I wonder what's wrong with the internet nowadays. The last few months, I can't order ANYTHING without something being wrong. A few days ago I posted this:
Quote:
And a serious rant is that I've just received a dead on arrival article. It's one of two table supports that I wanted to convert into a very heavy speaker stands by bolting a 30x40x2.7cm beech board on top of it.
(This stand is going to hold a speaker that's 28cm wide, 35 deep, and 40 high, and it weighs in at 30 pounds. While most normal speaker stands are rated to hold this box, I just don't trust the low weight and their often very small bases and top plates to hold a box of this size and weight.)
Well, what can be broken about that, you ask? It has four feet. One of them is broken off, and fell clattering out of the box when I unpacked the thing.
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The store replaced that base ASAP (sent out a new one the day I called), and I received it the day after. Very well, and I put everything together.
Yesterday, I received the speakers, two of these:
Focal Alpha 80 (Although in reality, it's much darker, almost black, and not this greyish color as in the picture.)
One of them has a dent in the housing. It has to be swapped.
Sigh.
Fornuately, they live up to the expectations the manufacturer set:
- Works well in small rooms (because the bass port is in the front, so it doesn't smash the bass against the back wall; the one the speaker is standing against)
- Has good frequency response at low volumes (I wanted such a big speaker to reproduce the piano/organ bass well, not to blast the roof off the flat)
- Low directivity (doesn't need to be angled toward the listener)
There are very few, if any speakers apart from this one in this price range that combine all of these traits, so I was a bit skeptical, but... It's all true.
I put the speakers left and right next to the stage piano (on their stands), and they sound exactly as I'd hoped to. Tonight I'll package up the damaged one and send it off for replacement tomorrow.