FOCAL XS SPEAKERS

$599

Great news for lovers of high fidelity sound! The famous French audio manufacturer Focal-JMlab, best known for their high-end monitors for recording studios and luxury car-audio systems, has officially entered the growing Multimedia/iPod dock speaker market with its latest speaker system, the XS Multimedia Speakers. The self-powered 2.1 system with an integrated iPod dock, the Focal XS features a clean, industrial design with a high-gloss black finish and the quality of sound it outputs matches its top-notch building materials, all with the aim of presenting you with a very dynamic, perfectly balanced and powerful multimedia listening experience.

The XS satellites are miniature, featuring a rectangular dark base, an angled aluminum arm holding a small speaker cabinet with a flat face and a curved back. The right-side speaker packs a universal iPod dock on the top of the base, an IR receiver up front and USB and one-eighth-inch analog audio connections and a Sync/Audio button on the back of the base. Captive cables connect both speakers to the subwoofer measuring 10 inches high by nine inches wide and 14 inches deep.

Focal XS multimedia speakers

The XS subwoofer sports a large, front-firing port and a downward-firing six-and-a-half-inch driver, weighing 18.5 pounds, which holds integrated amplifiers for all three channels, i.e. 70 watts for the active subwoofer channel and 30 watts each for the two satellites. The Focal XS system comes with a small, flat magnetic remote with membrane-designed buttons for easy control of volume levels and iPod functions. The integrated iPod dock is a major plus as it allows you to sync your iPod with iTunes directly from the speaker by means of the Sync/Audio button.

The XS multimedia speaker system can process analog audio signals from the docked iPod, or the one-eighth-inch input, while digital signals are fed to the speakers via the USB port and handled by a Burr-Brown DAC. The XS supports most iPhone and iPod models thanks to its universal dock connector. The speaker system soundstage really shines in near-field settings such as an office desktop or small apartment, adapting to the room’s acoustics and proportions to produce clean and smooth midrange and full bass even at low to moderate volumes. All in all, the Focal XS system is a neat way to add both powered speakers and an iPod dock to your computer system and enjoy your music at its best. Try it out – the Focal XS is truly worth its price.

Get it from Amazon here


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