New Focal XS 2.1 for 100$ is It worth it ?

[Phonautograph]

I have found a brand new focal XS 2.1 from a reputable retailer for 100$ , I know it’s an outdated system , but for a 100$ would it be a good buy for a desktop pc for a person with an untrained ear

 Focal XS2.1

[pippenainteasy]

It looks like basically a trendier looking equivalent of the Klipsch 2.1 Promedia. So it's worth a shot.

[rando]

If you can place the sub on the same surface as and roughly between satellite speakers it they could be an avenue to better sound for you.  Otherwise I would look more seriously at two speaker options with larger woofers and good tweeter implementation.  

 

What is important is your appreciation of music grows through intelligently picking hardware that matches the environment it will be used in.  Good speakers can sound just as irritating as bad ones.

[Phonautograph]

32 minutes ago, rando said:

If you can place the sub on the same surface as and roughly between satellite speakers it they could be an avenue to better sound for you. 

 Really ?? Why should this sub be put on the same level as the speakers ? What am I missing here? I thought the best general sub placement is on the floor 

32 minutes ago, rando said:

What is important is your appreciation of music grows through intelligently picking hardware that matches the environment it will be used in.  Good speakers can sound just as irritating as bad ones.

I thought this speaker are perfectly matched for a user who wants a bassy setup and tight desktop space  that Can’t accommodate  for something like a pair of 8” monitors 

[Phonautograph]

2 hours ago, pippenainteasy said:

It looks like basically a trendier looking equivalent of the Klipsch 2.1 Promedia. So it's worth a shot.

It does , rarely do you find a quality 2.1 system at that price , it was originally priced for 600$ which is completely ridiculous, they do sound good but no way near that price range

[rando]

Sit on the floor under your desk next to the subwoofer.  Hmm, all that bass locked up in a mostly sealed off cavern is not ideal is it?  Hardly replicates the experience of a large open room where ALL speakers are aligned and acting together with no barriers to sound reaching your ears.  

 

Now what if we place the sub on top of the desk between the other two speakers and attempt our near field experiment again? Even behind a monitor we get bass better time aligned and accurately portrayed.  

[Phonautograph]

40 minutes ago, rando said:

Sit on the floor under your desk next to the subwoofer.  Hmm, all that bass locked up in a mostly sealed off cavern is not ideal is it?  Hardly replicates the experience of a large open room where ALL speakers are aligned and acting together with no barriers to sound reaching your ears.  

 

Now what if we place the sub on top of the desk between the other two speakers and attempt our near field experiment again? Even behind a monitor we get bass better time aligned and accurately portrayed.  

I guess you are right , when I tried it at the store it was at the same layout as well , desk space can’t handle it though , warning stupid question ahead , can I put a shock absorbant Mat on top of the woofer and put the display monitor on top of it ? 

[Blake]

I owned the XS 2.1 system for many years.  It isn't the current model but in no way is it outdated.  The only thing outdated would be the phone cradle that comes with it, but you don't have to use the phone cradle.

 

$100 used would be an incredible buy.  $100 new is crazy good.  If you don't buy it, shoot me a pm.  I'll buy it and give it to someone as a present.

 

 

[rando]

2 hours ago, Phonautograph said:

can I put a shock absorbant Mat on top of the woofer and put the display monitor on top of it ? 

 

If the monitor base is small enough and the extra height isn't a problem, sure.  Why not.

[Phonautograph]

5 hours ago, Blake said:

I owned the XS 2.1 system for many years.  It isn't the current model but in no way is it outdated.  The only thing outdated would be the phone cradle that comes with it, but you don't have to use the phone cradle.

 

$100 used would be an incredible buy.  $100 new is crazy good.  If you don't buy it, shoot me a pm.  I'll buy it and give it to someone as a present.

 

 

It’s in Egypt I don’t think it’s worth the shipping fees for you 😁

I think I’ll buy them tomorrow I have already reserved them, hope it’s not a lemon as it’s the last piece 

[Phonautograph]

7 hours ago, Blake said:

I owned the XS 2.1 system for many years.  It isn't the current model but in no way is it outdated.  The only thing outdated would be the phone cradle that comes with it, but you don't have to use the phone cradle.

 

$100 used would be an incredible buy.  $100 new is crazy good.  If you don't buy it, shoot me a pm.  I'll buy it and give it to someone as a present.

 

 

How would you describe it though ? Pros / cons 

[Blake]

10 hours ago, Phonautograph said:

How would you describe it though ? Pros / cons 

 

It worked great for my desktop at work.  I thought the sound quality was much better than your typical big name consumer desktop speakers.  I liked the XS 2.1 set up slightly more than the Audioengine A5 speakers I was using before, although it was close.  The subwoofer in the XS 2.1 was the determining factor, as the A5's just don't reproduce the low frequencies.

 

For the price, the sound is relatively clear and open and detailed, with a decently wide and deep sound stage and good imaging (your room and your placement of the speakers will be the major factors in the sound stage).  The sound balance is somewhat more to the high frequencies and lighter sounding, as opposed to being mid-centric and full-bodied.  The sound is rather neutral.

 

I sold the XS 2.1 to a co-worker as I decided to invest significantly more money to further upgrade my desktop system as I spend so much time listening to music in my office.   My co-worker loves it.    In terms of "cons", some may prefer a warmer, fuller sound, but at this price range there will always be compromises.

 

[Phonautograph]

I bought them today , package was factory sealed , everything inside was as well and the unit looked brand new and not like a refurb,

only thing that is missing is the battery door for the remote ,which is not a simple issue as it sounds, it pretty much renders the remote useless unless I take it apart to tape the battery inside  , since it’s more of a sleeve that inserts the battery to the contact points in the remote and holds the battery in place  , the remote was already sealed in a plastic bag that I had to rip apart to get it out so it’s probably a factory QC issue , and the unit production is discontinued as far as I known, so there are no replacement units

I hooked up everything and decided to try out the built in Burr Brown DAC it was good  but my only concern was that there was a very slight hiss when I set the speaker at maximum volume that disappears when I unplug the usb, I know it’s not my USB port as when I connect my audioengine d1 to it there is no such noise  , so it’s either the design or a fault with the dac or the usb type b connector that came with it  that looks and feels cheap

The speaker do sound amazing for the size , and the subwoofer is what makes me prefer it over my old 5.5’’ studio monitors edifier  s2000v (drivers made by Phil jones) , although the studio monitors do sound slightly better in mids and highs but the almost complete absence of low frequency reproduction when compared with the focal is what makes listening to the Focal a more enjoyable experience  

 

distortion happens in very high volumes that are too much for my room anyway ,  but I feel it’s an amp issue , as it’s not a specific speaker that distorts , but it’s the one connected to the left channel  that starts distorting first at a slightly lower volume 

 

I prefer the sound of the audioengine d1 dac to the burr brown built in the focal , regardless of the hissing noise 

 

I think these speakers may fully replace my monitors for the time being 

 

 

[Phonautograph]

6 hours ago, Blake said:

 

For the price, the sound is relatively clear and open and detailed, with a decently wide and deep sound stage and good imaging (your room and your placement of the speakers will be the major factors in the sound stage).  

 Where was your sub placement on the floor or the desk ? 

[Blake]

Floor.  Just place it roughly the same distance to your listening position as the speakers and you will be fine.

[Phonautograph]

Same here , I tried it on the desk was a completely crazy idea , everything on the desk rattled, I don’t know what I was thinking , and I prefer how it sound when on the floor too 

[rando]

Crazy

[Phonautograph]

5 hours ago, rando said:

Crazy

 
Lol, my desk is too light for it thus rattling and vibrating heavily and doesn’t have enough depth , it was blowing air in my face 😁

 

[rando]

12 hours ago, Phonautograph said:

 
Lol, my desk is too light for it thus rattling and vibrating heavily and doesn’t have enough depth , it was blowing air in my face 😁

 

 

Crazy you can have desk rattling bass with the port chuffing air in your face at work. 

 

A desk as near field listening location with subwoofer on the floor is hard to imagine.  Equidistant between speakers is roughly where your feet go.

 

Must be missing something.  Maybe you or @Blake can describe where you arrived at placing it?

[Blake]

Crappy pic, you can just see the top of the sub in the extreme lower left-hand side of the photo.  The sub is placed at a roughly equal distance with the left speaker, not in the middle.

 

 

[Phonautograph]

1 hour ago, rando said:

 

Crazy you can have desk rattling bass with the port chuffing air in your face at work. 

 

A desk as near field listening location with subwoofer on the floor is hard to imagine.  Equidistant between speakers is roughly where your feet go

I wish I can listen to speakers at my work , but sadly I can’t , that was blake who used them at his office 

I have it slightly to the left as well , to be honest I felt it sounded better on the floor as well , when I did some reading online I found out that low frequency waves are omnidirectional thus they don’t have to be placed on ear level , they do recommend that it being placed elevated on a table in order not to extend its vibration to the floor and cause unwanted booming 

[Phonautograph]

update

 

i changed the usb cable and the hissing noise went away , which was great , I then decided to add Bluetooth to the setup via an h/k adaptor that I have and it fits the styling perfectly 

 

whats unexpected is that the speaker outputs from both the aux in (Bluetooth) and the integrated usb DAC at the same time , I can play a song on my iPad which connected by bt and another song from my pc which is connected by usb and both of them overlay each other

[Phonautograph]

19 hours ago, rando said:

A desk as near field listening location with subwoofer on the floor is hard to imagine.  Equidistant between speakers is roughly where your feet go.

Must

 I have found this at focal’s Website 

Quote

Three amplifiers are integrated inside the subwoofer, 70W RMS for the bass, 2x30W RMS for the speakers. To be placed under your desk, on the floor. A set-up of the bass level permits to adapt to the room acoustics and proportions.

.https://www.focal.com/en/home-audio/multimedia-and-wireless/focal-xs-21/focal-xs-21

[rando]

So long as it sounds good I'm happy to admit being wrong.  It seems to be designed to somehow work under your legs in a not near field manner.

[bgentry]

There are several good reasons for subs to go on the floor.  Rattling/vibration/etc/ have been discussed.

 

The bigger two reasons are:

 

1.  Placing a sub up high induces a floor bounce reflection.  The sound from the subwoofer takes (at least) two paths:  One directly to your ear and another down to the floor,  and then reflected back to your ear.  The path length of the floor bounce equates to a cancelation in the upper bass region, which you don't want.  All reflections are bad.  This is one we can eliminate by placing it low.

 

2.  Many subwoofers have response that goes much higher than you would expect.  This is why you can hear the lower part of voices and things when you play a subwoofer all by itself.  If the sub is at (or near) ear level, you tend to hear these higher frequencies.  Placing the sub low masks these high frequencies more.  

 

Brian.