2. speakers
  3. 1435312324

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
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.
yamahafirth OP
18 posts
 
Thank you for the responses. They did make a long journey to get to me. They went from the east coast to me on the west coast. I should have listed this before but I ended up paying a good amount less because the Scala V2 were released and these being the V1 they wanted to sell them quickly.
I guess it doesn't change the fact they were new and retail for the $30,000. The dealer has been very nice and I will give them a call to bring up the blemishes. I know they didn't make much on them. I was thinking dealing straight with Focal.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
You need to speak to your dealer. For them to deliver a pair of speakers like that and not unbox them and set them up for you is unheard of. Also, even if a home delivery was not done, its standard practice for the dealer to unbox the speakers before he gives them to the customer, just to check for damage. You didn't get these speakers from Best Buy.

This is the 2nd post like this in the last few weeks. I tell you exactly what I told the other poster. Call your dealer and tell him to get his ass back to your house and fix this immediately. After all, you did give him $30,000. If you take it upon yourself to try and fix whatever damage there is, you're crazy. They'll probably use it as an excuse to void your warranty.
yamahafirth OP
18 posts
 
The dealer has been very nice. I am calling them to let them know. Unfortunately they are across the country and can't pop in. :(

I did contact Focal and they walked me through how to get the hazy areas off. Just for anyone else have issues with lacquered speakers here is what I did by the advise of the manufacturer.

First I dusted them well, making sure the areas I was going to buff were clean. Next I took a very light 3M rubbing compound and lightly but throughly hand buffed it with a very soft cloth. I let it dry and then buffed off any compound remaining.

Next I took Meguiar's cleaning wax and again applied with a little more pressure with a round application pad. Again waiting for it to dry and buffing it off with a special buffing towel.

I must say the speakers are 95% better. All the hazy areas are now gone. Overall the speaker looks wet also having much more depth. I'm guessing this something I'll never have to do again as long as I take care to not make any marks of my own.

The only thing left I can do is use a glaze wax. I have some high end glaze I used for my classic car from years ago. It's made to be used with dark paints so it should work fine. I'm not sure I want to use it considering the speakers already look much better.

I am very happy with the service I received from the dealer. They bent over backwards to make it possible for me to own these. I think the guy doing to quality control, one G. Cesa is to blame. I own a small business and it's hard having people representing you that are only there for a pay check. That's why I still do most of the work myself. Lol

I'm going to see if I can get some touch up paint for the areas that are chipped. I'm hoping Focal can help. :)
henrycai's avatar
henrycai
120 posts
 

Are you kidding me...sounds like you recived a DEMO PAIR..

wake UP
More to discover