Focal Professional Introduces The CMS Professional Monitors At The 125th AES Convention In San Francisco

[The following is a release from Focal-JMLab]

September 30, 2008

Focal Professional is launching the CMS professional monitoring speakers series (Compact Monitoring System) on the occasion of the AES 2008 in San Francisco. These working tools were developed to answer a recurrent problem, as well for professionals as for demanding home-studists: find a compact system that combines irreproachable sound quality and easy installation. The CMS series is now composed of two products, the CMS 50 and CMS 65 speakers. A subwoofer will complete the series in the year 2008. The CMS 50 and CMS 65 are equipped with a Focal aluminum/magnesium inverted dome tweeter. The CMS 50 integrates a Focal 5” woofer, whereas the CMS 65 is composed of a Focal 6.5” woofer that confers an extended response in the low audio spectrum for total versatility. The CMS 50 and CMS 65 are supplied with a decoupling rubber sole, four rubber spikes, two height-adjustable spikes to be installed in the front or at the rear of the base and two removable grilles to protect the woofer and tweeter. The listening shows all Focal know-how in the field of developing and manufacturing drivers and speakers. The soundstage is large, deep and detailed for a total control of the work done. The overall dynamics offers sound depth and intelligibility of transients that emphasizes the reproduction of micro information. At last, the neutrality and tonal balance guarantee an outstanding transfer quality. Acoustically treated die cast aluminum box: maximum rigidity and damping. The CMS speakers were designed to combine performance and compactness. The choice of a die cast aluminum box naturally imposed itself. The study and conception of the box permitted to get to a solution that is acoustically very interesting. The combination of important aluminum thickness, internal reinforcements and acoustic treatment succeeded in the removal of the “ringing” effect, frequently encountered on that type of cabinet. Focal Aluminum/Magnesium inverted dome tweeter The now famous inverted dome tweeter has been a Focal signature for more than 20 years. That construction principle, peculiar to the brand is the only one to offer a homogeneous movement of the complete dome thanks to optimum mechanical coupling between the cone and voice coil. This technical choice makes the difference when listening since it’s the unique solution that permits to combine a large and detailed soundstage for much comfort and control during long recording, mixing or mastering sessions. The aluminum/magnesium alloy combines excellent damping and high rigidity that are retranscribed by an outstanding impulse response (extended frequency response at more than 28kHz at –3dB!). The signal is then reproduced in its slightest details and confers to the CMS loudspeakers the capacity of revealing the whole of micro-information, while it benefits from a deep soundstage, source of the depth control precision. The manufacture of the tweeter by Focal offers also a significant advantage: the ability to control each component of the speaker. From the voice coil to the surround support, to the magnet, everything is entirely adjustable to finally get to an ultra linear frequency response curve, and this at the conception of the tweeter. This neutrality guarantee is also completed by sharp and dynamic treble frequencies thanks to a filtering reduced to its simplest conception, thus avoiding the phenomenon of energy loss and signal degradation. Besides, the aluminum/magnesium inverted dome tweeter has revealed a perfect tone complementarity with the Polyglass cone woofers. Focal Polyglass cone woofer The Polyglass technology, exclusive to Focal, consists in applying thin glass micro-balls on a cellulose pulp cone. This process permits to conciliate the excellent damping of paper with glass rigidity. The rigidity rating even exceeds that of single skin Kevlar and is almost 10 times superior to that of polypropylene. This has the effect to put away the inherent distortion of the cone in its highest limits, which guarantees a resolutely accurate sound, even at high sound level. The damping participates to the linearity and neutrality in the midrange, while it importantly raises the definition in this register. Bi-amplification: power, quality and simplicity The Focal R&D laboratory clearly defined the orientation of the amplification: choose a quality, clear and simple circuit that favors the smallest signal way to ensure a total electronic transparency and benefit from optimum reliability. The CMS monitoring loudspeakers integrate two high-end amplification units, usually used for products of higher prices. The TDA 7293 unit, dedicated to the woofer, uses the MOS technology that combines total sound transparency and important dynamics. The high nominal power (100W for CMS 65) as well as the extremely reduced distortion rate (0,005%) permits to answer in quality and quantity to the high power demands inherent to bass frequency reproduction. The LM 3886 power unit, dedicated to the tweeter, is able to convey the whole of micro-information to the treble transducer while saving the energy peculiar to each sound detail thanks to a slew rate of 19V/μs! Settings : answer with precision to all the installation constraints The CMS monitoring speakers offer very high precision. But, the soundstage coherence also depends on the sharp positioning of these tools. Focal solves the problem by supplying height-adjustable spikes to orientate perfectly each loudspeaker according to its location towards the listener. The CMS monitoring speakers also integrate all the settings that permit to ensure the excellent integration of the products in order to exploit 100% of their capacities. The “HF SHELVING” and “LF SHELVING” functions take into account the premises nature and solve the main acoustic problems of the studio. The “DESKTOP NOTCH” correction suppresses the interference reflections generated by the installation of the CMS speakers on a console desktop. Each correction circuit is equipped with the famous NE 5532 pre-amplifier and CMS resistances with 1% tolerance to combine precision and homogeneity of the settings. The small detail that makes the difference is that each rotary potentiometer is notched to enable the user a quick and identical setting of the CMS speakers.

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