Focal DIABLO UTOPIA User Manual

Français page 11

DIablo utopia

User manual

Summary

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Warning !

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diablo utopia

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Installation

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Fine Tune

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Specifications

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French Version

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Mise en garde

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Diablo utopia

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Mise en oeuvre

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caractéristiques

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Notes

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International guarantee

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Garantie FRANce

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Focal-JMlab, incorporated company with a capital of 527 000 euros, which registered office is situated in 108, rue de
l’Avenir, BP 374 42353 La Talaudière, registered at the RCS of St Etienne under the number 309 645 521 000 76.

The loudspeakers use a pure Beryllium inverted dome tweeter that extends the bandwidth at 40kHz.

Because of the Beryllium potential dangerousness, the material that constitutes the tweeter, some safety instructions described below must
be followed by the user of the loudspeakers in order to avoid any risk of this material absorption.

However, the risks are extremely limited in its solid form, as the product dangerousness is linked to the inhalation, absorption or contact
of vapours or micro-particles.

1. Safety instructions

The Beryllium dome must never be in contact with abrasive material.

You must avoid any contact with the skin or the eyes, any inhalation or ingestion of the whole or a part of the Beryllium dome. The
manufacturer underlines that the Beryllium absorption by respiratory, digestive tracts or skin can lead to serious physical troubles,
because of its high toxicity for man.

We then recommend to the loudspeaker users to carefully keep the tweeter protection grille in place. If the protection grille is removed,
the user will have to carefully replace this grille after use.

Generally speaking, children must be kept away from loudspeakers and especially from the Beryllium dome.

2. In case of dome damaging

If the Beryllium dome is damaged in any possible way, you must cover it as soon as possible on all its surface with the supplied protection
adhesive tape. We recommend that you contact the retailer so that a competent department will take off and replace the tweeter.

If the dome is broken, the possible Beryllium particles must be carefully collected with the supplied protection adhesive tape and then be
placed in a hermetically sealed plastic bag. It will be sent with the loudspeaker to the retailer.

In case of absorption by skin, eye projection or in case of inhalation or ingestion of Beryllium, see a doctor.

3. End of life for loudspeakers - Information

At the end of the loudspeaker life, you must not throw this product in the environment, but you must take it to an adapted recycling
center.

For more information, please contact us directly to the following address: [e-mail]

Warning

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Thank you for choosing Focal 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.

Running-in period

The drivers used in the loudspeaker are complex mechanical devices and require run-in period before they deliver their best performance.
They must get adapted to the tem-perature 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 loud-speakers are completely stabilized, it is possible to enjoy the real performance of your
loudspeakers.

User precautions

All the products 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.

DIAblo utopia

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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 relation B

2

=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”) (C=B

2

⁄ A=72cm).

• 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”).

Connections

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 strongly depends upon the listening room 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 im-precise 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 ideally be 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”).

installation

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installation

A

C

D

B

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fine tune

Accessories

Floorstanding loud-speaker systems include four decoupling spikes and four butyl cone and could be screwed, if necessary, into the four
metal inserts situated on the base of the loudspeaker. These spikes ensure a better stability for floorstanding speakers, particularly if the
floor is not perfectly flat and smooth. This stability improves clarity in bass and midrange by decoupling the system from the floor and
thus reducing floor-born resonances.This required stability allows the energy delivered by the woofer cone to be integrally converted into
sound. The enclosed spikes are adjustable in height.When the use of the spikes proves to be necessary, we advise you to place a piece
of metal (such as a coin) between the floor and the spike in order to avoid scratching a tiled floor.
Bookshelf speakers can be placed on an optional stand specially developed for them.

About amplifiers

Contrary to what one might think, it is not a too powerful amplifier that might damage a loudspeaker, but rather a lack of power. Actually
if the output level of the amplifier is too high it will saturate and distort which will irremediably damage the tweeter.
The power handling and frequency response of the loudspeakers is good enough to highlight the qualities or weak points of the
amplifiers they are combined with. Let your retailer help you make the right choice, matching your personal taste and budget.

Conditions of guarantee

All Focal loudspeakers are covered by guarantee drawn up by the official Focal distributor in your country.
Your distributor can provide all details concerning the conditions of guarantee. Guarantee cover extends at least to that granted by the
legal guarantee in force in the country where the original purchase invoice was issued.

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