surreal

I am planning to upgrade my speakers and have pretty much narrowed it down to the Focal Polyglass 136k. I wanted to ask if that's really going to be a significant improvement over my current, Audi "symphony", speakers though?

The alternative would be upgrading to the Polykevlar, but let me stress this point:
I am already MAXING by budget to get the polyglass (plus paying for installation). So I'd only want the polykevlar if everyone out there thought that the polyglass would not be much of a step up from the factory speakers.

Right now, my factories are running off an Alpine 4 channel amp and sound pretty sweet and loud, but not really AMAZING.

Thanks for any advice!

surreal

I guess another way to get this question answered would be to ask: does anyone have Focal polyglass speakers in their car? If so, what do you think of them - i.e., do you wish you had spent the extra money for the polykevlar?

Thanks!

Pelican Pete

Let me stress this point... the speakers sound AMAZING. I am also running them off an Alpine amplifier.
I actually blew my factory speakers by running them with an aftermarket amplifier, although in their defense, when I had the Phoenix Gold amp, my system was never really tweaked properly.

I have heard good things about the Polyglass speakers, and I actually ordered a set of the 165 coaxials for my rear deck. But the store went out of business, and I never received them. :-(

Assuming that the Polyglass uses the same tweeter as the Polykevlars (I think they do, but I am not certain) it is a bright tweeter. I have them mounted in the stock location, and it was too damn bright for a while. Originally I had the Phoenix Gold amp, and the speaker crossovers were set at -2 treble attenuation. It just hurt.

I upgraded to an Alpine amp, and my tweeters are now set to -4dB attenuation on the Focal crossovers, and it sounds just about perfect. Bright but smooth -- the way I like it.
There is also a tremendous amount of detail in the music.

I can tell that these speakers WANT to image, but in the factory locations, there is not much imaging going on. (Some, but not much.)

I bought my Polykevlars without ever listening to them -- only on the reputation of Focal/JMLabs.
I have since listened to other speakers (installed in friends' Audi A4s) -- specifically ADS and Boston Acoustics Pro. I like the Focals better. The ADS are *too* mellow. And the BA Pros sounded a little too artificial for my tastes. Then again, of course I am going to be biased towards my own system. (Although the owner of the ADS speakers really liked my Focals too.)

I've heard that MBQuarts are very bright as well, but I never heard them installed in an A4 so I cannot comment.

Have you listened to the Polyglass compared with the Polykevlar? I would be interested to know how the two lines compare with each other. And if you are considering this purchase, then you owe it to yourself to find out the differences.

As I said, I am VERY happy with my Polykevlars. If the Polyglass sounds anything similar, then I would say go for it.

Oh, another consideration... And this is something I should have thought about before upgrading my system. I mentioned that the stock tweeter locations are detrimental to proper imaging. I considered mounting my tweeters lower, but did not want to cut up my interior.
The Polyglass line actually has a coaxial 5 1/4" speaker -- you might want to consider that one as well. It is less expensive, and it *might* image better than the component speakers in the factory locations. Plus you don't have to worry about mounting crossovers and running two sets of speaker wire (read: cheaper installation too).
If you are purchasing and having this system installed at a good shop, they might let you try them out in the car to decide if you like them, and let you exchange them for the component speakers if you change your mind.

Also, what are you doing for rear speakers? Keeping them stock? (I would assume then that you are bridging the other two channels for a subwoofer?) Just curious.
I have the Alpine 5-channel amp, so I am running the sub off the 5th channel. I WANT to put the Polyglass coaxial 6" speakers in my rear deck, run off the other two channels of the amp. But right now those two channels are idle.

Lastly, you mentioned the model 136k. If memory serves correctly, the "k" nomenclature designates the Polykevlar line. There is also a difference between the 136 and 130 woofers. I have the 130k Polykevlars. The 130 is 5-1/8" and the 136 is 5-3/8". The slightly small 130 has more bass extension, whereas the 136 has a phase plug in place of the dustcap which supposedly results in a smoother midrange.
I went with the 130 for the bass extension and also because it has more clearance in the door.
(I bought everything mail-order, so I wanted to be sure. If you're getting it at a shop, they can test-fit it to make sure it fits.)

Enjoy, and good luck!
-- Peter

Marcalucci

Those particular speakers aren't that good and the speakers that I replaced them with sound much better and use more traditional materials. Currently, ceramic coated metal is the hot material for speaker drivers, I believe. Infiniti Kappas are car speakers use ceramic coated metal drivers. However, Infiniti speakers are much too bright for my taste. The only way you can know if the sound quality of speakers is to your liking is to listen to them. If you can't listen beforehand, order from a place with a good return policy.

surreal

Thanks for all the info! I'm always amazed at how great it is that people really take the time to help each other out on these forums. Can't tell you how much that means...

Anyway, in answer to your question, I do have a sub. Right now, I'm running the alpine 4 channel to the speakers inside the car (2 ch to the front and 2 ch to the rear); I have a JL Audio 250/1 mono amp running the sub - a 10W0 in a downfiring box, which sounds really nice! I highly reccommend that setup to anyone considering a sub b/c the box gives a lot of "punch" similar to ported or bandpass enclosures, but takes up very little space.

The store that's doing the install doesn't keep Focal's in stock b/c where I live (in Durham, NC) the market is pretty small so I guess it's not economical to keep all the different lines and sizes in stock. But they always push to order Focal's and have done some great work so far on my friends' cars, so I definately trust them.

From what I'm told, the polyglass has essentially the same tweeter as the polykevlar. I don't know how long you've had yours, but they said it takes about 75 hours for the tweeters to break in and then the brightness will tone down just right.

Also, thanks for the info on imaging. I will definitely look into maybe mounting the tweeters differently or somewhere other than the factory spot. However, the installers are going to build the mounting rings so that the mids face in and upwards a bit more, rather than straight across at your ankles the way the factory has them mounted. So hopefully that will be an improvement.

Finally, I'm sticking with the factory rears for now. Has anyone found a really good woofer to go in that spot?

Thanks again
--joshua

RKA

(I am the ADS owner that Peter speaks of)
Most shops don't both with the imaging, and just bolt the speakers to the back of the door panels. Peter is right, if you spend a little time working with imaging, you'll really get the speakers to sing! His system rocks, even with the speakers pointed in the wrong place! I would follow his recommendation for using coax's up front. If the shop takes the time to set up the coax's right, I think it will be killer!