THE STORY
The Footprint03C Center Channel active monitor is designed to complement the Footprint03 right and left channel monitors, delivering unmatched precision essential for accurate mixes in surround sound and immersive environments. Built on the proven legacy of the acclaimed Footprint03 tri-amplified 3-way design, the Footprint03C ensures seamless tonal consistency when paired with the Footprint03, forming a fully integrated and cohesive monitoring system that elevates any professional setup.
A center channel studio monitor is indispensable for accurate dialogue and vocal reproduction, precise spatial imaging, and ensuring mixes translate seamlessly across playback systems. It anchors the sound image, enabling engineers to balance critical elements like vocals, lead instruments, and central audio content with clarity and consistency in both film and music projects.
At the heart of the Footprint03C’s innovation is its advanced design, featuring a 1″ ring radiator tweeter, a 3.5″ aluminum cone midrange driver, and two forward-facing 6.5″ aluminum cone woofers, all meticulously crafted to deliver exceptional audio fidelity. Its state-of-the-art magnet and motor systems, copper shorting rings, and enhanced heat-sink technology work together to minimize distortion, support extended driver excursion, and ensure reliable performance even under demanding conditions.
CABINET
The Footprint03C features a sealed box design, allowing for a compact and shallow cabinet—perfect for center-channel applications. It boasts the iconic Footprint Gray polyester coating with its signature textured finish and is expertly crafted from Medium-Density Fiberboard. Utilizing stress assembly techniques to maximize stability and damping, these cabinets uphold the exceptional standards synonymous with all Barefoot Sound monitors.
MOUNTING
Achieving the optimal multi-channel studio setup is effortless with Footprint03C and Footprint03 monitors, thanks to their seamless integration with premium mounting solutions from Triad-Orbit or König & Meyer. These monitors, ideal for compact Atmos mixing rooms, provide unparalleled audio precision and quality, enhancing the acoustic experience in smaller studios while ensuring easy and versatile installation.
DRIVERS & AMPS
TWEETER
The Footprint03C features a 1″ ring radiator tweeter, sharing its design with the Footprint03 and delivering dynamic audio performance through its powerful magnet system, extended excursion, and minimized compression. An advanced heat-sink system ensures consistent peak performance, while copper shorting rings eliminate distortion for pristine sound reproduction. Built from high-quality fabric and housed in a robust aluminum enclosure with a solid aluminum face plug, the tweeter offers superior rigidity and resonance control. Incorporating Neodymium technology, it delivers precision, clarity, and fidelity, maintaining its reputation for excellence in professional audio environments.
MIDRANGE
The Footprint03C 3.5″ midrange driver utilizes an aluminum cone, further contributing to the driver’s rigidity and resonance control, thus enhancing the overall audio fidelity. The inclusion of a larger, high-sensitivity power motor and additional copper shorting rings around the voice coil effectively minimizes harmonic distortion, resulting in pristine and accurate sound reproduction. The driver’s advanced magnet and motor system, combined with its longer excursion capability, enable it to achieve higher volumes while maintaining minimal compression. Moreover, an improved heat-sink system ensures reliable performance even during prolonged use.
DUAL WOOFERS
The Footprint03C forward-facing 6.5″ aluminum cone woofers are driven by a robust 100W amplifier in each monitor, ensuring powerful and accurate bass reproduction. Its larger, high-sensitivity power motor, combined with additional copper shorting rings around the voice coil, effectively minimizes harmonic distortion, delivering pristine and accurate sound reproduction. With a more potent magnet and motor system, the new woofer design achieves longer excursion capabilities, resulting in louder and less compressed sound output. An improved heat-sink system ensures reliable performance even during extended usage, further solidifying the woofer’s durability and dependability.
AMPLIFIERS
The Footprint03C features three Class D amplifier modules, each dedicated to a specific driver. The tweeter channel has a 60-watt amplifier, while midrange and woofer drivers are supported by separate 100-watt amplifiers. The amplifiers maintain a total harmonic distortion (THD) of less than 0.005% when delivering maximum power. This configuration ensures a well-balanced, powerful audio performance, optimizing signal levels for each driver and facilitating optimal sound reproduction.
TECHNOLOGY
SPOC™ (Spectrally Optimized Conversion) was first introduced to the audio world through the Footprint03. This patented Barefoot technology incorporates an analog crossover section prior to the analog-to-digital conversion, allowing high frequencies to pass into the converter unattenuated. The result is a 5-bit higher resolution, equivalent to a 15 dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Exclusive to monitors featuring SPOC™, this innovation delivers a more transparent signal, unmatched by any other monitor in its class..
DSP
The Barefoot Sound Digital Signal Processor (DSP) in the Footprint03C is at the heart of this cutting-edge technology. DSPs play a critical role in enhancing and optimizing audio signals, elevating the listening experience to unparalleled heights. With a remarkable latency of an impressive 3 ms, this DSP ensures a near-instantaneous response, eliminating any perceptible delay for seamless audio reproduction. By optimizing the drive level, the DSP enhances the low-end frequency response, delivering deeper and more impactful bass. Additionally, distortion is significantly reduced, allowing for enhanced clarity and sonic accuracy. This enables audiophiles and professionals alike to experience every nuance of the sound with pristine detail.
MEME™
Barefoot Sound’s Multi-Emphasis Monitor Emulation™ technology (MEME) elevates the adaptability of the Footprint03C, enabling it to seamlessly integrate into a wide array of applications, including playback rooms, mobile setups, homes, and production environments. MEME provides authentic emulations that faithfully model the performance and unique character of mix cube speakers, the renowned white coned speakers we are all familiar with, and consumer hi-fi speakers. This empowers the mixer with the convenience to effortlessly switch between these iconic monitors for reference purposes.