Focal Headphones Fostex Headphones
Focal-JMlab, was founded in 1979 in Paris by engineer, high-fidelity enthusiast and technology journalist Jacques Mahul. He began making his first speaker drivers in a small workshop in Saint-Etienne, at a precision mechanics company, which belonged to his father. Whilst producing his speaker drivers, Jacques Mahul also launched his own range of loudspeakers under the brand JMlab. His first loudspeaker, the DB13, was a bookshelf loudspeaker, which produced volumes comparable to larger loudspeakers, particularly in bass frequencies. Initially, he only sold his product to acquaintances but the DB13 was soon launched on the market.
Focal Sound became portable with the launch of Focal’s first high-fidelity headphones in 2012, Spirit One. After 4 years of presence within this sector, the company released the exceptional Utopia headphones in 2016. The following years would see the launch of Stellia, Clear Mg and Celestee, a series of open-back and closed-back Hi-Fi headphones awarded multiple times.
Fostex was founded in July 1973 by Foster Electric Co.,Ltd. (founded 1949), one of the world's largest developers of OEM speaker and transducer products, employing over 50,000 people in nine countries/territories. Foster Electric Co.,Ltd. is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Fostex was established to brand high quality speaker components from Foster and sell them direct to consumers and dealers in the Japanese marketplace. This area of the speaker component business is still something unique to Japan where there continues to be a high number of individuals designing and building their own speaker units at home, some for sale but many just for personal use. Indeed even today speaker component business still represents a major part of Fostex's monthly domestic income although sales are slowly enjoying a renaissance in other territories.
Fostex speaker components initially won acclaim because they were an early developer of RP (Regular Phase) technology which provides for a very clear sound with high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. Today RP technology is well known worldwide not just for speakers but also microphones and headphones, with the Fostex T20RP being one of the most popular studio monitoring headphones in the United States.
In 1978 Fostex started to developed speakers units for professional use and with these products Fostex began to export worldwide causing the brand to became very well known with both hi-fi and professional manufacturers and users. The world's best selling small powered monitor speaker for broadcast and professional use continues to be the Fostex 6301B, still going strong after twenty years.In 1981, joined by a new band of engineers, Fostex decided to enter the professional recording industry which was then on the verge of spurning the 'home recording' category. The company started with three reel-to-reel recorders, the A-2, A-4 and by far the most innovative and popular, the A-8 which was the first machine to offer eight tracks on just 1/4" tape. Along with the Model 350 mixer and Model 250 four-track cassette multitracker, Fostex were truly a home recording pioneer.
Fostex Company now have distribution in more than fifty territories and continues to be a major name in recording from the home musician to the television station; the recording studio to the duplication house. As the market has moved from analogue to digital, Fostex have developed solutions that perfectly match their user's requirements for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
