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
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"06-27-15: Johnnyb53
Do you think the discount you got is sufficient to cover both a discontinued model and demo units?

Another way to look at it, if you had bought a pre-owned pair of v1 Scalas in 9/10 or 8.5/10 condition, would you have paid about the same or significantly less?"

He really shouldn't have to settle for that. The OP was sold a new pair of speakers. NOS is still new. They should be in the same exact condition as the current model. Also, the discount is irrelevant for a couple of reasons. He should still get a full warranty regardless of price because the speakers were sold as new. Not only that, JM Labs did make their full markup on the speakers even though they were sold at a discount at the retail level. A dealer had to buy them at dealer cost. If the speakers get sold for less than retail, its the dealer who settles for a lesser profit. JM Labs got paid the full amount for those speakers. They shouldn't have a problem when it comes to warranty issues.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Zd542: All well and good, and if the OP can get redress from Focal, then fine.

I'm just saying that if the product is now 95% like new and is satisfactory for the money spent, it might be less stressful to just enjoy the speakers.

OTOH, if he has the energy and bandwidth to see it through, go for it. He might have a better chance if Focal agrees with the OP and the vendor stands to lose the Focal franchise if he doesn't come clean and fix it.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,921 posts
 
You should get 100% satisfaction with a $30000 purchase from an authorized dealer.

That's the bottom line.
yamahafirth OP
18 posts
 
It's more frustrating for me because I like Focal products. I don't know how this happened. Was it a slip up from the team at Focal and just didn't see the blemishes? Maybe we're actually demos. Not knowing is frustrating. It's like your neighbor scratching your car by accident it and not telling you. You don't want to blame him/her but you would always wonder.

I was unaware Focal made speakers with the same serial numbers, one for consumers and other for reviews. This could be the case though. Funny they would use the same number twice. I even have pictures of them with serial numbers in my listening room. I was curious and looked it up and found them. :) the serial numbers do match the review.



Anyway, I don't feel I would have paid as much as I did for demo pair. I past up a pair on Audiogon that I found that were $7,000 cheaper than what I paid for mine. Given they were used, but $7,000 I would have saved would have bought me cables, amp, ect.

I would be happy with some touch up paint and maybe an extra tweeter. The tweeters are exposed and all it take is a slip dusting and it would be nice to replace a dented tweeter.

As far as the front end, I would like to get a turn table, nothing fancy. My CD collection is much larger so that would be the first step. I am really looking in hi res content on a solid state hard drive or even an Aurender unit.

I would like to thank all who have had positive input to this tread. This would be my first one ever on any web site. It's nice to get other people opinions.

Anyone out there have Focal Utopias? I'm curious on anyone liking or disliking gear used with them. I'm looking to get amps first, then a pre and last a source. I'm doing the source last because I'm not sure which way I want to go. So far I'm looking at:

Audio Research Ref 75
Devialet 200/400
Pass labs (same pricing)
Rogue Audio Apollo monos

Thanks all again.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"06-28-15: Yamahafirth
It's more frustrating for me because I like Focal products. I don't know how this happened. Was it a slip up from the team at Focal and just didn't see the blemishes? Maybe we're actually demos. Not knowing is frustrating."

Its the dealer, not Focal. And possibly the importer. If the dealer didn't have the speakers but knew you were serious about buying them, he may have asked the importer to find him some speakers that were "like new". Stuff like that happens all the time.

"I'm looking to get amps first, then a pre and last a source. I'm doing the source last because I'm not sure which way I want to go. So far I'm looking at:

Audio Research Ref 75
Devialet 200/400
Pass labs (same pricing)
Rogue Audio Apollo monos"

What's the rest of your system?
More to discover