Focals latest - Cat Houses?

Scratching post and home. 

 

Single cat ladies unite!

I think the center channel doubles as a litter box. 

Ya, I've spent a few nights at the cat house, but it was a little cheaper than 70K.

Not just cat houses, they are fugly cat houses. Yikes.

Not my favorite finish color, unlike the Diva Utopia in Gray felt that would be ideal in a light controlled room or theater. A gloss finish tends to have distracting reflections. The Ivory Felt on the Diva Mezza Utopia would still be better than even a black gloss finish in a dark theater.

Gloss is my preference for 2-channel and/or a lighted room, and like Focal did for the Diva Utopia, different Gloss Finish options will soon be available.

Yep, a really bad design decision for sure...just horrendous and cheap looking.

Waste bins for the mall.

Our cats would be immediately suspicious by their appearance.  As trash bins they wouldn't hold enough to be practical, based on what I've seen nearly anywhere, and not in just mauls.....(misspelling intended).

We've enough trash containment objects of proper design, and speakers around here run a gamut of sorts in size, shape, and intent....

But I'm of two minds:
Either inobtrusive enough visually but delivering on intent, or weird enough as a form but still surprising enough to be not just be tolerated but enjoyed.

Create your own version of SOTA....SOYourA.... ;)

I really like the high end finish on my focal utopia grand.its heavy it's real it's a beautiful wood finish and has the waf. This looks like something from ikea.sad to see the new wave change.the 20 something croud this targets can't even get a home to put these in. Very sad.until then enjoy the music.

They would look good strapped to the back of a Land Cruiser.

 

DeKay

Trash bins is another interesting idea, as the tops do look like they should flip up when you press down on the foot lever.  That is a foot lever, right? 

Honestly if I was to be extremely generous they evoke haute couture luggage.  

As for component costs... well if you buy all your components you have to hit at least 10:1 selling to cost price on internals to run a business.  Of course there are exceptions but that seems to be the minimum ratio.  Given the integrated nature of Foal / JM Labs / Naim these days I’d say that if Focal spends even $2,000 on the electronics and drivers inside I’ll be shocked.  I’ll expect to see these in movies soon in the living room of villains or oligarch yachts. 

Also, no one I know of spends more R&D dollars driving down the cost of their cabinets as much as Focal does.  They also have an amazing marketing / sales team so I am sure they know how many of these they will sell, just not to folks like me. 

Interesting to compare them to past Focals.  The Grand Utopia Be for instance sold for $80k back in 2003.  Oh how times have changed. 

In modern dollars and performance however their competition for 3-way active systems may be closer to the Grimm LS1c, a "mere" $30k. 

 

Gents,

Meow. Why abhorrently catty?

RIP Honor Blackman. 

We really should not have discussed these without looking at the sides though... 

 

Sides are purrfect purrfection. Nah, scratch that. 

Giant butane lighter?

@erik_squires 

You just made me spit my coffee!

What were they thinking?

@viridian + 1 - that's what I think of as 'cat house'!  - that other I'd call a 'scratching post'. 

@jasonbourne71  - Love the lighter idea! 

I think I see where some of the decisions are coming from in terms of cabinet volume and the overall domino tile shape.  I’ve gone through some similar iterations in my current speaker design.  The desire to have high output, deep bass, plus opposing woofers has contributed to the multiple 8" woofers and large cabinet size. 

The insistence on keeping with linear amps despite the most likely heavy reliance on DSP technology also greatly increases the cabinet volume needed. 

This design would have been so much better off if they had stuck to two front mounted 8" woofers.  Despite the multiple 8" woofers, past experience with Focal tweets tells me they are unlikely to meet their output goals. That tweeter will compress early on and ultimately limit the dynamic range. 

I’m very very suspicious of this speakers capabilities at high output levels and if that's true then the added woofers and cabinet volume is a total waste. 

Giant fuzzy Pez dispenser? 

Oversized pocket lighter, Paul Bunyan’s?

@kennyc Paul Bunyan may have had French roots, so yes!

What a dud of a visual design.

Seriously though, has anyone heard these play?  Are they any good?

I'm not a fan of the Wilson Audio visual designs but I'd have them in my room all day long and twice on Sundays.  

I think I read that the exterior of the speakers is a plastic type material and that is why they covered it in felt.

Regardless, a truly poor design.

ozzy

I think I read that the exterior of the speakers is a plastic type material and that is why they covered it in felt.

@ozzy 

Well that totally justifies the $70,000 asking price. 

The world’s best sounding and most expensive scratching posts.  For the discerning audiophile feline.  Meow baby 

@dekay ...but one of those Really Nice LCs'....y'know, the one's that will never see mud, much less soil itself with such...*mock humph" 🙄

@wsrrsw ...because it's fun...parallels in design occur periodically....MCM, and all that... *Hisss!* *L*
*purrrr* ;)

I see a touch of the Moderne there for sure...could also be a PPD with "Patriot Approved Bear Spray", but a lighter for sure....

"It's So DeLightful...*sigh*..."
(Yes, leaden joke, couldn't resist...)  Deal.

@ozzy ....I'm a fan of plastics for speakers, but I wouldn't think of not letting it be what is... In fact, I count on it.
What kind and type and how much becomes the query. ;)
But I'm also ignorable, so carry on... 👍 J

Eric....Upscale Daleks.  That coo "submit.....submit...."

Hipnosis..... ;)

If you don't like the visual , Hit'm with a can of Shake'n Shoot

R2D2s one hoofed cuzzin. 

$70,000 for a plastic cabinet wrapped in carpet and it isnt even shag. 

Yikes!  Butt ugly.

I've heard them at The Show and didn't care for them. 

What's the point of the grill over the midrange... give the cats something to hold onto while the swat at the unprotected tweeter?

I think they look really cool and I would gladly accept a pair.  A nice option compared to piano black.

Those aren't worth $70,000.   Now this, this is worth $70,000:

 

OK, now to be less catty about the subject I was really curious how much Focal had taken advantage of the DSP capabilities to alter how the active Focals differ from their similar sized passive models.  In particular the midrange to tweeter crossover point and off-axis response.  The use of micro tweeters is a challenge for B&W as well as Focal in terms of frequency extension and EQ so I thought perhaps the crossover designers would have a hard time keeping the house sound and not addressing this behavior.

I found the Diva Utopia measurements here but sadly for some odd reason Stereophile provided a very limited set of measurements for these speakers.  It makes sense to not include the impedance charts here but the highly detailed off-axis response measurements which JA usually does were also absent.  

Given the intended audience and use I think the U shaped frequency curve is probably ideal so I’m not criticizing that at all.  

The pricing though, $30,000 more adds... the equivalent of an additional 8" woofer per side.   Compared to other active speakers like ATC, Legacy these are priced pretty astronomically. 

@jeffbij

 

Good post Erik. This is endlessly amusing. 

Yes, thank you Erik (@erik_squires) It was a purrrrfect post to remind us all that this is a hobby and is supposed to be fun. Something that seems to be missing in these forums more and more...

Oh well, guess we just need to remember the words of two greats in the audio business, Jason Stoddard and Mike Moffat.... Schiit Happens!

Thanks @jeffbij  - It is supposed to be fun and to be honest I feel a little guilty making fun of these speakers.  There are real human beings in France (or India?) whose talents are being spent imagining new ways to house our pets... er, I mean speakers but at $70k a pair I have a real tough time holding back on the absurdity. 

Also, really interesting to note the difference in measurements Stereophile took for the Focal Diva Utopia actives and the Grimm LS1. 

The Grimm gets detailed off-axis as well as as step response.  

Still, they do note that the Focals rings like a cardboard box in comparison.  

@erik_squires 

I mean speakers but at $70k a pair I have a real tough time holding back on the absurdity.

Agreed.  If they were trying to design something that had a good WAF, or wanted to connect with the masses by selling them at Pet City, they missed the target... or was it Target department stores.  

I just took a quick look at Upscale Audio, who is a dealer, and they list the model down at $40K a pair.  So not as bad, but still a lot in my book.  (And in the realm of impossible if you look at my checkbook. lol)  But I'm sure they will sell a good number of them to individuals that have too much money, are looking for bragging rights and/or want the simplicity of just plugging in the power cord and connect to the WiFi.  No other equipment needed.  

The big question, is this the direction that the market is going to go?  You have to admit there is some merit to the idea.  I've got a couple of rooms that it would make things a lot simpler if I didn't have to find where to put the electronics and run long speaker cables. 

 

@jeffbij  Double check the models.  The one with 6.5" woofers is $40k.  The larger one with 8" woofers is $70k, but I would not be surprised to find deep discounts.

[In good humor] If the French cared about what anyone thought... well, they would not be French! 

I led a diverse team in Europe for over a year. There was a flaming Frenchman (who has been a good friend for thirty years now), two Scots, Englishman, German, Belgian, Italian, Japanese. We had most meals together... it was endless teasing about the "Tommy’s terrible food", and the "Frogs" making passes at other men’s wives. It was non-stoped laughing. I found a map of France and all surrounding countries in a book of Frenchness. The center outline was of France and was labeled France... and all surrounding countries said "Not France". Completely capturing the spirit of France.

This is a great way to take nationalistic stereotypes. As fun, not as serious criticism. We should celebrate our differences... and that is how I take it. 

The speakers are funny looking... I kind of like the look. Not enough to buy them. But they are kind of cool.

You put those things in my house and I would start scratching them! Aesthetically they’re not bad; I mean, I would change that god-awful greige color to something with a bit more personality. But I’m going to echo @erik_squires observation about whether their DSP capabilities have improved to justify the price. 

And @jeffbij made a good point in terms of the ease of use that people are getting increasingly accustomed to and expectant of when it comes to electronics. I mean, all this fussing around with cables and boxes and this many variables in the signal path, etc, I can imagine for many up and coming financially able people, it's just too much. A product like these would solve that problem while also offering pretty good fidelity.