PRISM

 

 

 

PRISM - Photon-Refined Intelligent Structured Membrane

Since 1979, Focal has been developing benchmark acoustic technologies, driven by a constant pursuit of innovation.

The science of loudspeakers lies at the heart of its expertise, particularly the mastery of composite diaphragms created through the combination of materials.

Material, shape, weight, manufacturing processes… every parameter is carefully engineered to create products capable of delivering sound reproduction that is faithful, powerful, and emotionally engaging.

THE GENESIS OF A NEW DRIVE TECHNOLOGY

For decades, driver performance has depended on achieving the perfect balance between lightness, stiffness, and damping.

At Focal, Beryllium was a major breakthrough in the early 2000s. As a raw material, it delivered one of the best compromises between lightweight, rigidity and damping.

However, Beryllium has intrinsic limitations: its shape and thickness cannot easily be optimized, restricting how far acoustic performance can be pushed while, today, advances in materials science, coatings, and nanotechnology open new possibilities.

PRISM represents the next step in that evolution — pushing beyond the limits of material membranes.

WHAT IS PRISM?

PRISM (Photon Refined Intelligent Structured Membrane) is an advanced multi-layer composite diaphragm technology combining:
 

  • Micro-Structuring: a photonic engineering process for shaping the membrane
  • Material Layering: a high-performance carbon-based coating applied over the membrane

WHY PRISM?

PRISM was designed to go beyond the limitations of traditional materials by combining multiple physical advantages simultaneously:
 

  • The micro-structuration allows to control the damping and reduce the weight of the membrane to fine-tune its frequency response.
  • The material layering allows us to harness the mechanical properties of different materials to ensure lightweight, stiffness and damping.

NATURE AS INSPIRATION: MICRO-STRUCTURING

PRISM draws inspiration from natural engineering, particularly the structure of dragonfly wings.

This concept is applied through micro-structuring, allowing:

  • Reinforcement only where needed
  • Reduced overall mass
  • Increased mechanical efficiency

THE SCIENCE BEHIND PRISM

At its core, PRISM follows a fundamental acoustic principle: the membrane’s break-up frequency. Above this frequency, the membrane starts to warp and no longer acts as a perfect piston.

The key to high-performance diaphragms lies in increasing the break-up frequency:
 

Where:

  • E = Young’s modulus (stiffness)
  • ρ = density

PRISM ADVANTAGE

  • Reduces density (ρ) through optimized structure
  • Increases stiffness (E) through carbon coating

 

 

> Result: Higher break-up frequency and cleaner sound reproduction

Beryllium Driver

PRISM Driver

A DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY

PRISM is the result of over 15 years of research:
 

 

A NEW ACOUSTIC FREEDOM

Unlike traditional diaphragms, PRISM enables true acoustic tuning flexibility. By using Beryllium, we have a fixed geometry, meaning a fixed frequency response.

With PRISM, we get an adjustable structure so we can customize the frequency response allowing our engineers to adapt performance to different applications and always ensure higher realism across listening environments.

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