ON TEST
Focal Chorus 706
Loudspeakers
F
rench manufacturer Focal has been
in business for 35 years, though for
many of those years it was known
as JM-Lab, during which period it
simply manufactured drivers, which it sold to
high-end speaker manufacturers around the
world. It changed its name to Focal late last
century and kept this name even following
a merger with UK electronics manufacturer
Naim Audio in 2011. Despite this merger, the
two companies operate completely autono-
mously, Naim from Salisbury, in the UK, and
Focal from Saint Etienne, in France.
If the ‘706’ model number sounds
familiar, that’s because it is. The same
three numbers have been used for several
Focal models and several models when the
company was JM-Lab. I only say this because
this re-use of model numbers might make it a
little confusing if you search for information
on this model on the Internet.
26 Australian
The Focal Chorus 706 reviewed here is
the current 2013/14 model that won a Gold
Medal (Diapason D’Or) from French classical
music magazine Diapason [www.diapason-
mag.fr/]
The Equipment
Designed for stand-mounting or bookshelf
applications, the two-way bass reflex Focal
Chorus 706 was specifically designed to
perform at its best in rooms with dimensions
of ‘up to 20m²’ according to Focal’s data. The
problem is that this description assumes a
standard ceiling height, and I have no idea
of what that might be in France. Here in Aus-
tralia, the minimum ceiling height (therefore
the one most often used… at least in modern
buildings) is 2.4 metres, which would give a
room volume of 48m3, assuming a room size
of 4×5 metres. While I think Focal is to be
applauded for specifying room sizes, it would
be better if the company specified room vol-
umes, as that specification could be applied
anywhere in the world.
The tweeter is not mounted convention-
ally, as you can see from the photographs
accompanying this review. But then neither
is the tweeter conventional! It uses Focal’s
trademark inverted dome, as well as the
company’s newest ‘Poron’ suspension system.
The Poron suspension supports a 25mm
composite aluminium/magnesium dome.
This tweeter is new on the 2013 version of
the Chorus 706 and is known ‘in-house’ at
Focal as a TNV2 type. It’s protected by a re-
movable metal mesh grille and, even though
inverted domes are far more mechanically
robust than conventional dome tweeters, I’d
recommend leaving the grille in place at all
times. If you’re familiar with Focal’s products,
you might find it strange that the tweeter
has a protective grille at all, since on this

latest implementation of the 706 design, the
tweeter is additionally protected by a grille,
whereas on some earlier models, the grille
covered only the bass driver, leaving the
tweeter ‘exposed’ above the grille. Presum-
ably the grille has additional acoustic func-
tions, such as aiding dispersion, or to modify
the frequency response (or, perhaps, it’s just
additional protection for when you’re not
using the grille, about which more later on
in this review.) Speaking of this grille, I like it
a whole lot better than the ‘V’-shaped grille
that was previously used. To my eyes it looks
neater and much ‘cleaner’ and it’s also, as Fo-
cal puts it, more ‘integrated.’ By this I mean
that Focal has cleverly extended the two sides
of the speaker so they protrude out from the
The Focal Chorus 706
reviewed here is the
current (2013) model
that won a Gold Medal
(Diapason D’Or) from a
French classical music
magazine
front baffle the exact same distance as the
grille’s depth, so that when you attach the
grille, you get an almost-perfectly seamless
transition from the front of the grille to the
edge of the speaker cabinet. (And, by the way,
the fit was perfect!)
The bass/midrange driver is a 165mm
polyglass-coned unit with an extremely soft
rubber dustcap protecting the voice-coil
assembly from the ingress of dust and dirt
particles. However, when Focal says ‘165mm’,
because Focal actually manufactures the
driver it uses in its speakers, it uses the typical
‘manufacturing’ convention of specifying the
distance between the mounting holes as the
driver diameter. In fact the overall dimen-
sion of the bass/midrange driver used in the
706 is 180mm. However, the most important
dimension is the Thiele/Small diameter,
because it’s this one that the designer uses
to ‘tune’ the speakers, the cabinet volume,
the port size/location and so on. In the case
of the Chorus 706, that diameter is 133mm,
giving a cone area (Sd) of around 140cm².
Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeakers ON TEST
Interestingly, although the dustcap is ‘soft’ design. A plate just above the terminals not
rubber, it’s actually extraordinarily rigid in only carries an individual serial number for
the direction of cone movement, so it will each speaker, but a gentle reminder that Focal
improve output without coupling the cone. speakers are ‘Made in France’… which they
Very clever Focal! (It’s so clever that when are in their entirety—for which I can vouch
you get a demo, ask the hi-fi dealer if you can having visited the (very impressive) factory
poke first the top of the dustcap, which you’ll in Saint Etienne (near the city of Lyon) where
find rigid, then the ‘side’ of the dustcap, Focal’s speakers are created by a small team of
which you’ll find will deform easily, even dedicated French artisans, almost by hand.
though it’s the same material. I loved it.) Although my sample speakers were fin-
The front-firing bass reflex port is flared ished in walnut ($899 RRP per pair), you can
both where it exits the baffle and inside the
cabinet, where the air exhausts. This shows
how committed Focal is to sound quality,
because many companies cut their manufac-
Focal Chorus 706
turing costs by not flaring the internal part
Loudspeakers
of the port, on the basis that ‘no-one will
Brand: Focal
ever know’. (Well, they won’t until that sharp
Model: Chorus 706
edge betrays itself by causing ‘whistles’ at
some frequencies.) Focal’s port won’t whistle.
Category: Standmount Loudspeakers
RRP: $899 (Walnut) $999 (Black Gloss)
The port itself is 140mm long and has an
Warranty: Five Years
internal diameter of 50mm. Because it’s front-
mounted, you will be able to push the 706
Distributor: Audio Marketing Pty Ltd
Address: Unit 14L. 175 Lower Gibbes St
right up close against a rear wall if you need
Artarmon NSW 2067
to… something you can’t do if a speaker has
a rear-firing reflex port.
(02) 9882 3877
info@ audiomarketing.com.au
Inside the cabinet (though I would not
www.audiomarketing.com.au
recommend you open your speakers) you’ll
find extensive cross-bracing, a copious quan-
tity of 50mm black acoustic sheeting and a • Superb highs
very nicely-made crossover network that uses • Midrange
Focal-branded cermet resistors (2 of), Focal • Imaging
branded capacitors (two bipolars and a metal-
lized polypropylene) along with three induc-
tors (two ferrite-cored and one air-cored),
all of which were properly cross-mounted • Single terminals
so there could be no interaction between
them. The nominal crossover frequency is
3kHz (up from 2.6kHz on pre-2013 versions).
Focal specifies the nominal impedance of this
iteration of the Chorus 706 as being 8Ω, but
at the same time advises that the impedance
LAB REPORT
Readers interested in a full technical
does drop as low as 3.6Ω, so you should make
appraisal of the performance of
sure your amplifier is capable of driving 4Ω
the Focal Chorus 706 Standmount/
loads.
Bookshelf Loudspeakers should
Around the back of the cabinet is a single
continue on and read the
set of speaker terminals: ribbed rubber-coated
LABORATORY REPORT published on
‘silver’ types that are not only colour-coded page 30. Readers should note that
but have (+) and (–) symbols moulded into the results mentioned in the report,
the plastic alongside them. These are very tabulated in performance charts and/
easy to tighten and the posts are not or displayed using graphs
only hollowed for banana plugs, and/or photographs should
but have holes for pins or wire (plus be construed as applying only
you could also use spades). Excellent to the specific sample tested.
Lab Report on page 30
avhub.com.au 27
ON TEST Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeakers
also buy the speakers in a superb gloss black
piano finish, but this attracts a $100 pre-
mium which brings the RRP up to $999 the
pair. The design of the cabinets is such that
the ‘sides’ of the cabinet rise a little above
the top surface of the cabinet, creating a tiny
(around 1mm) lip on either side. This is ap-
parently the latest in modern chic European
styling: I wasn’t convinced that it worked
visually in the walnut finish, but it might
well look really good in gloss black. Each
speaker measures 390×220×263mm (HWD)
and weighs 8.2kg.
In Use and Listening
Sessions
Because they’re designed to be stand-mount-
ed, there are four screw holes on the base of
the speaker, no doubt designed to mate with
Focal’s S700 stand, which is 600mm high (a
little higher when spiked), which would put
the tweeters of the Chorus 706 at around
970mm above floor level. There’s no doubt
the speakers will sound better on stands
than they will on a bookshelf, but feel free to
choose other stands if you wish: the ultimate
aim is simply to get the tweeters at the same
level as your ears when you’re sitting down. I
used my own stands to achieve this aim.
The very first music I played on the Focal
Chorus 706 after the ‘burn-in’ period was
a brand new favourite CD of mine, ‘Such
a Sky’, featuring Imogen Manins (cello)
and Tony Gould (piano) with guest appear-
ances by Slava Grigoryan, Gian Slater and
David Jones amongst others. It’s an incred-
ible recording, recorded live at Melbourne’s
Recital Centre by Martin Wright of Move (on
whose label it’s released). There’s so much to
love on this disc that I don’t know where to
recommend you start, but a good place would
be Valse, which is Bach re-arranged by Claus
Ogerman (originally for Bill Evans) but here
played by Manins, Gould and Grigoryan.
It’s haunting beautiful, and so intellectu-
ally satisfying. Another great track is Dawn
Mantras, a Ross Edwards composition, here
featuring Riley Lee on shakuhachi. It’s spare
and haunting, and has amazing sonics. And
that’s the other beauty of this disc: not only
is the music amazing, but the sound quality
is extraordinarily good: every time I listen I
can barely believe it’s a live performance. All
the instruments are perfectly captured, so the
tonal quality is intensely real, the balance is
perfect and the dynamic range is superb. On
the tracks where Gian Slater sings, (such as
Funeral Blues, one of Tony Gould’s but using
a lyric from W. H. Auden) her unique and
distinctive voice is almost ethereal. The Focal
Chorus 706s more than rose to the difficulties
of the music: they positively excelled. The
lowest notes on Manins’ cello and Gould’s
piano were reproduced accurately, at the cor-
28 Australian
rect levels and with all harmonics perfectly
rendered. The precision of the decay of notes
left hanging showed that the drivers are beau-
tifully engineered, because the fading was
exactly as in real life. Listen carefully towards
the close of Funeral Blues, for example, where
Gould strikes a key, then leaves it depressed,
so the sound decays. Outstanding perfor-
mance from the Chorus 706s.
Next up was yet another Move recording,
‘A Little French Cello’, with Zoe Knighton
and Amir Farid (piano). I nearly always start
with Nadia Boulanger’s Trios Piéces, not
simply because I like it so much and it’s a
great test of a speaker’s midrange, but also for
sentimental reasons. Listen to this and won-
der that Nadia gave up composing when her
much more talented younger sister, Lili, the
first woman to win the Prix de Rome (for Faust
et Hélène) died at the age of 24. Look up at
the sky and think of her: she has an asteroid
named after her: 1181 Lilith.
For a complete change of pace, it was
Hunters and Collectors up next: or rather, the
songs of Hunters and Collectors, re-imagined
by a star-studded line-up including Missy
Higgins, Paul Kelly, Emma Donovan, Birds
of Toyko, Something for Kate and others. On
This Morning (Matt Corby and Missy Higgins),
listen to the complete evenness of the sound
across the upper bass and into the midrange,
plus the solid bass foundation. Great sound.
Also listen to the percussion on When the
Rivers Run Dry, particularly the way there’s
absolutely no overhang from that bass/
midrange driver: it’s fast, crisp and dynamic.
The ability of the 706s to create a total sonic
soundfield is wonderfully evidenced on Still
Hanging Around as played by Cloud Con-
trol: the sheer ‘emptiness’ of the acoustic is
delivered amazingly well, but so too are the
harmonies. A double-disc set, the second disc
contains all the original versions as well. All
are still good, except for the quashed dynam-
ics of the recordings. But you can hear the
extraordinary extension of the Focal tweeter
on Alligator Engine and others, leaving you in
no doubt it’s very very extended: I couldn’t
hear any high-frequency roll-off at all.
I also took the opportunity to turn the
volume up to ‘stun’ when playing the Focal
706s, and they were more than capable of
delivering sweet sound even at high volume
levels, justifying Focal’s use of the largest
bass/midrange driver it could squeeze into
the cabinet, and proving that driver quality
is a huge determining factor in a small book-
shelf speaker being able to play loud without
compression or distortion.
Driver quality also came to the fore when
it came to stereo imaging, because with
well-recorded material, the Focal Chorus 706s
image beautifully, creating that audiophile
‘grail’ of width, height and depth… along
with the ability to allow you to pin-point
the location of performers right across the
soundscape. This is all about driver quality
and quality control, and with the 706 Focal
has delivered both in spades.
Many audiophiles prefer to listen with
the grille off, and two recent reviews showed
there are often good reasons for this, because
poorly designed grilles can have a significant
effect on sound quality. However, in the case
of the Focal Chorus 706, I’d recommend you
leave it on at all times, for appearance and for
protection, because I could hear absolutely
no difference in sound quality with the grille
on vs. the grille off. It is truly acoustically
transparent. However, if you do want to re-
move the grille for critical listening sessions,
you’ll be able to do so easily, without fear of
damaging the grille, because rather than use
the easily-broken plastic lugs commonly used
by speaker manufacturers (even on high-
priced speakers), Focal has fitted solid metal
‘pegs’ to the grille frame, which slip into
rubberised fittings sunk into the front baffle.
Excellent!
Conclusion
Focal’s new Chorus 706s are amazingly good
speakers and, considering they’re made en-
tirely in France, to state-of-the-art standards,
I am a bit stunned by how competitively-
priced they are. If you need some really great
bookshelf speakers (and who doesn’t?), you
certainly won’t go wrong buying a pair of
Focal’s Chorus 706s. greg borrowman
CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
 LAB REPORT Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeakers
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

Laboratory Test Report
The frequency response of the Focal Chorus
706 measured by Newport Test Labs was very
flat and extended. Graph 1 shows a compos-
ite response, where the lab has post-processed
two different measurements (a pink noise
measurement for the low frequencies) with a
gated sine measurement for the high frequen-
cies. The two have been ‘spliced’ together
at 600Hz. You can see that the response of
the Focal Chorus 706 extends from 65Hz to
20kHz ±3dB, which is an excellent result.
However, you should also note that this is
largely an ‘unsmoothed’ result, so the reso-
nance peaks at 5kHz, 21kHz, and 24kHz (and is formed from two different metallic materi-
the dip at 22kHz) should be ignored (accord- als (aluminium and magnesium) rather than
ing to the IEC 268-5 regulation on speaker just the one.
measurement) for the purpose of stating a Graph 2 shows a greatly magnified view
frequency response (for which see Graph 5). of the Focal Chorus 706’s frequency response
This response extends from 65Hz to 40kHz at high frequencies, acquired using a gating
±3dB…and that 40kHz is the upper calibra- technique that simulates the response that
tion limit of the test microphone: it’s possible would be obtained in an anechoic chamber.
that the tweeter’s frequency response extends (Note that this measurement technique has
even further. As for those resonances above a low-frequency limitation—in this case
20Hz, they’re fairly typical for any metal- 500Hz—which is why the graphing starts at
dome tweeter. It appears the resonances are a this frequency). You can see the frequency
little more complex in the case of the Chorus response is very linear (±1.2dB) from 500Hz
706’s metal-dome tweeter because the dome right up to 4.5kHz, where there’s a tiny

dBSPL dBSPL
105 105
Newport Test Labs Newport Test Labs
100 100

95 95

90 90

85 85

80 80

75 75

70
70

65
65

60
60

55
55

50
50

45
20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K 45
500 Hz 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

Graph 1. Frequency response. Trace below 1kHz is the averaged result of nine individual
frequency sweeps measured at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the
tweeter using pink noise test stimulus with capture unsmoothed. This has been manually
spliced (at 600Hz) to the gated high-frequency response, an expanded view of which is
shown in Graph 2. [Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeaker]
Graph 2. High-frequency response, expanded view. Test stimulus gated sine. Microphone
placed at three metres on-axis with dome tweeter. Lower measurement limit 500Hz. Both
grilles on (black trace) vs both grilles off (red trace). [Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeaker]

dBSPL
105 Ohm Deg
Newport Test Labs 20 180

100
Newport Test Labs
150

95
120

90
90

85
60
10
80
9 30

75 8
0

7
70 -30

6
65 -60

5
60 -90

55 -120
4

50 -150

45 3 -180
10 Hz 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10 Hz 20 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

Graph 3. Low frequency response of front-firing bass reflex port (red trace) and Graph 4. Impedance modulus of left (red trace) and right (yellow trace) speakers plus
mid/woofer. Nearfield acquisition. Port/woofer levels not compensated for differences in phase (blue trace). Black trace under is reference 3-ohm precision calibration resistor.
radiating areas.

dBSPL dBSPL
105 105
Newport Test Labs
100 100

95 95

90 90

85 85

80 80

75 75

70 70

65 65

60 60

55 55

50 50

45 45
20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K 20 Hz 50 100 200 500 1K 2K 5K 10K 20K 40K

Graph 5. Averaged frequency response using pink noise test stimulus with capture Graph 6. Composite response plot. Red trace is output of bass reflex port. Dark blue trace
unsmoothed. Trace is the averaged results of nine individual frequency sweeps measured is anechoic response of bass/mid driver. Light blue trace is sine response of midrange
at three metres, with the central grid point on-axis with the tweeter. [Focal Chorus 706] driver. Pink trace is gated (simulated anechoic) response above 500Hz. Black trace is
averaged in-room pink noise response (from Graph 5). [Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeaker]

30 Australian
 LAB REPORT Focal Chorus 706 Loudspeakers
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
bump, after which it continues linearly
(±1.2dB) out to 18kHz, after which there’s
a rise to a first resonance at 21kHz, then a
second at 23kHz, as noted in the previous
paragraph. As you can see, there are two
traces on Graph 2, one is the response with
both the main grille and the tiny grille over
the tweeter removed, and the other with
both grilles in place. The differences between
the two trace are minuscule, but the response
without the grilles in position is very slightly
flatter and more linear.
Newport Test Labs measured the low-
frequency response of the Focal Chorus 706s
using a nearfield microphone technique, the
results of which are shown in Graph 3. You
can see that the bass/midrange driver starts
rolling off at 100Hz, to a minima at 42Hz.
The port’s output certainly covers the 42Hz
region, but you can see that it operates over a
very broad range of frequencies, from around
30Hz right up to 100Hz before rolling off.
There appears to be some high-frequency
leakage through the port at 1kHz, but it’s
about 30dB down in level (see Graph 6).
The impedance modulus was well-
controlled, with the expected bass resonant
peaks at 23Hz (13Ω) and 80Hz (14Ω) with
the minima between them at 45Hz (5.2Ω).
32 Australian
The impedance mostly stays above 5Ω over
the entire audio range, but does dip to a mini-
mum of 3.6Ω at 250Hz. As a result, this will
be a very easy load for any amplifier,
particularly since the phase angle (blue trace)
is also well-controlled. The fact that the red
and yellow traces (showing the measured
impedances of the left and right speak-
ers respectively) almost overlay each other
demonstrate the very high standard of Focal’s
drivers and of its quality control. There are
no cabinet resonances visible on the trace,
which is excellent.
Newport Test Labs measured sensitivity at
86dBSPL at one metre, for a 2.83Veq. input,
using its standard test procedure. This is both
slightly lower than average and also lower
than Focal’s specification (90dBSPL), but as
I’ve pointed out on many occasions, Newport
Test Labs’ procedure makes it very tough
for a speaker to achieve high figures (and
particularly tough for bookshelf speakers), so
86dBSPL is actually a very good result. It does
mean, however, that these speakers would be
best-matched with an amplifier which has a
power output of at least 50-watts per channel
(into 8Ω) or more.
Graph 5 shows the Focal Chorus 706’s fre-
quency response, measured with a pink noise
stimulus. You can see the response extends
from 65Hz to 40kHz ±3dB…and, as noted
earlier, that 40kHz is the upper calibration
limit of the test microphone. (Focal’s specifi-
cation is 55Hz–28kHz ±3dB.) The difference
in the low-frequency extension between the
spec and the measurement is because Newport
Test Labs measures with the speaker three me-
tres away from the nearest surface. Moving
the speaker closer to a wall would increase
the bass extension, bringing it in-line with
Focal’s specification.
The Focal Chorus 706 is a very well-de-
signed speaker, with a very flat and extended
frequency response, particularly into the
high frequencies. Although there have been
several ‘706’ models from Focal in the past,
I can easily see from comparing the test
results of this 2013 version of the 706 with
test results of earlier versions that this one is
significantly different in terms of cabinet tun-
ing, efficiency, overall impedance, crossover
frequency, and the linearity of the frequency
response. No doubt the result of substantive
improvements in the bass/midrange driver
and the new tweeter, which have allowed
many improvements to be made, this is
clearly a superior loudspeaker design.
Steve Holding
Subscribe And
Save REVIEWED
BeTTeR
THan
Yamaha A-S3000
Integrated Amplifier

Marantz CD5004
SonoS?
CD Player (See page 34)
Wilson Audio
Alexia Speakers

PureAudio Vinyl

Rejoice!
Phono Preamplifier

Xavian
November/December 2013 Bonbonus Loudspeakers

CZECH THE January/February 2014

COLOURS!
Read the review…
Hear the sound…

HI-RISE HI-FI
Kiwi designer in
Singapore’s Adelphi Centre

FATHER
OF HI-FI Marantz knocks our
Memories of Gilbert Briggs,
founder of Wharfedale
socks off with the
PM-11S3 amplifier
A$8.95 NZ$10.99 www.avhub.com.au

HF Nov13_001 Cover.indd 1 10/4/2013 12:31:48 PM

SHOW REPORT High End Munich

September/October 2013

DUAL VALVES! 300B or KT88? Full review and test of

AudioSpace’s innovative amplifier...

A$8.95 NZ$10.99 www.avhub.com.au

aLSo ReVIeWeD

Focal Chorus 706 Sunfire HRS-10 Project RPM 1.3 Genie VTL MB-125
Speakers Subwoofer Turntable Amplifier
AVHUB.COM.AU
A$8.95 NZ$10.99

REVIEWED

Krix PSB Bricasti Design M1

Phoenix V2 HD8 Digital-To-Analogue
ALSO

Loudspeakers Subwoofer Converter

HF Sep13_001 Cover.indd 1 8/26/2013 2:46:54 PM

Subscribe to Australian Hi-fi magazine

and you can save over $32.00 on the
cover price!
avhub.com.au 33