Focal value innovation, performance and excellence, and are globally renowned for their exclusive technologies. For more than four decades, Focal have created speaker drivers and high-end loudspeakers that deliver sounds in line with this ethos. The results of this technological heritage, are class-leading products offering a natural, authentic performance, imbued with clarity and power. Focal’s collection of monitors and headphones are designed with recording studios in mind, offering ‘tools of the trade’ that are reliable, versatile and simply best-in-class.
The four loudspeakers in the Shape range feature five innovations aimed at providing even more transparency. Designed for nearfield listening needs, they combine clever design with settings that respond to the acoustic features of small spaces. Shape systems are characterised by the precision of sound reproduction, as much in its tonal balance as its stereo image.
The monitors in the Shape line immediately distinguish themselves through their unique design. The front and top of the MDF cabinets are finished with an authentic, mass-coloured, walnut veneer. The size of the radius on the top of each loudspeaker was calculated specifically for each monitor in order to ensure a linear frequency response in the high end.
Developing speaker driver cone technologies is part of Focal’s core expertise. The Flax sandwich cones used for the woofers on Shape loudspeakers are composed of two materials: glass fibres and flax fibres. A layer of flax fibres is sandwiched between two layers of glass fibres. Glass-fibre cones were also used on the “W” composite sandwich cone of the SM6 and SM9 series and are revered for their high rigidity considering their light weight. Focal has further improved its famous aluminium- magnesium inverted dome tweeter by coming up with two considerable mechanical innovations: the new “M”- shaped dome and a dedicated surround, like that used on the tweeters in the SM6 and SM9 lines.
The double passive radiator on Shape monitors is an ingenuous solution to a common issue encountered with nearfield monitors: to combine a compact design, extended frequency response in the low end and a positioning which is comfortable. Indeed, when ported systems meet their limits in terms of integration (a long-enough port to match its surface is required), the passive radiator becomes the ideal solution. However, rocking modes can often occur de- pending on the frequency and the volume. To compensate for this phenomenon, two U-shaped surrounds positioned opposite each other join the passive disk to the basket, ensuring perfect symmetry during excursion and incursion. Finally, the very low tuning frequency allows the monitors to be placed very close to a wall.
Focal Shape studio monitors all feature:
• Flax sandwich cones
• Aluminium/magnesium inverted dome tweeters
• Neutral Inductance Circuit
• Genuine walnut finish
• Double passive radiator
• TMD/NIC technologies
• Adjustable fit
There are four Focal Shape studio monitors to choose from:
Shape 40: 2-way monitor with 4″ (10cm) woofer
Shape 50: 2-way monitor with 5″ (13cm) woofer
Shape 65: 2-way monitor with 6½” (16.5cm) woofer
Shape Twin: 2.5-way monitor with 2 x 5″ (13cm) woofers
