Wuhahahahahahaha
$200 Audioengine A2 speakers Vs. $1000 Focal CMS 40 studio monitors
Who wins????
Don't know yet.
I received the Focal CMS 40 speakers several days ago and received the Wireworld Terra-6 RCA-to-RCA cable a few days ago. Hooked em up and started playing music. I fiddled with the settings to get it working right.
The source is PC with Xonar DX7.1 sound card.
The previous setup was Audioengine A2 speakers w/ $1200 Audioquest Angel cable (mini-to-mini 3.5mm) and $200 Audioquest Sydney cable to subwoofer (SVS SB12-NSD).
The new setup is $200 Sydney cable going from PC to subwoofer and then to the Focal CMS40 speakers via $25 Wireworld Terra-6 RCA cables.
The Focal speakers weigh a ton. I had trouble getting them out of the box cause they are so heavy (didn't expect they were going to be heavy considering their size). The cabin is a complete full metal construction and designed for acoustics. Two amps built in to each speaker, one for the tweeter and one for the mid woofer.
The speakers are brand new out of the box so they require break-in.
Audioengine A2 sounds wonderful and has very tight / hard bass, in other words, the upper bass sound very articulated. Plus you get *lower* bass from the subwoofer. The bass department is just uber impressive. Nice mid range too as this is common for the A2 speakers. Detail and transparency is impressive, thanks to the $1200 solid silver conductor and FEP air tubing insulation construction in the cable. When you play TV music performance you hear the details and good air. It gives you live sound. Very good sounding component.
Now to the Focal CMS 40, play the same TV music performance, it sounds different than the A2 speakers. It sounds like you are almost actually there in *front* of the actual stage live. I can hear the drum beats more real and more powerful. You can really hear the drums in the far background nice and clear. It does have wider soundstage and each instrument is more articulated and transparent.
So right out of the box, the wide soundstage is immediately noticed with the CMS 40. It is better in the treble department too. The tweeter is rated at 25 khz (Magnesium Aluminum inverted dome). It handled the vocals really well, easily outpacing the A2's (A2's run out of breath pretty quick in the vocals especially in the highs). The big difference with the Focal however is the mid range, it has much more room for *stereo imaging* and fills up my living room really quickly. The A2's had trouble filling up my living room due to it's size and limited power output. The Focal has more neutral / natural sound. The A2's are pretty neutral too, but not when compared to the Focals.
Played some music. Surprisingly, a few songs (from artists Amy Grant and July) so far sounded better with the A2 speakers. Some elements in the music were very *transitional* in the mids, almost like metallic-like (hard to explain) that I could not hear with the other speakers. It sounds so good you would poop your pants. The CMS 40 wasn't as good with these songs for some reason.
I played about 30 other songs and they sounded better with the CMS40 (especially the soundstage and enhanced background instruments). I have plenty more songs to play.
Holly crap is the CMS 40 loud. It fills up the room easily. They seem to handle music with highs effortlessly without even trying.
Again, this is my first impression, Focal speakers right out of the box.
Giving more time for them to settle... The full performance of the Focal speakers have yet to be unleashed as right now they are going through many connections (soundcard to subwoofer, subwoofer to the speakers via cheap RCA cable). I need a dedicated external DAC and high-end XLR cables which I planned to get but it's not going to happen anytime soon... it'll be sometime next year. The A2 speakers still sound a bit tighter, more direct, and the detail is about the same as the Focal.
$200 Audioengine A2 speakers Vs. $1000 Focal CMS 40 studio monitors
Who wins????
Don't know yet.
I received the Focal CMS 40 speakers several days ago and received the Wireworld Terra-6 RCA-to-RCA cable a few days ago. Hooked em up and started playing music. I fiddled with the settings to get it working right.
The source is PC with Xonar DX7.1 sound card.
The previous setup was Audioengine A2 speakers w/ $1200 Audioquest Angel cable (mini-to-mini 3.5mm) and $200 Audioquest Sydney cable to subwoofer (SVS SB12-NSD).
The new setup is $200 Sydney cable going from PC to subwoofer and then to the Focal CMS40 speakers via $25 Wireworld Terra-6 RCA cables.
The Focal speakers weigh a ton. I had trouble getting them out of the box cause they are so heavy (didn't expect they were going to be heavy considering their size). The cabin is a complete full metal construction and designed for acoustics. Two amps built in to each speaker, one for the tweeter and one for the mid woofer.
The speakers are brand new out of the box so they require break-in.
Audioengine A2 sounds wonderful and has very tight / hard bass, in other words, the upper bass sound very articulated. Plus you get *lower* bass from the subwoofer. The bass department is just uber impressive. Nice mid range too as this is common for the A2 speakers. Detail and transparency is impressive, thanks to the $1200 solid silver conductor and FEP air tubing insulation construction in the cable. When you play TV music performance you hear the details and good air. It gives you live sound. Very good sounding component.
Now to the Focal CMS 40, play the same TV music performance, it sounds different than the A2 speakers. It sounds like you are almost actually there in *front* of the actual stage live. I can hear the drum beats more real and more powerful. You can really hear the drums in the far background nice and clear. It does have wider soundstage and each instrument is more articulated and transparent.
So right out of the box, the wide soundstage is immediately noticed with the CMS 40. It is better in the treble department too. The tweeter is rated at 25 khz (Magnesium Aluminum inverted dome). It handled the vocals really well, easily outpacing the A2's (A2's run out of breath pretty quick in the vocals especially in the highs). The big difference with the Focal however is the mid range, it has much more room for *stereo imaging* and fills up my living room really quickly. The A2's had trouble filling up my living room due to it's size and limited power output. The Focal has more neutral / natural sound. The A2's are pretty neutral too, but not when compared to the Focals.
Played some music. Surprisingly, a few songs (from artists Amy Grant and July) so far sounded better with the A2 speakers. Some elements in the music were very *transitional* in the mids, almost like metallic-like (hard to explain) that I could not hear with the other speakers. It sounds so good you would poop your pants. The CMS 40 wasn't as good with these songs for some reason.
I played about 30 other songs and they sounded better with the CMS40 (especially the soundstage and enhanced background instruments). I have plenty more songs to play.
Holly crap is the CMS 40 loud. It fills up the room easily. They seem to handle music with highs effortlessly without even trying.
Again, this is my first impression, Focal speakers right out of the box.
Giving more time for them to settle... The full performance of the Focal speakers have yet to be unleashed as right now they are going through many connections (soundcard to subwoofer, subwoofer to the speakers via cheap RCA cable). I need a dedicated external DAC and high-end XLR cables which I planned to get but it's not going to happen anytime soon... it'll be sometime next year. The A2 speakers still sound a bit tighter, more direct, and the detail is about the same as the Focal.
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