Major Focal Price Increases - Effective March 1, 2020

[Mike]

That sounds like a fantastic setup. I have used the 1060, 1050, and now 2160 on Focal Maestro EVO and Stella EVO. They all paired and worked together very nicely. You often hear reports of Focal sounding bright, and boulder sounding analytical -- i have not found either to be the case. I've always used tube based preamps, audio research and VAC, and I would put the sound just slightly on the warm side of neutral. I haven't tried with solid state pre-amp. I do think the Boulder gear is incredibly neutral, as are the Focal EVOs. I think this allows the system to fully reveal the slighly sweet character of the tubes. These systems also make the effect of every cable change fully apparent -- it becomes quite easy and fun to fine-tune the sound to your liking. I didn't find the boulders to very sensitive to power conditioning, but the VAC certainly benefits from it.

Have fun with your auditioning!

Did you see the massive price increase Focal had? Wow. Scala’s have gone from $28k to $33k to $40k to now $52k. Wow. Maestro’s have gone from $60k to $74k. All models went up quite a bit as of today.

I only sell the headphones.


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[phunge]

Re: Boulder arrives at Suncoast Audio

Yeah, I think focal is making a huge mistake -- they may have priced themselves out of the market, time will tell...

 

[Mike]

Boulder arrives at Suncoast Audio

Yeah, I think focal is making a huge mistake -- they may have priced themselves out of the market, time will tell...

It’s always interesting to then start comparisons for the same money. Vivid G2 S2, which is $50k and Doug Schneider said: “The Giya G2 is not only the best loudspeaker I’ve ever reviewed, it’s the best loudspeaker I’ve ever heard. It may be the best loudspeaker in the world.”

You’re also in Magico M2 territory.

You’re also in Stenheim Alumine 5 territory.

So many other $50-60k speakers.

Stiff competition.

I’m not saying it’s not a good speaker, but it sure has gone up in price significantly. I hope they do well.


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[Bar81]

Re: Boulder arrives at Suncoast Audio

Did you see the massive price increase Focal had? Wow. Scala’s have gone from $28k to $33k to $40k to now $52k. Wow. Maestro’s have gone from $60k to $74k. All models went up quite a bit as of today.

I only sell the headphones.


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Actually Maestro Utopia III was $55k. The EVO price hikes were crazy to begin with (and this latest round of hikes is just insane). Outside of the Scala EVO (which really benefited from the upgrades - but still isn't as good of a speaker as the Maestro in either form assuming you have the space and the amps to properly drive non-EVO), I'm not sure there's really an improvement in the EVO redesign (I really couldn't see anything in the Maestro EVO that made me want to trade in my current speakers and in fact IMO the EVO was a step backwards in performance but certainly made sense as a redesign from a Focal sales perspective as it was easier to drive versus the nasty loads the Maestro presents). In any case, even if you like the EVO I'm not sure where the 40%+ price hike is justified. In silver lining news, it's at least not Avalon style where after the Avalon Isis got some good reviews the price magically went from $55k to $90kish in a couple of years (this time with no change to the speaker - just plain thievery).

 

[Mike]

Moving the discussion over here.

 

[FishStalkerGuy]

Just curious but did Focal say why the major increase in price?


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[Mike]

Just curious but did Focal say why the major increase in price?


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They did not and they raised the price of some NAIM gear too. SN3 jumped up $500.


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[FishStalkerGuy]

This is a steep increase...........have you seen other companies increase their price like this in last 12 months?


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[apdoc2004]

Deleted

 

[Mike]

I would say terrible timing -- with the possibility of a recession in the near future.

I don’t foresee that, but I can imagine they have a large overhead and buying up distributors adds to that. Great company, but a big price increase for sure.


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[Mike]

Sopra 2 goes from $15k to $19,000
Sopra 3 goes from $20k to $24,000

 

[jnelson2000]

Sopra 2 goes from $15k to $19,000
Sopra 3 goes from $20k to $24,000

I’m not sure if this was mentioned, but as for Focal the price in the US has always been lower than in the EU and rest of the world. People were buying in the US and shipping overseas. All this was done to even out the market which they have done.


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[Bar81]

So Focal is effectively charging US customers VAT. Then they deserve the sales beating they're gonna get.

 

[Mike]

When the Magico A3 came out, Soundstage compared it to the Sopra 2. Now the Sopra 2 is almost same price as the Magico A5. Interesting.


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[dznutz]

Im entertained by this, I have owned 3 pairs of brand new Focals, including 2 sopras. All of them had quality issues. I would never buy Focal again.

 

[Bar81]

I've owned three pairs of Focals (all Utopia) and never had any quality issues. Not sure what relevance any of this has to the discussion at hand.

 

[apdoc2004]

Care to provide additional details regarding the quality issues? This could help future buyers considering a purchase of Focal speakers.

Im entertained by this, I have owned 3 pairs of brand new Focals, including 2 sopras. All of them had quality issues. I would never buy Focal again.

 

[FishStalkerGuy]

I’m thoroughly enjoying my maestro EVO’s and did compare them to equal and higher priced speakers before I bought mine.


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[dznutz]

Care to provide additional details regarding the quality issues? This could help future buyers considering a purchase of Focal speakers.

Sure can, here is a photo of a freshly opened pair of Walnut Sopra 2's. There was literally a crack in the front baffle along with a chip in the glass base. This is all on a brand new factory sealed pair. The response from Plurison at that time was frustrating at best.

 

[apdoc2004]

Thanks. That would be unacceptable if you are buying a brand new pair. Did the dealer replace it with a fresh pair of speakers?

Sure can, here is a photo of a freshly opened pair of Walnut Sopra 2's. There was literally a crack in the front baffle along with a chip in the glass base. This is all on a brand new factory sealed pair. The response from Plurison at that time was frustrating at best.