High-end audio is about precision. Recreating live music in your home is one of the wonders of technology, requiring speakers accurate enough to create a convincing fascimile of the recorded soundfield. Take a look through any of my recent speaker reviews in the past year, and you\u2019ll find them full of measurements trying to puzzle out the intricacies of a speaker\u2018s sound.<\/p>\n
So when French audio giant Focal invited to see how its speakers were made last year, I knew to expect the fancy machinery, anechoic chambers, and assembly lines. What I didn\u2019t expect was how much of a human<\/em> touch is part of the process. At nearly every step there was some degree of craftsmanship involved, from cabinets hand-made in France\u2018s southern countryside, to high-end woofers that are pressed into shape with sinew rather than steel. The company takes its \u2018Made in France\u2018 tagline seriously.<\/p>\n Disclaimer: Focal flew me out to France to check out its facilities for its 40th anniversary last year. Despite this, Focal had no say in the text of this article and it\u2019s my intention to keep it as objective as possible. This article is meant as more of a look into Focal\u2018s design process than a judgement of its speakers. Note that many of the photos in this article were provided by Focal, as we were not allowed to take\u00a0photos due to unreleased products on the factory floor.<\/em><\/p>\n Focal has been in the audio business since 1979, producing studio monitors, car speakers, headphones, surround systems, and of course, hi-fi speakers. Despite the sprawling portfolio, the company\u2019s factories had more of an intimate vibe than you\u2019d expect from such a massive operation. Over time, Focal\u2018s production has settled on two primary facilities: its main headquarters in St-Etienne, an hour outside of Lyon, and its cabinet factory in Bourbon-Lancy, a small rural commune over two hours away.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the cabinet factory that stood out the most. It\u2019s where Focal\u2018s hi-fi speakers start their life as wooden skeletons before being shipped off to St-Etienne for assembly. This includes all of Focal\u2018s enthusiast speakers \u2013 everything from the company\u2019s new and relatively affordable Chora line to the exercise in overkill that is the $230,000 Grand Utopia.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2020\/02\/Focal-1-of-13.jpg\")