JM labs has embarked on an an active development policy aimed at constantly adapting the company's products as the market dictates. Skillfully coupling an audio "style" of musicality and dynamic performance has enabled JMlab to achieve leadership within the French loudspeakers market. Recognizing the need for more attractive speakers, the Profile and Cobalt series is JM lab's effort to get the attention of the US market.


The Profile™ 908 speaker and 918 are an excellent example of the direction taken by JM Labs, featuring stunning good looks with cutting edge driver technology and cabinet construction. The result is acoustic performance unrivaled in its class and a look that makes other speakers like they were designed by brick layers.


PROFILE™ 918
Because of its creative approach, Profile™ was an ambitious challenge for Focal, and for the first time in this price segment, style was guiding the construction of the cabinet and baffle. The overall shape is undoubtedly bold and complex and as Focal discovered, extraordinarily difficult to manufacture. The loudspeaker is formed by two curved shells closing in, on a "back bone" support, only the speaker frame ribs remaining flat. Traditional bending technique, obtained through sequential deep cuts that facilitate shaping, had to be given up right away, the resulting structure was not rigid enough and widespread vibrations were impacting auditory perception. So torn between technical limitations and exorbitant manufacturing costs, the Profile™ project found itself at a dead-end. Focal engineers had to find cutting edge solutions in order to remove these limitations. After months of prototypes and evaluating different manufacturing processes, they came up with a new and innovative manufacturing procedure, clearing the design hurdles and delivering state-of-the-art cabinet appearance and acoustic performance.


The high density structure is achieved through binding six 3mm thin MDF layers and pressing them against a mold to acquire the desired shape for the loudspeaker. Repeated wood panels separated by resin layers confer extreme rigidity to the compound. Inner resin layers also play a central function in suppressing vibrations. Going from a different density layer to another, vibrations are increasingly damped. The composite panel structure provides incredible rigidity and vibration suppression.


The loudspeaker’s shape itself, induces an optimal mechanical behaviour :
• Egg-like shapes are as we know, extremely rigid. Profile is able to withstand strong internal pressure without generating coloration or parasitic humming in low frequencies. • The loudspeaker’s compound curve cross-section preserves it from an aliasing effect, which occurs when a signal is generated between the driver and the back panel with a slight delay (1ms). That short residual delay is detrimental to the listener's auditory perception. Profile’s shape iniates the bursting of that back wave which is then almost completely dispersed in the loudspeaker interior. The remainder is absorbed by the multiple layers of resin and MDF.

Genesis is very pleased to have the new JM labs on our showroom floor. The Profile's sound is very, very good. Bass performance is particularly outstanding for a product in this price class and bluntly, astonishing for this size of cabinet. The character of sound is smooth and relatively neutral, yet it is able to reveal those subtleties so essential to communicate the "liveness" of the recording. All in all, we're very impressed. The Focal Profile™ has tough competition in our store with the new Revel Concerto and Revel Peforma series, Energy's new and revised Veritas i series, and the other new kid on the block, PMC.
With the Focal product line added to our already extensive brand line-up, we're confident we offer one of the most competitive line-up of speakers in Ohio. We encourage you to stop by and audition the Focal speakers.
We believe the Focal Profile's are "magnifique" or as we say here in Ohio, nicely done. For more information on Focal.JM lab, visit their website: