Focal PS 165F Flax Speaker Set

Updated my 2016 Renault Trafic speakers from the stock (and hopeless) 40W paper cone speakers to these Focals keeping the Renault Media Nav sat nav head unit. Without using a separate amp I wasn't sure how much better just a speaker change would be, but I've been really impressed. I didn't find the treble overpowering like the other reviewer, but you can tweak this down on the head unit to suit your preference in any case so this isn't an issue. These speakers are made in France and have rigid cast aluminium baskets with the Focal branding cast into them - really well made and all the other parts (speaker pods, wiring, crossovers etc) are high quality. A million miles from cheap Halfords speakers! The key benefit over the stock Renault speakers has been the improvement in bass and clarity. It can now go up to 99 per cent of full volume with minimal distortion (and that's probably from the head unit anyway). Bass is now punchy and weightier than I was expecting. For £150 and about four hours of fitting (fiddly job on a Trafic) it's been well worth it. Love them! Fitting notes for 2014-on Renault Trafic - you'll need to buy or make speaker adaptors for the 6.5-inch mid range drivers to make then sit further inwards from the door (so the larger speaker magnet clears the door glass lowering frame). You can buy plastic adaptors or make them. I made them out of two scraps of 18mm ply (to space speakers in 36mm) using the original speakers as a template. These were then sprayed black and work great. The tweeter can easily fitted by drilling a 45mm hole in the top of the door card (mark hole with the door card in place and door shut). There's room for the crossover box behind the door card. It's a good idea to add some dymat or silent coat on the inside of the door while the speaker is out to reduce vibrations and improve bass. Green speaker wires on mine were negative, grey positive.

Well packaged, instructions are naff, i.e. its not 100% clear on the phase of the speakers. Sound is generally good, best bit is the mids and bass, very smooth mid and deep powerful bass for a 6.5" speaker, the tweeter although quite detailed is a little sibilant and lets the speaker package down a touch. My only caveat to this I am using the standard car wiring, this may improve somewhat with a reasonable speaker wire. Used with Pioneer DEH-X8700DAB stereo. In my other car I have 5x7 JL audio which has a much smoother top end difficult to compare in two different cars and different stereos but this is just the standard Ford unit. The bass and mid is good although more I think without the benefit of being able to directly compare different speakers I would try something different like Hertz or JL audio. Which is a shame if they had gone for a more conventional dome fabric tweeter I think this would have been a winner.