Overview & Company History

This article is on a series of Focal speakers that is not very well known but, in our opinion, is a perfect fit for many home theater and music applications. They are called the 300 On-Wall series, and there are only two models. These cool speakers have flown under the radar, but we hope after reading this article, you’ll understand the variety of needs they can fill to help you build an immersive home theater or stealth music system.

Focal has been around since 1979 and is based in Saint-Etienne, France. Like many ultra-high-performance speaker companies, all design, engineering, and even the assembly and manufacturing of most of their products occur in the company's factory in France.

But unlike other high-end speaker companies, Focal has many other avenues to explore and create world-class products. They also make some of the best headphones in the world, speaker drivers for automobiles, and professional-level speakers.

At Audio Advice, we like companies that set out to create no-holds-barred products where they learn about new materials and manufacturing techniques. This allows them to use what they learn to make their more affordable products much better as they typically figure out a way to trickle down that tech into their less expensive products.

Focal certainly has checked the no-holds-barred box with its Grand Utopia EM EVO. This almost 600-pound assault on the high end has garnered numerous awards and is not only incredible-sounding but a true sight to behold with its unique design.

When you look closely at the Focal 300 On Wall speakers, you can see that some of their cool tech has made its way into these unique, problem-solving speakers.

Design & Build Quality

There are only two models in the 300 On-Wall series, and both are designed to be mounted on a wall, as the name implies. Alternatively, either one can be mounted to a neat-looking Focal floor stand designed specifically for them. These slim speakers would typically be vertically mounted, or you can turn one horizontally for a center channel.

The fit and finish are fantastic in typical Focal fashion, and the drivers themselves are made at their factory in France. They come in two color choices: white gloss and satin black. These offer two really good options for almost all of these cool speakers' possible uses.

Features & Technology

The two models are the 301 and 302. Before we get into the tech both of these speakers share, we want to discuss why we think these two models are a good fit for so many applications.

With their slim profile, one obvious choice for these would be to have a pair mounted on either side of a flat panel TV with one mounted horizontally either above or below for a great start to a surround sound system. At 3”, they might be deeper than the latest slim flat panel TVs even with their mount, which means you would run some risk of the picture reflecting off the sides of a gloss cabinet. This is where the satin black would probably be the best choice, or you could get a TV mount you could pull out just enough to be flush with the speakers to avoid any reflection and use either color.

The second way to use either the 301 or 302 would be for a somewhat stealthy two-channel audio system. These sound like true Focal high-end speakers, and especially when paired with a fast subwoofer, this combo can make a nice two-channel system that takes up minimal floor space.

But the sleeper part about the 301 and 302 is the possible uses for bed layer surround sound speakers. Focal makes 6 different lines of in-room loudspeakers. But for some reason, they have not really updated the surround sound speaker options for any of these lines to reflect the type of speakers needed now for object-based surround like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. A few years ago, you wanted your surround speakers to throw sound off to the sides, but now, with object-based surround, we want the drivers to be directional and aimed directly at the primary seats.

Unfortunately, the surround options for all of the great Focal series as of this writing are still of the nondirectional type. This is where we see the 301 and 302 being such great surround speakers. There is a whole universe of home theater lovers who desire the sound of Focal speakers but want to put together a high channel count, object-based surround system. We feel the drivers used in the 301 and 302 are so close and, in some cases, identical to the tech in all the Focal series that these would be a perfect choice for surround channels.

And, if you are thinking about these or any home theater speakers, know that the experts at Audio Advice are here to help. You can start with our free home theater design tool to lay out your dream theater, then talk or chat with our passionate home theater enthusiasts to design the perfect theater for your room and budget.

Another reason we like these is their mounting flexibility. They come with a template to mark the mounting holes perfectly to get these up on your wall. Just be sure and level it, tape it up with painter's tape, check for level again, then mark your holes. Once you properly attach the brackets, the speaker hangs on the wall. But Focal was very clever in designing them to protrude from the wall just under 3/16 of an inch. This means if you are in a setting where it is not possible to have a professional run hidden speaker wires in your wall, you can simply have the speaker wire hang down, and it will not interfere with the way the speaker mounts to the brackets. The mounting holes will be easy to patch should you need to move them, and this gives you the flexibility to put them exactly where they need to go in your room. But let’s say you do not want any holes in your walls yet want to position your bed layer surround speakers perfectly. Well, then you simply purchase the optional on-wall stand that will put these at an ideal height and allow you to position them almost flush with your wall.

Now that you hopefully understand how these can help you assemble an awesome Focal based surround sound system, let's take a look at the actual tech that makes them sound so good.

If you have ever seen a Focal speaker, you’ve probably noticed their famous inverted tweeter. These have been around for over 20 years, and Focal continues to improve them. As a matter of fact, the tweeter in this 300 series is a direct descendant of the Beryllium tweeter used in their ultimate Utopia series. The tweeter in the 300 series is called their TNF tweeter. This inverted design gives you the advantage of minimal directionality. This means you will get all of its sweet and extended sound even way off-axis. Focal uses a memory material called Poron to connect the inverted dome to its supports. They developed this idea for the Utopia and found it reduced distortion by a factor of 3 in the critical 2-3k region. They also designed a waveguide for the tweeter that gives an incredibly flat response with .5dB across its entire operating range, which is pretty amazing. For those of you not into the tech as deep as we are, the result is a sound that is just super smooth and easy on the ears, yet very light and delicate. Imagine hearing brush strokes on a cymbal and feeling like you are in the room with it.

Focal has also been a pioneer in using natural materials. Back in 2013, they unveiled a new Flax membrane made from flax fibers. And guess what country is one of the largest producers of flax, yes, France.

Compared to cones made from synthetic fibers or petrochemicals, flax does have a lot of advantages. The ideal midrange and woofer cone would be very rigid, light, and have great damping. Focal worked on a way to sandwich high-quality French flax fiber between two thin sheets of glass fiber. Since flax is a hollow material, it is very light and has low elasticity. This new design met all three criteria for the perfect driver, and Focal has been using this sandwich technique ever since.

Well, if this is so good, why don’t we see it from other companies? We might eventually, but for now, Focal holds the patent on it.

The midbass drivers in the 300 series all use this flax-based sandwich design, and the sound is fast, natural, and without any coloration.

Now, let’s examine the two different models to help you decide which might best suit your system and needs.

The Focal 301 is 31 ½” tall with an angled top and bottom where you will find a port on each end that helps provide substantial bass response for a speaker this size. The other dimensions are about 6” wide and about 3 ½” deep. These use the famous Focal TMD inverted dome tweeter flanked by 2 of the 4” midbass drivers.

The minus 3dB down point for these is 53 Hz, which is incredible for something this size. The 301's sensitivity is 87 dB, which puts them in the medium sensitivity range.

The 302 looks like they just added two more of the 4” drivers in a taller, roughly 49” cabinet, but it's actually a pretty big upgrade. The woofers are crossed over, so two of them cover the midrange, and the other two cover the bass. This buys you far better midrange performance. The 3 dB down point for these is 50 Hz, so while you get a little more deep bass, the bigger deal is the midrange. You also gain quite a bit in sensitivity, with the 302 being 91 dB, making them far easier to drive and more dynamic. And like we said earlier, either will work great on the Focal stand.

Overall Recommendation

So, where do these fit? If your focus is on putting together a great, somewhat stealthy stereo system, we would highly recommend the 302, even if you are planning on adding a sub, as its midrange is superior.

If you are doing three of these models with a TV, an interesting combination would be two of the 301 flanking the sides of the TV, as they will be about the same height as most popular-sized TVs, with a single 302 above or below for the center channel, where you will really appreciate the midrange improvement. For TVs larger than 85”, three 302s would certainly look like the best match from an appearance standpoint and sound better.

For bed-layer surround sound use, it gets a bit more complicated. The 301 costs less and goes plenty low to handle the typical 80Hz crossover used for surround speakers. You can buy four of these for surrounds for just a little more than two of the 302’s. But the 302 is more dynamic and has the power to fill up a large room better.

For an average-sized home theater, we think the 301 is the best bet, but if you have a larger space and/or like to watch a lot of dynamic, explosive content, the 302 would be preferred. Or if you enjoy multi-channel music listening, the 302 would be a better choice as well.

We hope you can see now why we think these two Focal On-Wall models can solve many audio and home theater situations. For those of you looking to put together a serious Focal stereo system and also do object-based surround, they allow you to do this and feel great about how well they will match your main speakers. The stand mount allows you to position these in perfect locations and not have to worry about running wiring inside your walls. Plus, they look cool and have the sound that so many people love about Focal!

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