Enough of the Stereophile futuristic statements about the Focal Diva Utopia

So don’t buy them ...

What's your point here ?  You don't like them. Fine

I noticed in the review the speaker cabinets are plastic! Did I read that right? Plastic? Perhaps that is why it has the grey felt applied to the cabinet?

ozzy

I hear you regarding the ls60s. How many people are all that interested in giant heavy expensive speakers anymore really?  Nothing to do but ramp up the marketing where possible.

Hoping for future KEFs that take a successful jump to GanFET Class D. We will see...

Aren't most of their speaker cabinets now made from pressed cardboard or something?  Seriously? 

interesting post we are a dealer for both brands.

The Focals just came out I am sure roon certification will be coming shortly as all current naim focal products are Roon certified,

as per sound quality you are judging two very different systems in two different rooms at two different time frames so your findings may be a bit off.

The ls 60s are great, and for 5k a fantastic value, would I replace a 20k system with any streaming loudspeakers I would not.

As per ls 60s being baby blades they are not close the blades when well setup are nearly unbeatable you have to spend 60 to 100k to really beat the blades!

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect NJ

Kef and Focal dealers

I didn’t say they were better than the blades, they aren’t, but I wouldn’t buy the blades if I was going to spend $20-$100k either. I have $20k speakers that are much better than the blades. Why would someone make excuses for a $40k speaker? There is no guarantee that the Diva’s will get Roon certified, and I asked at the show and they didn’t say it would be Roon certified either. This is huge! What other speaker is covered in felt? Then a $40k speaker in felt? Also, both rooms were not ideal that I heard both speakers in. I heard the kefs at a dealer and they were in a 50x50’ warehouse room with different speaker setups, many unopened boxes, no room treatment, nobody would buy this speaker for this size room, but they sounded excellent. The focals were at the audio show, in a room that is much more suited for this size speaker, and they didn’t sound good.

My point of the post was all the hoopla about the focals bringing to market a unique futuristic speaker, that has all of this technology built into it, which it turns out, is not unique, and for the price, it is not worth it. If both speakers were both $5k, the LS60’s sound much better and I would jump at the Kef’s.

As for focal speakers, I have never heard a pair I liked except for the $100k Utopia, and then, I would buy other speakers at 1/5 the price that I like better.

Many products have plus and minus characteristics. Many time these are not awful but you're aware of them. That makes it a bad or good product for you, nit necessarily a bad piece. There are many products I don't prefer. I don't buy them. But I will try to discuss what I like and don't like with someone also considering them. Hopefully I can help that person decide if it's good for them or not. Even the Bose 901 had useful characteristics for many listeners.

Isn't it great we live in an era of audio and have so many choices.i do like the gan on class d .enjoy life and the music. Reviews are a baseline then you do your homework and don't let the dog eat it. Have fun in the search.

I love the Focal Diablo Utopia Colour EVO's I have in my family room and have no interest in the Diva Utopia's but assume I would love the sound. The Diablos that replaced Contour 20's have been a big improvement in my room.

For my basement theater I would LOVE the felt covering. I am considering covering some lighter high gloss floor standing speakers with matching center channel in black felt I have wanted to put in my theater but haven't due to reflections that distract from the viewing experience. My daughter has agreed to make some felt covers that I look forward to trying out. Felt in a lighted environment wouldn't have the same benefit but might still have some advantages. For 2-channel, felt is not as appealing to me. 

I haven't had a chance to hear the FDUs, but im sure my cat would love the new carpeted scratching post.  

I own the LS60s and have a naim 200 series system with reference 1 metas and agree with you that the LS60s are a steal at 5k. I got a chance to listen to the Divas when the local dealer had them on demo. It was roughly a 15 x 20 well treated room. My first thought was wow these sound a lot better than I anticipated. Are they 8x better than the LS60? That's subjective of course but they are on a couple levels up without a doubt. 

@p05129 

Umm, have you heard the LS60’s???

Noted.

Curiousjim-I have heard them, actually for a couple of hours. I also heard the blades and the ls50 wireless II speakers all in the same room. Hated the ls50’s, liked the blades but not as good as others for around the same price, and really liked the ls60’s. From what I heard and what my friends heard at the Tampa show, the divas just sounded terrible, and looked cheap, and didn’t have the technology that the ls60’s have, namely Roon. I wouldn’t buy anything that wouldn’t allow me to use Roon in a wired setup.

After we heared the divas at the show, we all made the same comment that the $3500 Axxess/burreson L1 bookshelf speakers sounded much better than the divas, and when you added in all the audio gear, it was less than 50% of the cost of the divas.