Focal Shape 40

Buyed mainly for music listening.
Clear natural sounds especially saxophone and woodwind. Very fast drums but weak bass. Can listen long time - no irritation. Good for low volume listening. All genres has same emotionality so it means that AFC is flat without significal resonances. Sounds as is. Its not hi-fi - no tasty resonances.
MP3 sounds hard. Clipping in recordings not emotional as on hi-fi, its just terrible hard clipping.
Highly recommend for listening using subwoofer (my way Fostex pm-submini2) there is significant dimension and atmosphere addition.
Pair of this one with subwoofer is cheaper than pair of Shape 50 but theoretically has more precision and deep bass and more clear middles (3-way and 3-amp).
Very good sound quality for this price but be aware there is no level regulator as in shape 50 and shape 65.
And not sensitive standby mode needs to turn up volume for make them wake up after sleep. On low levels they goes to standby. Whereas Fostex PM-sub do it very well automatically but has standby switch that useful.

I've heard both Shape 40 and Shape 50 at the local store and I really liked the sound of both. Very clear and detailed without any trace of harshness. Due to the limited space available, I opted for Shape 40. After ordering them, I had a few days of anxiety before they arrived. They may sound nice in a treated room but how they will sound in my own room? The moment I connected them and played the first of my reference songs I was immediately elated! There was absolutely nothing I did not like. The sound was so detailed but at the same time without any shrillness. All that without proper break in time and all controls at neutral. The speakers will only be used to listen to the music. I will let them play for a few more days and than try to fine tune them and integrate with the rest of components. My system consists of Bluesound Node 2i as a streamer and pre amplifier and REL T Zero subwoofer. The room is about 15 sqm and I was a bit worried about the Focal's recommendation for the room size which I exceeded quite a bit. In this configuration I never get close to the half of their potential max volume and they are loud enough. They are definitely going to have a very easy life in my room.
If I had something to complain about it would be about the built in feet they come with. The speakers sit on the shelf which is very lively and the speakers are not properly decoupled from it. I already ordered some sorbothane to make additional pads I will use either with existing feet or on their own.
I should probably add that if if bass is your most important frequency and if you enjoy extreme volumes, they are probably not for you.
I should add that they are so nice looking that even my wife likes them a lot!

Despite the dimension, these speakers provide for a deep bass. The lacking frequencies reside in the low mid band. High mids are good and tweeters have a nice spread. The imaging is neat, strong center but not so great sense of dimension, it's a bit difficult to catch the ambience behind sounds. Eq works pretty well but it lacks a center detent. Solid construction and nice look. Auto off function is always on but it's dead silent and not an issue. They require a good break in period, my pair began to sound better after 10-12 hours of continuous work at moderate volume level.