Hey all,

I'm putting together a reasonably priced, uncomplicated setup for my S2000.

Last year, I did some research on this topic, and I listened to both Infiniti speakers and Focal speakers. Like others here, I thought the Infinitis were too bright and the highs were stronger than the midrange. Could have been the way it was setup in the car, though.

So, I auditioned Focals and I liked them a lot. I really thought for the price, the Access were the way to go, given the noisty environment of the S2000, particularly with my Amuse exhaust and any intake mods I may make in the future.

So, to rehash, I thought the Access sounded great for the money, and couldn't really justify the added cost of the Polyglass setup in the S2k environment.

I have since heard that the Access speakers are made over in Asia while all other Focal's are made in France. Is this true?

Also, do others feel it is worth the extra $150+ to upgrade to the Poly's?

What other brands would others recommend? I'd like to keep the price in the $200 range if at all possible.

Thanks!

 

i also liked the access a great deal. i wasn't sure the Polyglass represent a big enough improvement to justify the price.

also, i've since bought the Boston SL60's for my wife's Odyssey, and have been very pleased with them and their sound.

 

hello, here is a link to a system discussion i was involved in a few months ago.

i, like you, was looking for a great sounding system without spending a ton. as you'll see, i went with ads 236i fronts (installed '04 tweeter grills in my doors), mb quart dkd-116 6.5" coax behind the seats, and a used ads pq-10 4-channel amp from ebay under the driver seat (still using stock head unit). all totaled, i spent $300 for everything and looking at my car you can't tell that anything was altered!!! the 236's were my most expensive addition and cost me $150 shipped. they really sound amazing!!! just another option for you to consider. there is a link to the place where i bought mine in this post. in addition, there was another guy who had done the same as me and posted pics in there as well.

i'm with you on the belief that you don't need to spend a ton to get great sound. especially in a loud convertible like ours (even more a no-brainer if you intend to mod your exhaust). now that i have lived with mine for 6 months i can now confirm: YOU ARE NUTS IF YOU SPEND BIG MONEY ON A SYSTEM IN THIS CAR!!!

it boggles my mind when i read about some of the things guys have done and the expense at which they have gone to mod their cars on this site (i'll admit though, it is interesting reading and some cool things have been done). it's hysterical to me to see someone put 2-5-10 grand into a car and at the same time those very same mods depreciate the car 2-5-10 grand.
so that fantastic $2000 mod effectively cost them $3000-4000.
then again,,, flood the market with heavily modded cars guys!! - it should help keep the value of mine up.
sorry - i'll get off the soapbox now.


by the way, in the post below i referred to my front ads speakers as 246i by mistake. i have the 236i's.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...699&hl=ads+236i

 

I had ads speakers and amp in my last car. I quite liked them, I will look into it.

Thanks for the tip.

 

I've got the Focal Access 165A components in my car. I think they sound very good. However, I am only giving them about 35W RMS and at high volume levels I get some distortion. I'm planning on upgrading my amp to feed the components with 75W RMS and hope that this will help.

JeffA

 

How did you install them in your car? Did you fabricate your own mounting brackets?

Also, I think you are getting distortion due to your amp and not the speakers. These things were cranking loud and clear when I demoed them at the local speaker shop.

 

I used fabricated spacers to install them and ditched the factory plastic basket/moisture guard thing. I agree that the amp is the cause of the distortion. The Focals are rated for 60W RMS so I'm sure they just need more current. My crappy amp was reused from a former car and is definitely the weak link in the system. I'm most likely going to replace it with a JL Audio 300/4 slash series amp. It's small enough to mount where I want it and will almost perfectly match the Focals and my 8W3V2 sub.

JeffA

 

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