Headphones

Sidebar: Variations On A Theme
As you'd expect, the Elegia features the same 'M cone' driver geometry seen in the open-back Utopia, Elear and Clear models, but adapted by Focal to the different acoustic conditions of a closed-back design. As in the Elear and Clear, the 40mm aluminium/magnesium diaphragm mostly comprises a dome with a narrow annular cone section and features a half-roll surround, so that it resembles a miniature loudspeaker driver.

Again the voice-coil is formerless to reduce moving mass but here 1mm shorter and of lower impedance than in the open-back models, while the thickness of the NBR (nitrile rubber) surround has been adjusted to account for the back pressure of the closed capsule. Not that it is entirely closed: a vent behind the logo plate performs the dual tasks of relieving back pressure at low frequencies and extending bass response. KH