High-end French speaker brand Focal has announced the launch of its Utopia Main, a new range of studio monitors designed for recording professionals like record producers, sound engineers, mixers and musicians. Using innovative drivers, high-end design, plenty of power and some advanced functionality.
Focal claims that Utopia Main 112 (UM 112) and Utopia Main 212 (UM 212) are the ultimate monitors from the renowned French acoustic brand rooted in a development project that started in 2017. Focal says the new Utopia Main range marks the most significant milestone for the brand’s Professional Audio division since it was set up in 2002.
Backed by more than 40 years of research in driver design and 20 years of developing studio monitors, each component has been designed to disrupt the studio monitor market. The monitors maintain their precision even at the highest SPL in the studio environment, ensuring the kind of sound essential for reference recording, mixing and mastering.
The ‘M’-Shaped Membrane
The ‘M’-shape concept was a design applied to Focal’s all-new 5″ midrange drivers with a ‘W’-membrane and the company’s 1.5″ Beryllium tweeter. The M profile increases rigidity through reinforcement and the acoustic optimization of its magnet to avoid resonances. Focal says the dynamic range and transparency delivered by the 5″ driver are unparalleled due to the ‘M’-shape moving in and out in a “perfect pistonic movement” producing a strong planar waveform that gives a true “phantom” center.
In addition, the small-roll suspension that integrates Focal’s Tuned Mass Damper patented technology seriously reduces intermodulation created by the suspension. This produces a top-notch midrange that enables the Utopia Main monitors to achieve exceptional output across all music genres and audio-related tasks with a precise stereo image.
The tweeter used in the new Utopia Main is a combination of Beryllium with an ‘M’-shaped membrane providing excellent transient response without causing listening fatigue. That’s an important feature if you’re spending hours mastering or mixing a recording. For the first time, the TMD technology was integrated into the high-frequency driver, reducing THD at 3kHz. The voice coil diameter was also increased to 25mm, for improved heat dissipation and reduced thermal compression. Finally, a fully optimized rear acoustic environment with a waveguide and an Infinite Acoustic Load boosts the tweeter’s performance.
Focal says that main monitors require a low-end performance that can maintain precision, even at the highest sound pressure levels. For this, the Utopia Main range has 13″ long-excursion subwoofers, housed in a large enclosure, paired with bass-reflex ports (one driver for the UM 112 model and two drivers for the UM 212).
By combining light mobile parts and a soft suspension, the drivers produce excellent articulation and definition. The cabinet design is the result of an in-depth study that led Focal’s engineers to specify 30mm-thick MDF panels, reinforced with a bracing network that removes warping. Quarter-wavelength resonance reduction systems were also implemented.
A Unique Amplification System
Since main monitors are frequently soffit-mounted, they require external electronics for studio use. The patented amplifiers used in the UM 112 and UM 212 are a combination of Class H design with a current-mode amplification for natural and transparent amplification possible for a driver.
Most amplifiers control voltage instead of current, but the link between current and voltage is made via the impedance of the drive unit, which will vary depending on temperature, frequency and the coil’s position inside the magnet. By controlling the current rather than voltage, one directly controls the force submitted to the membrane and eliminates unwanted artifacts. Combined with analog filtering, Focal claims the amplifiers achieve the lowest THD level ever measured in the anechoic chamber.
Behind the Utopia Main project is a team of acoustic and electronic engineers as well as some of the most renowned audio engineers in the industry. Focal says it wanted to ensure the Utopia Main went from concept to completion using genuine feedback from real users and professionals in the field.
The project went through complex testing phases in some of the world’s legendary recording studios with producers, mixers and mastering engineers with more than 70 Grammy-award nominations between them. They tested the speakers, provided feedback and contributed to the fine-tuning of the final prototypes before the monitors went into production. Focal is hoping that Utopia Main 112 and 212 will set new industry benchmarks in the professional audio and music sectors.
Pricing & Availability: Focal’s Utopia Main studio monitors are available now. The UM 112 monitors are priced at $30,000 / £22,000 / €26,000 while the UM 212 model sells for $50,000 / £38,000 / €46,000.
