A member of the ARRI M-Series, the M40 is a lens-less system that unifies the advantages of Fresnel and PAR fixtures. The unit is open face and thus very bright: around 30 % brighter than an AS40 in spot. Due to its unique, patented MAX Technology reflector, it is also focussable over a range of 18 to 52° Half Peak Angle. The M40 gives a remarkably even beam spread that casts crisp shadows over the whole focus range. The reflector characteristics is optimised for 4,000 W lamps, but can also be used with 2,500 W lamps.

The lamphead is equipped with a CCL module (Compensation of Cable Losses). When operated with the ARRI EB 2.5/4 kW High Speed AutoScan with CCL, full power is maintained all the way to the lamp even when very long cables are used. This means uniformly high light output indepent from cable length.