New FOCAL amps are here...and working!

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

Ok, this is ONLY for those who care.....Oh, and PICS are at the LINK on the bottom of this post!

Phew! ok....so, a little history on this one:

Spent the past month + trying to decide on amps to replace my eD stuff. Wanted something high end, that I'd never have to replace...(yeah right).

I picked FOCAL for a couple reasons...it wasn't the reviews, It was hard to find any...it wasn't the price...darn things are NOT cheap! It was mostly based on reputation and a few phone conversations.

I almost didn't go with them...but the sleak, brushed black casings were calling me daily! The power was on the low end of what I'd could live with, but talking with ORCA changed my mind on that. Yeah, 3kw would have been nice, but 1100 or so would do fine.

My wife was gone today, so I missed the drop from UPS...I was ****ed! I called them and went and picked it up at the hub about 10 min. from the house...woohoo!

I got home and cracked open the box...OMG! I love a package that shows quality! A plainish brown cardboard box, with some text and the FOCAL logo on it, and an outlined pic of the amp. so far so good.

I opened the box to find a very simple layout. 2 sides of heavy foam holding the amps suspended in the middle of the container. the amp itself wrapped in plastic, shrink wrap style. inside the plastic, on the bottom side of the amp, were the manual and mount hardware. in the bottom of the box was the "birth certificate", or at least that's what I called it.

A largish piece of paper with all the amp specs on one side, a graph taking up most of the other side, and the TRUE power number at the bottom, with the technician signature to the right of that...WOW, very classy!

Best part? Both amps produced above the listed amount in the power range. The FP1.800 showing 430.2 watts @ 4ohms, supposed to be 400 @4. and the FP2.150 showed 158.1, vs. the listed 150 @ 4. I like more power!

The FP1.800 is rated at 800x1 @ 1ohm, I"m running 1.33 ohms. The guy I talked to at ORCA Design said the amp had been benched at over 1200 watts @ 1 ohm on one occasion. So? I was good to go!

The manual is thick (english and french) but nothing out of the ordinary, and it covers all the amps! Has some basics on setup and install....but the best part? The little paragraph under the "tuning tips" section that says "Tuning the FP 1.800 for SPL Contests:" This was cool coming from a "SQ" amp company //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif And **** if it didn't work! sheesh! This thing gets pretty wicked! I can't wait to "slave" another one down the line....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif

So I peel back the plastic and man, those satin, brushed black amps are sweet! A FOCAL logo is stamped into the top, which is flat and smooth! Soooo sexy! It tells the amp name below it: "POWER 1.800" on one, and "POWER 2.150" on the other.

All the connections are sweet! The angle mounts are nice for helping with a clean install. The mounts are cool as well! A LONG screw with a hex head runs through the entire amp...so there are no mount feet, per sey. They are past of the amp itself. Nice touch! And the long screws are embossed with the FOCAL name on the top of them! Man, quality is cool!

The build quality is top rate. Best I've seen, ever, in an amp. The bottom of the amp is vented for air flow. I can see windings and caps and such through the slats...pretty cool stuff. All the adjustments are flush mount, you need a small flat head to turn them, but they are all "notched" so you can FEEL the adjustments as you turn it. Same with the simple, yet sexy, bass remote. I can finally KNOW when I'm turning the remote! It's smallish, but the blue LED is cool when on and it just looks good. I liked the RAINBOW remote better, but that's no reason to buy an amp!

Install was pretty straight forward, however I had to use a 8 gauge vs. a 4 gauge for power and ground...4 gauge wouldn't fit right....could have been just an old wire that had opened up too much? i'll find out wed. when I rewire. It says "0 gauge will fit", so we'll see. I don't see that fitting by a long shot!

only real issue was that the sub amp only has ONE set of speaker outs, vs. 2 sets on most mono amps. I hate when I have something setup nicely and have to tweak and mess with it. SO I twisted the 10 ga. wires together for now and plugged them in.

Ok..I don't have time for the rest of the review...but, real quick, the amps are SUPERB! Front stage is wicked accurate! Subs are getting there...alot of tuning to come, but when I left the car after 1/2 of near deafness, I was about spot on. Super tight clean bass...and could it go low!

So anyone who doesn't think amps sound different? LOL...you need to listen to some real amps!

Here's some pics for now...and I'll be posting the reveiw on wed. after I listen and tweak for a day or two....

Enjoy!

http://web.mac.com/vinceandjenc/

Click to read more...

 

[CrazedCat 10+ year member]

More pics! I just see the birthsheet //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif u amp tease

 

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

Click on the LIBRARY link at the top...sorry about that! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

NICE! I'm jealous!

Man, twisting 10gauge together.. I but that's one big chunk of wire to connect.

Interesting your amps made such a difference... Did you get them at Orca Design then?

 

[SQChevy 10+ year member]

I've had mine for about a year now and I love them. They have won me several awards and the sound is just incredible. Besides, what better to power my Focal speakers than Focal power.

 

[tbasile1 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/yumyum.gif.0556df42231b304b9c995aefd13928a8.gif

I hope the Focal dealer near me gets some Focal amps in, maybe they already have them?!?!?! I want to see these badboys perform!

Focal Ftw!!

 

[Babs 10+ year member]

All this talk about Focal Focal Focal is making me consider trying their comps instead of the DIY route.. Maybe something in the entry levels of the K2's..

These:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_9567_Focal+165+KF.html

or These maybe:

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_1708_Focal+165+KP.html

But that's a different topic altogether sorry. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

you stuff an amazing looking focal amp under a seat!? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Tonyguy 10+ year member]

nice ****in amps! I'm jealous. So what did they run you?

 

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

you stuff an amazing looking focal amp under a seat!? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

It's a temporary install. I HAD to hear them! I'm working on the new install now actually....

 

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

twisting 10 ga wasn't an issue...

and BABS, I had thought about seperate stuff as well...email me on that one! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif