Focal Vestia No.3 Floor-Standing Speaker Review

[shadyJ]

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Focal has been a reliably good loudspeaker manufacturer for years, and we have seen that many times in our reviews of their loudspeakers and headphones. They have something for audiophiles in nearly every price range (above $1k), and their new Vestia speaker series fills in the slot for those looking at loudspeakers from roughly the $3k to $4.4k range. Today, we will look at the middle child of the tower speakers from the Vestia line, the No.3. These retail for $3.6k/pair and have many of the hallmarks of Focal’s usual good design. With so many floor-standing loudspeakers available, it would be easy for Focal to phone in a design once in a while and put the emphasis on their higher-margin speakers, so one question we will ask is has Focal has done that here or have they kept their typically high standards? How do they fare amongst other loudspeakers in this segment? Do the No.3 loudspeakers deserve your attention, or are they something that should be glossed over in this very crowded class of speakers? Read our full review to find out…

READ: Focal Vestia No.3 Floor-Standing Loudspeaker Review

 

[TLS Guy]

View attachment 63522​

Focal has been a reliably good loudspeaker manufacturer for years, and we have seen that many times in our reviews of their loudspeakers and headphones. They have something for audiophiles in nearly every price range (above $1k), and their new Vestia speaker series fills in the slot for those looking at loudspeakers from roughly the $3k to $4.4k range. Today, we will look at the middle child of the tower speakers from the Vestia line, the No.3. These retail for $3.6k/pair and have many of the hallmarks of Focal’s usual good design. With so many floor-standing loudspeakers available, it would be easy for Focal to phone in a design once in a while and put the emphasis on their higher-margin speakers, so one question we will ask is has Focal has done that here or have they kept their typically high standards? How do they fare amongst other loudspeakers in this segment? Do the No.3 loudspeakers deserve your attention, or are they something that should be glossed over in this very crowded class of speakers? Read our full review to find out…

READ: Focal Vestia No.3 Floor-Standing Loudspeaker Review

Nice review. It seems a pretty decent speaker and reasonable value. It is hard to know how to place a speaker in the market anymore. That is a sensitive speaker, but pays the penalty in poor bass extension.

It is a four ohm speaker and NOT eight. It does not have any highly adverse phase angles. I'm still not certain I would trust them not to stress receivers. But I agree they are not the worst load.

I think we are getting to the point where subs are ubiquitous. This does require a crossover which should be custom. So it seems to me mains, centers and subs should be a coherent design. If that were the case you would not need three woofers, two would be plenty, and you would have driver and cabinet savings and should have improved performance as a bonus.

 

[mtrot]

It's interesting and perhaps a bit disappointing that, according to Focal's specs, one could not expect the Vestia 4 to solve your one con of a lack of bass extension of the Vestia 3. I see that the Vestia 4 is only specified to offer 2 Hz additional bass extension over that of the Vestia 3. Thoughts?

 

[TLS Guy]

It's interesting and perhaps a bit disappointing that, according to Focal's specs, one could not expect the Vestia 4 to solve your one con of a lack of bass extension of the Vestia 3. I see that the Vestia 4 is only specified to offer 2 Hz additional bass extension over that of the Vestia 3. Thoughts?

I think they assume a sub will be used. There is a drive to higher sensitivity, that will reduce deep bass. I think this is also in part not to blow up receivers. Anyhow this seems to be the trend now to move to higher sensitivity. They also want narrow cabinets, that also limits bass extension because of the size of the drivers.

 

[shadyJ]

There is no great solution to solving deep bass extension in a modern loudspeaker itself. The speaker has to either be huge or insensitive - if you want it to play deep bass. Given that there are so many good subs out there, it's best to just let the subs do that. Nonetheless, most tower speakers can dig down to 40Hz competently, and not much musical content goes below that point, so a two-channel system intended for music reproduction with 40Hz extension would be enough for most people. A few genres do dig below that range, but they are not highly popular types of music.

It's interesting and perhaps a bit disappointing that, according to Focal's specs, one could not expect the Vestia 4 to solve your one con of a lack of bass extension of the Vestia 3. I see that the Vestia 4 is only specified to offer 2 Hz additional bass extension over that of the Vestia 3. Thoughts?

It's hard to judge real extension from a +/-3 dB window. The nature of the rolloff will have a big impact on the sound character. Given the enclosure size and driver compliment, I would expect the Vestia No.4 to have an extension advantage over the No.3s but not really a dynamic range advantage. But we would have to see measurements to be certain.

 

[Bobby Bass]

View attachment 63522​

Focal has been a reliably good loudspeaker manufacturer for years, and we have seen that many times in our reviews of their loudspeakers and headphones. They have something for audiophiles in nearly every price range (above $1k), and their new Vestia speaker series fills in the slot for those looking at loudspeakers from roughly the $3k to $4.4k range. Today, we will look at the middle child of the tower speakers from the Vestia line, the No.3. These retail for $3.6k/pair and have many of the hallmarks of Focal’s usual good design. With so many floor-standing loudspeakers available, it would be easy for Focal to phone in a design once in a while and put the emphasis on their higher-margin speakers, so one question we will ask is has Focal has done that here or have they kept their typically high standards? How do they fare amongst other loudspeakers in this segment? Do the No.3 loudspeakers deserve your attention, or are they something that should be glossed over in this very crowded class of speakers? Read our full review to find out…

READ: Focal Vestia No.3 Floor-Standing Loudspeaker Review

Thanks for the review James. It seems like it’s been awhile and always enjoy reading your reviews combining your listener thoughts along with measurements. 3 way towers with 3 bass elements seems to be very popular with major manufacturers. Love the tilted look even if it’s mostly for looks. The Arendal 1723 towers have it too. Very cool IMO.

 

[mtrot]

Does anyone have a handle on just what real world improvement the Aria 900 line models offer over these Vestia models which seem to be very similar in size and design? The Vestia 3 appears quite similar the the Aria 936 and the Vestia 4 to the Aria 948.

 

[shadyJ]

Does anyone have a handle on just what real world improvement the Aria 900 line models offer over these Vestia models which seem to be very similar in size and design? The Vestia 3 appears quite similar the the Aria 936 and the Vestia 4 to the Aria 948.

The Arias are larger and more powerful (Aria 936 k2 review here). There are definitely design similarities, but the Arias takes everything up a notch.