o.k. guys 'n gals, i bought the Focal Shape 50's at the end of June. Now that they're broken in i've decided to do a write up as the speakers are crazy awesome :banana:. Firstly these are not cheap, but for studio monitors they are just past the low end at $1,500.00 pair. and while i know full well you can build a kick-ass gaming rig for that kind of money, for studio audio it doesn't go that far - unless *you just don't care about sound that much*. if that's the case ignore the rest of the thread and go buy some kanto or audioengine speakers... which are as good as the low end of the studio monitors anyways. firstly, my dream speakers were/are the ATC SCM 12 (passive...English powered monitors cost in the used car range) at $1,600/pr Plus amp... which was my clue to look for other options. the Focal Solo6be is also crazy expensive but is extremely prevalent in studios so i know the sonic signature. luckily, Focal decided to trickle down some of the technology from the Solo series and the audiophile home series into their new Shape series. and boy! i'm glad they have. the Shape 50 uses a 5' woofer of flax composite (low weight extreme rigidity) and an Alu-Magnesium alloy tweeter along with 85 watts of class AB amplification. which is plenty loud as 1) volume is log. scale i.e. 10x power to 2x the volume. 2) i'm using an Electrovoice powered 18" sub (the bass is where power is needed as it takes more energy to move long waves) and again volume is log scale. and although i'm in a 15'x20' room, this rig could easily fill a nightclub to earsplitting volume. the detail, clarity, nuance, bass detail (shape 50 has two passive radiators on either side to control and deepen bass response), and openness is second to none - studio or home within the price range. the Kef LS50s (variant of the old BBC 3/5a standard) come close in all but bass response - but they are passive so at $100 less add amp of matching quality - another $500 minimum. and the powered Kef LS50 is an abomination of lo-fi blue toothiness - not high fidelity at all despite the over 2k asking price. Yes you can buy Mackie, presonus, krk, yamaha, jbl, alesis et al. for less - but they are all crap uke2: by comparison with crap uke2: build quality from China. once you are dealing with handmade in the 1st world audio you are paying for 1st world skills... which is well worth the expense. if you are in your twenties or less those are viable brands (incl. kanto and audioengine as well) because you are well away from peak earning. once you can afford products like these you'll enjoy them for at least twenty years.
