track is purely vocal, with minimal instruments on the background, and the vocalist placed her mouth near the microphone, thus creating sibilance. The objective of this test is not to see that sibilance is totally eliminated, but it should see if the speakers would exhibit controlled sibilance, meaning it wouldn’t be very rough nor too bright, just right for the ears.

On this test, all I could say is that the speakers handled the test quite well, too. The sibilance was neither rough nor sharp, it was just right. Although certain parts of the track showed sibilance that was quite sharp, it was perfectly natural as the “s” sound was extended by the vocalist.

Conclusion

This kit definitely delivered it all: precision, smoothness, good transient response, and a lot more. It’s a good upgrade if you seek a lot more from the bread and butter components. However, I noticed that the tweeters were a bit too bright, contributing to the lack of body, especially around the midbass and midrange area. Plus, its sensitivity to slight changes in angles made it undesirable for me, but nonetheless, the tweeter was okay. Maybe swapping it to an Aluminum/Magnesium tweeter, such as the ones in Focal Polyglass V1, VR or Chorus home speakers might improve things a bit, but if you don’t want to swap it out, a little bit of work and long hours of listening sessions would bring out the best in the TN 52. There’s plenty of potential on that tweeter, you just need to know how to tap it.

But such weaknesses don’t make this kit a poor one. In fact, it’s one of the best kits I have owned, and that it’s definitely a one-way ticket to audio nirvana. It’s a big plus to those who want great sound and who want to gain first-hand experience in sound tuning. For people who just want great sound, get the Utopia Be. Just make sure you have enough money for it.