Focal
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Founder | Jacques Mahul |
Focal, long known as JMlab in many markets, is a French loudspeaker maker based in Saint-Étienne, founded in 1979 by the engineer Jacques Mahul. It began by designing and manufacturing drive units, which it supplied to other speaker makers, and it still makes most of its own drivers. Focal is known for its inverted-dome tweeters, made from materials such as beryllium, which are very light and stiff, and for its "W" sandwich cones. Its Utopia range, including the enormous Grande Utopia, established it as one of the leading high-end speaker brands of the 1990s and 2000s, and later ranges such as the Sopra, Kanta and Aria brought its technology to lower price points. Focal also makes car audio, studio monitors and well-regarded headphones, including the Utopia. The company later joined with the British electronics brand Naim under one group. Focal's drivers have long been used by other speaker makers, and the company's technical expertise in materials remains central to its reputation.
Notable Focal products
- Utopia
- Grande Utopia
- Sopra
- Kanta
- Aria
- Utopia headphones
More about Focal
JM Labs Focal-JM Labs was founded in 1980, in St.Etienne, France, by Jaques Mahul. The company quickly distinguished itself with design innovations that quickly led to international praise. Focal started with two product lines: loudspeakers marketed under the JM Labs name and loudspeaker components under the Focal name. Both products were aimed at the high end of the market.
The new JM LAb family consists of five different product lines. Each of these represent exemplary reproduction and clarity, the hall mark of all JM prodcuts. Within each line, the opportunity is there to expand from traditional two-channel hi-fi to full-blown home cinema surround sound. The Tantel line is the first step in the JM universe.
With simple and elegant forms, all the Tantel range suit a small budget. The Opel line, a classic within the JM Lab family, generates passionate emotions, heady feelings and a live concert experience The Cobalt `opens the door to the world of refinement. This comes in the form, being compact and elegant; in the variety of natural wood finishes; and refinement in the tonal qualities, timbre and micro-dynamic contrasts within the music as a whole. The Electtra line reaches the heart of JM Lab's high level of technology.
The W type sandwich cones, takes a minimum of 30 minutes to be hand assembled. It expands the wealth of detail and micro-dynamic shading, and increases the contrast; detailing that normally goes un-noticed. The Utopia line majestically crowns the JM Lab family. It represents the pinnacle of JM Lab designs, bringing together all the advances from the other lines in atruly magnificent speaker.
They produce the most realistic results, providing open, detailed sound-staging, huge, deep, controlled bass, combined with a sweet, musical upper range. As the Utopias also use W-sandwich cones, they're very responsive, meaning they work just as well at low volumes.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org