Anybody here have the Focal XS or CMS50 speakers? What do you think of them?

Luba Cox · Nov 21, 2009, 05:19 PM

http://www.focal-fr.com/

The Focal XS for $600 gets mixed reviews on the Apple Online Store with some reviewers saying the speakers need to be "broken in." The CMS50 for $1100 (Bang and Olufsen prices) has less than 10 reviews, but the reviewers rave about the CMS50s.

I have the BOSE Companion 5s which I think sound better than the Companion 3s, not bad overall, and they're $400. At the time, I didn't see Focal speakers around the Apple Store or any store, and now the BOSE aren't around. Seems like my local Apple store decided to promote the Focal instead of BOSE. I suppose I am curious and wondering if I got the inferior speaker. I listen to the Bang and Olufsen speakers and they sounded better to me, but cost too much. I felt the Logitech 5500 would require too much work to set up and they looked ugly to me. In any case, no store had them set up for me to listen, while BOSE has a nice demo station set up in the stores. Logitech sales should have set up something like that too.

DEE9299 · Nov 21, 2009, 10:07 PM

I wondered the same about the focals to..all i can say is that i have there car audio speakers and they are sick

thegoldenmackid · Nov 21, 2009, 10:09 PM

At those prices, getting your own set of bookshelfs is a much better route.

loudnclear · Nov 22, 2009, 01:59 AM

The focal cms-50's are the best powered monitors I have heard for about $1000.00. I was at the AES show in New York in October and listened to the cms-50's and was incredibly impressed. From what I listened to at the show, you had to go to $2500.00 a pair with the new Genelecs to move to the next level. I don't see how anybody could do better than these speakers for $1100.00. Keep in mind that they are powered as well so no amplification is needed. The bass response is also surprisingly good for 5" woofers. But, if you want to get real serious bass you should get their new cms sub as well. But I think that will send you back another $1100.00. I plan on buying them as soon as I can scrape up the dough.

You can't go wrong with the cms-50's, and no, I don't work for Focal.

thegoldenmackid · Nov 22, 2009, 02:05 AM

I would check out this thread from Gearslutz, a forum dedicated to this sorta stuff. For example, there are suggestions for Genelec's multimedia system, as well as Blue Sky. I would head over to test them before dropping that amount of money. Even if Guitar Center doesn't carry them, that's always a good place to check out tons of monitors. What are you doing with these speakers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by loudnclear

You can't go wrong with the cms-50's, and no, I don't work for Focal.

Given that you just joined and have one post – jury is still out.

loudnclear · Dec 12, 2009, 10:06 PM

I used to work for the magazine, Pro Audio Review, on the ad sales side. That's how I found out about the Focals. The guy doing the shootout dug the speakers as much as I did - they won the shootout and went up against some real heavy hitters. Here's the link to the magazine feature. Enjoy!

http://www.proaudioreview.com/article/23148

Nov 21, 2009, 05:19 PM	#1
Luba Cox macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2009	Anybody here have the Focal XS or CMS50 speakers? What do you think of them? http://www.focal-fr.com/ The Focal XS for $600 gets mixed reviews on the Apple Online Store with some reviewers saying the speakers need to be "broken in." The CMS50 for $1100 (Bang and Olufsen prices) has less than 10 reviews, but the reviewers rave about the CMS50s. I have the BOSE Companion 5s which I think sound better than the Companion 3s, not bad overall, and they're $400. At the time, I didn't see Focal speakers around the Apple Store or any store, and now the BOSE aren't around. Seems like my local Apple store decided to promote the Focal instead of BOSE. I suppose I am curious and wondering if I got the inferior speaker. I listen to the Bang and Olufsen speakers and they sounded better to me, but cost too much. I felt the Logitech 5500 would require too much work to set up and they looked ugly to me. In any case, no store had them set up for me to listen, while BOSE has a nice demo station set up in the stores. Logitech sales should have set up something like that too.

Nov 21, 2009, 10:09 PM	#3
thegoldenmackid macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Plano, TX/Winston-Salem, NC	At those prices, getting your own set of bookshelfs is a much better route. __________________ themacfeed.com/forums KRK Powered peace[darfur Help my external hard drive guide.

Dec 12, 2009, 10:06 PM	#6
loudnclear macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2009	Check out this review/shootout involving the cms-50s I used to work for the magazine, Pro Audio Review, on the ad sales side. That's how I found out about the Focals. The guy doing the shootout dug the speakers as much as I did - they won the shootout and went up against some real heavy hitters. Here's the link to the magazine feature. Enjoy! http://www.proaudioreview.com/article/23148

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Nov 21, 2009, 10:07 PM	#2
DEE9299 macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2009	I wondered the same about the focals to..all i can say is that i have there car audio speakers and they are sick

Nov 22, 2009, 01:59 AM	#4
loudnclear macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2009	The focal cms-50's are the best powered monitors I have heard for about $1000.00. I was at the AES show in New York in October and listened to the cms-50's and was incredibly impressed. From what I listened to at the show, you had to go to $2500.00 a pair with the new Genelecs to move to the next level. I don't see how anybody could do better than these speakers for $1100.00. Keep in mind that they are powered as well so no amplification is needed. The bass response is also surprisingly good for 5" woofers. But, if you want to get real serious bass you should get their new cms sub as well. But I think that will send you back another $1100.00. I plan on buying them as soon as I can scrape up the dough. You can't go wrong with the cms-50's, and no, I don't work for Focal.