We try not to discriminate when it comes to products. Whether it’s a £50 pair of headphones or a £5000 soundbar, our tastes are, well, broad.
So when news arrived of a new entry in the Mu-so speaker range, our eyebrows arched not unlike Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti’s furry face caterpillars.
For one, this new Mu-so is a Focal Mu-so, not a Naim Mu-so (what’s happening to Naim?). But this latest entry makes a move from hi-fi to home cinema with its support for Dolby Atmos sound.
All-in-one systems swim in hi-fi waters while giving home cinema a glance, but not fully committing. The notion of an all-in-one system is somewhat spurious, since it can do some things but not everything. Some come with CD players, others place an emphasis on streaming; some connect to your TV, others won’t have a clue what a TV is.
But the Focal Mu-so Hekla might be the first one to claim a wide remit in this modern era of immersive audio. The provision of Dolby Atmos marks it out from every other all-in-one system that I can think of, and it rather deliberately steps on the toes of home cinema soundbars.
Given Focal/Naim are experts in the field of hi-fi music, but can they really take on the forces of home cinema such as Sonos, Bose, Sony and Sennheiser?
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A fusion of hi-fi and home cinema?
All-in-one systems tend to nod towards home cinema, but they’re not really built to be a soundbar replacement.
For one, they only support stereo sound. Despite the 14 drivers in the Cambridge Evo One, it’s only going to output sound in stereo. The key is that it takes up less footprint that, say, a pair of bookshelf speakers next to your TV.
Over the years, soundbars have tried to mesh hi-fi and home cinema sensibilities into a single box but it is not as easy as you might think. Music and movies dance to different rhythms, a DSP (digital signal processing) that works for vocals and a few instruments does not work as well when having to cover dialogue, sound effects, music score, dynamic range and more with a TV series or film.
Some have tried to bridge the gap, such as the Marshall Heston 120 or the Sonos Arc Ultra but they will always be compromises (usually bass or treble). The same is sure to apply to the Focal Mu-so Hekla in some way.
Image Credit (Focal)
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Other compromises are likely to come in the form factor. The Hekla is wider than the Mu-so 2 but it’s the height that’ll be an issue at 118mm. A soundbar such as the Sonos Arc Ultra is 75mm, and it’s that high so it can fit beneath a TV rather than block the screen.
It’s no surprise that the one promotional pic of the Hekla shows it below a (massive) wall-mounted TV rather than a TV on a stand. Its size and shape aren’t that convenient for most screen sizes.
Focal & Naim might argue that a bigger cabinet plus bigger speakers gives these speakers more room to operate, and therefore better sound. They would be right, but from the looks of it, the Mu-so Hekla needs space, and space is not always a given in most homes.
Does it really need Dolby Atmos?
I’m not convinced by Dolby Atmos.
Not that I don’t think the idea is unconvincing, but the execution is lacking. Dolby Atmos – and any immersive sound format – should be an uncompromised listening experience. In reality it’s been compromised since day one, and one-box sound systems are the main reason why.
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If the point of Dolby Atmos is to create a hemisphere of sound, then to do so requires the use of surround or rear speakers. Many soundbars forego adding rear speakers because of cost and the space you will have in your room.
Image Credit (Focal)
But it means you get a front-heavy experience with all the action happening in front of you and it’s rare for a soundbar that convincingly tricks your brain into thinking a sound is near your seating position, let alone behind you.
It’s going to need clever DSP and psychoacoustics to do that, and let’s not forget that not every room is the same size or shape, even with room calibration to help.
So yes, the Mu-so Hekla will boldly go somewhere I don’t think any all-in-one system has, but will it be a convincing Dolby Atmos experience? I have my doubts.
You only have to look through our soundbar archive to see how rare a five-star review is, and the vast majority of them have been for Samsung sound systems… that come with rear speakers.
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It’s still a music system at heart
Forget about the price. The Focal Mu-so Hekla is clearly for a certain type of audience that’s happy to pay for what this system offers. These aren’t even the most expensive speakers Focal would have launched in the past year.
But at its heart, the Hekla does feel like a music system first that can perform home cinema tricks. The spec sheet for music support is as long as my arm (and I have long arms), that control wheel is a design feature that begs to be used rather than left alone as you sit from the comfort of a sofa.
Image Credit (Focal)
My assumption is that the Focal isn’t necessarily embracing Atmos with films and TV but Dolby Atmos Music.
It, I’m guessing, wants to get close to that live music feeling that Dolby Atmos, in the right setting, can provide. The lack of DTS:X support, or even a nod to Eclipsa Audio, suggests the Focal isn’t putting all its eggs into the home cinema basket. It is interested in the vast library of Atmos content that exists, but it’s the increase in spatial audio mixes for music that I think Focal & Naim are more interested in.
But even that comes with a caution. Spatial audio for music can be hit and miss. What works in stereo is not a given when it comes to immersive mixes. Some tracks play around with immersive wizardry, others are subtle.
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The Focal Mu-so Hekla is leaping into interesting territory as far as traditional hi-fi goes. It could be the best of both worlds, it could be a noble failure. We’ll have to wait until 2026 to find out.
What it won’t do is spell the end of the soundbar. Whatever the Hekla turns out to be though, it’ll be something different from the norm.
