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Anyone receive Focal Utopia speakers with defects?

I recently took delivery on a pair of Focal Utopia Scala speakers. I bought these new from a authorized dealer and have been waiting years to be able to get the chance to own these.

I have had a few pair of speakers from Focal before, mostly Electra line and have been very pleased with the quality, fit and finish. So I figured moving from a $11,000 a pair to a $30,000 a pair of speakers I could only expect that quality to be even better.

the day I received them I had my brother drive a two hours to help me along with my fiancée help unpack. I took every precaution so that these speakers would come out of the boxes as they when in. Luckily everything went as planed and they were unpack without incident.

First off I noticed that they only had a white sock coving then. Now when I looked up pictures I've noticed a clear plastic wrap on the Utpoia line, mine didn't have this. Also noticed I didn't have a blue foam surround on the plinth. This could be that the Scala doesn't come with these as do the higher end models, or that they maybe and early production run? I only say this because of the low serial number. Being that just over 300 (15B0003xx)

Next thing I noticed that they speakers had a white dry powdery substance in the joints and around the speaker input and even on the tweeter metal cross section.

I've since then have gone over the paint and have noticed a lot of blemishes, even chips around the lower speaker input/level control. So far I have four what look to be 2" lines where it looks to me like something rubbed against the speakers. These looked like they can be buffed out and shouldn't be a problem. Also around the speaker input/level control I found three chips in the paint where it looked like it was forced in to it position along with plastic coming up from under this piece as well. Two areas in the metallic flake coat of paint where it was smeared and has no metallic look to it. Then was touched up with black paint and then lacquered. Lastly I have hazy spots where the white sock cover rubbed the lacquer and looks like the speaker has acne. I'm guessing this is why they have the plastic wrap on them now?????

I'm not try to imply anything by this, to my belief they were unopened and were sold to me under truthful means. I really do like these speakers, but just expected so much more from a $30,000 pair of speakers. I am still cleaning what I think is wax out of the joints in the speakers and just unhappy with the over quality. I have contacted Focal and am hoping for a solution to the hazy spots. Maybe they can be buffed out. I'm just waiting to hear from them because I would hate to make them worse.

I am very happy with the sound. I can say they are better than my last pair of 1037be electras as far a sound quality. I am by no means a rich man and it took me a long hard time to aquire these. I am reaching out to see if any other Focal Utopia owner(s) has noticed any of these issues?

Thank you for any information, Jon
yamahafirth
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,777 posts
 
I think that you are being very nice about this, maybe too nice. I don't consider myself a difficult customer who expects perfection, and all things made by humans will have small imperfections, but you mention quite a few . Chips of any kind or size in a brand new speaker would be unacceptable, not to mention all of the other defects that you listed.
I would ask the dealer to intercede with Focal on your behalf, and get you a new pair of speakers. That is a lot of money, and you deserve to be happy with them.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 
IMO, a $30,000 should be perfect, cosmetically. The dealer earns his 40 points by making you happy with your purchase. I would be in touch with him (I assume he isn't local to you?), not Focal.
yamahafirth OP
18 posts
 
I wanted to apologize for the late night post. Now that I have had a good nights rest I see a several things I would change, lol.

I did get a quick response back from Focal and they went over how to polish out the hazy marks. This being the only thing I brought up with them because I know the paint defects can't be fixed without having them painted again.

Again this is not a thread bashing on Focal, I love their products. I have never received a product from them with blemishes before and wanted to see if anyone else has had an issue like this.

I can say the speakers make beautiful sounding music. I am running them with an old 50 watt class A Forté amp and a iPad. I know it's bad, but even with these I can tell they a truly great sounding speakers. I did end up pulling out my Oppo 105 to hear what a mid level unit would sound like and was very surprised how much better they sounded over the iPad with the Oppo unit and a well known SACD. They were already better than my last Focal Electras with powerful amp and tons of other gear. I did incorpate my Oppo 105 into my last system and it sounded very lean and was a little too digital sounding. I can say it sounds much fuller and more even through out the bandwidth with the Utopia speakers.

I am now on the hunt for an full system to accompany my Focals. At first I was leaning towards my typical big monos, Pass Labs or Rogue Audio Apollos. Along with a pre and a SACD player. Now I'm thinking to run Devialet 400 units and an Aurender X100L music server and my normal go to cabling and power distribution, Synergistic Research.

With the Devialet I use less than half as many cables, just four power (one supplied with the Synergistic power cell) cables, a set of speaker cables and a USB cable.
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