Product Review - Focal SM9

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Reviews : Monitors


Two-way or three-way? You decide! This premium nearfield speaker from Focal is unique in offering both full-range and band-limited listening modes.
Bob Thomas
There are few studio monitor makers who, like French company Focal, design and manufacture both the cabinets and the transducers used in their products. Focal’s total control of their development and production, coupled with the design aim of delivering “the absolute acoustic truth,” has produced some of the most highly regarded speakers in both recording studio and domestic hi-fi circles. Their latest range-topping studio monitor, the active, three-way SM9, is an all-new product that features the latest generations of Focal’s signature transducers.
The major innovation of the SM9 is that it has been designed to be two loudspeakers in one: a highly accurate, 30Hz-40kHz three-way speaker or, in ‘Focus’ mode, a bandwidth-restricted two-way system that allows the checking of EQ and balance in the mid-range, as well as the transfer of a mix to more modest domestic systems with limited frequency responses.
The very first thing that you notice about an SM9 is its weight. At 35kg each, they make even a short flight of stairs seem longer than you remembered, and necessitate sturdy stands for support. Once they’re free of their individual packaging, you’ll find yourself looking at a mirror pair of surprisingly small, stylish, ‘landscape’ mounting black boxes, with the main drivers filling the front, a passive radiator in the centre of the top and a rear panel dominated by a massive heat-sink.
The front-panel driver layout is that of a two-way monitor with a larger bass driver sitting to the side. The cabinet itself is divided internally into two entirely separate, sealed sections, one containing the treble and mid-range drivers and the other the bass driver and passive radiator. The front panel also carries an LED that indicates both operating and fault statuses.
In addition to the aforementioned heat sink, the rear of the cabinet carries the amplifier EQ controls, an XLR audio connector (switchable between -10dBu and +4dBV sensitivity) and an IEC power connector. The EQ section is made up of a high-pass filter and a separate equaliser.
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