The very tested loudspeakers are part of a new Focus series shown for the first time on the High End 2011 show in Munich. This series is know from a few years, but its new version brings some absolutely new solutions, which – as you will see in the sound section – make us talk about a completely new series.
In the company materials we can read that the new Focus carry new solutions: they have new midrange drivers and woofers designed especially for this series and having their premiere in it, improved shape of the cabinets, and new cross-overs fine tuned in listening tests. A completely new solution is the new motor, made from a carcass from black Kapton, on which precision voice coils were wound with an aluminum wire, Precision Coating, used for the tweeters and better alloy employed in the spiders. The central magnetic system of the drivers, which distinguishes the brand from others, is one of the most important elements shaping the sound of the loudspeakers. The magnet placed inside the coil results in the ability of getting a stronger, more homogenous magnetic field. The second important Dynaudio innovation is the usage of aluminum in the voice coil. Compared to a standard copper voice coil – which is much heavier – aluminum allows for making a much bigger coil, which is still very light. Using aluminum it is possible to double the diameter of the coil without increasing its mass.

Dynaudio designed the new generation of improved drivers especially for the Focus series. The carcass is made from a new material – black Kapton, more durable and less prone to deformation than the classic one. This technologically advanced material is non-magnetic, thermally stable and very rigid – and at the same time extremely light. This allows for a fluent and repeatable work of the motor in ideal conditions, perfect control of the driver’s behavior, even at high volume levels.
The complete construction, composed from the voice coil and carcass, works with a diaphragm with a composition patented by Dynaudio - Magnesium Silicate Polymer. This material is characterized with low mass, high rigidity and splendid internal damping. The diaphragms are formed in a special process, where unique shape is given to it, which eases smooth radiation of the sound.
This, and the much more powerful magnetic system and improved material for the spiders allows for more linear, extremely precise, extremely quick and infallibly precise diaphragm movement resulting in truthful music reproduction – also at high volume levels.

Also especially for this series the Dynaudio engineers optimized the coating process for the tweeter dome diaphragms – this is called Precision Coating. Due to this improved formula the coating is more precise than before, and this allows it to gain better shape of the dome. This on the other hand resulted in smoother sound and ideal propagation in the full spectrum handled by this driver, and in effect better reproduction of the smallest, audible details.

The Dynaudio Focus loudspeakers are available in many natural veneers and two varnishes: maple, walnut, rosewood, black ash and high gloss white and black.

SOUND

A selection of recordings used in the test:

• Accademia Bizantina, Il Cimento dell Armonia e dell Inventione op VIII - Vol 1+ Vol 2, dir Ottavio Dantone, Arts, FLAC 24/96.
• Brian Eno, Craft On A Milk Sea, Warp Records, WARPCDD207, 2 x 180 g LP + 2 x CD + 24/44,1 WAV;
• Cecilia Bartoli, Opera Proibita, Decca, 475 7029, CD.
• Clifford Brown, Memorial, Prestige/JVC, VICJ-41562, K2 CD.
• Dunedin Consort, Messiah, Linn Records, CKD 285, 2007, pliki FLAC 24/88,2.
• Kankawa, Organist, T-TOC Records, UMVD-0001-0004, Ultimate Master Vinyl, 4 x 45 rpm 180 g LP + CD-RIIα + 24/192 WAV;
• Lars Danielsson - Tarantella - ACT, 9477-2, 2009, CD;
• Laurie Anderson, Big Science. 25th Anniversary, Nonesuch, 79988-5, CD.
• Max Roach & Clifford Brown, Daahoud, Mainstream Records/Mobile Fidelity, MFCD826, CD.
• Mikołaj Bugajak, Strange Sounds and Inconceivable Deeds, Nowe Nagrania 001, 45 rpm LP+CD+WAV 24/44,1;
• Monteverdi, Ottavo Libro dei Madrigali, Concerto Italiano, Opus 111, OPS 30-187, CD.
• Sampler Vinyl Magic for High Fidelity, pliki PCM 16, 24 i 32 bity, 44,1 kHz.
• Solveig Slettahjell, Silver, ACT Music+Vision, ACT 9715-2, CD.
• Stina, Memories of a Color, EastWest/Warner Bros. 945405-2, CD.

Japanese versions of the discs available on CD Japan.

All those changes compared to the previous version of the Focus, I mean the improvements in the midwoofers (new carcass), tweeter (changed magnet, different profile of the front and a new process of coating the diaphragm), improved construction of the cabinet, etc, are important things, but in terms of common knowledge rather unimportant. Well, introducing a new line of loudspeakers to the market, and the new Focus are such loudspeakers, companies usually give new names (with a TM), new models, new concepts, etc. Here is nothing like that. So why does Dynaudio approach the new Focus with such big enthusiasm? Why did they change the company logo – a step with far reaching consequences? We have the answer in our reach, for example in the model 260.

The amount of changes in this new line is quite substantial, but each one of them is only a slight change in the accent, we could say a finalization of many years of design work. All of this together results in an absolutely new quality. The tested Focus are something completely unique, not only compared with their competition, but especially compared to what Dynaudio itself offers. Will I be wrong when I say, that I like the 260 better than the Confidence C1? Or when I say that also the Special 25, recently renewed as the Signature Edition did not give me so much joy from listening as the 260, will I be irresponsible? Or when I finally stand in front of you, and with complete calmness and raised forehead tell you, that only the mighty Temptation seem to me clearly, and indisputably, in each aspect, better than those small speakers, will I be stupid? For me, the answer for all those questions is absolutely clear, and I am telling it with complete conviction: NO! The Focus 260 is an incredibly communicative loudspeaker, and even more, it seems to have a better tonal balance than most loudspeakers from that company I heard during my entire life, regardless its price. Maybe except for the … DM 2/6. The tested loudspeakers are small, with a more refined treble and a much nicer, lower reaching bass, but keeping the sensitive ear to the tonal balance, just like the DM did.
I started big, but this is just how I feel it. And I want to share my feelings. This is not a text written under influence of those speakers, because I had the opportunity to listen to the model 160 in Munich, during the High End 2011, and the 260 in the distributor’s listening room. And each time some characteristics were repeated, which make the new Focus the center of the catalog of the manufacturer, just like he envisioned it.
The sound of those loudspeakers is incredibly coherent. This is the kind of coherence I take into account speaking about high-end. There is no place for criticism here. We can of course point to a certain way of creating the sound, some elements that constitute it, but they cannot really be excluded from the whole equation and analyze separately. Because the precedent value of that sound is its completeness. But to be conform with the methodology of other tests, I will try to point out some of the basic characteristics of the 260.

I believe that the loudspeakers have a slightly darker sound than other models from this manufacturer, regardless their price. We do not agree in that aspect with the people from the Polish distributor, because they think it is exactly the opposite, but I will like to explain myself. The tweeter in the new Focus is phenomenal. Maybe this is not yet the level of the tweeter, made by the same manufacturer, used in the Sonus Faber Electa Amator (I), or the already mentioned Temptation, but – and this is my opinion – the differences are not too big, and in addition this driver is fantastically sewed with the others.
I can frankly say, that I am not a fan of soft tweeters. Both from the technical (technological) point of view, as well as from my experience, it seems, that this notorious “silkiness”, smoothness, are attributed wrongly to that kind of high frequency driver, and this misunderstanding comes from the lack of the right reference point. For me, soft dome tweeters sound often primitive, plastic.

Because they lack resolution and loose energy too quickly. This can be heard well comparing them to a ribbon tweeter. In such kind of comparison, hard tweeters fare much better – metal or ceramic (or diamond). It is an old stereotype (and at that time even a sensible one) is that metal tweeters sound bright. In my opinion, in good conditions such speakers are unbeatable (except by the ribbon, but this is another story and another pack of problems). But to not sound as a doctrinaire I will say, that this soft tweeter in the mentioned Sonus Faber, also due to its implementation, is for me one of the best tweeters ever.
And now: the new tweeter in the Focus is phenomenal. It sounds in a well organized and resolved way, like the best ceramic and diamond speakers, and at the same time it is more substantial, the sound produced by it is very palpable, and this is something ceramics and metal sometimes have issues with. The Focus 260 shows the ways of playing, shading and details splendidly, but not for themselves.

The bass behaves similarly as is the midrange coming out from it (because this is how it sounds here). And those are elements, that were problematic for me in almost each Dynaudio loudspeaker. As it seems, most of those doubts were caused by the material used for the diaphragms. Although this is a kind of polypropylene, yet large amount of something you could call ‘plastic’ resulted in the sound – and I underline: for me, in my opinion – was a bit warmed and slightly colored. I think, that also some of the energy responsible for the higher harmonics was damped. And although I received some negative opinions from the readers about that, I could not sit silent about that.

It is different with the new Focus, I mean – not completely, but to the extent, that we do not think about that anymore. This is due to the energy of the sound, its agility, so something what is associated with speed (of the attack and sustain). I did not notice, that the new Dynaudio speakers would dampen any energy, in contrary – I think they are very communicative, repeating what was done by the company in the lower Excite series. The bass reaches very low and does not slow down. In my room, which is not acoustically adapted, yet quite ok in that aspect, I heard some slow-down on the lowest end, slightly lower control. But because I know the sound of the 260 from the well adapted room of the distributor, I know, that this is only a part of the truth, and that my room is equally important here. And besides that, this effect disappeared completely when the bas-reflex ports were blocked by the foam plugs.
The midrange is king, of course. The only thing is, that in this case it is hard to talk about the midrange as it is. The transition between the individual parts of the sound spectrum seems seamless and we perceive those speakers as a whole, at one glance. From this point of view, we can see, that other loudspeakers from this manufacturers are more Hi-Fi than the Focus. I will say even more: those are no “audiophile” constructs, when we understand under this description loudspeakers that we listen to. With the Focus we listen to music.

With the new Dynaudio loudspeakers I listened to lots of different discs. On each of them the loudspeakers placed their mark – the sound was dynamic, coherent and energetic. The sibilants did not cut our ears, although with recordings, that were slightly boosted, even classical ones, like the Opera Proibita Cecilia Bartoli, they were accented by the denser sound on top, but not by sharpening.
Interesting were the listening sessions of files played from a computer through the exceptional DAC Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2 via the USB input. It could have been heard, that hi-res recordings resulted in an even more palpable, more natural sound. Although the soundstage of those loudspeakers can be very expansive, it is developed in front of us in a very nice way, the whole is very impressive. High-end is an enigmatic name, very contractual, and relates rather to some impressions about sound than to certain hard categories. We could assume, that it is about a product, that sounds in such a natural and convincing way, that although we know about its shortcomings, we still get enchanted. High-end is almost exclusively associated with high prices. This is just how it is and we cannot get around that – almost everything that is good is also expensive (the reverse direction is not true, not everything that is expensive is also very good). The Focus 260 do not redefine this dependence. But still, listening to those loudspeakers we do not want to change anything in our system. I’ll say even more: if I would have to choose between various loudspeakers from this manufacturer, then even if I would not end my search with the Focus, I would definitely begin with them. And when we do not listen to them, then we will not know anything about Dynaudio A.D. 2011.

The loudspeakers receive the Red Fingerprint distinction.

DESCRIPTION

The loudspeakers Focus 260 are part of the newest incarnation of the series, called by the manufacturer “New Focus” or “Focus 2011”. Those are two-way, three driver floor standing loudspeakers with a back firing bass-reflex port. In those loudspeakers two new midwoofers were used with diaphragms made from one piece of polymer combined with add-ons, called MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer), rigid, cast spiders and advanced motors, with a novelty – a black Kapton carcass. Each of the drivers has a diameter of 170mm and both are connected in parallel. Treble is handled by a silk dome tweeter with a new shape. The tweeter has a diameter of 28mm. Initially the company declared, that there will be the Esotar2 in the new Focus, but finally they talk about the Esotec2. Only that… I would say, that this is some kind of trick to justify the presence of the more expensive lines on the market, but not really the truth. The loudspeaker has a rigid front with a new shape. On the back it is damped with a damping can, and it has a neodymium magnet. One of the changes to the previous version is a new process of coating the diaphragm with a damping substance, called Precision Coating.
The speakers are connected via a new, tuned during long-term listening sessions, 1st order cross-over. It is bolted to the back panel. We find there polypropylene capacitors from the French company SRC. As usual for this manufacturer, there is a single wire terminal – nicely looking gold plated connectors. However they are mounted in a recess and under an angle, so they are not so easy to tighten.
The cabinet is very worked out – the side panels converge to the back, and inside, in a few places, it is reinforced with some horizontal wreaths. On the bottom there is an almost invisible plinth – this is sandwich with a metal plate between two layers of MDF.
The speakers can be placed on spikes – we get two versions as standard equipment – sleek and wider ones – those second ones look better. The loudspeakers are available in a few different natural wood veneers, and, for the first time at this price level – in high gloss varnish – white or black. On the front there is a grille – but the loudspeakers sound better without it.

Characteristics:

• coated, 28mm dome tweeter, made in the Precision Coating process,
• two new, 170mm midwoofers with a 75mm voice coil allowing to reach 32Hz bass,
• light, aluminum coil wound on a new carcass from black Kapton, allowing for higher power output,
• new spider from cast aluminum, allowing for higher rigidity,
• high quality cross-over elements,
• 1 order cross-over with 6dB/octave filter.
• finishes: Maple, Walnut, Rosewood, Black Ash and high gloss: black and white.

Technical data

Efficiency (2.83V/1m): 87dB
Maximum power: >250W
Impedance: 4Ω
Frequency response: 32Hz-25kHz (+/- 3dB)
Weight: 19.1kg
Dimensions (WxHxD): 202 x 992 x 294mm

Distribution in Poland: Eter Audio

Contact:

30-646 Kraków, ul. Malborska 24
tel./fax: 12 655 75 43
tel. kom.: 602 321 653 | 507 011 858

e-mail: robert@nautilus.net.pl
grzegorz@eteraudio.pl
tomek@eteraudio.pl

URL: www.nautilus.net.pl