Was thinking about getting a pair of Focal Access Line -165A as seen here
Here
Just how difficult are these to fit? Iv'e heard a bit about them being a pain ! !
And how good do these sound ?

Cheers

[Edited by THORPEM - 12/11/2002 9:25:17 AM]

 

The K2's are a pain to fit because of the depth - basically they are about as deep as the doors are thick... Don't know about this model, though!

 

Which model car do you have? - I'm getting 165Vs fitted this weekend on a '99.

Thanks

Sonu

 

Hi it's a MY98 4 door Turbo. So should be the same. What difference are the V's ? are they the same size?.

 

V's are the next model up - about another £30 on top of the 165A's. Think I will scrimp for the V's. Gonna have to wait though as new digital camera is next on the purchase list.

Simon.

 

Mark,
The Access 165a's are a bit of a pig to fit.I have them in the front doors of my Wagon.I got a dealer to fit them after attempting the install myself and having problems with the width.I would also recommend some soundproofing in the front doors.
They are now fitted brilliantly and the sound is fantastic.
Paul.

 

Iv'e had 165v fitted in the front and 165ca in the rear and sound deadened front doors, dealer fitted it all took him about 2-3hrs he had to manufacture some sort of brackets out of m.d.f. My car is MY00 well chuffed with the results, highly reccomend them.

James.

 

Right,

I got the speakers and Alpine head unit fitted by Ian Bannings in Guildford today.

I can confirm that the Vs do not fit the classic Scoob properly. Ian Bannings were unable to fit them properly, infact, the driver's door window rubs against the rear of the speaker. When they first tried to fit the speaker, they told me about the problem. I took at look at the fitment and decided to continue with the install. The rear of the speakers are covered in rubber, so there should'nt be any chance of damage.

I totally agree with all the previous comments about the quality of the speakers. The sound is outstanding, especially if you have a good head unit / amp powering them.

Infact, I think I'll go back to my car and listen to them some more...

Thanks

Sonu

 

Hi sonu,

Good Motoring car audio in North Wales fitted 165Vs no bother in the front of my MY00 and no window problems at all with mine.

James

 

Not sure about the glass touching...... If so they have not been fitted correctly.

 

Fair comments guys, but I used Ian Bannings as a recommendation. I suppose you guys must have had better fitters. Luke, who did you use to fit the speakers?

Thanks

Sonu

 

Sonu
Just saying that if any speaker touches the glass they have not been fitted correctly.

 

Sonu,
I'm running my Focals off a Kenwood head unit and have a Velocity V504 amp and JL audio sub box in the boot.Standard rear speakers with the fronts faded in 70-30.The depth of sound is incredible for the money.Excluding the head unit i paid £825 for the speakers,amp and sub along with 6 rolls of dynamat in the doors.
The price was for the lot fitted.Highly recommended to add some serious bass.Enjoy your new install.
Paul.

 

Just out of interest the people who have managed to fit these Focals do they rub in the door cards? or have the door cards been modified? i have tried everything to get mine in and im still without a stereo at the mo! They can fit without the windows rubbing but then the cards wont go back on..

 

Mine are in without any rubbing at all.
Paul.

 

I had exactly the same problem, so i opted for the smaller 135 (sqaure basket and deep cone), although the collars i made got pretty close to being enough to fit without the window touching, but i was too concerned about the speaker hitting the door card. The excusion on the focals is quite big, so i opted for the smaler speaker to be on the safe side and they still sound great.

 

They are easy to fit as long as you are using a thick spacer, which you'll need to make for them

You need to fit the wires to the speaker tight otherwise the window mechanism will pull the wires off.

When I put the window up and down with the door trim off the whole inside door flexes - ridiculous - crap Scooby build?

As far as sound quality goes I rate the focals as average. The main speaker is good but the tweeters are awful

I had some at £300 rrp - Polykevlar - dont know the model number.

However I am slightly biased having previously had a set of Dynn Audio speakers (rrp £400) which are much. much better. I got the Focals as a stop gap inbetween getting hold of another set of Dynns (which had melted as a result of an amp clipping)

Mine are run off a Gensesis 4 channel (does front and rear 6*9 focals). Previously I did not have rear speakers and ran the fronts at about 150wrms with 2 channels bridged. My head unit is above average. Being the £800 Alpine unit (7969R?)

I could cope with the Dynns without loads of bass.. With the focals I have the have bass... (I have 2*12 inch Diamond subs, running off a Genesis Monoblock and some Farad Capacitors!)

I guess you pay for what you get. If you want great, home system sound dont go for the tinny Focals - but then its all personal choice. If I had not heard better.. I found another set up better... just cant remember the make...

 

Sorry Steve, I disagree: I find Dyn's 'bland' in comparision.
I run the 165KX kevlar cone (with the phase plug), but the tweets are probably the biggest difference: I've got a pair of Focal TN46 Silk domes which they don't make anymore (which is a great pity).
Apart from their stupid-expensive tweets and Infinity EMITs I rate these as probably the nicest tweets ever - and I'm not the the only one.
Apart from the Emits I've not heard a metal tweeter I didn't find harsh, with a typical 'American' brashness to them.
The mids, however, are faultless. So musical, I'd often listen to them without the sub!
Good amplification is also the key with Focals - I use a Soundstream Continuum, which I wouldn't swap for the World!

 

Interesting debate - one man's neutral / understated is another man's bland.

This highlights that auditioning is absolutely essential, especially when looking at the higher end of the market.

 

I had Focals - and then changed to Dyns. Nak head unit & Genesis 5-channel - I find there's no comparison either: the Focals (165K2) were very good, clarity-wise, but very hard sounding & tiring. The Dyns, by comparison, have a very open sound field, smooth without loosing any detail, and can be listened to for hours without finding it wearing. Having said that, I did have to bridge the amp (around 150w continuous) to get the best out of them - the Focals didn't need that, but I think that was mainly because they got unpleasant quite easily at anything over low/mid volume!
I'd get Dyns again, wouldn't get Focals - Dyns are worth it at the price, Focals arean't.
But that was the K2s - others in the range may be much, much better (and probably are, going by their home-stereo stuff that uses the same drive units). Build quality is certainly excellent.

 

I Haven't heard the K2's but have heard the new tweeters and agree they are ear-hurtingly shrill! Why they stopped making the TN46's I don't know.
Interesting comment regarding the Dyns - 'Understated' to me means they're not reaching their full potential - and the last thing you want is your mid-range drivers to be 'understated'. I've done back-to-backs with the Dyn 240's and the Focal 165KX's and the musicality from the Focals was way more apparant.
Having said that, unless you're a complete audiophile, sitting in a Garage listening to an IASCA test CD, 99% of people who appreciate quality audio will appreciate the quality of both speakers equally.
Also, IME, 50watts RMS isn't enough for the Dyn's to bring out their musicality - yes, they do have some, you just need to work at finding it!

 

50wrms for the Dyns.. you could say that..... no chance

I tried running the Dyns from 2 channels of a 4 channel Genesis. With the Bass runnng off another amp I could'nt here the Dyns at all... thats running off about 80wrms each channel

Once the amp was bridged the sound and clarity came through.....

Each to their own

I see Focals as average and overpriced. That said there are a lot of retailers out there that will heavily discount them so you should be able to get at least 25% off them if you shop around. To get this on Dyns is diificult.

A bit like Genesis or Soundstream amps - they dont need to disount the product as the quality sells it.......so Focals maybe not that good...

Bland for Dyns... perhaps my hearings gone... must be my age.. I find them to be the closest speakers to decent home hi-fi sound which is exactly what most people ultimately are aiming for in a car... at a price...and I'm not alone in thinking this..

 

Steve - please don't get me wrong, not wanting to get into any sort of argument here - and as you said - "Each to their own" which I entirely agree with - the fact that people here are talking about proper high-end Audio is enough for me!
Unfortunately, we're comparing a....(thinks of a non-confrontational metaphor) a Golf 2.0(The original Focals mentioned) Vs a Focus RS (the Dyns), which would of course would be stacked in the Dyn's favour. But comparethe Ford to a Golf R32...
All I'm saying is that I found my Focals (at the time their top of the range) to be superior in absolute sonic ability and musicality than the Dyns - the biggest differentiator being the tweets.
I've heard (and competed) against Dyn systems and time and time agian have been scored higher on sound quality.
It's a shame that the reputation that Focal have for their topflight stuff hasn't apparantly filtered down to their more mainstream products. But that's always the way surely - you can mix 'n' match from any brand(s) and getting winning combinations.

Totally agree with you about Amps though(!):
I've owned two Soundstream Continuum (Special edition, hand assembled, chromed 4 x 65 +1 x 250W RMS) Amps for more years than I care to remember and wouldn't swap them or change them for anything!

 

mrk

If the tweeters were better on the Focals I may have decided diffferently..they sound sooo metallic and harsh.. weird really I kept the shell of the Dyn tweeters and fitted the whole Focal tweeter inside.. tiny little things

The Dyns needing beding in over a couple of months the Focals needed no bedding in... an advantge

I did find the Focals slightly easier to fit.. but then because they are virtually the same size and depth as the Dyns.. and I'd already made the collars..

One advantage of the Focals is that I can run the fronts and some Focal 6*9's off the 4 channel Genesis that I used soley to run fronts (Dyns) before - I didnt have anything in the rear previously... but rightly ignored the bul*sh*t about not going for 6*9's if you have bass..

I have about 1000 wrms of bass and still find that with 6*9's the overall sound quality is not impaired.. I guess I only used them as space fillers - I was fed up of hearing the boot when I didnt have the system on.. and the Focals were pretty cheap at about £200

As a side issue I think that stereo projects are better placed in thicker shelled cars like BMW's or Audis.. Even with the car fully Dynamated (I mean everywhere.. about 30 rolls+ of the stuff!) I still find rattles in places at certain frequencies with the Focals - rattles I did not have with the Dyns... just have not got round to changing them yet..

Like you said though - the sound quality will come through on either with a decent amp and I cant fault SS or Gen...... cost a plenty... but hay. if you can afford a scoob you can afoord a few grand for a bit of sound......

 

LOL - funny you should say that - Haven't done the Scoob yet - it's my second car, my primary is a my Golf MK4 with a mere 360bhp
I competed in Sound-Offs (Sound Quality) from '95 to '00 and judged in '99 and '00.
My 'All Bad' BM 525 won it's class in '96 and the Golf was voted the best sounding car in '99 - running 5 speakers: the Focal 165KX mids, the TN46 tweets and a single S33 13" 6-ohm dual voice coil sub, all powered by a single Continuum.
Processing relied on an Alpine 5-channel time correction unit and a Blade DSP (I'll put money on no-one knowing what that is!)

Have taken a break from competition for a few years, mainly because there isn't any but will be looking to do do something trick with the Leggy and the Golf very soon.
Have a look - www.handa.tv and then 'other cars'

 

Alright folkes,

Does anyone know where I can find a list of authorised UK Dyaudio dealers?

The only dealer I know of is, caraudiodiscount.com but I've been told that they are not authorised.

Cheers

G

 

If they aren't authorised, the Dynaudio man (the one and only distributor!) seems quite happy authorising them to sell the things

 

Theres quite a few

You could try Dyn directly in the UK..... generally a bunch of T*ssers though.. well the ones I spoke to anyway.. dont know no.

Wentworth Car Audio do it.... Up North West way? dont know no
Leeds Car Audio do it 0113 2328777

 

Cheers guys.

 

It looks like im going to have leave my Focals in the box and buy some more speakers which models of these Dynaudio speakers are good and how much are they? are there any other cheaper contenders?

Has anyone considered modifing the window mechnisim? the shape of the window is curved at the bottom and if you could stop the window before it hit the speakers there would only be about 2Inches of window not down.. if you know what i mean...wouldnt know how to modify it but just a thought..

Happy Christmas

Leon