CMS 40 Monitor Review - Reviews - Music Tech Magazine

The CMS 40 is the latest and smallest addition to the Focal Professional range. Huw Price assesses whether size matters.

Price: £282.00
Manufacturer: Focal
Website: http://www.focalprofessional.com

CMS 40
Manufacturer Focal
Price £282 each
Contact SCV London 020 8418 1470
Web www.focalprofessional.com

T o be honest, we’d expect a bit more flair from the country that produced such design classics as the Citroën DS, the guillotine and the croissant – these Focal CMS 40s look so unassuming that at first we thought we were dealing with a pair of computer speakers. We were soon to discover just how wrong we were…

The CMS 40 is particularly suited for small rooms and the design allows for positioning anywhere between 40cm and three metres from the listener, even in close proximity to reverberating surfaces. They are recommended for post-production and home studio use as well as in full-size professional studios, in case engineers need to ‘quickly check how the mix translates onto smaller speakers’.

Drive time
In essence, the CMS 40 is an active two-way nearfield monitor with two 25-watt Class AB amplifier stages powering a 10cm polyglass cone woofer and an aluminium/magnesium inverted dome tweeter. The amps and drivers are installed in a reinforced and damped cast aluminium (split) ported cabinet that has a powder-coated black finish and weighs in at 5.5kg. The level control and power switch are both located on the front panel – a feature we applaud. Connection points and control switches are located to the rear and the CMS 40 accepts balanced and unbalanced input signals via XLR and RCA sockets. The LF and HF shelving switches apply +2dB correction from 450Hz and 4.5kHz respectively.

The Input Level switch has three settings: +4dB, 0 and -10dB. The ‘0’ setting is an intermediate position that falls somewhere between the pro and semi-pro operating levels and the volume control on the front panel provides fine-tuning (complete with indents so it’s easy to match levels on two or more CMS 40s). An LED next to the volume control flashes red to indicate clipping. To align the tweeters with the listener’s ears the CMS 40 can be positioned vertically or horizontally (according to the manual you can even use them upside down). The base of the enclosure has four rubber ‘feet’ and each unit is supplied with a rubber table stand for stability and minimal vibration transfer. Two adjustable spikes are also included to tilt the speakers for ‘optimum audio image alignment’.

Model image
Each CMS 40 is supplied with a small hook tool to remove the protective metal grilles covering the woofer and tweeter. The speakers can be used with the grilles in situ, but Focal recommends removing them for optimal soundstage precision – which we take to mean imaging. A tweeter phase plug is also included that should be installed vertically over the grille-less tweeter.

The CMS 40s might be small, but they sound huge. Even set flat, the bass feels remarkably even and deep for the size of cabinet and we hardly noticed any boominess or hype. We did detect a small amount of port turbulence with very low-frequency signals at high volume, but we’ve heard far worse and the effect was less noticeable with the CMS 40s positioned upright rather than sideways. In conjunction with the Focal CMS SUB it wouldn’t be an issue at all.

Sharp focus
The most remarkable feature has to be the imaging, because the CMS 40s are razor-sharp – all of the mix elements are located with absolute precision within the stereo picture. Things were impressive enough with the grilles in place, but removing them took the CMS 40s into another league altogether. Bass lines are tight and solid. In particular, double bass sounded tremendously natural. Transient response is very fast, so percussive elements really breathe and midrange elements occupy their places in the mix without becoming dominant or overpowering. Without being in any way bright, hyped or forceful, the sheer degree of detail and clarity that these speakers achieve is quite amazing.

WHY BUY
Stunning clarity and imaging
Removable driver protection
Can be wall-mounted

WALK ON BY
Tiny degree of port chuffing
Not super-loud

VERDICT
These speakers are easy to use, competitively priced and sound remarkable.
★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)

SEE ALSO
Monitor Reviews
ADAM A3X
Choosing & Using Monitors

Score: 9

This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 91
Filed under Home, Focal Monitor Reviews, PA Equipment, Reviews, Studio Monitors

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Focal CMS 40 Monitor Review

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