Focal-JMLab Chorus 715 Floor standing speakers
The attractiveness of the ideology embodied in Chorus acoustics - a new series of speakers by the French firm JMlab, - is in the pursuit of the company to make the most advanced of its technology available to the audiophile masses, and this goal is not only noble, but also extremely well thought out... Chorus 715 is equipped with a pair of new drivers with conical diaphragms made of Polyglass, which is a brand-exclusive material that proved itself excellent (silicon layer on a cellulose base). Of course, what attracts the attention is the new, concave tweeter dome, made of titanium, with a polymer film damping - such ones are installed on all the Chorus models (705, 706, 716, 725, etc.). Lower woofer is freed from most of the mid-energy by the crossover, the upper one, radiating bass along with the lower, runs up to 2.4 kHz. The resonator port is located close to the floor, and it clearly isn't a random decision - sets of spikes and polymeric supports are pretty handy. There are three options for exterior decoration.
It gives lots of powerful, reliable, deep and at the same time elegant basses. Enough high frequencies that are clear as spring water. And all this is linked into a single, fused image through a dynamic mid-range. Chorus 715 has the rare gift of combining the edges of audiophile rigor and bright, recognizable identity in its sound. The pair immediately captivates the listener with a novelty of sensations, related to the expressive beauty of the bass and the subtly emphasized high frequencies. Very few models in the test collection can be on par with the 715 in the artistic power of the upper-range details - clean and festive, lush and airy; always justified by the emotional composition of a particular piece of music. Very conducive to the attractiveness of the sound image of the system is the excellent midrange dynamic, creating an extraordinary sense of openness and accuracy of sound textures in the, so to speak, "vertical" slice. Sometimes one might even start to think that the electrical signal from the microphone goes directly to the auditory receptors, bypassing all the cumbersome steps of electroacoustic conversion and avoiding acoustic deformations produced by the listening room. It is not surprising that the space is perfectly resolved both by the front, and by depth. Only a very serious loudness causes the bass to slightly "alienate" in its independence from the unity of the sound image.
Any music performed by Chorus 715 gets a decent performance. Thanks to the excellent macro- and microdynamics of the system one might implicitly recognize the right to an element of its own interpretation of a musical work, subtle as a floral scent, regardless of its style.
2.5-way speaker system with bass-reflex type. Dimensions - 930x200x270 mm (36.6"x7.8"x10.6"), weight - 14.3 kg (13.5 lbs). Speakers: two 165-mm (6.5") head with conical diffusers of Polyglass, tweeter with a 25-mm (1") double-layer titanium-based dome. Crossover frequencies - 350 Hz, 2.4 kHz. Peak power of 125 W, the nominal impedance - 8 ohms.
