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Focal Speakers The Spirit of Sound

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  #11  
Old 05-01-2013, 05:44 PM
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Ch1mera1989 Ch1mera1989 is offline
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Great! A Utopia owner Thanks for your reply. Do you have pictures of your system?
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  #12  
Old 05-01-2013, 11:00 PM
Msegal Msegal is offline
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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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  #13  
Old 05-02-2013, 01:48 AM
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imprezap2 imprezap2 is offline
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Hi

I had a pair of Electra 1037be, with upgraded xover.
Very much enjoyed them with my Accuphase amplifier.

Deep breathing lows, and clear detailed highs and mids. (and with the upgraded xover, I did not here a difference in the highs, compared with the Scala)
Only traded them after I found some Magico V3's.

Rgds,

Olaf
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  #14  
Old 05-02-2013, 06:14 AM
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Ch1mera1989 Ch1mera1989 is offline
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Thanks guys for your replies

@Imprezap2: this is you, right? my.hifi.nl Beautiful setup. I'm on there too. Usernumber 10971.

@Msegal: You have the Scala's in red, right? Can you show us some pictures of them?
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  #15  
Old 05-02-2013, 11:22 AM
watchdog watchdog is offline
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I am a Diablo Utopia owner.

They are excellent stand mounted speakers that do a lot of things right - provided that you are careful in the setup and partnering of equipment. The very revealing tweeter can punish you if the rest of the chain is not up to scratch.

The Diablo is not difficult to drive and with a quality 60 watts plus, it can sing in a small room. If I had to criticise this speaker, the first point is that it sounds a bit dull at low listening volumes - it really shines at more realistic listening levels, so no late night sessions. The second is that the sublime tweeter is not matched by its woofer. As good as the Focal w-cone woofer is, it can sound a bit soft in definition and slow, especially compared to the woofer on the Raidho D1 (admittedly a much more expensive speaker).

I am nitpicking though, and seriously speaking, the Diablo is an excellent speaker.
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  #16  
Old 05-02-2013, 12:34 PM
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Ch1mera1989 Ch1mera1989 is offline
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Thanks for your reply.

Hmm I forgot all about the Raidho's. The price in the Netherlands is 15k for the D1's. Heard them a few months ago at a show, and liked them but they didn't blow me away. But I try never to judge a speaker that I heard at shows. But when I'm aiming at that price, I also can go for the Guarneri Evolution which are 14k.
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Old 05-02-2013, 12:55 PM
mnilan mnilan is offline
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I listened to the Stella Utopias at the Toronto Audio Show last year. I was trying to show my wife what it would cost to replace my Magnepan MG 1.6s and we wandered into the room with the Stellas. We sat down (we were the only people in the room at the time) and listened to a classical orchestra piece from a digital source and within two minutes, we were both crying. Seriously. I have never heard anything so powerful EVEN IN PERSON. Afterwards, my wife said that she now understood something about hi end audio now - there isn't just recorded music which aspires towards live music and then live music. There is also this other category to which the Stellas belonged that was something else again - smoother and more perfect than live music. Anyway, even though they were on sale with a show special price of $39+K there is no way that I will ever be able to afford such beasts. I want them though...
Mike
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  #18  
Old 05-02-2013, 02:41 PM
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I remember when I first demoed the Diablos a little over two years ago, it took less than 10 minutes before I knew that that's what I wanted.
To me they do everything right. I absolutely love them.
They're in a smallish (12'x22') room and being fed by an Acoustic Research VS115 amp thru Transparent Musicwave Super cables.
I supplement the bottom end with a pair of JL F112 subs, just to add some muscle to everything below 44Hz, the Diablos lower limit.
I've heard the Grande Utopias...it's a good thing dreaming is free!
Rick
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  #19  
Old 05-02-2013, 04:48 PM
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Thanks again guys for the posts. Keep 'em coming

@mnilan: welcome to the greatest forum in the multiverse and coupled with that, a great first post. That's what it's all about!

@RMB: Sounds like a great system. The Diablo's are starting to itch more and more. Luckily where I work, we're Focal dealer. Altough we only do the 700 and 800 line actively. I would be getting a great price Too bad the EM sub still wouldn't be cheap
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Last edited by Ch1mera1989; 05-02-2013 at 04:52 PM.
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  #20  
Old 05-02-2013, 05:59 PM
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mnilan, welcome aboard!
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