I own Scalas and have been very happy with them. They really swing with a Pathos Inpol2 with only 50 watts of class A power. I changed to tube amp and preamp because I like tubes. The mono MC275LE do not have the balls to beat the woofer into submission like the Pathos. I mated the Scalas with two REL G1 subs because adding Utopia subs would end up costing more than my entire system!
As others have mentioned they excel as prestidigitation, the ability to fool you into believing something which is not true or a slight of hand. They are capable of incredible realism, aggressive and startling attack, subtle and delicate decays, imaging of a very high order, great transparency if the equipment allows and most importantly great musicality. They are sensitive to EVERYTHING up stream so you must dot your i's and cross your t's or you may be disappointed.
I have compared the Diablos to the Scalas and I felt there was enough "value" in moving up. The Scalas had better presence and musicality. They seemed to flow better. There was nothing wrong with the Diablos especially their midrange and high end transparency were excellent. Again, beware of weak cable choices as the tweeter will be all too happy to show you the honest truth.
I use Shanyata Zitron Anaconda speaker cable and Python IC's. I also use a Talos conditioner and Shunyata power cables. I have heard Analysis Plus Silver Ovals and Tributaries including the new Gordon Gow cables which are not in the same league and the speakers let me know the difference.
Good luck.
I bet a REL G1 or G2 would round out bass nicely. You will need 2 of them as the crossover settings will need to be so high as to lead to sub localization.
Mike S.
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