Focal Dome Flax Speaker Review

[Geert]

So does Elipson.

"Elipson Planet M", 275€"/piece versus 329€ for the Focals:

(https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-and-dirty-elipson-planet-measurements.24196/)

 

[tomtoo]

Who the hell did outsource the focal engineering department?

 

[HiFiQUEST]

Wow. Quite surprised! We have been using the Focal Dome in so many occasions, that I lost count. They ALWAYS delivered and I always felt that they sound quite good for a speaker their size while look so good. After check this review I straight up went to give them listen again. Once partnered with their subwoofer in a small living room (Which is what they were intended to be used at) they sound pretty good to my ears! Really disappointed to see these results but also very happy that after seeing these results I still enjoy them so much

 

[Rednaxela]

Wow. Quite surprised! We have been using the Focal Dome in so many occasions, that I lost count. They ALWAYS delivered and I always felt that they sound quite good for a speaker their size while look so good. After check this review I straight up went to give them listen again. Once partnered with their subwoofer in a small living room (Which is what they were intended to be used at) they sound pretty good to my ears! Really disappointed to see these results but also very happy that after seeing these results I still enjoy them so much

The Flax or the non Flax?




Edit: fixed link.

 

[musicforcities]

I hope KEF brings these back. They'd be a good problem solver for multichannel systems. I suspect that the market is small since the easy install and simple to use space is dominated by soundbars rather than HTIB.

Tons of them on eBay and other places. Great for on wall surround speakers in rooms where looks matter. Better than in wall or in ceiling at least and very discrete.

Heck, I have a set of mirage Omnisat (gen 1) that work fine for surround in such an application. The Omnidirectional aspect (actually 70% forward, 30% reflected) makes these tube things work fin in a bigger room when wall mounted. Though some avr room software don’t know what to make of them.

 

[musicforcities]

As 5.1s go it's still better than Bose

For the money I’d say not. And I’m not convinced they would be better.

When talking about Bose or Sonos speakers or things like that used for home theater (films/tv, not music), I think accuracy goes out the window. That are designed to produce relatively big sound in tiny packages by relying on built in dsp and massive tone/eq shaping, often with film/tv it’s primary goal. Like a good sound bar, we are talking about speakers designed to create sonic “effects” and apparently full sound at low and high volumes. They are like those “loudness” buttons on old receivers run amok. They are not designed to reproduce music accurately/neutrally in anechoic chambers. it’s like trying to compare an old school boom box to a 2 channel separate system.

In those terms, a sub and sat surround sound for film, these vocals could actually be worse than a basic Bose system…ir other or wireless based systems or many wired sub and sat systems that cost far less.

I could have a great 2 channel system for music AND a good 5.1/ 7.1 sub & sat based system for the price of five of these things.

 

[Berkut]

Use these in two locations as centre Channel, surround and atmos. L/R are a pair of Aria 906, or Chorus 906, respectively with flax/earlier "polyflex" domes for timbre coherence. Bought all these second-hand, in euros and in France. They offer clear dialogues, convincing surround/atmos sound, but in no way would I use these for L/R music listening and without a decent sub and proper filtering. "John Williams in Vienna" sounds fantastic, you feel like you're in the Hall at thé Balcony...

 

[OCA]

I planned to use these as surround/atmos speakers to complement my Focal Sopra LRC channels. Since these are subpar, is there an alternative set of speakers I can use for that purpose?

I use them as satellites with Kanta 2s. The problem is their subwoofer - Focal Sub Air (and I have 2 of them ) can't go lower than the Kantas (sure not below Sopras), so LFE calibration in a surround set up gets quite tricky. But otherwise, they can be installed anywhere in the room including the ceiling with just 6 tiny screws and be directed straight to the LP.

They wouldn't be an audiophile's first choice but I had non-flax versions of the Domes before these. Why do I keep buying them? Because when you don't have a dedicated home theatre and you want some proper Atmos system with at least 7.1.4 configuration along with your Hifi setup, you need to downsize. These satellites disappear in the room. And location precision is almost as important as frequency response so freedom to attach them whereever you want is a "nice to have". And although the sound is mediocre at best, for the size, almost nothing will sound better. The magnet inside is extremely heavy. Amir's review is top notch. I believe some of that HF loudness he mentions is designed on purpose (Focal's so called "bright" sound). They have that even in their high end speakers. I guess it's to impress testers in demo rooms ignoring the ear fatigue they will cause in the long run. At the end of the day, Focal needs to sell in very large numbers.

 

[Berkut]

I use them as satellites with Kanta 2s. The problem is their subwoofer - Focal Sub Air (and I have 2 of them ) can't go lower than the Kantas (sure not below Sopras), so LFE calibration in a surround set up gets quite tricky. But otherwise, they can be installed anywhere in the room including the ceiling with just 6 tiny screws and be directed straight to the LP.

They wouldn't be an audiophile's first choice but I had non-flax versions of the Domes before these. Why do I keep buying them? Because when you don't have a dedicated home theatre and you want some proper Atmos system with at least 7.1.4 configuration along with your Hifi setup, you need to downsize. These satellites disappear in the room. And location precision is almost as important as frequency response so freedom to attach them whereever you want is a "nice to have". And although the sound is mediocre at best, for the size, almost nothing will sound better. The magnet inside is extremely heavy. Amir's review is top notch. I believe some of that HF loudness he mentions is designed on purpose (Focal's so called "bright" sound). They have that even in their high end speakers. I guess it's to impress testers in demo rooms ignoring the ear fatigue they will cause in the long run. At the end of the day, Focal needs to sell in very large numbers.

Couldn't agree more. I don't use their "Dome" subs alongside, but ones with bigger displacements and appropriate for the room. One of my room is almost a "cabinet", so I have a Yamaha NS-SW200, the other in a somewhat bigger room/house a NS-SW300. You can't get very low frequencies in very small rooms anyway. What is magic, is that in the smaller Room, The Chorus and surround/atmos Polyflex Domes make it almost disappear : the listening space sounds much bigger than it is and when listening to 2-channel music.

That's another topic, but with added room correction, for small listening spaces (but not proximity monitors though), and even for music, I would recommend HTR receivers in surround "upmix" over 2-channel amps/receivers. Room correction is a standard feature now in HTR world, while in hi-fi you pay a premium for automated solutions (when provided), where you can't really check and tweak the results.

 

[valerianf]

For my computer speakers I wanted to buy some Focal Dome but finally got the Focal Sib Evo.
I am very happy with my choice.
It is very sad that the measurements of the Focal Dome are soo Bad.

 

[delta76]

Just sold my pair of Dome Flax. Now what kind of surround/atmos speakers should I get. I am aware of kef r8m but that is way above my budget. Anything good around $500/pair range?

 

[Ellebob]

With a little discount you might get Paradigm MilleniaOne

 

[delta76]

With a little discount you might get Paradigm MilleniaOne

my bad - I meant 500 EUR, Paradigm MilleniaOne does not seem to be available in EU. But how do you know it's better?

 

[Ellebob]

I have them in my home and we install them at work. It has always been one of my favorites for small speakers but a bit pricey. It measures pretty well if you like a flat response with an increase above 15khz and has great dispersion. It doesn't go that low so you need to crossover about 110hz but I think that is a decent tradeoff for this size speaker.