Today I came across a very interesting read, thought to share it with everybody.. Its a comparison between Focal Utopia Degree 7 and K2 Power 165-KRX3..
Since its a 165KRX3 thread, someone might get benefit from it..
Note that the 3W2 Be midrange is pretty much +/- 2dB from 200hz - 5khz, regardless of whether it's on axis or 45deg off axis. The KRX3 midrange on the other hand has a masive shelf starting at around 1.8khz and spreading out to around 5khz (on axis) or about 3khz (off axis). The Be should be pretty much brilliant out of the box, while the KRX3 midrange would likely require heavy EQ to smooth it out. The new KRX3 midrange looks to be completely different to the old K4Slim (from the K2P range) - this one actually looks like it uses exactly the same basket as the Be, and possibly a very similar motor as well. I'd say it's probably the the different cone material is probably to thank for the Be's smoother response. If the motors are similar, then distortion may also be similar - though again the different cone material could easilly have an impact on that too.
As far as tweeters go, the Tbe is nicer on axis, while the the TN53 is better off axis. This tells us only about frequency resonpnse, and tells us nothing at all about distortion. I'd imagine that the distortion is probably signifiantly lower on the Be (especially at lower frequencies) but this is pure assumption...i have no data at all to base it on.
With the midbass drivers, the K3P driver looks to have a smoother response on paper - however when I model them out in a simulated Infinite Baffle environment the perfect ~0.75 qtc of the Be causes it to model out next to perfect - straight almost like a ruler, with a nice extended response down to about 20hz. The KRX3 driver has a qtc of around .6 which should be close enough to optimal, and displacement is pretty much identical to the Be woofer - but for some reason it comes out very odd when I try to model it...like a pyramid. No idea why, but for some reason the listed TS specs just dont seem to want to model properly. It looks like it should be just as good as the Be woofer as a pure midbass, but hard to say without being able to model it.
This is all a little half arsed really, without any distortion information to go off...but it's better then nothing.
Courtesy: Focal Utopia Kit 7 vs 165KRX3 - Forums - Mobile Electronics AU
