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DOME IF YOU WANT TO So you need to pimp your ride with the ultimate speakers because your car tunes are that important - and you wanna shut up the dude down the block who goes on about his titanium tweeters (that match his titanium wheels, naturally)? Throw in a set of Focal's high-end Utopia BE component speakers, and tell that sucka that titanium is just so '90s. The BE stands for beryllium, an exotic material Focal uses in a proprietary tweeter dome that's said to be far lighter - yet seven times more rigid - than titanium. It's used in the two 1-inch tweeters that are part of the BE No. 7 three-way component set.

CROSS PURPOSES The set's pairs of 3-inch midranges and 6.5-inch woofers also borrow the famous W sandwich cone. That's foam laminated between two thin sheets of glass fabric - same stuff used in the French company's flagship and trés expensive Utopia home loudspeakers. Meanwhile, the Crossblock crossover (exclusive to the car line) allows you to tweak the sound to your liking with more than 4,000 filtering combinations. $4,900. focal-america.com or utopia-be.com, 805-484-4355

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