Happy Cake Day. 
No need to learn any lessons at this point. It was an expensive purchase, my retirement system. No more funds to devote to my system now.
I either have to find a new hobby, sell everything (tho i love the ps audio gear).
because as much as we can point out what i did wrong or the dealer did wrong, I am stuck with very expensive speakers that hurt my ears after 15 minutes. Either the speakers donât like my electronics, my music, or my room it doesnât matter, I canât keep buying new equipment.
if i had the chance to return these speakers, i would go all ps audio to compliment the ps audio electronics. the kicker is, i could have used that money to purchase a few ps audio components and have a wonderful support team to help me.
Iâm sorry to hear about your predicament, but before you take a loss selling your new speakers, at least fully break them in, which can take hundreds of hours, and maybe ask your dealer for some set up assistance.
as of now, 1-week, I have 100 hours on them and nothing has changed.
The dealer has offered to come out to my house, and work on positioning (which Iâm kindof ok at), and then they mention⊠maybe you need a different DAC or amplifiers.
I will have them come over, meantime I will contact Focal and see if they can work something out with the dealer.
I would take them up on that. they are heavy and they obviously got them working in the store well. But I am not sure I agree with the amp part. The 300âs went very well with my Sopras. they probably want to sell you a NAIM, which does go well with Focal, but not needed to make them sound good.
Which DAC are you using?
Mark Levinson 5101 SACD player w/DAC
Maybe they can let you borrow a dac..
I had a similar problem in the sense that I âthrew moneyâ into an âupgradeâ and did not get the expected results. In my case, I âupgradedâ my room (acoustic treatment, ceiling changes etc) and added an expensive 85 inch TV and the HiFi Rose RS150B to compliment by BHK 300âs, Pre, DS MkII, PST and Vivid Spirits. Powered from a P20.
Unfortunately, the above âdid not do itâ for me. So I felt exactly like you at this moment, I understand the feeling and you have my sympathy.
For me though, the CURE was completely unexpected. .
- I downgraded, absolutely expecting a sound deterioration - totally gave up on âupgradingâ.
- Sold all my PS Audio stuff except the P20. But later had to let that go as well because it wouldnât work with my new âdowngradedâ equipment.
- I bought the Aurender AP20 all in one; and just because money wasnât really the issue, also the Aurender NH10 Network hub.
- I changed my room around: From the target wall being the short wall, to long. I honestly donât know how it changed my sound, but I my word! The lounge became a much âfriendlierâ place - it was as though it doubled in size. By the grace of the FSM my expensive room treatment suited the change well enough. If the sound improved due to the changeover, it might have been psychological.
- I changed the way in which I listened to music. Donated all my CDâs to a friend. Now itâs purely streaming from Tidal, and my 16Tb Synology NAS. Plus a little YouTube.
I can HONESTLY say: The expected downgrade, simply did not happen. Instead, I perceive my sound quality as BETTER. Though Iâm quite happy to concede itâs all in my mind.
[Edited to add: Oh, and the Aurender stuff is still running in âŠ]
100 hours is still nowhere near enough, please listen to everyone here, especially Galen (rower30).
Take a deep breath and give them 300-500 hours before making any decisions.
@onehorsepony, I suspect youâve already tried this, but did you set the treble adjustment available on the back of your Scala Utopia Evos to Low to see if that helped?
â Chris
yes, I have tried that. Focal says it lowers the upper end by 1db, very subtle.
Anyone have an opinion on whether waiting 500 hours for break-in is a real thing, or is 500 hours the amount of time for our brain to re-condition itself to the change in sound?
Itâs enough time to damage your ears and your brain.
I find that both are at play.
I join with others who encourage patience.
@audioholic will strenuously disagree, but I donât think it will take anywhere near 500 hours for your speakers to break in. I believe the user manual for your speakers notes that you should expect 20 hours or so before your speakers have settled in, if I recall correctly. So say 48 hours, to be sure. But three weeks of continuous play? Bah.
â Chris
The break in process governs and re-condition has a smaller role I believe. When I like a cable so much, I bought another one for a different component. The SQ of the new cable sounded way worse than the first one and it took weeks to sound at the same level. This has happened a few times too.
I tend to agree with the manual on this one. If no improvement has occurred in 200+ hours, then that tells the story IMO.
I used to have Zu Audio speakers. Sean Casey, the owner, designer told me that when he first started selling his speakers, his return rate was quite high. Then he decided to burn-in all of his drivers; built special rigs in a separate building. Now he burns-in all drivers for 600 hours before they get installed and finished. That fixed the returns problem.
Itâs not just the drivers that need to be broken in, itâs all the wiring and the crossover parts as well, which take way more than 20 to 48 hrs.
Like I said.