Focal CMS50 2-way Near-Field Shielded Monitor

Overview

2009 MIPA Award-winning nearfield monitor from pioneering French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal, the CMS 50 has consistently received rave reviews from press and users alike. The monitor has four rubber feet (two of them height-adjustable), decoupling table stand, and phase optimization plug for the tweeter.

Performance & Application

As with the entire CMS range, the word is ‘balance.’ The CMS 50 delivers natural clarity and definition and displays excellent stereo imaging. There are extensive adjustable controls on the rear panel but it’s unlikely most will need to do much tweaking. It just sounds great ‘as is.’

The design of the CMS 50 permits a listening position from 19" (50cm), while still keeping the possibility to place the monitors at a great distance from one another without damaging the soundstage. The 5” (13cm) mid-bass reaches down to 55Hz, while offering a controlled bass and a totally linear midrange.

The midrange register of the CMS 50 has unequalled neutrality in its price range. The Al/Mg inverted dome tweeter offers outstanding dynamics and a degree of definition in the treble that allow precise measurement of reverb tails and other effects, which are normally very difficult to assess.

Design

A two-way active design with a letterbox front port, this powered monitor delivers an impressive sound from its 80w low freq / 50w high freq biamped system.

Unlike 90% of loudspeaker manufacturers, Focal actually designs and builds all its own components. Notable on the CMS series is the inverted dome tweeter. Advantages include the optimization of the mechanical coupling between the voice coil and the dome.

The voice coil is fixed at mid-height on the dome and uniformly moves the cone entire surface. The positive dome is only joined at its edge, causing it to be inactive beyond 16kHz for a flexible surface. The inverted dome directly radiates into the air, with maximum efficiency, which is translated by an extremely precise soundstage. The dome’s response curve is clearly more linear than that of any positive dome. It provides better space dispersion and very low directivity, contrary to ribbon tweeters. The inverted dome tweeter offers unequalled dynamics, enabling sound engineers to very precisely control compression.

The image precision (height, width and depth) is outstanding and makes the positioning of each element very easy, as well as allows one to exactly assess the reverb tails

The 5” woofer can handle low end with tightness and balance but if you need additional power in the lower registers you can always add a Focal Sub. The Polyglass cone delivers both punch and exceptional clarity.

The large front port lets you wall-mount the CMS 50 from 24” without any loss of control in the bass register.

Construction

The cabinet constructed from reinforced and dampened Aluminum, with a black powdered finish, the CMS 50 looks - and is - modern, tough and stylish.

Inside, the aluminum/magnesium tweeters combine great damping qualities with great rigidity both of which greatly reduce distortion. This unique marriage of metals offers several advantages. The impulse response is incredibly rapid yet benefits from a very short settlement time and excellent damping. This enables the tweeter to extend its frequency response beyond 28kHz (-3dB).

Polyglass technology, exclusive to Focal, consists in applying molten glass microballs on a cellulose pulp cone. This process combines an excellent paper damping with glass rigidity. The rigidity index exceeds even that of a single skin Kevlar® and is almost ten times superior to one of polypropylene.

The mass/rigidity/damping ratio adjustment results in outstanding linearity of the frequency response curve, all from the inherent design of the cone. This innovation also greatly increases definition in the midrange.