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While the tweeter per se is significantly smaller than the midwoofer, the ‘dome of the cone’ is far more closely matched. This explanation is so compelling that I felt nearly inclined to write it off as slick marketing spin. On the other hand it’s not rocket science. Whizzer cones in widebanders have been common for decades to reduce HF beaming. The 18cm basket Ø woofers are novel however no matter what. The line’s biggest Focus 360 box runs 20cm bass units, the smaller 260 has 17cm equivalents. The new 18cm concept is obviously pure Dynaudio Focus which presently – er, focuses on three core features numbered as such in the cutaway photos. The motor is beefier since the upper magnet disc’s ferrite (1) was upgraded to the Ferrite+ of the lower disc. This material composition can hold a higher magnetization charge (the treble gets a Neodymium motor for similar reasons). This is said to translate into more precise voice coil control inside the magnetic gap.


Further improvements in that direction came from the new lower suspension (2). The both more robust and flexible spider material exhibits the desired linear elasticity over a broader bandwidth and under higher amplitude stress. Relative to materials, the woofers also get a new voice coil former (3). DuPont’s amagnetic, light and temperature-stable Kapton already in use was upgraded to Black Kapton. This new chemical compound is stronger and denser leading to superior power transfer and drive characteristics. Should you wonder why the photo has the actual windings look copperish, the aluminium voice coil turns use a new heat-resistant dielectric that is orange in color.

Two sonic surprises. I reckon that everyone holds certain expectations or preconceptions relative to a given brand and/or technical solution. Sitting relatively close to a 3-way tower whose drivers spread across a vertical 60cm, one probably would not anticipate soundstage marvels or at least fewer than from coaxials or widebanders. Enter 'kiss that good-bye' #1. The Dynaudio Focus 340 staged not merely ‘quite good’ but was very broad, deep and even tall. Imaging was stable and focused without any indication of ambiguity or nervousness. I was exhilarated whilst my clichés crumbled to dust.
Obviously the Dynaudio’s staging prowess benefits from recordings which contain actual ambient data, say well-mastered classical albums or superior live cuts regardless of genre. Here I often rely on Zappa’s Ensemble Modern: Yellow Shark. The sheer breadth of the orchestral apparatus which the Focus 340 conjured up wasn’t merely good for its price class but well ahead of the game in general. Truly opulent is the word. Anything still larger would at least in my experience require more ultrasonic fortitude than such a design can deliver—and here the Focus 340 already comes from solid stock—and thus most of all more green.

 
I could likewise walk about in the recently released Eleven Gates album by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. The Dynaudios arranged the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic most generously in my listening room. As soon as I dared think "somewhat reminiscent of Ligeti perhaps, so fluffy, ephemeral and chilled out", some violent percussion blew my hair backward. Wowie! This music consumer flatly wasn’t used to such an absence of dynamic compression. Less spectacular than the mere stretch between loud/quiet but interesting while on the subject of space was how loud didn’t automatically imply spatially forward. The kettle drums and whatever other weaponry the berserker thrashes here remained far in the background and didn't move. In fact all spatial relationships between various instrumental groups stayed put whether they whispered or jammed. That’s what I earlier referred to as assured and without nervousness.


The clean depiction of individual voices in parallel to the equally concise arrangement of the whole—well beyond sheer soundstage scale at that—was another forté of the Dynaudio which I found especially admirable with studio productions. Localization sharpness and the 3D imprints of particular voices or instruments operated across a high niveau. Even with less audiophile mastering jobs this did not tilt into the clinically checker-board pedantry which it can elsewhere. Dependant on ancillaries, cables and recording for example, this could occasionally transpire with Dynaudio’s Twenty-five to trigger reactions of ‘ultra precise’ or ‘artificial’.