Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

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 ... ?

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

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

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

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

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…

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!)

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.

"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!

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.