Focal Stellia Review and Measurements

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Jul 18, 2020.

  1. deafenears

    deafenears Almost "Made"

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    Adding to the excellent posts from @3X0. Here's internal shots I took several weeks back.

    PXL_20220114_211101916.jpg

    This showing the beryllium drivers found in the Stellia. As mentioned, they're not "attached" to anything. The drivers sit on top of brackets with the enclosure plate securing it in place.

    PXL_20220114_230516882.jpg

    With the driver removed, you can see the contact pins there. Looking at Focal's marketing material, the Clear MGs look very similar and I'm wondering you can mix-n-match and swap drivers between the two. I don't currently have a pair to open up though.

    On the topic of the Stellia headbands, it isn't just the staining of the leather headbands but rather reports of the headbands breaking and the creaking that really annoyed be so I decided to swap it with an Audeze.

    PXL_20220120_025923158.jpg

    As well as ear pads, with the above showing Dekoni HiFiMAN on the left and Dekoni Stellia Ltd. one the right for comparison. Easily done and requires the mounting rings from an old set of pads:

    PXL_20220114_235650176.jpg
     
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  2. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    FocalMan Elegidara ... ROFLMFAO

    Good to know how to open them up and disassemble the yokes. And to know that there's a solution if my headband ever breaks. I'd thought about going in there to lubricate the pins securing the yokes, but application of dry teflon lubricant from the outside solved my creaking issue. The discussion was in the Clear thread, but may be useful for Stellia owners as well.

    As for the leather soaking up body oils, I've just accepted that it's part of "life with Stellia". My skin tends to be rather oily, so my pads are practically black already, as well as the top underside of the headband. They're keepers IMO, so I'm not really worried about reduced resale value.
     
  3. 3X0

    3X0 Friend

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    I always thought the open-back Focals (Clear Mg and Clear Mg Pro included) used a pretty convoluted earcup assembly including soldered drivers, but it would be interesting if Focal trickled the "modular" approach from their closed-backs into all newer releases.

    Also, visually it looks like the internal rear earcup baffle of both the Stellia and Radiance are near-identical down to the pyramid scheme (sorry). Any acoustic differences resulting from the driver swap are probably due to the earpads along with porting differences behind the dampening foam. AFAICT, the Elegia, Stellia and Celestee all have venting through the Focal logo whereas the Radiance's venting is far smaller.

    I've only seen one report on an Amazon review of a broken Stellia headband (with picture evidence along the familiar failure point) but I have little reason to suspect the Stellia's headband assembly is any more durable than that in the infamous Elex and Elegia. But in any case, it's reassuring to know that the earcup assembly is so "workable" and that it would be easy enough to either transplant the drivers or swap the headband if (when?) the original Stellia headband fails.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2022
  4. frank2908

    frank2908 New

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    Do you have any detail photo of the baffle plate? Is there any seal on the plate to be contact with the driver?
     

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