With our company we provided to our customer a solution based with ASTRAL amplifier and Focal speakers.
Of course it is not a low price solution, but we got great results and customer satisfaction.

This was probably one of the best solution to get a spectacular audio immertion result!

Cards on the table.... I'm a retailer but also a total home theatre addict (which is why I do what I do).

Whilst my clientele may not necessarily be the target audience for this, Focal have been kind enough to let me borrow & play around with it and it has been a pleasure.

I can only imagine what it will be like with the new Be custom 1000 series, but I have tried the Astral16 in various configurations and found it both menacing & delicate in equal measure.

I have a lot of experience with Dirac Live, and use it in my own home system, but the sheer depth of control & flexibility of setup on the Astral surpasses anything else I've played with in 17 years of doing this for a living (and 30 years of enjoying 5.1 right back to the days of AC3 on a Laserdisc).

Sure, there are caveats - I already have a brace of powerful amps that I partner to a very good Dirac enabled processor.... so my interest in a processor is greater than it is in the "AVR" configuration of the Astral16. That said, mirroring my home system as closely as I can in our demo room, I think the Astral actually equals what I get out of a multinox pre/power setup of similar price... that's big praise for a single box solution.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I'm hesitant to actually try it at home in case it surpasses what I already have, and a major rethink of choices is forced.

There are signal lock-on delays across audio format changes which are a second or two longer than the mass market AVRs, but in exchange for the performance, I really don't think that's an issue at all, and it may well be something that firmware updates can improve upon.

Knowing that the firmware is upgradeable, and that there is scope for HDMI board upgrades/changes as formats continually change, I'd have to say that I think owning something like this for a decade or more is a lot better value than getting through 3 or 4 £5k processors in the same time, constantly upgrading for new features,

I could go on at length about all of what I like about this machine, but what really tells the tale is that as a professional I find it a delight to set up and calibrate, and yet as a movie buff I find it difficult to tear myself away from any film being rendered through the Astral16.

Good work Focal. Brave step, I hope plenty of movie enthusiasts get the chance to experience what this can do when properly calibrated.

Whilst ulitimately deciding on a system capable of 32 channels with more options for external amplification the Focal Astral at 200w per channel would oterwise have integrated well into my system comprising focal Viva front, focal 1000be centre, focal IW1002be for four primary surrounds and Atmos channels by another speaker manufacturer. Contrary to the 'opinion' expressed in the earlier review (clearly done from just looking at pictures and little understanding that balanced outputs are superior in multi-channel systems) there are actually four channels for active subwoofers and all being balanced provide the opportunity for excellent signal integrity to capable subwoofers (of which my system has four). If proviing actually constructive criticism to Focal it would be on the upgrades this product now warrants to the interfacing systems more than the processor. Mainly having balanced inputs on its SW1000Be would have continued to allow me to use that (with this Focal or the processor i have selected) without conversion to single ended and consequently noise inducing connections. In addition I was not able to use a focal product, preferably a Beryllium tweeter one for my Atmos/DTS:X/Auro height layer because (as yet?) Focal do not produce any down angled (and preferably beryllium tweeter) speakers such as those produced by Kef/Dali/Klipsch, that can provide the angled down height layer. Whilst appreciating the option here could be to use focal dome (and this was consiered) a W-Cone and Be product would have complemented the system better. It could also give those who could only have the upfiring reflected Atmos/DTS:X/Auro configurations as an option the possibility to do this, noting something to match and/or beat the Dali mechanism for achieving appropriate angle would be of benefit (there are simple ways to achieve this for the upfiring system). In terms of the product I would like to see Focal considering the greater proportion of XLR output options that its 'sister' product offers for those such as myself who wanted a pre-power system. I would note that anybody looking at focal speakers for surround and wanting to gain the most out of object orientated 3d formats (or even dolby digital) should not use bi-pole / dipole speakers such as SR800Vs (or other manufacturer equivalents) but single directionals such as IW1002 or SR700V or the focal domes. The 3d placement of an 'object' relies on focused not diffused sound - if you want proof of this look at the product development systems used by Dolby and DTS, directional speakers pointed to the listening position.

As far as I can see there are NO subwoofer outputs!
So how to use in a home theatre?
I would rather more pre-amplified outputs.
I was hoping for a better thought out product from Focal.