RH contacted sound-advice.online with an interesting dilemma about his next loudspeaker choice. He’s been using a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 702 S2 floorstanders for some years - but a recent change to a Naim Uniti Nova PE had him wondering if there was more to be had from it, particularly in his relatively compact room.
The two main candidates are the S3 version of the 702 floorstander he’s already been using. This might sound like a relatively small jump, but there are solid reasons for considering the move. The most important of these is that the newer 702 vents the cabinet down against the plinth, rather than out the rear, making it far more room-friendly. When you add in the other sonic improvements, it’s a solid upgrade…
… but so is the Focal Kanta No2 which he has also been looking at. This is the most affordable floorstander to feature the legendary Focal beryllium tweeter, and it’s similarly room-friendly because its bass port vents at the front of the cabinet. Both of these speakers make a solid case for themselves - but RH welcomed our input.
That input is not without a bit of fence-sitting, admittedly. After all, it won’t be our ears that make the final call - but we do have some thoughts. The 702 S3 is the safe choice here - RH likes what the 702 S2 can do, the S3 is unlikely to upset the apple cart. It’s the same thing, but better - and the improved bass management should help it better dial in to the room in question. It’s likely to work well.
The thing is, though, there’s a good chance that the Focal will work better still. Naim and Focal have been engineering products together for nearly twenty years now, and the Kanta has frequently been demoed using the Nova PE. It offers the scope to deliver the current and control that allows the Focal’s quite exceptional speed and detail retrieval to shine, while also ensuring it isn’t merciless. When you throw in RH’s preference for electronic music, there’s a strong chance that the Focal will make more sense than the Bowers & Wilkins.
Ultimately, RH will be demoing both speakers and his ears will make the final call - but his interest in the Kanta increased considerably on the strength of the call with Sound Advice, and we’re interested to hear how he gets on.
