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Focal Spirit Pro Headphones Defect
I know there are a few Focal Spirit Pro headphones users here, so I thought I'd share this with you.
After reading here that one person's Focals fell apart, I took a close look at mine. Sure enough, I saw some hairline cracks on the inside of the headband just above the ear pieces.
I immediately called Focal. They asked for pics, serial #, and invoice. I emailed all that, and they're sending out new ones today. As easy as it should have been.
I bought mine in January 2015 and used them almost daily at home. I would say I treated them well. Seems like a defect. I hope the next ones are better.
Of course, I Googled and saw several examples out in other forum communities showing the same kinds of cracks in the same location.
It's probably a good idea for everyone who has a pair to give them a close inspection, paying particular attention to the areas just above the ear pieces.
I'm not sure how long the warranty is, but it's at least two years.
I hope this helps someone else out there.
Comments
Thanks for the headsup. I'm going to take a look at mine.
Thanks for the info. Mine are fully cracked in the same spot, hanging on for dear life. It's encouraging to hear that Focal is replacing yours, though. Are you having to pay for shipping to return the cracked pair?
I haven't gotten that far yet. I received an email saying the new ones are being shipped. I'm hoping they arrive with a return label. I have to make sure the new ones have a new warranty.
I'll keep you posted when I have more information.
Please do. Thanks!
Aside from this defect, what is your opinion of these and other models from Focal? Are they on-ear or over-ear? How are you using them? What other brand/models would you compare to them? Where did you purchase them?
They're on ear. For normal style headphones I really like them, though these days I tend to prefer IEMs as I find them a little more accurate on the low end for me. Good isolation and comfy though, and reasonably flat response for the price.
I know a few people who've had reliability issues with the Spirit's, which I have to say is not my experience. I don't abuse mine or anything, but I've had them since they came out, and they've travelled around the world with me in just the bag they came with and look like brand new still. Until I heard about people having so many issues with cracking them, I was actually impressed with the build quality myself.
Bummer that hasn't been the case for other people though.
Okay, I received a new pair in the mail with no instructions asking to return the originals. No return label, nothing. I'm going to use the old ones until I can't, then break out the new ones. Good deal.
That's fantastic news. Would it be too much trouble to ask you for the specific number you called?
It was the support number on the Focal web page.
Update:> @supanorton said:
Update: Focal never asked me to return my original pair of cans, so I used them until the cracks got so bad that the earphones stopped fitting my head securely. I started using the new ones about a year ago. Well, I noticed the same hairline cracks on the bands above the earpieces and contacted Focal again.
It took them 5 days to get back to me. They asked for pictures, serial #, and original receipt. A day later, they told me they discontinued the Spirit Pro headphone but would exchange mine for their new Focal Listen Professionals.
One drawback: I had to pay $8 to ship my old ones back.
A week later (today), the Listen Pros arrived. They’re more comfortable, come with a travel case, and seem to be more accurate than the in the low mids after about an hour of listening to some of my mixes done with the Spirit Pros. They sound great.
I must say that Focal’s customer service has been excellent through all this. I could complain that I had to cover the shipping on my end, but I won’t. Perhaps they would have covered the shipping if I had complained.
I found a Youtube video of a guy who repaired his cracked Spirit Pros with some tempered aluminum and plastic tie strips. I may try that on the cracked Spirit Pros I still have.
Would I buy from Focal again?
Yes.
Great to hear you got such good service from them. My Spirit Pros haven't cracked, but it's reassuring to know they would still replace them all these years later.
Thanks for the info @supanorton. I normally put them back into the box. But it's great to know that Focal have an excellent customers service, & I didn't know that they stopped with the Spirit Pro's...…. Interesting!... Thanks mate.
hi everyone, signed up for this Post.
I have owned FSPs I bought second-hand on ebay for 90€ for some 3 years, 4 months of which I actually used them, because the inevitable cracking of the headband arose pretty quickly, because I mostly used them for monitoring of field-recording, which puts quite a significant strain on all parts. Being outdoors and what-not.
Anyway: I liked the analytical sound, but always found the pressure on the ears to be somewhat too low, which might relate to early signs of the cracking, or maybe was that way out of the box. I can't know because they were used when I got them.
I had a pretty bad experience wtih costumer support. Being a long-time beyerdynamic user I expected to be able to purchase replacement parts for the headphones and wrote multiple and cordial emails to that end to CS which weren't answered. One of them was even composed in French ;-) Somewhat disheartened and despite my proclivity for DIY and unlikely repairs, I put the can in the drawer because the crack made them essentially unusable.
There they remained for years. Every now again I would come across them while looking for something and I would lament the fact, that this fine-sounding pair of headphones has become unusable with no apparent way of fixing them.
Seeing that I have some nice IE-monitors and a pair of BD DT-770 Pros, the loss sucks but at least I didn't urgently need them.
In the light of my brother's recently having taken up music production and his pending birthday I decided to make another attempt at fixing them.
My idea was to flood the aluminium profile with epoxy resin, wrap the outside with epoxy-drenched carbon-fiber and imitate the repair of sports equipment(bicyle frames, kajaks, fishing rods). I asked a frieend who is a product-designer to help me, hoping to benefit from her experience with materials, epoxy etc.
The short version is, that the glue approach failed, because the connection is too brittle, though super stiff and shards of glue end up splittering from the fix. Simply too little room for a stable connection.
I later tried to weld the aluminium and thoug it might be possible for a more seasoned welder, I failed and am not sure, that it is possible to wled such thin stock.
When all hope seemed lost I sudeenly remembered another pair of headphones, a smelly 30 y.o. headset from an airport tower I fortunately I still had somewhere.
I decided to scrap it for parts. The repair was finecky and time consuming(probably 7h in a well equipped workshop, just to attach the "new" headband), but I think the result speaks for itself.
The pressure on the ears is somewhat higher than before, so is the weight of the headphones(the latter being pleasant to me though).
I am pleased with the result and I am thrilled to be able to conserve the best part about the FSP(the sound) while doing away with the pathetic product-design and flimsy plastic headband. Despite @supanorton 's positive experience I wouldn't reccomend Focale's customer support to anyone and think that putting out such a (high-price) product and not owning up to the fail (from a product-design point of view) later on, is pretty weak for a company with a claim to quality.
Great sounding headphone never the less.
Clever use of a bicycle link.