Focal Alpha 65 Studio Monitors

What’s great about this active bi-amplification configuration is that it eliminates the need for a separate power amp and keeps the amount of necessary gear to a minimum. Let’s not forget the already-limited space now saved.

Together these two speakers offer a frequency range of 40Hz to 22kHz (+/- 3dB) and a maximum SPL of 106dB at one metre. This makes them a fine fit for any genre or home studio application with enough low end to get a good handle on sub frequencies without much need for a subwoofer.

Of course, if you will be working with low-frequencies below 40Hz, in addition to a subwoofer you would also need a much larger room to handle these frequencies which most home studios just don’t have.

So let’s talk about how the Focal Alpha 65 sound. These were brought in to my studio to work alongside my PreSonus Eris E5 as a second monitoring option that offered more bass extension due to their larger driver.

It’s worth mentioning here that Focal recommend 20 hours of bass-heavy music at a moderate level to wear them in. You may often find this process talked about when reading about speakers or headphones and you’ll likely find mix responses. Some manufacturers claim to let their products run a while before packaging and perhaps for this very reason.

I didn’t notice any oddly inaccurate sounds, exaggerated frequencies, or anything of the sort off-the-bat. It’s hard to say if they sounded much different after I had let them crank for a while as I was playing a variety of genres, samples, and podcasts. There’s simply too much sonic variation.

One of the most remarkable things I noticed is how consistent the frequency response was as I made broad changes with the master volume. What you hear is what you get at all playback levels and it is truly refreshing to work this way.

I was initially concerned with the size of the large twin bass ports as they can sometimes have non-precise tuning and be a bit “porty” sounding. This is simply not the case with the Focal Alpha 65 even with my ear placed right next to them. The bottom end is full and tight, sounding completely accurate when designing fast transients in the low frequencies. There is no smearing or “woofiness” adding ornaments or false colorations to the lows.

The mid-range is clear, detailed, revealing and totally natural. In the past, the low-mids have been a problem in my studio and, along with the upper highs, have been an area of a mix I find myself needing to revisit. These frequencies here are totally transparent and have helped me achieve some solid balance out of this crucial area of a mix.

The same precision is found in the higher mids and treble which offers much depth to vocals, harmonies, chordal instruments, and makes effects like reverb and delay much more transparent. Percussion certainly benefits in this area as much tonal character is exposed. One can easily pull out a superior sense of context out of room mics and overheads and position them in the mix very sensibly.

The next thing I’ve noted to mention about the Focal Alpha 65 are their pristine stereo image. I’m constantly referencing my mix on several pairs of headphones and like to compare the position of my panning across devices. On these, you can really get in there with lazar precision that translates well everywhere.

They offer a sizeable sweet spot that allow you to move around the room without walking into unpleasant surprises that you feel you’ve gotta change, only to create a domino effect of issues down the line.

If you want value that will help elevate your work into the realm of the professional, allow you to work on a wide array of musical applications, and you have a budget of under $1000 for the pair, I’m certain you’ll find everything you’re looking for with the Alpha 65, or another size of the same series.

If you’ve got some previous experience with them, leave us some input in the comment sections and share what you’re liking or not about them.