powering my 1028s with a Crown XLS802 fed by a Cary SLP05

afridi... Welcome! :wave:

I'm powering my 716's with my Pioneer Elite SC-35. Not super high end but for HT usage it sounds great.

Welcome Afridi.
There are really good people here!

Mike.

I am using MC275's monos to drive Utopia III Stelas. Not the best for the bass but great musicality. I am using a pair of REL G1's to fill in the bass. The best of tubes and solid state!

4 Alto utopias & center driven by boulder 850 monoblocks. Amazing combo!

Don't get me wrong the pair share certain sonic traits, which are:

Fast and punchy bass
Ultra resolution
Precision imaging

The maestro delivers an overall darker presentation with bigger sound field and slightly more relaxed across the bandwidth. The bass is much deeper and potent. The advantage of the Scala IMO is only if you can't accommodate the Maestro. The maestro does everything the Scala can but with the ability to provide all recordings on a grander scale, more natural timbre and increased resolution.

Very nice, have either of you posted pictures here on the site anywhere? I have heard a pair of Alto's and really liked them, silky smooth mid range and very good bass response. phunge, with the Alto's being a fairly big speaker, you must have a fairly large room to accommodate 4 of them.

It sounds overall you are happy with improvements in all areas from the maestro over the scala.

I have read in detail on your discussions on another forum.

Its seems at first this member found the maestro draker as well and not drawing any attention in any areas. I.e. more natural which i also find from the demo of the maestro.

However, from your now long ownership of the maestro, do you in anyway find less brilliance in the sound on maybe lesser or duller sounding material which is not audiophile quality recordings which allow the more tilted scala to excel in its own, in otherwords, maestro giving a less hyped but at the same time doesnt catch ones attention as much in say shorter listening sessions.

The scala can sound wonderful on better recordings but less grand and showing some etchiness and overemphasised highs on recordings which have been titled up by the sound engineer.

After months of ownership, are you totally knock by the improvement by the bigger speaker? Bass wise way punchier and deeper than the scale everytime. Worrying that a room not large enough will be overloaded with bass.

Thanks in miles for your opinion and view.

I have not specifically ever felt that either speaker did not catch my attention. They always manage to catch my attention due to the fantastic resolution even on short listening sessions. I think the differences between them would definitely manifest more obviously pending on your preferred genre - if you like orchestral music and you have a decent room, then maestro is a must IMO. The Scala does have a beautiful balance overall and I would happily own either as long as I had a sub for the Scala.

When listening to music, there are certain aspects that I find important to knock me out / really excite me to keep listening. One of these is scale - there is nothing quite like having your room awash with sound in an enormous 3d field. The maestro just delivers this in spades and if it is important to you then the Scala will not suffice. I like impactful, fast, clean, deep bass - the Maestro has never boomed in my rooms. I have had them in 2 rooms. Tbh, one of the outstanding traits of focal IMO, is the ability to deliver clean, fast, punchy bass without timing errors. If you have a carpeted room, you must get the Stillpoints ultras instead of spikes - they are startling.

At the end of the day, in your position, I would go for the Maestro and be dine with it. Otherwise, you will lust after that scale and bass. Oddly, I don't lust for Stellas. I would love some but ultimately my room would not take them - they would over drive the room I reckon. Anyway - maybe go listen again if you can. Take lots of your material and take your time.