Focal Theva No.1

A capable standmounter that excels in delivering scale and sonic authority

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Focal’s Theva No.1 steps into a highly competitive arena. This part of the market has long been dominated by the likes of the Bowers & Wilkins 600 range, but recent months have seen something of a shift, with strong new contenders such as the Acoustic Energy AE 300 Mk2 and KEF's Q3 Meta stepping into the limelight. The Theva No.1 has its work cut out if it is to worry such talented opposition.

This standmount is the entry point into Focal's step-up range of speakers. The Theva series is pretty extensive, and is composed of a trio of floorstanders (one of which packs upward-firing Dolby Atmos modules), a centre speaker, a smart on-wall model and what on paper looks like a mighty subwoofer that packs 600 watts of Class D power and a substantial 30cm woofer.

Given the price level, it comes as no surprise that Focal has stuck to the standard two-way, port-loaded standmount template. Within that, the company has dipped into its extensive drive unit knowledge and equipped the Theva No.1 with some interesting technology.

Distinctive tweeter

Our attention is drawn to the distinctive tweeter. This is an aluminium/magnesium inverted dome of the kind that the company has championed for decades, but there have been a number of refinements for the Theva range.

Following the development work done on the company's high-end and hugely capable Beryllium domes, the unit used here has a surround made of a microporous polyurethane foam called Poron. This material is claimed to reduce distortion in the 2-3kHz region by a factor of three. The shape of the dished waveguide surrounding the tweeter has also been refined to improve dispersion characteristics and so make the speakers less fussy about precise angling relative to the listening position.