Focal car audio any good??
 

Are Focal amps any good. I want to build an all Focal system...well minus the pioneer nav unit. Also do the 6.5 components give a good amount of mid bass???? I would like to spend about $500-600 on components. And another $1000 on two amps, one for a sub and one for comps. Good Idea/Bad idea. If they sound anything like my buddys $35,000 surround sound media room that is decked in Focal home audio than I think the high bucks are worth it. I hate distored mid/bass, it makes me angry.:mad:

Yes they are good so are audison amps might want to look at them.

I love them, the best speakers I've ever heard. And they take the power you give them like a pornstart taking... Well they are good.

I'd listen to them first to make sure you like the sound of tweeters. Some people don't like it but that's what I was looking for.

what do people not like about them? are the tweeters too bright?

Yes the tweeters can be very bright and harsh that is one reason I prefer image dynamics over them. They are very hard to control those tweeters as well meaning tone them down.

On the Crossovers you have the option to tune the tweeters (-3db 0db +3db)

That really does not help it that much. I mean it does tone it down but they are still harsh.

What else out there is on par with Focal? like who is their direct competitor besides ID?

I would say everyone is against each other. Everyone has there good and bad but ya image dynamics or rainbow would be their direct competition.

If you want something with not as harsh of a tweeter Hertz were pretty good too.

I absolutely love my Focal 165VRs! I wish I could get just a hint more of mid-bass from them, but overall they sound absolutely fantastic.

For the money you're looking to spend, you can get the polyglass 3 ways or maybe even get a deal on the K2 (thought it was called polykevlar?) line components (think those may be closer to 1k). The Solid line of subs also fit into your budget, perhaps a solid 2 for the components and the solid 1 for the sub.

The Focals tweeters are harsh?? Thats not good...The Z is very small inside and the tweeters are kinda close to the ears, thats not a good combo if they hurt your ear. I love mid bass, the kind that does not sound like it is working to hard or bottoming out. I want some comps that have some good mid bass and can handle some lower bass as well or at least mix well with a sub. I dont like hard hitting bass that makes my head hurt "Advil". Just want it clean sounding, im done with all that loud ***, rattle my ear drums off stuff. One sub is all I need. And I can't stress enough how much I love low low hitting bass. I think some of this has to do with tuning it right???

I think you really need to listen to them to find out if they are too harsh for you. I don't think so at all but everyone has a different opinion on sound quality. I like a crisp clear sounding tweeter and I thought the Hertz sounded a little too flat for my taste as well as many of the others i listened to. And as I mentioned before the instructions tell you if you have the tweeter on the dash or closer to you to set it to -3db or 0 depending on your taste. The manual says to set it to +3 if they are mounted at the kick panel or lower part of the door.

Ok I just got back from car toys and I am in love with the focal. The mid bass is awsome and I mean that cause I have very picky ears. The only 6.5 comp that had a little better mid bass was the JL beilive it or not, but the highs on the JL's were kinda flat and not so detailed. the JL's highs did not even come close to the focals. The mid/highs ratio was rather perfectly balanced and not harsh as some described. The Focals sounded as if they were much larger speakers than they really are with a nice full range sound. In my book the only thing that had this much detail were the eclipse but even they did not really stand a chance to the Focal. The Alpines sounded good in every area with decent mid and ok highs but a overall nice sound. If I were going to by a lower end speaker it would be the alpine for sure. But it looks like it is going to be the Focal PK or polykavlar series, I guess the use of exotic materials pays off in the end because they were in a leauge of their own.

Now you need to hear rainbow and image dynamics LOL Also keep in mind that speakers sound different in there environments, they can sound warmer in a mdf closed in box and sound different in a door. If you really want to get the best out of your new speakers look into fatmat or dynamat for trating the inside of your doors.

foculs prefer to be actively x'd over...makes a world of difference (I own a set of Utopia's in one of our Z's)

You have to keep something in mind

Your amp selection has as much to do with the overall sound as your speaker choice. Some amps are warmer sounding than others, for example. Same goes for headunits. Some are more musical than others, for a variety of reasons. The mounting of the speaker also has everything to do with the stage and overall imaging you get. Are their tweeters brigher than some? Sure...and less bright than others

My setup is very very simple - one amp (6 channel that I run bridged), Focal Utopia 6.5's (2 way), and a single 10 inch Seas Lotus sub in a very small box in the spare tire well (350Z). I've owned, built, and heard tons of systems ranging from low to ultra high end, and I am extremely pleased with mine

Listening to ANY of them on a soundboard is going to tell you zilch - you need to check out people's installs, and take notes on the full system details before reaching a conclusion

another question for any of you audiophiles out there!!?!! What is a good sub that will give me low low hitting bass. NNot the hard hitting headache bass. Is JL good for this??? I heard some one say JL give a good low bass. I dont listen to rap much but when I do I like the low hitting bass. Does this make any sense to anyone???

I am not a JL fan, my choices are polk SR and image dynamics Q for subs. Look at either a single 10 or 12.

About 10 years ago, I swore by JL when I was doing audio installs. The w6 line was fantastic, and not too expensive in my eyes.

As I've been looking for a good single 10 or 12 to put in the Z, it just seems that the JL subs are twice the cost of other great subs, like the Image Dynamics and RF subs, and arguable not even as good.

I've read good things about the IDQ line from Image Dynamics and the Power series from RF. There are honestly a dozen great choices out there for clean base. The headache you get from some base may be the amp and enclosure, more than the sub itself.

Finally someone else sees what I see!!!!! X2 for the ID Q

Hey Bigaudiofanat, how is Boston speakers compare to focal and image danamics?

I have some Boston 6x9's in my other car, and they are in the top few 6x9's I've ever heard. I don't have any experience with the components and subs though. Good thing about Boston, is that they have quite a few series of speakers to find exactly what you want, as opposed to someone like Focal who have a large gap between the affordability and performance series.

I installed Bostons all around in my sisters car a few years ago. After my sister had listened to them for about 2 days , she came to me asking where the bass was. After taking a re listen to them their really was none really there. Also the the tweeters just did not have the sound they were suppose to have. I know she did not blow them but just unsatisfied with them. I can probably say that their higher end speakers would sound good but as for my overall experience with them I am not that impressed. Ex. I know that the polk db or mm series speakers sound so much better than the bostons that are in her car. So you might be asking why I did not put them in her car. Well because I sort of use her car as a test car. :icon17:


Oh almost forgot how do they compare to focal and ID. No comparison from what I have seen. Focal a bit harsh for my taste and ID very smooth tweeters and solid mid bass.

It's as much about box design and proper power as the sub itself. I'd figure out where you want the box, and how much cubic space you're working with, then from there select your amp and sub

We run Seas Lotus in our cars - they are beyond great when powered right and in the right enclosure (like most subs). ID, Adire, XXX are also top notch stuff, very highly regarded, and not the usual that you see in most systems

JB, yes Z1 is correct box design has a lot to do with how a sub sounds. But on the other hand there are different sub types. I would recommend for what you are looking for is a polk mm or a ID Q. Yes I do recommend a lot of the same things to a lot of different people but from what I have seen and hear ID is a great name and great sound.

JL Audio 12W6V2 would suit your likes. ID subs are too mid bassy for my tastes but the W6 hits low and they are very smooth sounding. It is definitly JL's best sounding subwoofer ever! The W3V3 also sounds very musical as well but it cant take big power for very long, I fried one on a 600watt Alpine V-12 amp within 6 months. I can't blame the sub completely as I discovered I had a leaky enclosure which most likely was the death of the W3.

Focals are AWESOME! if you really want killer, mind blowing volume and pounding mid bass then look at the 3-way sets by Focal. The polyglass 165V3 are incredible!! The Poly Kev 165V3 even better but they $$$$$.

Focal amps are very high quality amps and will definitly do the job.

I dont recommend Focal subs, they dont work well in sealed enclosures, they seriously lack if you seal them.

Have you heard of Morel? IMO they make great sounding speakers. Their tweeters are not harsh at all...

They are really good but the highs are a little too laid back for my tastes. Morel speakers are not efficient and require a lot of power.

I would compare Focal to like Dynaudio, Rainbow, Seas, Morel. Focal is pretty much a top dog speaker manufacturer, just look at thier home audio lines! Some of thier speakers cost upwards of over 100 Grand. You are not going to find anything out there that is going to best them by much if any at all. They are hand made and thier approach to materials is "Cost-IS-No-Object". They are the Ferrari of the audio world.

I think what we can gather from this thread is that you the buyer need to hear them before you buy them.

I did hear them and I am blown away. The guy turned them way up, and he pointed out that you can turn the volume up very loud with no destortion. It's almost like the louder your turn the volume the better it sounds. Even with the voulme turned way up they did not bottom out and I could not tell the slightest hint of distortion. Just crystal clear! Tons I mean tons of mids and bass. It sounded like a mini sub, they sounded like a speaker twice the size of what they are. The highest end JL comps that were like 500-600 were very comparable in the mid/bass section with little to no distortion all around. But the JL did not have detailed highs like the Focal. Almost stuck between the JL and Focal! Trying to make up my mind. I kinda want either all JL or all focal setup. EX:amp,comps,sub all one brand. What do yall think? Im sure Focal will be the choice most will say just not sure about there subs im used to eclipse subs and comps so Im worried about keeping a very low hitting steup. I need someone to make me a tire well box for one 12 and two amps that I can make stealthy. How much is something like this I saw a build on a white z with hertz speakers. I might be willing to spend $1500-2000 on a custom box. No fiber glass/all wood.
I told my wife I would only spend 2000 on speaks and amps but now I dont think it will stay at that mark. : )

^^ Just make sure you have a powerful amp. If you want them to sound good do not go cheap on how you get your power. You get what you pay for remember that. You are probably not going to need a custom box that will cost that much. Also JL IMO is over rated and over priced I would rather go with focal than JL but than again Image Dynamics is my personal choice.

I have now a phoenix gold 1000.1 mono and a 400.4 tanturm series amp. I want to upgrade plus its a new car so I want new equipment in there. I also have two 12' elcipse ti series subs. Way to heavy to go in the z. plus they are air space hogs! I need to just sell all of it. Its either all focal equipment or all JL equipment. Sorry for the spelling. I need to buy my euipment soon so I can have my wife buy me a custom box for x-mas : )

Sell that stuff man and get focal if you want. I have not seen one company that makes everything great. Yes a lot of people talk about focal and JL but there are many companies out there. Focal is what I would say go with also might want to look at audison amps.

any speaker in this class is going to sound it's best with more clean, pure power being fed to them

True but not all of these speakers need 200 to 300 watts rms to get thier full potential. My 3-way Focal polyglass 165V3's crank on 75watts rms vs a set of old Morel Ovations I had that needed 3 times as much power and still were not near as loud.

I have Focals in the front and Im not getting any midbass at all...I was told that I have last year's model as new models came out. These are still the yellow midbass 6 1/2 components but there is no bass. not sure if its the crossover at speaker or amp as the stereo shop did it for me..

Is the front door or back spacing deep enough to produce enough bass? And I agree the tweeters are a little harsh,....different than being bright...

I would say look at your amp at the crossover frequency and see what your amp is set to. they might of put it to HPF which cuts lows to go to your woofers. I would put it on full if that is on. Or keep your HPF on and change where it is cut off at. Their should be a dial play with that see where you like it. But make sure not to clip them or make them distort.

The initial harshness will go away after break in. A lot of your issue with lack of mid bass is the door panels in the Z. I can't wait until fiberglass door pods are available from Wicked CAS for the 370. I bought a set for my 350Z and they made a HUGE difference in bass and overall output. The door pods aim the speaker towards the listener and imaging is dramatically improved.

I had a set of the older KP series and they sounded like 10's in the doors.

:tup: I agree. That guy looks like he makes nice stuff.