OMG, I Believe You Guys...

[rebellion]

So, just to be safe, I went out and bought a pair of $2,500 speaker made in France(should I give name?) hopefully it'd be a ticket to bring me a step closer to "high-end" level. It is acoustically sound alright for the price but when I took out 1 driver to look inside, I got cheated. The wood material wasn't hard MDF as I expected but it was the same presswood that being used for cheap cabinets. It's particles were so big I could use a razor blade and chip them off 1 by 1. The design was VERY simple that any DIY'ers with the right tools can achieve.
Shouldn't I still be seeing excessive wood glue around edges even if manufacture use interlocked mitered joints technique... because I didn't see any.
There's a roll of mixed of 6.5" midrange and midbass and all of the magnets were tiny; none bigger than 3"OD. I'd say they are much smaller than everage 6.5" drivers sold here. Voice coils didn't look like they were over 1" OD.
Each speaker weighted 58 lbs. By looking inside, it was very simple and light. Since I have diff pair from France called Triangle Comete laying around. Out of curiousity, I too gave it a little experiement. Though they have diff surface design, foam suspension, and dust caps, their metal frames and magnets were identical and I have pics to prove it.
Anyways, I was expecting more from $2.5K speakers. So, if you are handy and well skilled, enjoy making. I do have all the respects to you guys.

Ah, btw, they are Focal Chorus 826v and glad I only paid $1,300

Ok, so here's a deal. How much characteristic of the speaker would change if I stuff sand in couple of long socks (4each to be exact) tie'em up and lay'em down on the bottom of the speaker?

[WWWJD]

Could "you get what you pay for" be applied here?

I could only assume that even though the drivers may look cheap, they're (hopefully) purpose built to some spec. Focal in the automotive world usually delivers some pretty good hardware. As for the cabs, I would imagine that if they're stiff enough and seal up well, it wouldn't matter what they're made out of. Overall, I think it has to be understood that companies like Polk, Infinity, Bose (sorry.. didn't mean to say that dirty word), and Klipsch use such materials and build quality to maximize profit. They couldn't use the same level components as the DIY'er, or commit the same amount of time per pair as the DIY'er, and still make a dime. It would put them out of anyone's budget, and put them out of business.

I'm on my first build ever, and already, I've invested at least a few hours and $1000 or better. Finished value? I have no idea, but it'd be much more than $2500 IMO.

[gowa]

Boy, I can only imagine what you could build for $2,500.00!!

[johnastockman]

Ok, so here's a deal. How much characteristic of the speaker would change if I stuff sand in couple of long socks (4each to be exact) tie'em up and lay'em down on the bottom of the speaker?[/COLOR]

Not much change AFA improving the sound quality. If you reduce the internal volume, you'll be changing the "tuning" of the enclosure, especially if they're ported. Generally, the Focal/JM Labs designs are fairly good for a commercial speaker, but the cabinet sounds like its materials & constuction is entirely inadequate.

John A.

[Deward Hastings]

Boy, I can only imagine what you could build for $2,500.00!!

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/orion_challenge.htm

[biff]

John and I are both reformed retailers and aware that the usual difference between cost of materials and retail pricing is about 10 times, and pretty much needs to be to stay in business. So you are discovering the back side of this equation when you look behind the curtain and see the wizard. You really shouldn't compare DIY efforts to retail, you should compare retail to retail for comparison. A DIYer doesn't count his time, tools, effort in aquiring skills into the equation, thank God

As far as glue showing, no biggie, just means they applied correctly and cleaned afterwords (we hope). If you wanted to improve cabinets, I would suggest adding bracing to tie opposing sides and reduce panel resonance. Damping the panels wouldn't hurt, either. Many of the "heroes" of DIY have designed for manufacturers, like SL, Vance Dickason, Joe D'appolito and many more - you might find that while those Focals were built to a budget, the basic design could be sound and reward your efforts to go that last mile and unleash the potential therein. And it would be fun to see just what improvements make a difference and apply that detail to your next design.

[brianp]

a roll of mixed of 6.5" midrange and midbass and all of the magnets were tiny; none bigger than 3"OD. I'd say they are much smaller than everage 6.5" drivers sold here. Voice coils didn't look like they were over 1" OD.
Each speaker weighted 58 lbs. By looking inside, it was very simple and light. Since I have diff pair from France called Triangle Comete laying around. Out of curiousity, I too gave it a little experiement. Though they have diff surface design, foam suspension, and dust caps, their metal frames and magnets were identical and I have pics to prove it.
Anyways, I was expecting more from $2.5K speakers. So, if you are handy and well skilled, enjoy making. I do have all the respects to you guys.

Ah, btw, they are Focal Chorus 826v and glad I only paid $1,300

Ah, but those are the BUDGET Focals! Once you get into the five figures price range with that brand, you start to see drivers of the quality Focal once offered to the DIY/OEM community at reasonable prices.

[rone]

Particle board actually tested better than MDF for damping in a test of the common materials. Nothing wrong with particle board vs. MDF in my opinion. Plywood is superior in most respects, also IMO. Plywood also passes the all-important "sniff-test"

[Pete Schumacher ®]

Particle board actually tested better than MDF for damping in a test of the common materials. Nothing wrong with particle board vs. MDF in my opinion. Plywood is superior in most respects, also IMO. Plywood also passes the all-important "sniff-test"

Plywood for subs, particle board for mids. Too stiff, and you don't damp the sonic energy as much.

IMO

[philiparcario]

So, just to be safe, I went out and bought a pair of $2,500 speaker made in France(should I give name?) hopefully it'd be a ticket to bring me a step closer to "high-end" level. It is acoustically sound alright for the price but when I took out 1 driver to look inside, I got cheated. The wood material wasn't hard MDF as I expected but it was the same presswood that being used for cheap cabinets. It's particles were so big I could use a razor blade and chip them off 1 by 1. The design was VERY simple that any DIY'ers with the right tools can achieve.
Shouldn't I still be seeing excessive wood glue around edges even if manufacture use interlocked mitered joints technique... because I didn't see any.
There's a roll of mixed of 6.5" midrange and midbass and all of the magnets were tiny; none bigger than 3"OD. I'd say they are much smaller than everage 6.5" drivers sold here. Voice coils didn't look like they were over 1" OD.
Each speaker weighted 58 lbs. By looking inside, it was very simple and light. Since I have diff pair from France called Triangle Comete laying around. Out of curiousity, I too gave it a little experiement. Though they have diff surface design, foam suspension, and dust caps, their metal frames and magnets were identical and I have pics to prove it.
Anyways, I was expecting more from $2.5K speakers. So, if you are handy and well skilled, enjoy making. I do have all the respects to you guys.

Ah, btw, they are Focal Chorus 826v and glad I only paid $1,300

Ok, so here's a deal. How much characteristic of the speaker would change if I stuff sand in couple of long socks (4each to be exact) tie'em up and lay'em down on the bottom of the speaker?

buy some dowels and brace the face baffle to the back. use the 12 3 6 and 9 oclock on the woofer as a guide.

focal make really good high end drivers. they are still available from zalytron.com the focal 7w4411 driver is a very good midwoofer as is the 5w4411 midwoofer the focal tlr tweeter is a very good tweeter.

Magnet size has no meaning magnet gauss is what is the real deal. I have a house full of focal DIY. The chorus woofers are a low cost for focal speaker they use polyglass woofers and mid woofers. they use an inverted tweeter. you could source the 6 drivers and 2 tweeters for 400 when they were easy to get. the crossover is not much.
Look at zalytron kits if you like french speakers. He still has some.

[natediggidy]

If you had to buy retail, you could have sprung around $900 for a pair of Magnepan MG12's and had a pair of real "Hi-End" speakers.

Is it too late to return the Focals?

[gowa]

Wasn't Jim or someone selling the 'Statements' for $2,500.00? I thought I saw that somewhere.