Bass so accurate and realistic, you'll believe you're at the concert, live. French loudspeaker manufacturer, JMLabs, established the Focal name many years ago now and since that time has developed and produced its own speakers. When we say its ‘own’ we mean Focal is one of the few true speaker manufacturers in the world today. The Focal Beryllium (or simply ‘Be’) Grande home theatre components are arguably among the best money can buy, so you can imagine the excitement when Focal announced it would be using the same technology for its new Beryllium car audio speaker line up. The Beryllium line of car audio components has achieved much since its release just a short six months ago, setting a new benchmark for high end car audio speakers. After being awarded a pile of accolades for the Beryllium components, Focal (which has never been a company to rest on its laurels) developed a subwoofer to keep up with the Beryllium components, the eight-inch 21WX. The Equipment
The Beryllium components are the absolute pinnacle of Focal’s car audio offering so if you were expecting the 21WX to be the flagship subwoofer then you’re absolutely correct. While not designed to set any new sound pressure level records, the 21WX will offer you what has been described as the most accurate bass reproduction ever heard in a car, period. The engineering brilliance of Focal is on display here in this little 8” diameter package and just looking over the build quality will make you smile. Like the Beryllium components, the 21WX represents a massive amount of development and engineering and upon hearing it (which we’ll discuss later) you’ll appreciate just how much effort has gone into these subwoofers. While the components come in a smartly-designed alloy carry case, the 21WX only comes in an embossed cardboard box — but not to worry. The cone is very impressive and is similar to all the Beryllium components. When you pull the subwoofer out and turn it over, you simply cannot help but admire the beautiful manufacturing quality of Focal’s master subwoofer. Everything from the bright red magnet clusters to the engraved surround lock, is flawless. The 21WX isn’t the only subwoofer in the range either as there is a 5” version as well, called the 13WS. Beginning with the cone, the 21WX is adorned with a smart-looking grey composite ‘W’ sandwich cone. This is constructed from foam layer sandwiched between two composite layers. The reason for the foam core is that it provides optimal acceleration and deceleration (which helps amplifier damping factor stay high) without decay, plus the damping provides a neutral and colour-free sound. The sandwich cone design delivers unmatched rigidity and extreme linearity over a wide bass frequency range with very little physical distortion. The cone lip is held on its axis thanks to a wide UV-treated foam surround. The Focal logo is proudly engraved on the metal mounting surround ring and the inverted dust cap in the centre is simply black. Turn the six kilo subwoofer over and you’re again rewarded with a clean and cleverly-thought-out unit, designed around the magnifi cent magnet. The cast alloy powder-coated black basket is adorned with the Focal logo on the webs and holds a precision CNC (computer numeric control) machined alloy motor.
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