Fake vs Real Focal 165AS3

a comparison video for a real and fake focal speaker. there are many fake focal speaker be aware

[alfalf]

Looks almost identical. I might not be surprised if both sets came out of the same factory.

[jerrychan]

Starting around 14:25, the bass hits on the fake Focal produces a LOT less movement than on the real Focal, seen especially when paying attention to the rubber surround. Also it looks to me like the center cone on the fake has a sharper profile shape than the real one. There is a notable difference in the dynamics between the speakers, the audio on the real Focal seems a bit more dynamic. The fake is no slouch though, also sounds good based on your smartphone audio recording.

Great job on the comparison, thanks for sharing it. I was considering buying a discounted open item Focal from Crutchfield, but knowing that there are a lot of counterfeits, there's a possibility that an original purchaser may have abused Crutchfield's gracious return policy by fraudulently keeping returning a fake while keeping the real item?

[mikebiron]

WOW. That has got to be the best copy of a product I've ever seen. I did see the real woofer during playback has a bigger rubber surround. Not by much though. If they copied them so good, I'd bet the fake ones probably sound pretty good. Same happened a while back with Energy and Monoprice home speakers. The difference in that case was the Monoprice fake was actually a one to one copy with the exact same parts and no audio distinction. They were sued and had to modify their speakers. The Chinese are getting really good at copies.

[Bacnow]

I’m sure the same Chinese company is manufacturing both!
The “fake” ones might be factory Seconds designated for the Grey market!

[tottimejdi]

bass is more extended on original woofer and sensitivity is better on the original

[non-binaryjesus]

They probably are not fake. As these are both made in China. The probably package up rejects and sell them. Being we see the slight color difference etc.

[paulgood]

Honestly I listen to these blind for first time not watching video just listening and thought the fake woofer sounded better lol. Great video

[mrm]

The are made in same factory but different years of manufacturing. These have been produced may years. There are small changes in production over the years.

[protonjicari]

Damn the range on both speaker are different, I can even see the movement of the cones. The fake have small angulation vs the originals angulation.
You can even see the movement of the cones up and down, the original maybe have twice or more range than the fake.

[sebulva]

Please send the link for the fake ones 😅

[paulgood]

Really curious about the sound, problem once a company has a product made in China it's now there's to copy at will and sell to who ever . Who knows these both may be made in same factory even

[edmund]

They came from the same factory. Label colour differs from batches and batches. The soundbox used to test the woofers were horrible. No meaning to test without setting up all three drivers with crossover in a proper enclosure. The music used to test them wasn’t good either. It sounds horrible from the recording.

[EldenTriLee]

I expected performance to not be on par, but when you hear the fake you can notice that signature Focal sound, where you don't find with any other brand. I don't think these are QA rejects or old stock, just roughly the same speaker but made with slightly poorer components, the bad quality copper wire on the tweeter for instance. I've bought a wireless Shure 2 mic set for $75 in Vietnam which performed and sounded amazing compared to a generic wired mic, but it wasn't as durable as the real deal though it outputted the familiar Shure sound.

[rogerdavis]

Hmmm. Did you contact Focal I bet you they are real the wire I'm sure they out source so it would be a production can change and that would explain the difference. Or what about b- stock merchandise at the discounted price?

[allansoria]

They are both made in what they call now as "OEM" in China. Also, because in China there is no such thing as patent rights so anybody with cash can ask this "OEM" company to make identical units with their own branding or same brand. But the difference is the budget of the client. If the customer ask this "OEM" companies for a smaller cost then some compromise in some parts, usually internal parts, would be done diffeerently thus making it somewhat inferior to the original but not much.

[IvanToman]

If we neglect the recording equipment... with such difference in baffle mount they must sound different anyway in the first place. Impossible to tell anything. You need to make measurements to prove if they are different or not. T/S parameters with DATS and frequency response with REW. But they must be mounted at the same place on the baffle or you can't compare even the measurements.

[dirtfloorspeedshop]

If they outsource production to china how do you know either one is fake? Maybe 2 different build houses and one of them just sucks.

[dufonrafal]

A better comparison would be with all 3 speakers and the filters.

Anyway, the fake one sound muddy like a Bose, the real one is a lot better.

[dougcallmaker]

The fake ones were brighter and sounded better, but hard to say for sure over youtube.

[unclesamthepimp]

Thank you... I had no idea there is fake ones out there