This is a review and detailed measurements of the Focal Chorus OD 706 V outdoor speaker. It was purchased new by a member and kindly drop shipped to me. The retail cost seems to be over US $400 (each!) but I see it on sale for US $300 or so. One site says it is now replaced with a newer model.
Outdoor speakers are usually sold to the custom install (CI) industry. It is a very competitive market with the top feature often being how much margin there is for the dealer! Needless to say, many corners are cut to get such high margins for the channel. Trying to compete with a quality speaker is hard.
Anyway, from the outside the Focal looks like any other outdoor speaker:
The back panel shows better binding posts than typical but that is it:
But maybe it is better quality plastic that won't yellow over time.
FYI the owner wants to use these for Atmos indoor rear speakers due to availability of mounting hardware. It is tough to do that with typical hifi speaker whereas here you have ready to go brackets and screws in the back.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I used 800+ measurement points which was not quite enough for upper frequencies resulting in error that approaches 2% instead of my usual target of 1%.
Temperature was 71 degrees. Measurement location is at sea level so you compute the pressure.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
For reference point, I used the tweeter axis. I left the grill on as this is their typical use mode.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
There is some jaggedness which is likely caused by reflections from the grill. I like the overall flatness of the response from upper bass to lower mid-range. Bass though is accentuated some which is probably good for the target application. Don't like the tweeter going crazy as we get above 10 kHz.
Directivity is generally smooth which means you can use equalization to improve the response if needed.
Early window response is a bit chaotic:
Putting the two together calms things down though:
While I have liked a bit of bass boost in the past, this may be a bit much causing boominess. And the tilt of the response seems a bit shallow so perhaps it will sound a bit bright.
Driver response shows two fault areas:
Impedance dips really low so best to have good amplification:
We also see the resonances causing the two problem areas.
Distortion is quite high in bass:
We have a little plastic box here so hard to expect a lot better.
Horizontal dispersion seems very good:
Vertically is chewed up though so you need to make sure you are not below the tweeter axis:
Otherwise you fall in that "blue eye" and loos fair bit of response in 2 to 4 kHz.
Speaker Listening Tests
Instant impression with no EQ was "boy this sounds boomy." I turned on my usual room mode filter for 100 Hz and that helped at the cost of some loss of bass. Going through a bunch more tracks, the boominess remained so I used the Predicted-in-room response and decided to lower the upper bass even more:
That cured the boominess but at the cost of amount of bass. A few times I liked it better with no EQ.
During the testing there was some lisping especially in female voices but even in some male vocals. I tried many filters but at the end I gave up. It is not a huge problem but it is definitely there.
Bass handling was excellent in that it would not bottom out (with or without EQ) even on my "speaker killer" tracks. And the mid-range response was good to excellent.
Conclusions
The Focal OD 706V is definitely a huge step above typical outdoor speaker. It plays louder and has a much more balanced response than many. Alas, if compared to other hifi speakers, there is definitely compromises. Fortunately the main issue which is the bass can be corrected in EQ and at any rate, is highly modified due to room response. In my case it landed on top of the room mode I already have so perhaps my case is tougher than normal.
Overall, I went back and forth on whether I should or should not recommend it. I simply could not decide. It is too good in many respects to say no. But clearly has some bothersome attributes that keeps me from saying "go and buy it" without reservations.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Decided to plant a dozen zucchini plants this year and as you can imagine, we had a massive harvest. I dehydrated a bunch but we make a nice lamb stew with them where we first roast them in oil, a bit of salt and turmeric:
So we decided to prep a bunch of them this way and freeze them. We must have 10+ bags of them so far. They are great by themselves roasted that way. You can eat them plain (they become sweet and delicious) or you can have bread and side of yogurt (or Raita for those of you who know what that is).
Back to misery around the house, spent $300 yesterday on the plumber just to tell us the septic tank is full. The pumping guy is coming today so hopefully we will be back in business but not without $600 or so these guys charge. Needless to say, I feel fruit rich, and cash poor so appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Outdoor speakers are usually sold to the custom install (CI) industry. It is a very competitive market with the top feature often being how much margin there is for the dealer! Needless to say, many corners are cut to get such high margins for the channel. Trying to compete with a quality speaker is hard.
Anyway, from the outside the Focal looks like any other outdoor speaker:
The back panel shows better binding posts than typical but that is it:
But maybe it is better quality plastic that won't yellow over time.
FYI the owner wants to use these for Atmos indoor rear speakers due to availability of mounting hardware. It is tough to do that with typical hifi speaker whereas here you have ready to go brackets and screws in the back.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I used 800+ measurement points which was not quite enough for upper frequencies resulting in error that approaches 2% instead of my usual target of 1%.
Temperature was 71 degrees. Measurement location is at sea level so you compute the pressure.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
For reference point, I used the tweeter axis. I left the grill on as this is their typical use mode.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
There is some jaggedness which is likely caused by reflections from the grill. I like the overall flatness of the response from upper bass to lower mid-range. Bass though is accentuated some which is probably good for the target application. Don't like the tweeter going crazy as we get above 10 kHz.
Directivity is generally smooth which means you can use equalization to improve the response if needed.
Early window response is a bit chaotic:
Putting the two together calms things down though:
While I have liked a bit of bass boost in the past, this may be a bit much causing boominess. And the tilt of the response seems a bit shallow so perhaps it will sound a bit bright.
Driver response shows two fault areas:
Impedance dips really low so best to have good amplification:
We also see the resonances causing the two problem areas.
Distortion is quite high in bass:
We have a little plastic box here so hard to expect a lot better.
Horizontal dispersion seems very good:
Vertically is chewed up though so you need to make sure you are not below the tweeter axis:
Otherwise you fall in that "blue eye" and loos fair bit of response in 2 to 4 kHz.
Speaker Listening Tests
Instant impression with no EQ was "boy this sounds boomy." I turned on my usual room mode filter for 100 Hz and that helped at the cost of some loss of bass. Going through a bunch more tracks, the boominess remained so I used the Predicted-in-room response and decided to lower the upper bass even more:
That cured the boominess but at the cost of amount of bass. A few times I liked it better with no EQ.
During the testing there was some lisping especially in female voices but even in some male vocals. I tried many filters but at the end I gave up. It is not a huge problem but it is definitely there.
Bass handling was excellent in that it would not bottom out (with or without EQ) even on my "speaker killer" tracks. And the mid-range response was good to excellent.
Conclusions
The Focal OD 706V is definitely a huge step above typical outdoor speaker. It plays louder and has a much more balanced response than many. Alas, if compared to other hifi speakers, there is definitely compromises. Fortunately the main issue which is the bass can be corrected in EQ and at any rate, is highly modified due to room response. In my case it landed on top of the room mode I already have so perhaps my case is tougher than normal.
Overall, I went back and forth on whether I should or should not recommend it. I simply could not decide. It is too good in many respects to say no. But clearly has some bothersome attributes that keeps me from saying "go and buy it" without reservations.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Decided to plant a dozen zucchini plants this year and as you can imagine, we had a massive harvest. I dehydrated a bunch but we make a nice lamb stew with them where we first roast them in oil, a bit of salt and turmeric:
So we decided to prep a bunch of them this way and freeze them. We must have 10+ bags of them so far. They are great by themselves roasted that way. You can eat them plain (they become sweet and delicious) or you can have bread and side of yogurt (or Raita for those of you who know what that is).
Back to misery around the house, spent $300 yesterday on the plumber just to tell us the septic tank is full. The pumping guy is coming today so hopefully we will be back in business but not without $600 or so these guys charge. Needless to say, I feel fruit rich, and cash poor so appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
. I also brought my expectations back down to earth with the fact that these are sealed $400/pr speakers that are getting me nice balance, soundstage, imaging, and low fatigue. In that context, these aren't bad at all.
