Dynaudio Focus 260 Review: Is It Right For You?

Dynaudio makes some of the finest speakers around, mostly sitting in the professional world of audio. In fact, I own a pair of LYD 7 monitors myself. However, that’s not all the company does and their divulgence into different areas of the audio world definitely pays dividends.

The Focus 260 is a floor-standing speaker that packs a punch both in its sound and design. The classic Dynaudio look shines through with a sleek body, bold speaker caps, and a raised grille. We think this speaker is one of the best, so read on to see just how great it is.

Specifications

Frequency Response   32 Hz – 23 kHz 
Sensitivity  87 dB 
IEC Power Handling  > 250 W 
Impedance  4 Ω 
Weight  19.1 kg / 42 lbs 
Dimensions (W x H x D)  202 x 995 x 294 mm 7.9 x 39.1 x 11.6″ 

Design and Build

Like all Dynaudio products, the design and built of the Focus 260 are second to none. It looks as if you took one of their monitors and extended it out. It’s tall, with a slight curve in the front, beautiful in every way.

You have the option of four real-wood veneer finishes or two glass finishes. The veneer comes in maple, walnut, rosewood, and back ash, and the glass comes in piano white or piano black. Each of the finishes is beautiful, but I think the speaker really shines with the glass finishes (no pun intended).

It’s really quite a simple look, though. Dynaudio’s newer line of speakers is much more flashy, albeit much more expensive. For my tastes, I prefer the look of these speakers in comparison. It’s simple, but that’s not a bad thing for me.

You get two 6.5” woofers on the front along with a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter. It’s a simple setup, but one that Dynaudio still manages to make look great. The cone design is a staple of Dynaudio products and looks just as good here as it does on all their other speakers.

In this sort of price range, though, there some speakers that take more risks in design. In the alternatives section below we’ll name some, but the Focus 260s don’t follow that track. They’re pretty run of the will and, while Dynaudio manages to make that still look good, it isn’t anything that stands out. These floor-standing speakers are meant to sink into the background and do a good job at that.

The Focus 260 shows Dynaudio’s competence in design and build. It’s a simple and sturdy enclosure that manages plenty of usabilities while offering plenty of looks. While some newer products are more flashy, the Focus 260 still looks great.

Features

There aren’t many features on the Focus 260s because it’s a completely passive speaker. Some engineering inside makes the speaker really shine in terms of sound, but don’t expect any wireless connectivity or anything of the sort.

The woofers are pushed by Dynaudio’s black Kapton voice coil. This thing is massive and can really push quite a bit of sound around. The woofers themselves sit inside a die-cast aluminum drive basket, ensuring stability and longevity from these speakers.

Porting comes out the back which actually works in the favor of these speakers. Typically, I’m more of a fan of front-ported designs, but these woofers push so much low-end that front-porting would become overbearing. Dynaudio adapts a bass-reflex rear-ported design.

The speaker is passive and so are the features. Again, newer models have more flashy features like built-in amplification and wireless connectivity, but keeping it simple works fine for the Focus 260s.

Sound Quality

The signature of these speakers is in their sound. Dynaudio manages one of the best designs on the market with an attention to detail in sound that’s able to cover both the consumer and professional audio world.

As an owner of a pair of LYD monitors, the resemblance between the two is shockingly similar. While there are differences purely due to design, the same attention to detail inaccurate frequency response is present here as well.

The low-end is phenomenal and perfectly placed in the sound. I’m not sure how Dynaudio manages it, but the speakers sound full and punchy without overpowering the rest of the sound. It’s as if the bass separates from the rest of the sound and sits apart from it.

You’ll get quite a bit of these speakers, too. The rated frequency response of down to 32Hz is fully capitalized on with the 6.5-inch woofers. You’ll get a full sound even without a sub, although it pairs nicely with on.

Since the bass sits apart, adding a low-level sound underneath actually works very nicely with these speakers. I wouldn’t recommend running one too hot because the bass is really quite full, but that’s true for any speaker with a decent amount of low-end.

The midrange is also particularly impressive. It’s very natural sounding, without any awkward peaks and valleys in the response. The sound is clean and open, without anything funky going on in that region.

Among all the things this speaker gets right, the sound is perhaps the most impressive. It’s open and clean with a considerable amount of low-end and a near-perfect frequency response. If your focus is precise sound, this is the place to look.

Conclusion

The Focus 260 is one of the finest speakers that you can find for a floor standing option. It’s relatively inexpensive but packs a huge punch. They’re perfectly balanced speakers that show off just how expert Dynaudio’s craftsmanship is.

While newer speakers in Dynaudio’s catalog edge it out in terms of design. The simple look suffices and doesn’t draw too much attention to itself. It’s a tall and sleek look that’s still beautiful without being too flashy.

What do you think of the Focus 260? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading

Alternatives to Consider

Emerald Physics EP2.3 MK2 – $4000 per pair

Speaking of unique design, it doesn’t get much crazier than these speakers. They’re one of the most different-looking speakers I’ve ever seen, but still, manage beauty in their own way. The speakers are full range with a dipole design. While the looks are pretty, that’s not the most impressive part.

These speakers sound great. The onboard Emerald DSP helps shape the sound as it’s coming out of the four bi-amplified drivers. The speakers sound so real and it feels as if you’re sitting in the room when the sound is coming out. There’s dimensionality to them that’s hard to match with other speakers.

Emerald uses their proprietary Bass Propagation technology to improve low-frequency response. It drives both of the 15” woofers and can be tuned with the Emerald Physics DSP2.4 Digital crossover/EQ processor. There are so many options and each sounds great.
Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Baby Grand SE – $6000 per pair
There are so many musical buzzwords here that it’s hard not to immediately fall in love with these speakers. They don’t have the same design as the Emeralds, but they’re still beautiful. Vienna has made a tall and slender speaker that sits well above the floor with a beautiful wood finish.

The sound is just as impressive. It holds so much character and nuance that simply listening to the speakers is an exercise in itself. A true 3-way design splits the sound over two 6-inch woofers, a 6-inch midrange driver, and a 1-inch hand-coated Neodymium Silk Dome tweeter. Combining them together and you have a wonderfully open and natural sound that can be appreciated in any context.

On the bottom of the speaker, there’s a high-grade aluminum base kit with counter-nut spikes to drive into the carpet. That pretty stable, not to mention the separation offered from the floor to isolate the sound.

Klipsch RF-7 II – $2000 per pair

Much more inexpensive but still great, the Klipsch RF-7 IIs are a fantastic pair of floor-standing speakers. They come from Klipsch’s iconic reference line and feature the same beautiful copper spun woofer as all the other products in the range. Outside of that, you’re basically getting a black, wooden box, but the woofers are enough to carry the look.

Two massive 10-inch woofers handle most of the sound, with a 1.75-inch titanium Tractrix horn-loaded compression driver handling the top-end. It’s only a two-way design, but the separation still manages to be great. Klipsch’s engineering really shines through when this more simplistic design competes against some speakers twice the price.

Klipsch is always a sure thing, and this speaker is no exception to that. If you want a sound that will always work and need a cheaper option, then this may be the speaker for you.

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