The Equator line seems pretty cool and freakishly inexpensive. To the point that I'm considering adding a surround system with their D8's (summing to stereo to check on the D1's). Because a surround system of D1's would require selling off my family.
NS10's -- Personally, I could never use them. I hated them even before they put the "Studio Monitor" sticker on them. THAT SAID, they were at least reasonably consistent -- I can see why people used them to some extent. I just couldn't deal with how limited the response was (but that's not just a NS10 thing). It's one of those "If it works for you, that's fine - Just understand that you aren't hearing everything" things.
*THAT* said, it's not just a "small speaker" thing --- I have a set of Tyler D4M's here that I (very rarely and usually just for fun) use as "smallies" -- But when I crank them up (powered by a Bryston 2BLP Pro), people can't believe I'm not running a pair of subwoofers. They're absolutely amazing at incredibly high volume. You can literally see the woofers skewing asymmetrically to the point that I can't believe they haven't smoked out. There's "thump" and "thud" and that pant-leg shaking pressure that typically only comes from - Well, it comes from wide-range, wide dispersion, normal-throw uber-speakers.
I actually recall - more than once - starting to work in here and wondering why something "seemed different" somehow - and realizing that I had the wrong speakers engaged. Keep in mind that these things have a woofer the size of the midrange drivers in my D1's. And the D1's together, have four. *And* four woofers (and two tweeters). I've never heard a studio monitor of similar size create such an amazing soundstage. These aren't even placed properly. I just threw them in where they'd fit. They're a "real world simulation" set (for lack of a better term).
*THAT* said, I can't "really" work on them. Even on the rare occasion that I'm mixing in here (it's rare, but it happens), I still use the D1's. I *might* check on the D4M's (especially if the client is in the room) and I recall using them for restorative work (clicks and pops are a little more obvious at higher SPLs with limited-range speakers).
I dunno...
I was a studio rat for some time before I got (figuratively, but in a literal sense) thrown into the mastering chair. I was rarely ever satisfied with the speakers in the studios I where I worked. I was always intrigued by the rigs at the mastering facilities (I was usually the guy who would bring recordings to the mastering facility and would usually hang around while the engineer was working - In no small part, likely why the old boss "threw" me into that chair). I got to a point where if I couldn't close my eyes and feel that the band was right there in the room with me, with the same soundstage, at the same SPL's, those speakers weren't good enough.
The studio I worked at was eventually in flux - new owner, etc. I went from "Studio Manager / Chief Engineer" to freelance guy. This was in the mid-90's and reasonable digital rigs were just coming into reach (well, if you consider $5,000 for a 3.8GB hard drive, 32 MEGABYTES of RAM, a 4X SCSI CDR drive and a 128MHz processor "reasonable"). I bought and sold more "studio monitors" than you could shake a stick at. Wound up at one point with a pair of JBL "Studio Series" S38's... A definitely "home stereo" set of speakers, but exceptionally consistent (not unlike a "big" pair of NS10's). Mixed several albums on those (including one that won some goofy "audiophile pick" award in Europe) and realized that I was looking at the wrong speakers the whole time. Found a set of (not legendary - yet...) B&W DM602 (series 3) speakers that changed my life. I still can't believe they discontinued those things. I see them occasionally on ebay for twice what they sold for at retail. Combined with a pair of subs, they were formidable.
[Inspirational story] Then one day, I walked into a (Cash Converters?) pawn shop and saw a guy setting up a mega rig -- A pair of B&W 800 series Matrix 800's as mains, 802's as rears and a (I can't remember the legendary amp). "How much for those 802's?" knowing there was no way in hell that I'd be able to afford whatever they were asking. He came back with an obscenely low price for some odd reason (he screwed up). I went "Paul Stanley" cool
(Farview will explain if needed) and said "Well, uh, can I hear them?" and I swear, not just a month or so later, I changed the name to MASSIVE Mastering, got a very sweet writeup in EQ Magazine and couldn't believe what I was missing. Shuffled some gear and took out a small loan for a pair of (also B&W) Nautilus 802's (hey, Sterling Sound, Abbey Road and Skywalker Ranch couldn't all be bad, right?), built a new room, etc., etc. Then even "outgrew" the N802's and found the Tylers. Actually bought them unheard (unheard of for me) based on a "if you don't love them, I'll take them back" guarantee. I was the first mastering place I know of to use them as mains. Now there are dozens and dozens. Stuff that sounds amazing sounds amazing on these things. Stuff that sounds sh*tty sounds sh*tty on these things. Stuff that sounds bassy sounds bassy on these things. There's a vertical coherence that's unlike anything I've ever heard short of $30k speakers. They're remarkably reasonable about placement. I've changed a good amount of my gear around since purchasing those speakers. There's a reason for that.
LONG STORY SHORT (I know - Too late) - If there's ANYTHING people should almost NEVER be satisfied with, it's the monitoring chain. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Everything else doesn't matter. [/Inspirational story] [/Senseless digression]
Back to the point. Yeah, the Equators are pretty cool. I haven't tried the "budget" Focal units yet, although I'd expect them to be pretty darn decent. That said, I'd probably go with a used pair of DM602S3's and a Bryston of either of them.