Focal K2P Upgraded Lack of Midbass

[computerpro3 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I have the Focal K2P Upgraded editions and I absolutely love them, except for one thing - they lack midbass compared to my old Polyglass mids in the same install!

My doors are dynamatted pretty well and the speakers are mounted to solid MDF baffles. The speakers are verified in-phase. I have no idea what's wrong; my old polyglasses had much more solid-feeling and sounding midbass even though they moved a lot less.

The K2P's have ridiculous excursion - they more a ton without distorting/clipping. Much more than my old polyglasses, but they don't sound nearly as solid. I'm running them bridged off of a Zapco 360.4 bridged to 180w rms x2 into a 4 ohm load.

One thing that's bizzare is that what does seem to hit a LOT harder than my old speakers is the upper midrange. I know it's strange, but for example, when the drumstick hits the drum, the high-pitched click on the impact is a LOT more forceful than the actual drum. It sounds very strange.

Any idea what's going on?

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[scotsman 10+ year member]

in for answer, i just got the same speakers and feel like their is a lack of midbass. I'm thinking it might be my LPF. The upper midrange that you speak of hits super hard in mine also, sometimes hurts.

 

[computerpro3 10+ year member]

I've read about them having great midbass in other threads so I'm thinking I must have screwed something up in the install. The one thing I didn't do was close up the large access holes in my doors with something rigid, I dynamatted over them instead. I can see flex there so I'm going to re-do my doors and seal them up even better.

But that upper midrange is still weird. It doesn't sound like a frequency spike and it isn't harsh, it just is incredibly impactful when it sounds like it shouldn't be. Since when do you feel two drumsticks clicking together with more force than a crushing bass line?

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Either EQ it it out or go active filters and underlap the mid's freqs some from the tweeter, this boost could be coming from your cars acoustics combined with the speakers own...

 

[macdon 10+ year member]

When I was exploring to upgrade my Focal Polyglass 165V2, I talked to our local Focal dealer & asked the difference between K2P and KPS.

K2P - midrange & tweeter set.

KPS - woofer & tweeter set.

The dealer added that the K2P has a clearer midrange, while the KPS has a stronger bass output similar to my Polyglass V2s.

 

[BMW Sidewayz 10+ year member]

Hey guys, I have the Focal K2P Upgraded editions and I absolutely love them, except for one thing - they lack midbass compared to my old Polyglass mids in the same install!
The K2P's have ridiculous excursion - they more a ton without distorting/clipping. Much more than my old polyglasses, but they don't sound nearly as solid. I'm running them bridged off of a Zapco 360.4 bridged to 180w rms x2 into a 4 ohm load.

One thing that's bizzare is that what does seem to hit a LOT harder than my old speakers is the upper midrange. I know it's strange, but for example, when the drumstick hits the drum, the high-pitched click on the impact is a LOT more forceful than the actual drum. It sounds very strange.

Any idea what's going on?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-92taZGxEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8zj2eLxwDU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32ypIiVKOA&mode=related&search=

 

[Gary S 10+ year member]

Those two Midrange speakers you are talking about both have tradoffs... one is made for better midrange but sacrifices midbass... with the other, the reverse is true. Ever hear the saying there is no free lunch?!

Change install, speaker placement, and/or add midbass drivers to the system, those are some things that might help.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

Is the driver decoupled? You mentioned they are verified in-phase; does this mean that they are in phase in an absolute sense, or this relatively speaking? Have you tried switching phase on one of the channels for the midbass? How do you have your filters set?

 

[computerpro3 10+ year member]

Figured it out. For some reason the crossover setting on my Zapco was set to "full". They were running full range. The amazing thing is that they were getting 180w rms and played nice and loud and never even bottomed out or clipped. Some of the songs I play go well into the low 30's and upper 20's too.

A great testament to the build quality of Focals, no?

Set the crossover to highpass and the midbass is back. Still not nearly as good as my polyglasses, but it's at least there.