Pros: simply amazing sound for someone with a 30-50watt/channel headunit.
Cons: not the easiest to install without help or good knowledge of your car.
The Bottom Line: if you're starting out down the road to audio perfection, this is a great place to start. but as always, you should judge with your own ears.
plonk420's Full Review: Focal Access 165 CA Coaxial Car Speaker
as someone who's had factory speakers all their life, this is a HUGE step in the right direction. and very cool, because this is my first car, too!
i listened to these speakers at a local Cartoys, one of those "i'll never afford these, but it'd be nice to hear what elite speakers sound like" kind of things. well, they sounded better than the Infinitys i was looking at, but it was a chore to compare the two as the headunit's eq had to be changed to get optimal sound from each. however, once these were flatlined across the board, these Focals were amazing sounding. bass wasn't overdone, yet you could push it quite hard if you wanted to, and the highs were crystal clear without being harsh or painful. and that was all powered off just the headunit.
a little while later, my headunit and the sub i'd grown very fond of was stolen, so, after i got my money (thank God for comprehensive!) i decided i should go with normal speakers after remembering how much bass they could put out, so i went on eBay and ordered these for a VERY affordable $109+shipping. however, after taking off the speaker covers, i realized that it wasn't a simple swapping of speakers. after many weeks of putting off getting them installed, i finally went to Best Buy to get it installed. needless to say it wasn't very simple for them, either. a $40 job ended up costing $60 as they had to remove quite a bit of plastic from the speaker baskets and even some metal, too. turns out these speakers are larger than 6.5" .. more like 6.75" due to the .. er .. back of the speaker (i don't remember what the installer said, and i'm no expert in speaker terminology).
once all was said and done, i drove home to the most amazing sound i've ever heard in a car. the highs were a little harsh as the speakers needed breaking in, but even then it sounded .. gorgeous. i could hear the crunch of electric guitars, details in vocals i hadn't heard before, the gravel in a scratch, i can finally almost consistently hear flaws in MP3s @ 192kbps i've only heard a in a small handful of tracks before (depending on the genre).
that said, you owe it to yourself to listen to at least some Infinitys, if not these Focals. they are mellow, yet bright and powerful. the Sonys and Pioneers everyone seems to stock just seem to sound like powerful factory speakers. ick. even the Rockford Fosgates failed to impress me as well (even though they make one hell of a sub), however noone seemed to carry Pioneer and RF's highend speakers, so it really isn't a completely fair to blanket Pioneer or RF in with their crappier speakers.
well, one last thing. as with all purchases, listen for yourself. don't just go by the reviews and what other people said (you DID read what other people have said about what you are buying didn't you? ;) go by what your ears tell you. bring all kinds of music you'll listen to and don't be afraid to spend 30 mins or more at a caraudio store even if you don't plan to buy there. oh, and enjoy them, too!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.