 It is so, that our times are times of making choices. In many areas the problem of choosing "from" was eliminated, a new problem has risen: "what" to choose. It is applicable in many areas, but in the area we are most interested in, meaning audio, it has a very basic meaning. Let us make the problem a bit narrower. We have many different materials at our disposition, from which the speaker cones and domes can be made. In addition, we have many technologies, that create additional complications. In general we can split the tweeters in two categories: the dynamic tweeters and the not-dynamic ones. I am sorry for the "not-dynamic", but this wording shows the proportions between them in the best way. Enclosed in this small category are the plasma speakers, electrostats, magnastats, dr Heil A.M.T. speakers and NXT drivers. The dynamic family is much bigger. Most common is the dome tweeter, and the real differences are in the material used for the dome. In between the noble speakers one can distinguish between tweeters made from soft materials (like silk), metal and ceramic ones. Because we deal in this test with the French Focal.JMLab (that is now the full name of this company), we know that metal will be involved. For years, the distinctive sign of the company were Tioxide domes, made from titanium covered with titanium oxide. All had the reverse configuration, meaning they were concave and not convex. However everything changes. As it became known, that B&W (Bowers&Wilkins) wants to arm their top speaker range in diamond tweeters, also on the shores of the Seine appropriate steps were taken. A technology was developed to create the domes from beryllium foil. In standard conditions very poisonous, and also very difficult in handling, was mastered in a way allowing it to be shaped, and that it is not harmful for the end user. )
When we say beryllium, it is not known for sure if we mean the rough material, in it's clean state, or not. During the last IFA 2006 exposition in Berlin I had the opportunity to talk to one of the "guru's" of the speaker world, the chief of the laboratories and research of KEF, dr Watson (yes, that's THE name). It is known, that in some time modified KEF's Reference speakers will be presented, in which one of the more important changes will be the new tweeter in the UNI-Q. It will still be made of titanium (I am not allowed to tell anything more). I asked, why not beryllium? Mr Watson responded, that there is no beryllium, because it is a foil produced from a beryllium alloy, and according to his research, it is not an optimal material. I will not concur, but I just notice, that the first commercially available speaker with a beryllium dome, for the tweeter and even the mid-range speaker, was presented in the speakers of the company TAD, which was quickly bought by Pioneer. And behind TAD stands the man, who designed the UNI-Q for KEF. Also in the TAD speakers the high and mid range was reproduced by a system identical to UNI-Q, but made from beryllium. In the lower series, now promoted by Pioneer, the mid-range is made from an aluminum alloy, but the tweeter is still from beryllium. And we have also Usher, which included BE versions of his top-range speakers. Against this background the Electra series is unique - it is not the most expensive JMLab range, but a special version of a series placed a tad lower. It is composed of the tested stand speaker 1007 Be, the floor stander 1027 Be and a central speaker. And in the end, why beryllium? The response can be found in its mechanical properties. Its density is 2,5 times higher than titanium and 1,5 times lower than aluminum, while its rigidness is three times that of titanium and 5 times that of aluminum. It means that a dome of exactly the same weight is 7 times more rigid in the beryllium version than a titanium or aluminum one. )
LISTENING EXPERIENCE Beryllium cannot be mistaken for any other speaker, except for a good ribbon. There is plenty information about the upper frequency. The events have no sharp, heavily accented attack, but suggest something completely different - slight warming. How is this possible: large amount of information and warming? Those are two things that exclude each other actually, there is no warming here, but the lack of aggression, heard in many other designs, is presented here like this. It is also not about softening. Listening to a ribbon, one might have the idea, at first, that the sound is not as outlined, as presented by a classic dome, and the sound is somewhat thin. This is not true. Frankly speaking, such presentation resembles more that what can be heard live - all information is clean and clear, but without an artifact "extraction", are not underlined in an artificial way. Their clarity does not come from a hardened attack, like if it would be underlined with an outline pencil. Listening to the Electra's one can even say that the attack is not heard. I mean, it is heard, but together with other elements. I know, this might sound like I am raving, but I hope I don't. Attack cannot be heard, because it is one with the sustain. It gives a full, dense sound, with excellent fluidity and coherence of the upper frequency range. One of the most interesting aspects of such kind of reproduction is the playback of low quality recordings. It is kind of surprising, given the neutrality of the upper frequency range and the amount of information, from which one could rather expect merciless cutting. And maybe it is so, that the best speakers just play like that, without emphasis on the recording's shortcomings? Maybe the shortcomings are not that dramatic, and the imperfectness of the equipment we use, the choice of compromises while they were designed (those are always done), make us hear things, that should not be that irritating? Contrary to expectations, this is not a silly question - I observed an identical effect during the test of the ingenious player from EMM Labs the CDSD SE/DCC2 SE: lots of information, perfect display of details, and with all this, the lack of destruction of lower quality recordings. In contrary, the quality of the device aided in bringing the to life. And the beryllium JMLab dome worked in exactly that way. )
The sound of the speakers is big as a whole, full, with strong medium bass and with extraordinary dynamics. With the amount of information like on the disk "Power of Nine" Anthony Wilson Nonet (Groove Note, GRV1035-3, SACD/CD) the speakers have the right to get lost. Focal speakers, when switched from Paradigm Reference S4, play a somewhat retracted, quieter sound at first. The accommodation to the new character of presentation happens quickly, and after a moment we can turn the volume up, because, in a subjective way, everything has more breathing space, like in the classical music recordings, which seem to be recorded much quieter, and which just have a smaller amount of compression. The speakers are not large and cannot go to very low frequencies - here the floor standers 1027 will probably show more. Even in comparison with the Paradigms one could hear, that the Electra 1007 has a limited lower bass. Their balance is tuned somewhat lower than in the majority of monitors, so it almost cannot be heard. The balance is set so, that the voice of Diana Krall from the Wilson record was full, warm and large. Maybe it had a bit darker coloring than usual, but it can also be a question of taste. Maybe due to slight emphasis on lower mid-frequencies the French monitors show many emotions, articulation details, extra musical elements, that compose to something, that make a recording to be a real happening. Vibrato in Krall's voice, just when she finishes the phrase with the words "In the country" was clearly visible, and is not always heard so natural, because it is often covered with other elements, and you have to listen very carefully, to notice it. Maybe this is my imagination, but I heard it so, that during the recording the vocalist sat on a high stool, and the brass was a bit higher. I know, that this is a multitrack recording, but I think that the JMLabs show also the height, maybe not as exact as electro- or magnetostats, but still very nice. )
The spatial effects are on a very high level here. They are, just like the upper frequency range, very natural, so not all of us will like them from the beginning or at all. Paradox? Rather not - in the end we are being shaped by some kind of cannon of speaker sound, and every deviation from it is perceived as a shortcoming. But let's listen to them a bit longer, and we will see, that there is an evenly attractive add maybe more natural way of projecting sound. The effects are not shown in a showy way as usual, meaning, not with that large zoom as in "Television Theatre", which we deal with in audio. Proverbial barking dog from the recording Roger Waters' "Amused to Death" (Sony Music Direct [Japan] Inc., MMCP 693, CD) was clearly on the side, far behind the speaker. Actually it was far behind the opened window - its edges were not as clear as always, but it was more natural. If you'd open the window and listen - you can hear much, but the events from far, although heard clearly, are not cut out from the background, they rather come from a larger space, even without precise localization in that space, they are "somewhere there". That was the way it sounded here. And in a moment - revolution: somebody switches on the TV set, in the back, behind us, and in the same second we know exactly where it stands, we almost can describe the wooden, old table below it. Focal.JMLab Electra 1007 is not an ideally neutral speaker. No other speaker is. Here the tonal balance is shifted down a little, what makes the events sound a little warmer and fuller. But the ability to connect together detail and neutrality is fantastic here. And besides that the space - it is natural, not showy, has outstanding coherence and is accurate, but without the "scissors" effect. The speakers are perfectly manufactured and the treble are member of the absolute world class top. Warm, but clear. Clean but not offensive. Just very good. )
THE MAKE The Electra 1007 Be are stand speakers of a specific, "squat" posture. This impression is determined by small height and substantial width of the box. The height, on its way, is determined by the size of the drivers. On top we have the center point of the review, the beryllium tweeter dome, in reversed configuration, so typical for this French manufacturer. The dome is driven by a very strong neodymium magnet, and screwed to a wide, arched aluminum cast, that is part of the cabinet front. This gives enormous rigidity and is an outstanding base for the speaker. Besides that, this also is a way to avoid the sound waves to "bend" on the edge of the cabinet (usually one speaks about diffraction there, and not deflection. This is a mistake. I was pointed to this by Andrzej Kisiel, a man that knows his ways with speakers like almost nobody else in Poland. As he says, diffraction is a desirable effect, and the problem is the wave deflection. And with deflection we deal when a wave reaches the border of a baffle). The arch is quite acute, so it should serve it's purpose quite well. The whole front of the cabinet mimics the curving. To not mislead the Be version with anything else, on a metal element the technology name is milled: Beryllium'. The speaker, with a specific brownish shade, with the company name IAL. )
The mid-woofer made from the patented material "W", earlier used only in the Utopia range of speakers, with a concave, metal, not movable element in the middle, which has only the function of cooling the driver coil, is deeply embedded in the front, very thick front wall. Its sides are heavily profiled. The front and the back are finished with the exclusive varnish "Diamond Black". The side panels made from MDF were glued with cherry varnished planks, or MDF with cherry veneer. The sides of the cabinet converge at the back, liquidating the parallelism of the sides and thus minimizing the influence of standing waves on the speakers performance. It is hard to determine if this is a plank or MDF, because the finish is just perfect. Top and bottom are varnished black. From below we have three sockets for screws, the monitor can be screwed solid to the optional stands. And from experience, the speakers will play best with dedicated stands, will also look best. At the back, besides the varnish, we have two thick aluminum plaques. On one of them we have nice looking (single) speaker terminals with Focal logo, the other covers the cross-over. Below the terminals there is the bass-reflex port outlet. The slot can be covered with foam, should we realize we have too much bass. The speaker is manufactured perfectly, there is nothing to tell a bad word about. Only the silhouette must fir our expectations. But no - I found one think (I don't know what to batter, so I found this): all screws used to fix the elements to the cabinet have the Focal logo. All but the two used to fix the tweeter to the metal cast
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