Shape 40
speaker
$499
Used market: $360*
Specifications
3 of 4 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Headroom Notes
4" Flax cone with twin passive radiators instead of a port. Focal gives a single line — «Maximum SPL (peak@1m)» — with no statement of how many speakers were playing, what the test signal was, or what distortion limit defined «maximum». Across the range the figures behave as if they are per speaker (the 4" Shape 40 at 102 dB sits below the 5" Shape 50 at 106 dB), but the sheet does not say so, and the number should not be lined up against a competitor's without that caveat.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Maximum SPL (peak@1m) : 102 dB»
The row names a distance and the word «peak» and nothing else: not whether one speaker or a pair was measured, not the test signal, not the distortion threshold at which the level was read, and not whether the measurement was made in free space or against a boundary. Every one of those choices moves the result by several decibels — a pair instead of one speaker is worth about 6 dB, a boundary about 6 dB more, IEC-weighted noise instead of a sine burst about 10 dB. The figure is therefore usable for comparing Focal models with each other and not much else.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~72% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026