Anyone know anything about Focal Audio?

[JulesMaximus]

Looking at upgrading the audio in my Camry and listened to a few different speakers yesterday. Was kind of impressed with the Focal Audio speakers. Other speaker I listened to was the Alpine SPR-60C for the front doors and the SPR-60 for the rear shelf.

The Focal Audio speakers just had a fuller sound but I've never heard of this brand. Alpine is obviously well known.

If I go with Focal speakers should I go with their amps too or does that matter?

Looking at replacing door speakers and rear speakers, adding a 4 channel amp to drive those and a mono amp to drive a small subwoofer I will put in the trunk.

 

[96Firebird]

Focal makes great SQ speakers, their components are nice. I'm not a fan of aluminum tweeters though, they can get very harsh. But you said you like the sound of them, so they may be what you're looking for. If you want to test some other silk tweeters besides Alpine, CDT makes some decent components around the same price. I am in the process of installing some CDT 6.5" components in my car, but haven't gotten it all hooked up yet.

 

[phucheneh]

Alpine is not a terribly effective choice for hearing some good silk domes.

Focals are way too bright for me. Like a more refined Infinity.

The best setup I've had was DLS comps with these tweeters. Detailed but buttery-smooth.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Alpine is not a terribly effective choice for hearing some good silk domes.

Focals are way too bright for me. Like a more refined Infinity.

The best setup I've had was DLS comps with these tweeters. Detailed but buttery-smooth.

He seemed to be steering me toward either Alpine Type R or the Focals. Maybe I'll swing by there again with some of my tunes and see what else they have and how it sounds with some of the music I like to listen to.

It amazes me how crappy most audio systems are in cars these days and yet people seem to be happy with this shit. You should hear some of the people on the Camry forums when I started asking about upgrading the audio in my car. They seem to think the systems in these cars sounds good. At least my car didn't come with Bose crap.

 

[96Firebird]

The problem with most places that sell car audio is the "wall" that they have all the speakers/head units placed on are not ideal for the speakers. Plus, you have no idea which speakers are hooked up to which amps, how good the signal is, etc... Obviously it is not cost effective for them to re-wire every time a customer asks for a specific setup, but they may not sound the same once you get them installed.

Out of curiosity, how much is he charging for the Type Rs and the Focals? Also, which line of Focals were they?

 

[JulesMaximus]

The problem with most places that sell car audio is the "wall" that they have all the speakers/head units placed on are not ideal for the speakers. Plus, you have no idea which speakers are hooked up to which amps, how good the signal is, etc... Obviously it is not cost effective for them to re-wire every time a customer asks for a specific setup, but they may not sound the same once you get them installed.

Out of curiosity, how much is he charging for the Type Rs and the Focals? Also, which line of Focals were they?

They had 3 different Focals. A mid level that was about $100 more than the Alpine Type R components and a high end that was really expensive. Way out of my price range. The Type Rs were listed at full retail price of $299. I can buy them for about $150 on Amazon.com though so I'm going to beat him down on the price a bit.

They were all hooked up to the same head unit and not amped.

 

[Midwayman]

I think focals are a bit overpriced, but so is alpine. Focal makes a good speaker however. Just remember it doesn't really matter how it sounds to anyone but you.

 

[phucheneh]

300 bucks for Type R's? Shit on that. They work well...they take power, they're fairly even and unoffensive...but they're not the greatest sounding speakers for even Amazon.com money.

http://www.woofersetc.com/p-6995-r6a-dls-65-2-way-component-system.aspx

I'd throw those against anything a B&M store will sell you. You'd have to go high dollar JL to compete, I guess.

 

[NutBucket]

I'm still partial to Boston Acoustics.

I'm reluctant to do anything with car audio anymore. You lose integrated features if you rip out the headunit and if you keep the stock headunit you have to deal with the crappy eq curves OEMs use so they can cheap out on speakers. If you install something like a Cleansweep you can keep the oem hu and have a flat eq curve but then there's a separate volume control. I wonder if there's some magic black box with an auto adjusting eq based on incoming signal levels. That would be sweeeeet!

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm still partial to Boston Acoustics.

I'm reluctant to do anything with car audio anymore. You lose integrated features if you rip out the headunit and if you keep the stock headunit you have to deal with the crappy eq curves OEMs use so they can cheap out on speakers. If you install something like a Cleansweep you can keep the oem hu and have a flat eq curve but then there's a separate volume control. I wonder if there's some magic black box with an auto adjusting eq based on incoming signal levels. That would be sweeeeet!

That's part of my problem. I lose all the tire pressure monitoring and hybrid readouts on the nav unit if I change to an aftermarket head unit plus I lose the bluetooth integration into the car and steering wheel controls. Although, the guy I talked to thinks he can keep the steering wheel controls. I'm fine losing the hybrid drive readouts because they are kind of redundant anyway, I can get the same basic information on the gauge cluster display. Plus, aftermarket nav units aren't cheap although they are much better quality than what is currently in my car so there is another pro to going that route.

They seem to think I can get decent quality sound with the stock HU. I guess that remains to be seen. I've been chatting with a guy on the Camry Hybrid forums who has an aftermarket setup in his 2012 TCH and he visits family here locally every couple weeks. I'm going to try and meet up with him and listen to his setup before doing anything.

Fuck, I think anything would sound better than the shit that's in my car now.

 

[phucheneh]

Run a line-out converter on the front channels and amp the front speakers. Just let the rears have HU power. The dead weight of unneeded amplification for the rear will hurt your MPG; geez learn2hypermile.

Easy solution for the sub is to grab the signal off the rear speakers. Powering it off its own monoblock is usually the best option, unless you want to make due with the the rear output of a 4ch.

 

[HeXen]

Hertz audio..or Audison

Most aftermarket HU's offer bluetooth, Axis makes steering wheel controler that is programmable. Car audio is easy stuff and you can maintain functionality if you research.
If it's too complicated then just use something like a JLA Cleansweep. I wouldn't mess with no cheapass Line converter though, get a decent one at least.

 

[phucheneh]

If you want the best quality out of the stock HU, crack it open and solder in some RCA's on the low side (going in before amplification gives you the best chance at a virgin signal), then use o' them fancy $500 DSP's that will grant you total control over everything. EQ, time alignment, crossover frequencies/slopes...

But for a more reasonable price, this works:

http://www.amazon.com/LC2i-Audiocont.../dp/B004CTBYGE

If you want more fine-tuning, use a miniDSP:

http://www.minidsp.com/products/minidspkits/2-x-in-4-x-out

 

[The Boston Dangler]

That's part of my problem. I lose all the tire pressure monitoring and hybrid readouts on the nav unit if I change to an aftermarket head unit plus I lose the bluetooth integration into the car and steering wheel controls. Although, the guy I talked to thinks he can keep the steering wheel controls. I'm fine losing the hybrid drive readouts because they are kind of redundant anyway, I can get the same basic information on the gauge cluster display. Plus, aftermarket nav units aren't cheap although they are much better quality than what is currently in my car so there is another pro to going that route.

They seem to think I can get decent quality sound with the stock HU. I guess that remains to be seen. I've been chatting with a guy on the Camry Hybrid forums who has an aftermarket setup in his 2012 TCH and he visits family here locally every couple weeks. I'm going to try and meet up with him and listen to his setup before doing anything.

Fuck, I think anything would sound better than the shit that's in my car now.

the car is a miserable place for music listening, and the waste of time and money threshold is far lower than the car audio industry would like you to believe. unless the stock radio is pure crap, keep it.

i performed a huge upgrade by myself for minimal money and better workmanship than the local hacks. i replaced the speakers with boston acoustic separates in front and coaxials in the rear, and added an ipod interface (which mostly works) into the stock radio's empty sat plug.

i'm enjoying better sound while the car doesn't know anything is different. steering wheel buttons still work, the a/c still works, the radio still looks like it belongs in the console, and radio thieves usually don't bother with a stock unit.

edit:
i forgot, i haven't listened to focals, but they are pretty highly regarded. i would put them on the short list, along with BA and mb quart.

 

[SSSnail]

Buying speakers with your eyes is the worst thing to do. Do a blind listening session with your favorite musics, and choose the speakers you ears tell you to get.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Good suggestions everyone. Thanks.

I have another place I'm going to go visit this weekend and I'm going to take a usb drive with some of my favorite tunes on it. I don't really mind spending a few hundred dollars or even a bit more to get decent sound. I'm probably getting used to the shitty factory audio now too which sucks. The setup I had in my Maxima was better and it was really noticeable how bad this system was on the drive home.

 

[Excelsior]

the car is a miserable place for music listening, and the waste of time and money threshold is far lower than the car audio industry would like you to believe. unless the stock radio is pure crap, keep it.

i performed a huge upgrade by myself for minimal money and better workmanship than the local hacks. i replaced the speakers with boston acoustic separates in front and coaxials in the rear, and added an ipod interface (which mostly works) into the stock radio's empty sat plug.

i'm enjoying better sound while the car doesn't know anything is different. steering wheel buttons still work, the a/c still works, the radio still looks like it belongs in the console, and radio thieves usually don't bother with a stock unit.

edit:
i forgot, i haven't listened to focals, but they are pretty highly regarded. i would put them on the short list, along with BA and mb quart.

This.

And I am a relatively serious audio lover. I've built numerous speakers and subwoofers for home use and minor car work.

 

[NutBucket]

Jules, I think this is the ticket to fixing the crappy eq curve of the stock sound system without giving up any functionality. As I understand it this thing is completely transparent once you get it setup.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500PXAH800/Alpine-PXA-H800.html?tp=6870

 

[phucheneh]

Jules, I think this is the ticket to fixing the crappy eq curve of the stock sound system without giving up any functionality. As I understand it this thing is completely transparent once you get it setup.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500PXAH800/Alpine-PXA-H800.html?tp=6870

You can get a JBL MS-8 for less than that.

Or a Cleansweep, but AFAIK JL nickel and dimes you to death with too many separate parts.

It's hard to 'un-EQ' something, though. Not that I think it matter that much...it's a car; you're not going for studio-quality reproduction. You're going for 'sounds good to me.'

Also FYI those miniDSP's are a really good deal. $99 for a computer-programmable 4ch DSP. And 4ch (front plus mono sub) is really all you need.

http://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-MiniDSP.pdf

 

[Vdubchaos]

It amazes me how crappy most audio systems are in cars these days and yet people seem to be happy with this shit.

Thank apple and MP3 trend for people not giving shit about quality audio.

Audio industry has suffered every since. People just want gazzilion choices of music (even though they will never listen to 90% of it).....and they don't give a shit about how good it sounds.

But hey, at least those that do care can get these products pretty cheap now days.

Pros and Cons

Just look at the entire TV trend. Thin TVs with shittier speakers....people are ok with that.

 

[Vdubchaos]

This.

And I am a relatively serious audio lover. I've built numerous speakers and subwoofers for home use and minor car work.

That's why I just go with "the best bang for the buck"

I also apply that to home audio as well. I don't need perfection, just give me something decent that trumps the shitty speakers found on today's TVs.

 

[NutBucket]

You can get a JBL MS-8 for less than that.

Or a Cleansweep, but AFAIK JL nickel and dimes you to death with too many separate parts.

It's hard to 'un-EQ' something, though. Not that I think it matter that much...it's a car; you're not going for studio-quality reproduction. You're going for 'sounds good to me.'

Also FYI those miniDSP's are a really good deal. $99 for a computer-programmable 4ch DSP. And 4ch (front plus mono sub) is really all you need.

http://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product Brief-MiniDSP.pdf

The problem with a cleansweep is that you need to use its volume control as you calibrate the correction at a single source volume setting. Otherwise its great. You'd run into the same issue with the miniDSP you linked. Not familiar with the JBL unit to comment on it.

Again, as I understand it the Alpine is completely transparent after installation. That's worth paying for IMHO.

 

[HeXen]

They are never as good as a high end HU though, but for what their intent is, they are fine. Main thing is to keep everything simple to avoid noise, feedbacks and interference.
Also be ware of cheap Class D amps, their switching power supplies causes radio interference making stations more difficult to pick up, make sure they are shielded to protect from that. Just something to be aware of.

Just look at the entire TV trend. Thin TVs with shittier speakers....people are ok with that.

I'm ok with crappy built in speakers for TV cause it's mostly voices. I used to have a nice theater setup with large speakers, huge reciever..etc and have downgraded over the years going smaller and fewer then to just built in stereo. Only with music do i care to have something more so i have nice HP's and car audio. Everyone is different in regards to audio, even if they listen to something high end, some people seem to be indifferent to wanting more than what they have.