[Dvdlucena]

He isn't likely to know being he doesn't own a set of Elear or Utopia although he does have a set of Utopia on the way to him. In any case you should ask Marine @focalofficial this question.

Thanks
Just observing some people with those problem. I thought senior member would have a better picture of the situation, having or not the headphones...

Hummm...
I can imagine the @focalofficial answer to this question.

 

[TSAVJason]

Thanks
Just observing some people with those problem. I thought senior member would have a better picture of the situation, having or not the headphones...

Hummm...
I can imagine the @focalofficial answer to this question.

Does it really matter if you can buy it from The Source AV with a 5 year warranty?

 

[Rchandra]

Does it really matter if you can buy it from The Source AV with a 5 year warranty?

I have a question do you give any special deals if you pay with cash?

 

[up late]

can't complain about a 5 year warranty

 

[Whitigir]

can't complain about a 5 year warranty

Yes! And that puts it without being negligence about your stuff, you should be covered for 5 years. Probably long enough to see Utopia MKII. So I don't think the scenario is valid where out of warranty drivers failures happen, how would Focal do with that, question ? Because such question would be reserved for the year of 2021 starting ?

 

[up late]

so you're getting one @whitigir?

 

[AnakChan]

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

It appears I had made some errors in my original post, so here is a revised version (thanks to AnakChan for his clarification):

I had accidentally knocked my Elear off my desk which had pushed the left side ear cup yoke into the headband. When I tried to adjust the left yoke, I heard a snap in the headband and immediately knew I broke something. If I pushed the ear cups inwards towards each other, there would be an unnatural bend in the headband about 3 inches from the left end of the headband.

Here was my Elear without tension.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/adrianclee/Elear%20No%20Tension_zpsx1mjaufz.jpg

Here was my Elear with tension.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/adrianclee/Elear%20With%20Tension_zps4gneuj83.jpg

I first contacted my dealer about this issue and they directed me to contact Focal NA directly. I then contacted Focal via email asking whether this issue would fall under the warranty. Five days later, Focal stated:

"I finally heard back from my colleague in France. Unfortunately this would not fall under warranty as it would be considered physical damage. If you would like we can look into getting a replacement headband and see how much it would cost to replace that?"

So I said fine and asked what would be the cost to replace the headband. To which my friendly Focal representative replied:

"I just got word back from France and the headband is not changeable. They were not constructed so that they could be switched out."

Since I was out of options, I figured I might as well take it apart and see if I can fix it myself.

Here was my Elear with the leather/microfiber skin and the foam padding removed.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/adrianclee/Elear%20Rubber%20Inserts_zpsv7d3jyxa.jpg

Here was my Elear with the rubber inserts removed.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/adrianclee/Elear%20SteelPlastic%20Headband_zpsmp5kiute.jpg

Hmmmm.....it sure looks like the headband is constructed so that it can be fixed and or switched out. It turns out the little plastic stubs holding the center stainless steel piece is broken on the left side. It seems to be rather weak and poorly designed for a $1k headphone. Since I couldn't buy replacement parts to repair this, I figured I may as well jury rig it so that can provide the support I need to keep the headphones on my head. I bought a 24 gauge 6"x1" stainless steel anode used for electro plating jewely and gave it a bend that corresponds to the bend of the headphones. I then super glued it to the plastic end pieces of the headband and for good measure, duct taped the whole thing together. I then reapplied the foam padding and sewed the leather/microfiber skin back together.

Here is my Elear re-assembled and with tension.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/adrianclee/Elear%20Re-Assembled_zpsj7wvjrcl.jpg

Now, despite my headband issues, I would like to state that my Elear is still one of my favorite headphones currently in the market. Like most of you, I have way more headphones than I have space on my desk, yet the three I keep within my reach are: Utopia, Elear and HD800.

It does sound strange that the headband is not interchangeable. I'm wondering if the headband or part of the headband are subcontracted out when made. Or alternatively that information itself was lost in translation along the way by the time the message got to you (since you mentioned that your Focal contact mentioned the word "colleague").

However if it's parts that that cannot be purchased (but doesn't mean unavailable), I may understand that. At least with the business I've come across, it's not uncommon that inventory is divided into warranty replacement parts vs billable parts even if the part component is exactly the same. As these headphones are "new" (less than 1 year) and majority repairs if any, would likely fall under the warranty replacement parts category. Further more, I don't think the Elear and definitely not the Utopia are "massed produced" type headphones which is why they're backordered - therefore I would speculate any parts available would be prioritised primarily for building new headphones.
 
My 2 yen worth anyway. It's a lot of guessing without knowing the details. I'm just offering one of many many potential explanations.

 

[TSAVJason]

It does sound strange that the headband is not interchangeable. I'm wondering if the headband or part of the headband are subcontracted out when made. Or alternatively that information itself was lost in translation along the way by the time the message got to you (since you mentioned that your Focal contact mentioned the word "colleague").


However if it's parts that that cannot be purchased (but doesn't mean unavailable), I may understand that. At least with the business I've come across, it's not uncommon that inventory is divided into warranty replacement parts vs billable parts even if the part component is exactly the same. As these headphones are "new" (less than 1 year) and majority repairs if any, would likely fall under the warranty replacement parts category. Further more, I don't think the Elear and definitely not the Utopia are "massed produced" type headphones which is why they're backordered - therefore I would speculate any parts available would be prioritised primarily for building new headphones.

My 2 yen worth anyway. It's a lot of guessing without knowing the details. I'm just offering one of many many potential explanations.

Backordered? Where? We have a mountains worth of them!!

 

[james6333]

No one cares about your sales pitch...

 

[ubs28]

Backordered? Where? We have a mountains worth of them!!

Not everybody is from the USA. I still find it strange why Focal favoured Americans all this time despite it being an European product. 

 

[stacker45]

Backordered? Where? We have a mountains worth of them!!

 
My dealer told me that the Canadian distributor in Edmonton didn't have the utopia, they were nice enough to lend me the utopia that they had on demo, so it's all good.

 

[ucanuup]

no spare parts is a ****ty excuse, unreplaceable headband is even worse.

 

[TSAVJason]

My dealer told me that the Canadian distributor in Edmonton didn't have the utopia, they were nice enough to lend me the utopia that they had on demo, so it's all good.

That "Canadian Distributor" in Edmonton is FocalNA

 

[MarkF786]

IMHO, if they can't be repaired, then a replacement pair should be discounted, similar to Shure's approach with their IEMs.

 

[Kukua]

Not everybody is from the USA. I still find it strange why Focal favoured Americans all this time despite it being an European product. 

purely from a profit perspective primarily..the US market is huge,thence most companies try to break into the American market