Focal XS 2.1

Reviews: 2.0, 2.1 and 3.1 Speakers

The Focal XS was a pretty nice piece of kit, so let's see if the French manufacturer can pull off a double whammy with this compact stereo speaker set for multimedia audio. Like Focal's XS speakers, the XS Book have a two-tone black and silver finish. This makes for an understated but attractive look that stands out from all those 100% black speaker kits we're so used to seeing. From the front, the speakers look pretty compact, but look at them from the side or pick them up and you'll soon see how bulky these satellites are for multimedia speakers. That said, they're still smaller than most bookcase speakers. Plus, their size seems all the more reasonable when you consider that Focal hasn't sacrificed audio quality to cut size. The choice of connections isn't particularly impressive. The speakers are supplied with a good range of cables (mini-jack, twin-RCA, an RCA cable for the left speaker and an extender for setting the speakers further apart), all of which are excellent quality—they're nice and thick and even braided. However, there are only two entries—a mini-jack for connection to a computer, a smartphone or and MP3 player, and twin RCA ports for connection to pre-amplified sources like a TV, a mini hi-fi, etc.