There's no getting better than this (but does it have to be SO expensive?)
Written: May 20 '02 (Updated May 20 '02)
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Pros: NO two-way set I know of or have heard compares; truly unparalleled sound.
Cons: Expensive and big, perhaps requiring customized installations; inefficient, needs LARGE quantities of power.
The Bottom Line: The 165Ws are likely the best two-ways mobile speakers that you'll savor today; IF there are any better, I certainly don't know what they are.
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| monoblocks's Full Review: Focal 165W Car Component System |
(Note: Focal's own website has no such reference to a 7" speaker system. The large driver is officially only a 6 1/2" sized unit; where epinions gets their info...)
'Utopia' is actually a very appropriate name for this line of mobile speakers from Focal, a highly-respected speaker manufacturer out of France. Their mobile speakers are considered by many as the very best there is, period. I'm not entirely sure about that, but their two-way Utopia 165Ws are, for a lack of a more direct term, IT for me, if only because there's no way to fit a set of Focal's three-way 165W3s without a complete remodel of the front half of my car's passenger compartment. They blow away all comers I've listened to now and in the past, from the best that Boston Acoustics, a/d/s, Diamond, and MB Quart have to offer. And though they're close, I also prefer them over the best that Dynaudio, another fine European maker, has in its lineup.
These makers represent a premier shortlist that most certainly would have once included the two-year old a/d/s 335is two-ways separates I just had removed from the front stage of my car's audio system. While I've always approved of the sound emanating from a/d/s drivers (the old, now classic 320i two-ways are still an old favorite that warms the soul, even if only in faded memory), the current crop of designs just isn't at the same level as Focal, seemingly trapped in some sort of time warp from the mid 1980s (the time of the 320is, BTW), when I think the best and most innovative work that a/d/s ever did was achieved. In the coming weeks, these trusty but now middle-of-the-road a/d/s separates may find themselves on eBay making someone else's ears quite happy and pleased if I can't convince my significant other that they should find another life in our Passat. But that only works if that potential bidder has never listened to or auditioned any of the Focal Utopia two-way separate systems beforehand. Because unfortunately if that person is a musical perfectionist--just like poor, pitiful me--they will likely never be satisfied with listening to anything else again.
At $1100/pair full retail, these Focal 165Ws should better be amongst the best mobile audio speakers around. Fortunately, their level of performance backs the price. The Utopias are made by Focal-JMLabs, and have lately enjoyed being amongst the most highly desirable speaker systems of top-end mobile audio buffs. And it truly is for good reason: these speakers perform, really perform, done superbly with virtuosity and deftness that has no peer. Whilst this sort of gushing isn't new for me (I tend to go overboard a bit too much over these sorts of toys, according to friends), Focal speaker sets are simply works of audio engineering artistry, both in their high performance level and in their solid engineering and construction. Gearheads take heed: their appearance and technical and material advancements alone are quite impressive. But the ultimate proof is in their sonic performance; without question, the powerful, bewitchingly intoxicating sound of the Focal Utopia 165Ws has to make this product line one of the top two or three mobile speaker systems in all of car audio.
Breaking down this two-way separates system, one channel of the 165Ws consists of a 6 1/2" diameter, multi-layered polymer-coned midbass/woofer driver, and a 2" titanium domed, fluid-cooled tweeter (though they don't look 2" to me). Both are coupled to a single-channel crossover equipped with multiple adjustment levels. Multiply the assembly by two and this is pretty much what $1100 buys you, less installation. For those spec freaks, frequency response is a relatively wide 50Hz - 22,000Hz, and the system operates at an impedance of 3.7 ohms, nominally. The tweeter can either be surface or flushed mounted as shipped from the factory. The midbass/woofer itself is, ahem, dimensionally challenged; that is, even for a 6 1/2" diameter driver, it's a big assembly, and it's not uncommon for that dreaded word "custom" to crop up if you're planning on having a shop do the installation work. Grilles are provided for all the drivers.
The Fun and Great Stuff...
The sonic quality of the 165Ws is indeed awe-inspiring. Audiophile-worthy is a too painfully weak description. With most any great-to-excellently recorded and mastered musical material, these Focals most definitely stand apart from virtually all other manufacturers. Tonal qualities are the best I've ever heard from a two-way separates system, and even surpass a great many high-end three-way separates sets. There is a richness and depth to their sound that is so markedly above all others that is difficult to accurately describe; it must be experienced to really appreciate. Instruments and voices are SO convincingly real and accurate, detail is so clear and punctuated. But what really makes these speakers far and above everyone else's is the mere presence of the sonic experience, the punctuation and precision of the noises coming from these drivers is what has you spellbound. You hear AND feel the musical truth coming from within these speakers.
I tend to think that the Focals show off their best with complex material; symphonic pieces or heavily multi-layered tracks are what the 165Ws recreate with such surprising adeptness; details are stunningly crisp and precise, and are so obvious to identify and single out. This is something that most persons have to be unaccustomed to hearing from a car stereo system, given the nature of all others that has come before. Particular pieces of the musical source are reproduced with such surprising clarity, whether a lone flute against the backdrop of a chamber grouping, or a solo violin in counterpoint to a full philharmonic orchestra, or a vocal against a big band accompaniment, or even a emotion-drenched singer against a wail of multiple guitar solos and overdubs. The sound is vibrant, yet is convincing in its naturalness. Even more fascinating is that fact that so many other bits of the music you might have easily missed while listening on lesser speakers are so easy to pick out on the Focals. But the 165Ws also work extremely good with quieter, more intimate passages. The timbre and depth that these speakers can convey freezes me; these are classic goosebump makers here.
No music type seems to present problems for these 165Ws. While I listen primarily to many forms of rock, throwing a violin concerto by Bach or a Miles Davis session into the CD player shows just how rewarding these speakers can be. Even techno, hip-hop, industrial or any of the countless subgroupings of these categories of music that rely heavily on synthesizer and computer technology sounds good (a relative term, since much of this, especially the club dance stuff, is garbage to me. Disco is STILL disco, no matter how one tries to disguise it and remove it from the '70s).
Music that has strong vocals and acoustical instrumentation is where I hear the pronounced differences between the 165Ws and other speaker systems. Whether Alan Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Diana Krall, Sting, Norah Jones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kurt Cobain, or any of the countless others whose powerful, touching voices have influenced our lives, these Focals bring out the best in these artists' performances and recordings. The same can be said if you listen to Branford Marsalis, Itzak Pearlman, Herbie Hancock, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, George Winston, Stan Getz, or any other instrumental virtuoso; these speakers are as faithful as they come in recreating the sounds that these artists intended in the manner that they wanted them to be heard in.
When it comes down to it, the 6 1/2" drivers of the Utopia series are what really sells this design, in my opinion. These deliver so much of the musical information, and do the job so incredibly well. Moreover, they almost void the need for a subwoofer; there's so much tight bass coming out of them that the low end bass that the sub provides may not be missed by many, though I tend to think that at least one good sub still needs to be in the mix to finish off the bottom end. As for the tweeters, I admit I've never been much of a fan of metallic-based drivers, so I was at the very first more than a bit ambivalent towards the Focal's titanium design. But it turns out they sound truly marvelous, with no hint of the sorts of harshness that I recalled from ancient examples of the type that my brain had logged and had unfairly tainted the initial opinion of these tweeters. But as I said, the proof is indeed in the performance.
And then, there's The Bad...
There's a price for all this, and it can be (no, it IS) rather steep, even beyond the price of admission for the 165Ws alone. Focals are not the most efficient speakers around and need serious power to perform at their peak, the more of it the better. They are rated for use at a minimum 100 watts per channel continuous RMS (200 wpc peak power), and the cleaner that power (read: pricier), the better off you'll be. As it is, the 165Ws made mincemeat out of the existing 4-channel Nakamichi amplifier (rated at 60 wpc x 4, probably a peak rating). The amp can be easily driven to clipping at sound levels far lower than the old, more efficient a/d/s separates were able to provide. This is better, making a $800 amp sound THIS BAD? Well, no, but then Focal was up front about the fact that these speakers were supposed to be driven with a lot more beef, which is really my fault for not realizing this sooner. I had to do that stepping up to the plate business again...
Turns out the solution I decided upon took shape as an added upgrade; for me, it's in the form of a new Xtant X603 amplifier; a massive, polished stainless steel three-channel behemoth of an amp conservatively rated at 75 wpc x 2, with the third rated at 150 wpc, all the while into a 4 ohm load. To make room for this monster, the monoblock (that word yet again!) design third channel replaces the service my old Xtant 250 wpc sub amp provided (plus, it needed the real estate where the old amp resided just to fit in the car), and will be set to operate at 300 wpc into the 2 ohm load that my subwoofer demands. Aside from the sonic qualities I like about the new Xtant, the X-series gives an installer tremendous flexibility in fine-tuning the total system, with multiple internal adjustments and optional (read: more money) plug-in accessory modules available. For instance, the Focals bottom out at 50 hz; the Xtant can easily be configured to start the subwoofer where the Focals stop, or if wanted, the X603 can easily be set to low-pass with a notch of overlap if so desired, in case the fall-off between the midbass drivers of the speakers and sub is too obvious, which fortunately with the Focals is NOT a problem at all. Running the 165Ws in the showroom off the X603, the Xtant showed that it could easily handle whatever the Focals demanded of it, with superb definition of detail and depth to boot. The old Nak continues on to run the rear infill speakers in a bridged, 2-channel mode. Though I could've spent significantly less, I didn't, instead letting my ear guide my decision. It's another $1400 (amp plus shop installation and cabling extras) I hadn't counted on spending, on top of casting aside an existing, perfectly working piece of equipment.
Almost as much of a groaner are the problems created with the adapting of a 6 1/2" driver (worse yet, a big 6 1/2" driver) into a mount opening meant for something sized a fair bit smaller. Serious shop time (as well as structural/functional/fabrication modifications to the front doors) was involved, and excluded any realistic shot of me doing the installation myself, not that I really wanted the opportunity to ruin a set of $1000+ speakers BEFORE I even had the chance to actually use them. In truth, people who can easily afford these speakers probably won't flinch at the added labor costs, but let's just say to have these 165Ws properly installed by a professional you can easily add well over $1000 to the bill, effectively doubling the price just for the addition to your car of these speakers alone.
The midbass units ultimately are hidden in the car's factory speaker mountings and enclosures, complete with a comprehensive amount of Dynamat isolation infill padding in the doors, with the tweeters discretely flush mounted nearby, though I've yet to do something about covering up the Focal nameplate on the trim rings yet (discrete but not quite discrete enough). While the metallic drivers will likely hold up better against UV rays than the polymer tweeters that the previous a/d/s speakers utilized, they tend to look rather garish with an near aluminum foil reflectivity, even behind the little tweeter grills. Some may think they look cool, but I'm not one of those who thinks this way.
The outcome out of all this..
These are tremendous speakers, make no mistake about it; these are as good as it gets, achieving an absolute performance level better than even far pricier offerings. They do everything I'd expect a premium audio component to do, sounding fantastic will all types of music, even those types I'm not at all fond of (except Britney; there's not a thing that can do anything with that voice of hers). But despite their fabulous performance levels I still debated on whether they're really something I'd recommend to a friend, as epinions asks of us reviewers. They demand for high amounts of power, which in my case I didn't have to begin with, thus incurring even more expenses. They are expensive in and of themselves. They can easily require customization just to get the units to fit. Their up-front costs don't invite the average do-it-yourselfer to install on their own. But they DO sound really, REALLY good, which for me makes up for nearly all of their sins. Their sheer musical presence almost excuses any flaws in imaging and soundstage tuning (I said almost; this is one area I cut back at this time on. The custom kickplate work recommended for the tweeter mountings, as well as the EQ module for the new amp were pieces I decided to hold on, thus saving $800. However, at some point to really get things perfect...bad monoblocks, bad boy...).
Sonically, they easily hold their own against anything else the world has to offer. But it pays to be rich. Or just to have hit the lottery.
Recommended (with caveats).
(One thing I forgot: between the Focals and the new Xtant, burned audio CDs sound absolutely wretched. I don't know if the discs from dedicated audio CD burners are any better, but the computer-created examples I've done are now REALLY the pits.)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1000
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Epinions.com ID:
monoblocks
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Location: PacNW
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 3 members
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