Headphones

As in the Utopia and Elear, the Clear’s drive unit has a diaphragm which, across a diameter, has a cross-section resembling a W, only the middle part isn’t pointed but curved like a dome tweeter. Why this shape? The first thing to appreciate is that Focal’s drive unit is like a miniature loudspeaker driver, with a roll surround, unlike typical headphone drivers. The latter typically have a central dome surrounded by an annulus of the same material which both radiates a substantial fraction of the overall sound energy while acting as a flexible connection to the driver chassis. So the diaphragm is not as stiff as possible and prone to breakup resonances. Whereas, because of its roll surround, the entire Focal diaphragm can be stiff, the central dome and annular cone being dimensioned so that each has its first breakup mode at about the same frequency. KH