Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Focal Maestro Utopia Evo loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

When I learned that Rogier van Bakel was reviewing Focal's Maestro Utopia Evo, I flashed back to the logistical difficulties I experienced when I reviewed an earlier version of this loudspeaker, the Maestro Utopia III, in July 2010. The Evo is the same size—almost 5' high—and weight—256lb—as the earlier speaker. It made sense, therefore, to drive my test gear the 500 miles to RvB's place in Maine rather than struggle with the loudspeaker's bulk at my Brooklyn home.

For the measurements, I drove one of the Focal Maestro Utopia Evos, serial number A1BPEF00543, with RvB's Krell FPB 200c. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker's behavior in the farfield and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. It wasn't possible to raise the Maestro Utopia Evo off the floor for the measurements, so the first reflection from the ground occurs earlier than is usually the case with my measurements. I therefore measured the response and dispersion with the microphone at 1m rather than my usual 50". RvB and I moved one of the speakers away from the sidewall so that it fired along his listening room's diagonal, but it wasn't possible to measure the off-axis response more than 45° to each side of the tweeter axis.


Fig.1 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, jumpers set to Neutral, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed) (2 ohms/vertical div.).

Focal specifies the Maestro Utopia Evo's sensitivity as a high 93dB/2.83V/m. My B-weighted estimate was very similar, at 92.7dB(B)/2.83V/m. The Utopia Evo's nominal impedance is specified as 8 ohms. I measured the speaker's impedance parameters with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system. The speaker's impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) remains between 4 and 8 ohms throughout the midrange and treble. The minimum value is 2.5 ohms at 83Hz. This measurement was taken with the three jumpers set to their central, Neutral position. With the jumpers set to High, the port-tuning frequency didn't change, but the impedance peak in the low bass rose to 14.5 ohms. The minimum value with this setting was 2.3 ohms. With the jumpers set to Low, the minimum value rose slightly to 2.6 ohms and the low-frequency peak dropped by almost 2 ohms. The electrical phase angle (fig.1, dotted trace) is occasionally high, especially at low frequencies. The equivalent peak dissipation resistance, or EPDR (footnote 1), lies below 3 ohms between 19.5Hz and 42Hz and between 53Hz and 221Hz and below 2 ohms in several regions in the bass. The minimum EPDR values are 1.52 ohms at 26Hz, 1.48 ohms at 72Hz, and 1.675 ohms at 121Hz. The Maestro Utopia Evo is a demanding load for the partnering amplifier, though this will be ameliorated by the high sensitivity.


Fig.2 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, cumulative spectral-decay plot calculated from output of accelerometer fastened to rear of midrange enclosure (measurement bandwidth, 2kHz).

The three enclosures seemed inert when I rapped them with my knuckles. The woofer enclosure was impressively silent. The only significant resonant modes I found with a plastic-tape accelerometer were on the midrange enclosure's top and side panels, at 320Hz and 344Hz (fig.2). However, these are of relatively high Q (Quality Factor) and the affected areas are small, both of which will work against there being audible consequences.


Fig.3 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, jumpers set to Neutral, acoustic crossover on tweeter axis at 1m, corrected for microphone response, with the nearfield midrange (green), woofer (blue), and port (red) responses plotted below 355Hz, 355Hz, and 400Hz.

The saddle centered on 32Hz in the Maestro Utopia Evo's impedance-magnitude plot suggests that this is the tuning frequency of the downward-firing port on the woofer bin's base. The port's nearfield response (fig.3, red trace) features a broad peak between 20Hz and 90Hz, which implies extended low frequencies. The two woofers behaved identically; their summed nearfield response (fig.3, blue trace) had the expected reflex notch at 32Hz and peaked between 50Hz and 150Hz. The woofers' upper-frequency output rolls off sharply, crossing over to the midrange unit's output (green trace) at the specified 280Hz. The farfield response of the midrange unit and tweeter on the tweeter axis (green trace above 355Hz), with the jumpers set to Neutral, is even, with small, narrow suckouts balanced by equally small peaks.


Fig.4 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, jumpers set to Neutral, anechoic response on tweeter axis at 1m, averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield responses plotted below 300Hz.

The black trace above 300Hz in fig.4 shows the Focal's farfield output averaged across a 30° horizontal window centered on the tweeter axis, again with the jumpers set to Neutral. The balance is respectably even throughout the midrange and treble. With the low-frequency jumper set to Neutral, the complex sum of the nearfield midrange, woofer, and port responses (fig.4, black trace below 300Hz) has a large peak between 30Hz and 150Hz. This boost will be due in part to the nearfield measurement technique, which assumes that the drive units are placed on a true infinite baffle, ie, one which extends to infinity in both vertical and horizontal planes. But this low-frequency behavior, which I could hear with the pseudorandom MLSSA signal, does suggest that the Maestro Utopia Evo's reflex alignment is underdamped.


Fig.5 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, lateral response family at 1m, normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 45–5° off axis, reference response, differences in response 5–45° off axis.


Fig.6 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, vertical response family at 1m, normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 15–5° above axis, reference response, differences in response 5–10° below axis.

The Maestro Utopia Evo's horizontal dispersion (fig.5) is well-controlled, with the tweeter's top-octave output gently rolling off more than 15° off-axis to the sides. In the vertical plane (fig.6), the tweeter-axis balance is maintained 5° above and below that axis, which is useful considering that the tweeter is 47" from the floor. A suckout at 2.4kHz, close to the upper crossover frequency, appears 10° below the tweeter axis.


Fig.7 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, step response on tweeter axis at 1m (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).


Fig.8 Focal Maestro Utopia Evo, cumulative spectral-decay plot on tweeter axis at 1m (0.15ms risetime).

In the time domain, the Maestro Utopia Evo's step response on the tweeter axis (fig.7) indicates that the tweeter and midrange unit are both connected in negative acoustic polarity, the woofers in positive polarity. The tweeter's output arrives first at the microphone, followed by that of the midrange unit, then that of the woofers. The decay of each unit's step blends smoothly with the start of that of the next lower in frequency, which implies optimal crossover implementation. The Focal's cumulative spectral-decay (waterfall) plot (fig.8) was affected by the early reflection from the floor in front of the speaker, which meant I had to window the impulse response more aggressively than usual when I calculated this graph. The initial decay is impressively clean in the region covered by the tweeter, but some low-level hash is present at the top of the midrange unit's passband.

The Focal Maestro Utopia Evo's measured performance offers a full-range output coupled with wide dispersion and a neutrally balanced midrange and treble. Overall, it measured very similarly to the Utopia III, though with more of an under-damped low-frequency alignment, which will not be optimal if the speaker is used in small rooms or positioned too close to the room's boundaries.—John Atkinson

Footnote 1: EPDR is the resistive load that gives rise to the same peak dissipation in an amplifier's output devices as the loudspeaker. See "Audio Power Amplifiers for Loudspeaker Loads," JAES, Vol.42 No.9, September 1994, and stereophile.com/reference/707heavy/index.html".

COMPANY INFO
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ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
cognoscente's picture
Submitted by cognoscente on October 13, 2023 - 10:49am

yet another review of a Bugatti W16 Mistral.

As the name says: "Utopia". And as that word means "the impossible reality". Or in this case French decadence and arrogance. So ... ?

GDubAZ's picture
Submitted by GDubAZ on October 18, 2023 - 3:03pm

and yet, you read it, so . . .

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on October 13, 2023 - 7:03pm

in the photo above is puuuuuuuuuure beauty!

Speakers to die for!

Haven't read the review yet, can't wait- Because Roger!

Decadence and arrogance.. lol. What a poor soul.

I really would like to see an R2D2-decaled version of this available or at least a BB8 livery. Admit it, it would be great for a few days.. lol

cognoscente's picture
Submitted by cognoscente on October 14, 2023 - 2:18am

we all know that a 9k stereo set sounds substantially better than a 3k one, 1 third of the price, and that a 90k stereo set sounds only slightly better but not substantially than a 30k one, a third of that price.

Prices and products like this are just decadent and arrogant, especially in relation to the bigger picture. This is out of proportion, this lacks all reasonableness.

And beautiful, speaking of beautiful, the Goldmund Samadhi is beautiful, but here again, that is just Swiss decadence and arrogance.

Anyway, I'm not a dreamer, poor soul indeed, and rather a realist and interpreter with an eye for proportion of things.

MatthewT's picture
Submitted by MatthewT on October 14, 2023 - 3:45am

Lots of 99 dollar components on review there.

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on October 14, 2023 - 8:33am

... luxury-class audio goods would be willing to provide an explanation of how their audio components end up in a similar price range to that of a motor vehicle from Mercedes/BMW/Lexus (or even a loaded Ford F-150)?

In the meantime, there's a $3K speaker that excels in both the subjective and objective evalutions.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/monitor-audio-silver-500-7g-loudspeaker

cognoscente's picture
Submitted by cognoscente on October 14, 2023 - 9:00am

yes, I know: F1 > hyper cars > super cars > sports cars > regular cars

but still ... prefer to read about 3k - 5K loudspeakers

and yes my headphone is from Focal and my first and second loudspeakers were of JM Lab, but these reviews here over and over again of equipment whose price are out of any proportion, and then pretending it's just a sandwich bumps into me

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on October 14, 2023 - 10:52am

... Focal speakers priced at $6K/pr.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/focal-aria-k2-936-loudspeaker

Fine results on both subjective and objective evaluations - except, perhaps, for the low impedance dip from about 80-600 Hz. Nothing that a Rotel or Parasound amp, for example, couldn't handle, however.

Do you have a ballroom to fill with sound? Then maybe you need the $76K Focal model. Will you enjoy your music ten times better when heard through the more expensive speakers? Who knows - and, if so, is the difference worth it to you?

TechLvr2's picture
Submitted by TechLvr2 on December 22, 2023 - 6:30am

I've got the K2s and love them. Perfect for my room. I DO love the looks of the Utopias though.

prerich45's picture
Submitted by prerich45 on October 20, 2023 - 6:17am

Yes the MA Silver 500 is a wonderful speaker...but the Focal Utopia just has that look! Now, am I willing to pay almost $80k for that look...no. However someone is, and I say more power to ya!!! I actually like looking at things I may never be able to afford.

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on October 14, 2023 - 11:23am

and assumptions about 'what we all know' are poor generalizations. To suggest otherwise is arrogant indeed, because it tries to invalidate this review and any other- A pursuit of knowledge.

When you start involving nationalities with those generalizations, it creates xenophobic disinformation. It also points to the soul, rather than the pocketbook.

Arrogance and decadence was never the intent of any of these state of the art products from their designers, whether French or Swiss or German or English.

These designers, like Focal especially, sell very reasonable speakers to any budget. They are for everyone that realizes this is investment and not an appliance purchase.

Making out-of-touch statements can be rectified by visiting audio shows and auditioning with an open mind, and refining generalizations into direct experience- something every reviewer here has and owns through their ongoing, life-long effort!

Jazzlistener's picture
Submitted by Jazzlistener on October 14, 2023 - 4:16pm

that once you get to this price range, although the sound quality sees diminishing returns, the “package” itself reaches a point of becoming an art form. These are stunning looking speakers, as are the higher end B&W, Wilson, and others. Some people are willing to pay a premium for that. And why not if that’s what floats your boat. People spend as much if not more money on furniture, art, granite counter tops, etc. For my part, I love the higher end Devore speakers. I recognize they are wildly overpriced (due in large part to the fact this is a small boutique company). Doesn’t stop me from admiring the hell out of them though.

JohnnyThunder2.0's picture
Submitted by JohnnyThunder2.0 on October 14, 2023 - 6:02pm

gets you so riled up? I mean, I really hope you are a living well below the poverty level and if well-to-do donate most of your salary to lower income families. If you're getting by on a pension, fine but please spare us your righteous indignation. Get real for your targets of anger. It's a friggin' big French speaker. Choose something else to be angry about or maybe show some gratitude for something you like instead of shitting on some reading material some of us actually enjoy.

Nirodha352's picture
Submitted by Nirodha352 on October 14, 2023 - 11:08pm

Totally non-related because I don’t care what they cost. No one is forcing me to but these speakers. But let’s get to the “bigger picture”…. I once heard the biggest Kharma loudspeakers producing a violin of humongous proportions (about 5 meters wide) and for this was for me a big NO NO. So, this speaker above is also flawed in producing a realistic soundstage. This is a stereo magazine.. can someone explain this phenomenon?

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on October 18, 2023 - 10:57pm

I really appreciate RB getting to the heart of the scale / image size of the Focal. Whether or not one see it as accurate, he announces what he hears and lets the reader decide whether or not it's a deal breaker. To some after an audition, it may be exactly what they're looking for- A little more majesty and scale vs. 'real-life'. Thanks for the observations on the bass performance as well. (I should read below to see if anybody skewered the speaker for being 4 dB over flat in the bass range.)

I noticed that no reader gave RB kudos for hearing the correct listening height range for the speaker and where the IsoAcoustics Gaia 1's would place the listener to low for best axis (10" vs. 7").

Funny, the naysayers are never yay-sayers when the reviewer gets it right?

cognoscente's picture
Submitted by cognoscente on October 14, 2023 - 4:11am

I'm asking everyone here to excuse me that I'm ruining the party here, while the rest of the world ...

JohnnyThunder2.0's picture
Submitted by JohnnyThunder2.0 on October 14, 2023 - 6:08pm

To some people in this world , listening to beautiful music on a great stereo is their escape from the world and its horrors - "There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant - (sighs deeply). Oh, fuck it." From The Grand Budapest Hotel. Whether your stereo costs 100 or 100,000 who the f cares ? just enjoy the music.

Indydan's picture
Submitted by Indydan on October 15, 2023 - 8:16am

We are all aware of what is going on in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, etc.
What does that have to do with anything?
Should we all stop living because there are wars in the world?

bhkat's picture
Submitted by bhkat on October 14, 2023 - 11:12am

Thank goodness there are people who are in the market for multi-kilobuck equipment so that the technology filters down to more affordable equipment.

Dorsia777's picture
Submitted by Dorsia777 on October 15, 2023 - 7:02am

Is 100 percent on the money!

georgehifi's picture
Submitted by georgehifi on October 14, 2023 - 12:01pm

Don't know about that? to me they all look like an expensive loaf of sliced blue bread that's been dropped and has busted open. Other than that they did sound good when I heard this range.

Hmmm!
Cheers George

Jazzlistener's picture
Submitted by Jazzlistener on October 14, 2023 - 4:18pm

a big blue loaf of bread to you, I need some of what you’re on, lol.

Glotz's picture
Submitted by Glotz on October 16, 2023 - 8:50am

Good one.

Dorsia777's picture
Submitted by Dorsia777 on October 14, 2023 - 5:11pm

I agree with many of the sentiments stated in the comments. Absurd, over priced, snobby, unnecessary are all words that come to mind when seeing speakers in this price range. Then again that’s because I can’t afford it! And if you can afford these should you?

I’ve actually heard these exact speakers at World Wide Stereo in Montgomeryville, PA. They were outstanding. Jaw dropping gorgeous, insanely articulate, massive scale of a soundstage, and incredibly natural sounding. They were playing at around 100-104db and there was ZERO fatigue. Did I mention the bass response? This is coming from a guy that was just having fun with them and asked the sales associate to play a Rammstein CD.

Walking out of that showroom I looked at my brother and said what would you rather own? That pair of speakers OR a pair of Legacy Focus and a Dodge Challenger 392 Scat Pack with a hemi shaker hood…

mtrot's picture
Submitted by mtrot on October 19, 2023 - 12:31pm

Lol, might want to get that Scat Pack while you still can!

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on October 17, 2023 - 3:36pm

That they even build it to seem as though it's looking down at you.

(Physical joke about the speaker, not really a 'value' comment. No trouble!)

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on October 18, 2023 - 2:56pm

... merely the middle model in Focal's Utopia range of speakers.

Above it stand the Stella Utopia EM EVO ($150K/pr.) and the Grande Utopia EM EVO ($280K/pr.).

Despite the "Editor's Choice" award, the Hi-Fi News review of the top model seems less than enthusiastic.
https://www.hifinews.com/content/focal-grande-utopia-em-evo-loudspeaker

MZKM's picture
Submitted by MZKM on October 18, 2023 - 7:40am

For anyone wondering, at an expo I asked the rep how many of these expensive units they sell, he said only a handful a year in the US, but that overseas is their real market.

mtrot's picture
Submitted by mtrot on October 19, 2023 - 12:29pm

"Later, I connected a Krell FPB 200c power amp while still feeding the signal through the Anthem's ARC circuitry."

Okay, that settles it. I'm going to have to pick up a set of Maestro Utopia Evo to go with my FPB 400cx and Anthem STR Preamp!

Alpha121's picture
Submitted by Alpha121 on December 27, 2023 - 8:37pm

So, unlike a lot of people opining here, I have these speakers, and like the author, stepped up from the Focal Utopia Scala Evo. I offer the following:

1) All these Focal Utopias have always been, and remain, challenging in the bass for amplifiers, drawing heavy current. Low impedance and phase shifts. A lot of great speakers eat current in the bass, including Rockport, Magico, Focal, Wilson, etc. You can read all about it here in Stereophile. In my view the Constellation Taurus Stereo is considerably underpowered for the Grande Utopia EM EVO, and thus the dissatisfaction. It was a naive choice, you need strong monos, so I discount this review. The Utopia part of the Focal line is best run bi-amped, with a solid state class A/B amp with major cojones on the woofers.

2) Relatedly, I run Pass XA160.8 on the top, Pass X600.8 on the woofers, the signal split from a XP-22. The sound is astounding, Class A for the mids, thanks for the advice Kent and Desmond. The XA160.8 was inadequate on its own regarding the bass on the Scala and Maestro, and I didn't like X600.8 on it's own as well as the biamped set up. I have run this experiment many times.

3) To the point of cost, price and French arrogance (Jeez, dude!) I did an extended direct comparison with the Magico M6 ($180K/pair) and yes, those are "better" but the Maestro held its own at less than half the cost, 5 times the availability used or new. The Maestro is a phenomenal relative value. And yes, the delta is less in sound improvement per dollar the farther up you go. I picked this spot. YMMV, but let's not criticize others whose priorities, values, or pocketbook lead to other choices. The Maestro's have the scale and such of the M6, for example, but not as much resolution. Pay what it's all worth to you.

4) With respect to the Maestro design, and the suckout 10 degrees below the tweeter height, the owners manual is specific to stay above this so no surprise. The issue is the 47" height of the tweeter, however, and how to compensate, since you are probably sitting at 36". I have the Gaia footers which worked great both on the Scala and Maestro, tightening the focus, etc as advertised and reported. The problem on the Maestro is that the tweeter is then 49" high, and I had to sit on a bar stool behind my couch for great listening. Not optimal.

5) My solution was to take off the casters, put the front of the speaker on a 2.5" wide strip of 1/8th thick 50 durometer rubber (thank you McMaster Carr) and the back a 2.5" wide strip of 1 5/8th thick, my own highly effective Constrained Layer Damping solution. The rear of the speaker, some 30" back, was thus raised by 1.5", and sitting directly on a hardwood floor, the whole thing firmly coupled and anchored. As my listening position is about 16' back, this results in about a 10" drop in effective tweeter height, perfect for sitting on my couch with my ears at 36". Speakers about 12' apart. This proved magical with incredible imaging, scale, etc.

6) With respect to bass, it's astounding, but these are designed for a relatively big room. Mine is 20' wide, 11' ceiling, 40 feet deep. Speakers are about 5 feet from front wall, and the bass is tight, articulated, not heavy or bloated. I run the bass jumpers plus 1, the other mids and tweets flat.

7) With respect to the scale of the speaker, they play small and intimate, or incredibly large (both with incredible presence) which is really rare, if you have them set up properly. There are few speakers that will do this.

8) BTW, the difference between the Scala is a much lower noise floor, greater dynamics, far greater scale and impressive presence. Cleaner and much less distortion. I think all the drivers, and obviously the crossover, is re-engineered for the Maestro. It is a very significant cut above the Scala.

In my experience, these speakers are nuts good for the money and a unprecedented bargain, although to be fair there is some additional investment in amplifiers and work to be done to set them up.

Hope all this helps somebody.

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