Fake FOCAL speaker, Ozhonda member BEWARE !!!

[JaCe]

JaCe, what you should be telling people is to buy local not from overseas markets dont you think?

Ok, for all those people who keep PMing me about this;
UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING; DO NOT BUY FROM ONLINE WEBSITES IN OTHER COUNTRIES

I mean seriously, the companies which tend to sell this sortof stuff don't typically have websites. And as a Malaysian myself, I wouldn't dare buy things such as suspension kits and so on from someone who I have no idea if they are dodgy or not. The only way I buy this stuff is because my family does substantial car modifications and is very connected (and sponsored) to the official dealers hence how I know where to buy.

If you guys are travelling to Singapore or Malaysia yourself, I'm more than happy to point you in the right direction to buy originals (or good quality replicas if you wish), but if you're asking me for advice on buying online- I have no idea.

And even if you do know what you're doing, be warned-
1. If something goes wrong, noone from the shop will help you.
2. If they give you the wrong part in the box and you've flown back to Aus, also too bad for you.
3. (for replicas) If it breaks, it's your own problem.

For all I care (= a big fat ZERO), people shouldnt come on any forum telling us they got ripped as they bought a fake from ebay or an oline store. Your loss, live with it!

Disagree with that. Hopefully if people come on here whinging about it, it'll do two things;
1. Stop people from buying from that online site (and stop future people complaining)
2. Discourage people in general from buying online in unfamiliar countries

In all honesty to everyone here, I'd rather buy from Australia for alot of things purely because whilst there is a small chance things can go wrong; things DO go wrong. And it's always good to have someone to call if it does- who will get it fixed. I know Lifestyle charges quite a bit of markup for example, but as I'm pretty n00b to audio equipment, I feel safer knowing that the people I buy the gear from are reliable, and are also the same people who install it and provide the lifetime warranty. I pay a premium for that peace of mind.

Besides, as someone I know pointed out, if you attempt to import any substantial amount of car parts, you can get taxed significantly- and if you're unlucky, they'll tell you to go through a broker when you attempt to pick up the goods from customs.

[sik-vic]

i know its a late post but when i was working for autobarn we had an e-mail come through from focal warning us about these fakes, and that was well over 2 and a half years ago, these fakes have been around for donkeys

[kendc5r]

this is also covered in a recent issue of autosalon in regards to fake products...

issue number: 60
pg number: pg 126

[integraz]

Lesson to be learnt- don't buy from overseas! buy from an Australian Focal Dealer, support Australian businesses, buy local, have that peace of mind you are buying genuine.

[EuroDude]

In other words, dont buy car audio (or cars for that matter) from ebay

[trinnyd]

Thanks for the info

[Stoosh]

Thanks for the info

Just so you know, post counts don't matter at OH

[bankids]

most of the big brand they have no internet sale contract with all the dealers, so anything you buy from online brand new would be fake.

[yourfather]

**** E-bay!

[ouch]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....#ht_2433wt_956 what you guys reckon?

[lilthug]

seems legit going by the feedback


also epic thread bump

[TbM]

I NEVER buy focals online from what ive heard they are mostly fakes as Focal only sell to major distributers not so much ebays sellers, Heres Focals quote on their internet policy taken from their site.

Internet sales policy... Focal-JMlab creates and distributes high-end speakers, loudspeakers and kits for the car. We take great care in the distribution of our products, our presentation, customer support, installation and after sale service are our number one priority. To make sure these high standards are kept we do not authorise the online sales of Focal products.

Products sold on the Internet have been obtained from questionable sources that do not meet Focal JMlab's quality standards. These products may be counterfeits. See our "Spotting a fake" article for more details.

We inform you that the warranty, after sales service and the support of these internet-sourced products will only be covered by the seller, and not by Focal. If you intend to buy genuine Focal products with Australian warranty, we advise you to get in touch with your authorised dealer as they will offer you time, advice and support.

So you need to get them off an authorised dealer if you want a proper warrenty and to know they are real for sure.

Heres the link from the focal site showing some of the fakes, http://www.focalaustralia.com.au/fake.html

Now with regards to the K2P's they are old models that use the onld TN52 Tweeter which was quite harsh, The newer ones use a nicer tweeter(TNK i think) so i woud reccommend something like the 165 KR, 165 K2R or the 165 KRX2 if you can afford them, the KRX2's Use the TN53K which sounds the best of the lot IMO. Also focals are a sound you either love or hate so it would be a good idea to listen to some before you buy as their sound may not agree with you I love them tho, bought at least 6 sets of them over the years and they have all been great speakers.