Purchasing Focal Speakers on-Line

I am looking to purchase a set of Focal 165A's and have found that pricing on-line is substatially less than in local shops.  I have two questions:

1)  Does anyone know if Focal will honor their warranty when dealing with internet dealers?  (Their website suggests they would not.)

2) Has anyone purchased from: www.acaraudio.com, www.speakersound.com, or www.carstereomall.com?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

John

forbidden wrote:

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No warranty as they are not purchased from an authorized dealer, no exceptions. As far as on line goes, I am a retailer and scourge like them need to be stamped out just like Bose and Sony.

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Just a note as I stated in an earlier post, each state has seperate laws on consmer protection my post and I quote

I]
wrote:

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lso check your state laws, florida has a statute if a warranty is offered on a product and a manufacturer refuses to acknowledge this like in the case of a unauthorized reseller, the Attorney general will send a nice little lawsuite to the manufacturer

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So check with you states attorneys office if you have to ever take action against a manufacture for not honoring a warranty

Don't be afraid to purchase online but always try your local shop first, most of the time shops will match a price since they dont do the volume like a online store does they wont turn down your money.

Good Luck

losone wrote:

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Focal will for sure not warranty them if you don't but from am authorized dealer.  You also get three years when bought from dealer's.  Good choice on the access 165a's! They kill ANYTHING from mb quart & many other brands!

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I agree with Ravendarat, that is very bold, as I run MB Quart Q-line in my personal vehicle, I have heard the Focal 165A's and tend to like the sound of them, but don't think they overstep the Quart's. Now, if you want to refer to the Utopia line, I do have a personal liking to them, and find they are really smooth.

But its all a matter of personal opinion, My ears hear differently from yours and the next person, so its hard to tell someone that they are the best speaker out there, when the next man might think they sound like dog sh*t.

But if you can back that statement up with black and white, i'm open to the subject!! 

I'll tell you what I got to back it up......  Just a couple grammy noiminations & over 40 million record sales for songs that I;ve recorded &  mixed as a recording engineer. I'm also a Focal dealer & have run Mb's many times and hate their bright & harsh tweeter's.  When I was looking for the best speaker line for my shop I chose Focal based on the fact that most of clients are producers & artists & know what good sounds like...  Im my opinion, the Q series are nothing but higher priced premiums.  I also had Q's in my wifes car & since replaced them with some access components & have never looked back for that matter.  I'll take any focal over just about any other car audio component any day, any time!   So if you still want to listen to what the guys at your local chain store, then maybe you should get some Infinity's perfects or JL XR's.

  not trying to be a @#shole, but I didn't make that statement without sufficient back up..

   www.carloswarlick.com

Bold statement or not , just remember that everyone is entitled to their opinions. This is an open forum and everyone here should not be afraid to post their opinions from fear of getting burned or slammed.

Just trying to keep the peace here

Ya, OK that seems like good enough back up to me . I didnt expect to be calling a grammy nominie on his sh*t LOL. I am just sick of hearing people call their stuff the best simply based on the fact that its what they bought so it must be the best. Like I said, I wasnt intending to piss you off, regardless of who you are, just wanted to know  what led you to make that statement

Ravendarat wrote:

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I would tend to trust what skoldspuppy says. He runs audiobahn so he is probally an expert in the fiield of warrenty by now . Sorry, that was a cheap shot that I just couldnt resist

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Its all good, you know have have tortured these damn audiobahns with that Hifonics amp and they still wont die, 3 months strong on them 7months to go on that warranty

I have to admit Im suprised they have lasted myself

forbidden wrote:

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I can't for one minute think that you support this type of activity in your industry. In our industry we face a similar problem with the online retailer. I support your industry in full, please help support mine.

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First off this is not an attack against anyone on this forum

I can sympathize with you on this cause everyone needs to eat and make money, but I still cannot condone getting blatantly ripped off

Example: 
Brand Name AMP
MSRP: $599.99
Authorized Retailer Price: $479.99
Internet Price: $229.00
The Middleman's Cost AKA Wholesale/Distrubutor $179.00 per hundred $149.00 per thousand
Manufactures Total Final cost including labor per amp: less than $100.00

See where everyones making there money from? Us the consumer all we are trying to do is not get ripped off

I base this off of my last 5 years of employment with a Promotional Item manufacture,  30 years in business and they barely make a profit each year 3% a year, but every week I still get a paycheck like clockwork

Trust me if you had to pay $2.00 for one of the cheap bic pens instead of 0.20 cents you would be pissed and find another way to get ahold of them

Im not saying local shops and megastores like BB and CC dont have a right to make money, you do you have the right to make money, but you do not have the right to rip someone off just because you want to go buy that nice new porsche you know what deal with it and buy a Kia

Again this is not an attack against anyone on the forum its more of an attack against our corporate society

Have a good weekend all

--Skold

losone wrote:

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I'll tell you what I got to back it up......  Just a couple grammy noiminations & over 40 million record sales for songs that I;ve recorded &  mixed as a recording engineer. I'm also a Focal dealer & have run Mb's many times and hate their bright & harsh tweeter's.  When I was looking for the best speaker line for my shop I chose Focal based on the fact that most of clients are producers & artists & know what good sounds like...  Im my opinion, the Q series are nothing but higher priced premiums.  I also had Q's in my wifes car & since replaced them with some access components & have never looked back for that matter.  I'll take any focal over just about any other car audio component any day, any time!   So if you still want to listen to what the guys at your local chain store, then maybe you should get some Infinity's perfects or JL XR's.

  not trying to be a @#shole, but I didn't make that statement without sufficient back up..

   www.carloswarlick.com

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Wasn't trying to light any fires, or hammer on anyone in any way, maybe I was taken wrong by my previous post. As you can see, I WAS giving Focal credit for making a good sounding speaker, the whole point of the last statement was asking if their was some type of slope comparison chart or any factual paperwork that proved Focal Access line to be better than MB Quart Q-line, other than personal opinion, not trying to call you out on your credibility. 

As I understand that everyone is entitled to their personal opinions, that is why I was not hammering on Focal for their products. Sorry if I have offended you in any way, as well as anybody else who might have taken my post offensively.