Focal Shape 40 4 inch Powered Studio Monitor Reviews
Focal leads the way in affordable nearfield monitors by combining breakthrough designs with technologies they first developed for high-end models such as their successful SM series. This Shape 40 is the 4" model in the Shape series, which brings top-quality Focal reference monitoring to your studio, editing suite, songwriting workstation, or any other application where your space may be limited but your need for accurate monitoring isn't. A cutting-edge flax-sandwich cone, M-shaped inverted-dome driver, innovative acoustics, and ideal electronics all add up to a speaker that's extremely linear and free from distortion, offering clear midrange intelligibility and imaging. And thanks to its dual-passive-radiator design, you can comfortably place your Shape 40s near walls, while enjoying extended low end that's still tight, controlled, and accurate.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Great speakers
These are my first high end studio monitors and I couldn't be happier. Sweetwater did a great job of explaining the product accurately and I will buy focal in the future
Much more accurate than they should be.
Great small project studio monitor. Wouldn't recommend as a 2nd opinion monitor. Amazingly decently accurate for the size. In a pinch, with some really good headphones and a pair of these monitors you could do very credible mixes.
Worth every penny
I purchased these speakers on a whim as an upgrade to the passive speakers I was using for my nearfield 2.1 setup. These were my first Focal speakers, so I honestly didn't really know what to expect. Worst case scenario, I could return them thanks to Sweetwater's liberal return policy.
Upon unboxing them I noticed that there was a sticker from Focal advising to listen to the speakers with the protective grilles off for best performance. Also, to allow for a minimum of 10 hours of playback at moderate volumes to allow for the speaker to break-in.
I set them up with my SPL Phonitor X as the preamp, source was FLAC and AIFF music files via either my Marantz SA8004 as a USB DAC or the Topping D30Pro DAC. At first listen, I was definitely underwhelmed. The frequencies didn't seem to be blending together, and the woofer sounded anemic and boxy. I remembered what Focal said about break-in time and decided to give them some time to open up. Realistically it ended up taking well over 10 hours before they truly came into their own, more like 20-30 hours. So please don't judge these too harshly right out of the box, you really have to give them some play time before they show you what they are capable of.
But after that break-in period, wow! I am completely satisfied with their performance, especially the bass response despite only having a 4" woofer. I alternate between listening to them with a subwoofer and without, and of course the subwoofer really compliments their performance, but they don't feel particularly "lacking" to me when I don't have the sub on.
They have fantastic imaging and soundstaging, throwing out a richly layered and complex sonic landscape for you to get lost in. To be fair, I'm just using these for pleasure listening, not as a mixing/mastering tool, so your mileage may vary if you are looking for outright neutrality and pristine measurements. That being said, they sound fairly linear to me, without any unnaturally accented frequency peaks or dips. Most importantly for how I have them setup a little over 3' from me, is that the treble frequencies don't sound bright or harsh. Focal really did an excellent job with the tweeter on these!
In summary, I can't recommend these enough to any music lover. I'm sure the performance of the Shape 50 and 65 scale up accordingly, but if you have a tight space and are running a sub, the Shape 40 is a fantastic choice. Give them a try!
Clean, accurate sound
I bought these to finally add a great pair of monitors to my general purpose computer rig - I use it for general computer use, but also recording, mixing, and video editing. While the previous speakers were passable, I always used headphones (Sennheiser HD600s or Etymotic ER-4s) for critical work. Now, having paired these with a RME ADI-2 DAC, I no longer need the headphones.
I picked this model based on Focal"s general recommendations for the series and the fact that my listening position is very close to the speakers; I don"t have the room to pull them well away from the walls and sit back a few feet. The room is untreated, but does not exhibit any noticeable harsh reflections; I"m sure it would benefit from treatment. The Focals are mounted on monitor stands about 5 ft apart and pointed at the listening position which is about 2 feet in front of the speakers.
Quite simply, these have the neutral voicing that is completely accurate to the original recording. When I play back live recordings, the sound is identical, with all the clarity I expect (I record live with Schoeps microphones into a Sound Devices recorder for incredible transparency and accuracy). Likewise, I can hear every nuance in well-recorded commercial tracks. I haven"t yet had to mix anything with these, but I expect I"ll find them accurate and revealing. I am surprised by the bass response from these little monitors, but like others will tell you, the very low end is absent, though it"s not critical for my use.
If you"re looking for something colored, look elsewhere. If you want something without a lot of coloration that works well in a small space, the Shape 40 might fit the bill.
