I've heard that Focal is quite good, but is it too much to ask for a distortion plot and a copper cap?
And yet when I post about a new company that does provide a lot more data it is met with apathy, go figure.
This focal driver is not even on the radar for me. Found listed at Crutchfield and Sonic for $550 lol, I wonder how it compares to a Vifa TG9 at $20, or Scan 10F at $65.
I've heard that Focal is quite good, but is it too much to ask for a distortion plot and a copper cap?
And yet when I post about a new company that does provide a lot more data it is met with apathy, go figure.
This focal driver is not even on the radar for me. Found listed at Crutchfield and Sonic for $550 lol, I wonder how it compares to a Vifa TG9 at $20, or Scan 10F at $65.
Probably not measurably better, but similar to Morel, Focal has serious customer loyalty. They could shit in a box, write some ad copy describing it as the next great thing in room treatment tech, and their followers would eat it up.
Of course, some commercial guy will always cock off implying they know something we don't (pro tip: if someone selling speakers implies he or she knows something you don't know, it is either a case of snake oil or outright charlatanism). Truth is, they don't. Focal is notorious for their passive aggressive marketing. Caveat emptor if you drop a mortgage payment on these.
Guess we'll need to watch out for those French capitalists.
But I have to say prices aside of course, I and many were impressed by a pair of smaller floor standers Focal exhibited at AXOPNA a couple of years back, very balanced (compaired to many other rooms that were awful), and...
I'm taking 'most speaker companies use third party manufactured drivers for $100', Alex
Cut through the BS and it is obvious Focal knows what they are doing - but they are hardly alone in that. Many of the folks in the DIY world can and do go toe to toe with the best commercial guys.
That said, it is unlikely this little driver outperforms the competition - there are just too many options at substantially lower prices that are objectively its equal. It does look cool, and I'm the first to admit that matters quite a bit.
I lost the ability to follow the spec sheet after the text: ‘M’-shape ‘W’ cone. What does that even mean? I can physically see the M shape, but W? What?
= Howard Stark: "This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out."
Its an ancient Chinese secret way of trapping unsuspecting W's in a tangled web of marketing ingeniousness. I think they derive the W's from smelting them from unicorn horns.
Of Focal's 30 patents, 'smelting from unicorn horns' has yet to make its way to an EPO, or USPTO, application... so maybe the Chinese were first to invent.... an expensive process, and yet now in the public domain...
"Since 1980, Focal has been a driving force in high-end speaker design, developing many driver technologies, earning 30 patents. Unlike [most] speakers who use drivers from one supplier & enclosures from another, Focal makes almost all its speaker components. For most of its 35 years, Focal's main business was supplying drivers to the world's great high-end speakers
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What is up with the impedance dropping at about 19k, right before the end of the chart?
Of course, some commercial guy will always cock off implying they know something we don't (pro tip: if someone selling speakers implies he or she knows something you don't know, it is either a case of snake oil or outright charlatanism). Truth is, they don't. Focal is notorious for their passive aggressive marketing. Caveat emptor if you drop a mortgage payment on these.
But I have to say prices aside of course, I and many were impressed by a pair of smaller floor standers Focal exhibited at AXOPNA a couple of years back, very balanced (compaired to many other rooms that were awful), and...
I'm taking 'most speaker companies use third party manufactured drivers for $100', Alex
That said, it is unlikely this little driver outperforms the competition - there are just too many options at substantially lower prices that are objectively its equal. It does look cool, and I'm the first to admit that matters quite a bit.
"Since 1980, Focal has been a driving force in high-end speaker design, developing many driver technologies, earning 30 patents. Unlike [most] speakers who use drivers from one supplier & enclosures from another, Focal makes almost all its speaker components. For most of its 35 years, Focal's main business was supplying drivers to the world's great high-end speakers