Like most areas of the AV industry, the speaker system market is a crowded one. Under constant threat from ever-improving all-in-one home cinema systems, manufacturers have tended to opt for either super-budget speaker arrays or high-end set-ups that are mere aspiration to most. Looking to plug the resulting mid-range gap is the spherical shaped Dôme system, from high-styling French company Focal.
The reason for any bruh-haha surrounding the Dôme release comes with Focal's extremely good reputation as a speaker manufacturer and the fact that it benefits from technology pulled directly from Focal's dedicated hi-fi speakers ranges, which have an extremely good audiophile reputation.
In theory then, they could be among the best speakers you can possibly buy for an outlay of £500, £1,000 or £1,500, depending on whether you need (want) the 2.0, 2.1 or full 5.1 package.
The Dôme is a striking looking system. Each of the five satellites is a sphere of designer exuberance, a reassuringly weighty, high-gloss aluminium cabinet lopped in two and bandaged with a taut grille of varying colours. It is, in a word, beautiful. And if you don't like black, you can always opt for the newly unveiled entirely white version.
The satellites are also extremely versatile and can be wall or ceiling mounted, placed on a shelf or sat atop their own dedicated stands. We opted for the latter set-up on the front and surrounds, with the centre sitting directly below the TV screen. Each can be angled precisely on the vertical plane too, so varying surface heights shouldn't prove problematic.
Construction wise the satellites benefit from a sealed two-way acoustic design with unique four-inch Polyglass bass mid-driver and one-inch TNV inverted aluminium/magnesium dome tweeter. Frequency response is rated at 80Hz to 28kHz with the crossover set at 2.5kHz.
The sub isn't exactly shy and retiring either. A welcome relief from the boxy norm, it has randomly been described as looking like a Pac-man ghost and Darth Vader's cod-piece, but we enjoyed its curved, unrepentant madness. Inside lurks a down-firing eight-inch Polyglass active-bass woofer with frequency response running from 42Hz to 200Hz and variable crossover of 50Hz to 200Hz. Crank it to the clearly marked 'Dôme' setting, flick the on switch and it's literally ready to rumble.
Hooking it up to our reference and reliably excellent Marantz SR6003 amplifier and Denon DVD-3930 DVD/CD player, set-up, including assembling the speaker stands took around 30 minutes and was straightforward if time-consuming. But when you've splashed out a chunk of cash on such a system, it's worth taking the time to get it right. Indeed, if we could have convinced Focal to let us keep the Dôme longer, we'd likely have had the sats ceiling mounted, just to see how cool they looked.
Performance
We opted to kick things off in style with the full 5.1-channel set-up and a copy of Fellowship of the Ring on DVD. It's well worth bearing in mind that speakers like this will need a degree of running in to the tune of several hundred hours play before they are properly matured into their sound. Our test model was well used and so we experienced no such maturation, but don't be alarmed if you do with a new unit, it's perfectly natural.
Evident instantly is how at ease the Dôme is with the full sonic range and how naturally it moves through the spectrum with little to no infringement on clarity.
Sitting in the sweet spot of the speaker arrangement, we got a real sense quite early on of what the Dôme is capable of. The opening lines of LOTR for example are skin-tinglingly rendered, perfectly carrying the sobriety and echo of Cate Blanchett's lugubrious narration without ever muddying the dialogue.
Jump to the more imposing, less subtle challenge of Gandalf's swooping dragon firework and the Dôme's finesse is just as evident in marrying the roaring, subwoofer-heavy rumble of the swooping inferno to the high-pitched screams of the cowering hobbits with real punch and dynamism.
This scene is also a showcase for the surround channels, which will have you instinctively ducking as the dragon dives, such is their ability to draw you into the on-screen action. The speed with which they work in unison and integrate with the sub is hugely impressive for speakers at this price point.
Opting for another tried but tested film, Dark Knight was inserted and the volume cranked to see how the Dôme would manage the distortion problem that can often afflict smaller midrange speakers.
Even with the enormous 100Wpc power reserves of the Marantz amp we couldn't get the Dôme's sound to break up before reaching ear-bleeding decibels. Indeed, the open, airy nature of the sonics seemed to grow as we turned the volume towards 11.
Clearly the performance can't match the synergy and transparency of big floorstanding dedicated hi-fi speakers, but for the average lounge and with this footprint and price it's tough to complain.
Disconnecting the surround satellites to leave a 2.1 set-up, we got to work on its music playing credentials. Indulging in a variety of genres on CD, the Dôme continued to impress with the richness of detail and how open and airy it sounded until pushed to its considerable limits.
From the drawling Americana of Band of Horses to the more urgent esoteric musings of Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds, Focal's speakers rarely faltered and were a constant joy to listen to.
The Dôme is that rare thing, a product that near perfectly combines a remarkable sonic performance with a physical impact that is minimal, if not in fact beneficial, to the surroundings you place it in. We're convinced.
Focal has really taken the midrange market by the scruff of the neck with the Dôme. Beautifully designed and constructed with precision and quality materials, it performs every bit as well as we had hoped. Equally at home with both music and movies, we struggled to find any faults that didn't surface as somewhat pedantic in the context of its place in the market. 
Chris McCain
