Focal Utopia 165 W

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Elegance Auto

Year / Model Reviewed:
2004 Focal Utopia 165W

Strengths:
The sound. Will shed a lot of happy tears.

Weaknesses:
Need a lot of power. Powering it with just 100W/ch simply won't cut it, even when you think your amp is underrated.

Summary:
I drive these speakers using my 4ch McIntosh MCC404M amp running in bridged mode to produce 400W RMS per channel. I must say that these speakers sound truly amazing and have surpass my very demanding expectations! Now we're talking hifi :-) The midbass is very realistic and transparent, you'll never notice that the speakers were there. The tweeters, they're stunning and unbelievably smooth! Both male and female vocals sound very real. Very detail and very revealing. You can even hear the singers parting their lips, taking their breath, etc. And yet, it does all that without emphasizing any part of the audio frequencies. Everything sounds balanced and just right. I'm not good at explaining, but these speakers sound much much better that what I can tell you. Go and listen to one, and you'll understand what I'm trying to tell you. The sound is so phenomenal that even my wife could appreciate the sound! Trust me, she didn't notice anything on any of my previous installs. Now I can play my music loud without irritating my wife. Initially I gave it 100W/ch each and it sounded okay at best. While 100W is enough to drive them loud without clipping, the tweeter sounds rough and harsh. They're better than the TN45, but still too harsh for me. At 100W, some tweaking is necessary to tame down the tweeter. However, when I gave 400W/ch to it, miraculously everything suddenly sounded just right. No need to tweak anything at all! Only now I'm convinced that more amp power is better. If you like these speakers, make sure to give them plenty of power. I use 400W/ch coz that's what I'll get when the amp is bridged. But I think 200W/ch should be sufficient for optimal performance. If you're running an active setup, try 100W for the midbass driver, and 50W for the tweeter. Theoretically, it should outperform a passive setup in terms of SQ.

Similar Products Used:
Focal Polykevlar 165K.

Price Paid:  $569.00 from onlinecarstereo.com

Year / Model Reviewed:
2003 Focal Utopia 165W

Strengths:
Crisp, clear sound reproduction

Weaknesses:
$$$$$

Summary:
Completely awesome speakers. The tweets are a bit harsh when crossover set at 0dB but I changed it -3dB and I really like it now. These speakers like power, I use Phoenix Gold Titanium amps 75W RMS per channel and I wish I had 100W to drive them with. Very clean, but note, these are expensive.

Price Paid:  $900.00 from Boston Audio

Year / Model Reviewed:
2001 Focal Utopia 165W

Strengths:
These speakers can be discribed in one word ACCURATE. It just doesn't get any better than this

Weaknesses:
A bit pricey but worth it for the true "pureist". Plus they need alot of power. (Not a bad thing)

Summary:
I was going out of my mind trying new products, constantly upgrading, spending way too much money and still not satisfied with the sound in my 4 door silverado. Until I finally smartened up and started researching on line reading reviews on high end car audio. Went out and bought the Focals and at first was pretty disappointed though they sounded good but not what I expected for that kind of money. I was running a Rockford 550X 4 ch amp (75 watts x 4) to the door speakers. The Utopias power supply is recommended at 100w rms so I went out and bought a JL audio 450 big block 4 ch amp. (150w x 2 for fronts. 75w x 2 for rears) Got it all hooked up and when I first heard them I finally felt I was closing in on the sound I've been trying so hard to get. With alot of hours tuning I have my system sounding really nice. My friends are always wanting to go for a ride and listen. And although a true audiophile is never sastisfied I can honestly say that even after a year with these speakers I'm always excited when I get in my truck cause I know that when I turn on my system I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the miles in front of me. Also I can't say enough about JL audio amps. In their price range they are incomparable. I now find myself listening to music that I didn't really care for in the past. Funny how everything changes when you here it reproduced the way it was intended. My system: Focal Utopia 165w's fronts. Boston accoustic silks in pillars to raise sound staging. Rockford Fanatic X 4 inch rears. 3 JL Audio 8W3'S in sealed box. Alpine CDA 7998 head unit. JL Audio 450 big block 4 ch amp. JL Audio 500 mono sub amp.

Similar Products Used:
Polk, Rockford Q Series, Diamond (listened to), MB Quart (listened to), Infinnity Kappa's.

Price Paid:  $600.00

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2002

Strengths:
The power is more than enough and pure SQ. They sound is warm and very detailed. It's the pure sound your ears need. Even at higher volume they sound warm without pain in the ears and headaches ;)

Weaknesses:
The price is a little high but al good things have a price.

Summary:
I used many speakers since 1988, but the Focal Utopia 165W where the best speakers i have ever used. The speakers are a little expensive and every driver likes a different sound off course.....but People who complain about this speaker needs a new amp and HU....that's simple!

Similar Products Used:
I use an Alpine 1505R HU, a Focal 27V 11" sub and an Orion 8004 amp.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from aouto acoustics

Year / Model Reviewed:
 2002

Strengths:
every thing.

Weaknesses:
make you feel like crying life is to short wish you could live forever so you can listen to them for eternity

Summary:
The JM lab Focals are transparent, smooth, detailed, and extrmeley acurate. They can play loud without making your ears bleed. they are a little forward and tad bright but that can be fixed up with amp and speaker cables, to balnce out the sound. supra speaker cable is perfect match for the focals. each instrument is placed in the sounstage and vocals are creamy, the midrange is superbly accurate. you want to play music loud with clarity poise finnesse and sweet airy highs the jm lab focals are the best car audio splits on the market regardless of price. pure bliss and sound that can even put hi end home audio loudspeakers to shame. drive them with a good amp and you will be rewarded with a beautiful sound that can play loud and sound like the real thing. I am using the jm lab focal chorus 707 home bookshelf loudspeakers in my home audio system, with a 100 watt pure class A amp and valve preamp and pure silver cables I have to say these speakers sound better than $10,000 loudspeakers I no because I have had them running for a couple of months, and i have to say the chirus connected to the pure class a power amp and valve preamp sound as though the singer is in front of me the ultimate transparency, lush midrange, and treble thats as accurate as the instrument itself I have been in tears from these speakers they are incredible when you have good amplification and good cables and front end. ohhh what a f***ing sound they give me goose bumps al over my body and have bought tears to my eyes more than once, thats telling you something very special about the loudspeaker. mmmmmmmm ahhhhhhhh what a sound so sweet, so gentle, so beautiful, so lush, so velvety, so creamy, so warm, and so so NATRUAL....

Similar Products Used:
none what for if these are the ones and the only ones full stop.