I’ll visit the Berlin one next Monday, first stop of my new speaker auditions, let’s see what these Focals can do 
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It’s a perfectly good word in English. In teaching, for instance, it is, basically, learning by doing or be experiencing, rather than by someone standing in front of the class and talking at the kids.
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It may be, but its hardly in common use - and will likely pass most people by, completely…
Reality applies.
It is a proper word but it does have a distinct taste of talking bollocks. The challenge of course is how you’d get the message across without using loads more words.
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He said it… 
So to clarify, is this old Sevonoaks sound and vision store exclusively Naim and focal only now, nothing else in store, no other brands?
No, they have a high end dedicated listening room for Naim/Focal - whoa be the Linn that dares show it’s face…
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To clarify, it’s an entire part of the Sevenoaks store dedicated solely to Focal and Naim, including hi-fi and home cinema demonstration rooms, as well as a headphone bar and showroom area.
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The ads are all over LinkedIn but unfortunately they all mainly feature Focal and the links take you to their website.
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I am only a short drive from Sevenoaks, 15 minutes max. However, I have no interest in Focal so very much doubt I will be popping in. My long suffering dealer in SE London won’t get rid of me that easily…
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FYI the Focal Powered by Naim information pages only sit on the Focal website at the moment, as we’re not adding much new to the creaking old Naim website before it gets replaced!
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A new website would great, it is showing it’s age. 
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So is there an opportunity to compare Focal to other speakers if they’re in the rest of the store or is the demo room exclusive to the Focal/Naim combination.
Not that Sevenoaks list many interesting competitors in that store, no Kudos for instance, nor Dynaudio or ProAc.
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Having said that, Focal seem under-represented in the UK . Given products that are developed with Naim , you would hope for a synergy
My local Naim dealer doesn’t like Focal so doesn’t stock them. I think it’s really positive that dealers can pick and choose and not have to take both Focal and Naim. When buying speakers it’s essential to be able to make comparisons and it would be useful to understand how this is facilitated in these Focal / Naim shops.
When I was buying my speakers I was talking to the ProAc sales guy and remarked on how there aren’t many ProAc dealers. I was told that the company had deliberately reduced dealers and yet sales had increased. It seems it’s more effective to use dealers that really like the brand, rather than being yet another speaker in a shop full of loads.
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That’s changing, fast - Focal UK is on a real growth spurt right now. With the latest generations of Focal speakers tuned with Naim, many retailers and customers are forgetting ‘received wisdom’ and enjoying the synergy.
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I’ve had my focal Cobalt 816’s for years - and they sound very good with 5si’s.
Didn’t know of the link up of the 2 companies until I bought the 5si’s.
So I can’t compare speakers, but I’m very happy, even if they are ‘pre’ tuned.
Agree.
I like both Naim and Focal (used to own them previously), but would always want to compare against others.
@Naim.Marketing Can you perhaps say something regarding this?
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There are plenty of specialist retailers where you can demo a range of speakers with a range of electronics, if that’s your choice. Those retailers are not going anywhere; we work with many thousands of them across the world.
However, Focal Powered by Naim stores are designed just to showcase products and systems from our two brands - including to customers whom would maybe never consider visiting a traditional audio retailer.
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I guess this is more of a concept studio to show the synergy and pairing of the two products, rather than a mix and match of multiple brands. As you say there is probably a whole new market out there that want a matched ‘package’.
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