Focal 1000 Be User Manual

electra beryllium 1000 Be

User manual

Français page 13

Focal-JMlab® - BP 374 - 108, rue de l'Avenir - 42353 La Talaudière cedex - France - www.focal-fr.com

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02

Electra 1000 be user manual

Thank you for choosing the
Electra 1000 Be loudspeakers.
We are pleased to share with
you our philosophy: “the Spirit of
Sound”. These high performance
speakers feature the latest technical
developments from Focal in terms
of speaker design, whether it is
for high fidelity or home theater
systems. In order to (make the
most of these speakers) enjoy the
maximum of their performance,
we advise you to read this user’s
manual and to keep it carefully so
that you can consult it later.

The Focal-JMlab guarantee
only applies if the enclosed
guarantee card is returned to
us within 10 days of purchase.

Special precautions regarding the
Beryllium dome tweeter

In its solid form, Beryllium is harmless.
However, due to its nature, certain
special precautions should be
observed to avoid exposure to
unnecessary risk.

• Under no circumstances should the
Beryllium dome be subjected to any
form of abrasive action. To ensure
no accidental damage to the tweeter
dome it is advised to carefully replace
the magnetic protection grille.

• In the unlikely case of damage to
the dome, of any form, the supplied
piece of adhesive tape should be
immediately used to seal the whole
front surface of the tweeter. The
protective cover should then be
replaced and also taped securely in
place. You should then inform the
dealer from whom you purchased
the product so that the tweeter can
be removed by a professional and
returned to the product distributor for
replacement.

• If the dome is broken in any
way giving rise to loose particles
of Beryllium, these should be
carefully collected with the use of an
adhesive tape and sealed in a zip-top
bag to be returned with the tweeter.
For further information, please
contact Focal-JMlab directly:

[e-mail]

User precautions

All the products in the Electra 1000 Be
range are lacquered in order to
offer a resistant cabinet surface
and to make the upkeep easy.
We recommend the use of a dry cloth
to dust your pair of loudspeakers. If
the loudspeaker is stained, then use a
damp cloth.
Never use any solvents, detergents,
alcohol or corrosive products,
scrappers or scouring powder to clean
the surface of the loudspeaker. Avoid
placing the loudspeakers near a heat
source.

Running-in period

The drivers used in the loudspeaker
are complex mechanical devices
and require an run-in period before
they deliver their best performance.
They must get adapted to the tem­perature and humidity conditions of
their environment. This breaking-in
period depends on the encountered
conditions and can last several weeks.
In order to shorten this period, we
advise you to let your loudspeakers
operate for about twenty hours at
medium level, playing standard musi­cal programmes, but with a large
amount of bass.
Once the components of the loud­speakers are completely stabilized, it is
possible to enjoy the real performance
of your loudspeakers.

03

installati on

A B

C

D E

04

installati on

Positioning

The loudspeakers have been en­gineered to deliver the most faithful
sound reproduction, whether they are
used for music or home cinema. In
order to enhance their performance,
to guarantee a high quality of
listening, sound image and tone
balance, it is important to note the
following basic rules.

The listening area must be located
at the summit of an equilateral
triangle whose two other points

of insertion are determined by the
position of each speaker. Nevertheless
it is possible to modify these distances
to find an ideal compromise
according to the particular disposition
of the room (fig. A).

Each loudspeaker must be placed
at the same height and on the
same floor plan. The tweeter should

be at the same height as the listener’s
ear, when the listener is in their usual
listening area (fig. B).

Avoid placing the loudspeakers
too close to the room’s corners
or walls. This will induce some

unwanted room resonance and
artificially increase bass response. On
the contrary, if the bass level proves to
be insufficient, it is possible to move
the speakers closer to the walls to
adjust the bass level (fig. C).

Optimization

To please the perfectionists, we shall
give an optimum positioning formula :
if A is the distance from the boomer
centre to the closest wall (floor or
wall), B the intermediate distance and

C the longest distance (A<B<C), the

2

relation B

=AC determines the ideal

position of the speakers (fig. D).

• Example 1:

The boomer centre is 60cm (24”) from
the floor (B=60cm) (mini speaker on
a foot), standing 50cm (20”) from
the back wall (A=50cm), the
side wall will be ideally 72cm (28”)

2

⁄ A=72cm).

(C=B

• Example 2:

the boomer centre is 30cm (12”) from
the floor (column speaker) (A=30cm),
1m (39”) from the back wall (C=1m),
the clearance with respect to the side
walls will be B=√AC=54.7cm (22”).

Important

Stylish driver protective caps conjoined
to the loudspeaker. Do not remove for
optimized performances.

Connections

The Electra Be input sockets ensure
reliable multipurpose connections for
stripped cables as well as for plugs.
It is imperative to respect the connector
polarity of both the loudspeaker
and amplifier. The positive terminal
“+” must be connected to the
corresponding (matching) amplifier’s
terminal and the negative terminal
“-“ to the negative terminal (fig. E).
Stereo image, soundstaging and
bass perception would be seriously
compromised if these conditions were
not respected.

User instructions

The sound rendition of the
loudspeaker depends strongly upon
the listening room’s acoustics, the
place of the loudspeakers and the
listening area. These factors can
be modified in order to correct or
enhance a desired effect.

Should the soundstage be im­precise or not centred, try to move

the loudspeakers closer to each other.
Harsh or aggressive sound means
that your listening room is probably
too reflective. Try to use any absorbing
materials (such as tapestries, sofa,
wall coverings, curtains…) combined
with reflective materials to absorb or
diffuse resonances.

Should the sound be “flat”
or muffled, there are too many

absorbing materials in the listening
room. The sound appears to be
closed-in, with a narrow stereophonic
image. Try to find a better compromise
between absorbing and reflective
materials within your listening room.

Generally the wall to the rear of
the speakers should be made up of
reflective materials so that the sound
image exhibits satisfying volume and
width. On the contrary the wall on
the rear of the listener should be
absorbing in order to avoid reflections
damaging the perception of the
stereo soundstage. These reflections
may limit the impression of depth of
the sound image. Furniture, such as
bookshelves should be ideally placed
along the side walls in order to diffuse
sound waves and to prevent some
frequencies from being amplified,
especially in vocal range (it removes
“flutter echo”).

05

Mul ti channel

F G

H I

J K

06

Front 1

L

Front 2

R

Mul ti channel

Loudspeakers choice

Your loudspeakers have been
developed to be used under Stereo
and Home Theater configurations.
If you already use Electra 1000 Be on
the front and want to move forward to
Home Theater, it is paramount to use
Electra 1000 Be product line center
unit and surround loudspeakers. We
recommend CC 1000 Be center units
and SR 1000 Be surrounds. You can
also use in-wall IW 1000 Be when
environment limitations won’t allow
you to use SR 1000 Be surround
loudspeakers.
A subwoofer SW 1000 Be is available.

Magnetic disturbance

The Electra 1000 Be line speakers
(except CC 1000 Be) generate a
magnetic leakage that may interfere
with other sensitive household
appliances. It is strongly advised not to
place the speakers closer than 50cm
to your TV screen. Frame geometry
as well as colours can be severely
distorted by a magnetic field if the
loudspeaker is placed too close to the
cathode ray tube.
Generally, every sensitive element
(audio tapes, video tapes, magnetic
data storages, projector and CRTS
overhead-projector) should not be
placed too close to non-shielded
loudspeakers.

CC 1000 Be center loudspeaker
positioning

CC 1000 Be center loudspeaker
must be placed within close range
of the screen for realistic dialogue
reproduction. If a standard projection
screen is used, the center unit must
be placed right under the screen for
optimal performance. If a perforated,
acoustically transparent screen is
used, the center unit can be placed
behind at the lower half of the screen.

(fig. F)

SR 1000 Be loudspeakers
installation

Securely fasten the fixation rails on
the wall using the provided plugs and
then insert SR 1000 Be. (fig. G).

SR 1000 Be positioning

Considering it is detrimental to
perception, avoid placing SR 1000
Be surround loudspeakers too far
back in the listening area. The best
location can be obtain when SR 1000
Be surround loudspeakers make a
120° to 160° angle with respect to the
listener. (fig. H).
Place SR 1000 be surround
loudspeakers significantly high
(between 50 and 90 cm) above the
listener’s ears.

SR 1000 Be Bi/Twin Modes

SR 1000 Be features a double Bi/Twin
operating system allowing it to be used
either in standard bipolar mode (Bi) or
in double monopolar mode (Twin).
Adequately defining parameters on the
3 positions mode selector and on the
double input connector, providing one
or two power amplifiers connection
capability for each speaker, enables
SR 1000 Be to implement 5.1, 6.1 or

7.1 configurations using only one pair
of surround loudspeakers. (fig. I)
That selector authorizes the
loudspeakers to work both together
or divided in two groups ( and )
carrying different information to the
front and to the back of the listening
area (fig. J). The three positions mode
selector allows to choose between the
Bipolar mode and two Twin modes
(Front  and Front ), according to
speaker direction (fig. K).
The use of a third or even a forth SR
1000 Be surround loudspeaker is still
possible for the most advanced 6.1
and 7.1 configurations.

07

L

M

N

O

08

SR 1000 Be

Safe practice

The 3 positions mode selector has
been developed to suppress any short­circuit risk or connection error when
two amplifiers are simultaneously
connected to SR 1000 Be. In order
to ensure best performance under
the chosen configuration, we strongly
recommend to carefully follow mode
selector connection and setting
instructions.

Turn off any amplifiers
connected to SR 1000
Be during each mode
selector operation!

Bipolar mode (5.1)

Set the right and left surround
loudspeakers back selector in Bipolar
position. Always connect the amplifier
to right and left SR 1000 Be input 
(fig. L).
Note : in bipolar mode, the
loudspeakers work together towards
the front and the back of the listening
area in order to cover it in a smooth
and consistent manner.
Note : input  is always inoperative
when the selector is set in the Bipolar
position.

Bipolar mode (6.1)

Set the extra back center unit back
selector in Bipolar position. Always
connect the amplifier to SR 1000 Be
center bipolar unit input . (fig. M).

Twin mode (6.1 or 7.1)

Left loudspeaker : set the selector
in Front  position. Connect the
surround side channel to input  and
the surround back center channel to
input  (fig. N).
Right loudspeaker : set the selector
in Front  position. Connect the
surround side channel to input  and
the surround back center channel to
input  (fig. N).
Note : the side channel is always
connected to input  for both left
end right loudspeakers and the
center channel always on input .
That approach permits switching the
selector from Bi mode to Twin mode
without wiring modification.
Note : Twin mode allows back and
side surround information to be
carried simultaneously to a single
surround loudspeaker, dividing it in
two parts beaming towards the front
and the back of the listening area.
Note : surround side channel
information will be carried to the front
while center channel information will
be carried towards the back of the
listening area thanks to the two sets of
separated connectors.

Bi/Twin mode(7.1)

Back center speaker : when a third
back center loudspeaker is added to
the system, SR 1000 Be side channels
are to be set in Bi mode while the
surround center channel is to be set
in Twin mode. Set the selector in Front
 position. Connect the left back
surround channel to input  and the
right back surround channel to input 
(fig. O).

09