My general impression is that the Dynaudio Focus is a very excellent speaker that is pretty much full range, whereas the Diablo Utopia gives you the state of the art from around 65 Hz on up. Here's an interesting review of the Diablo which toward the end says:
I suspected that that's the crowd you're running with when you add JL-quality subs to the Diablos. Read the whole review; he found the Diablos musically seductive and totally involving.
Subs with stand-mount speakers also have the distinct advantage of lower cabinet noise. As opposed to large floorstanders, small speakers have no large side panels and no huge woofer backwave to deal with in the same space as the midrange and tweeter. Properly integrated, JLs plus Diablos should sound cleaner than full-range speakers *built to the same price point.*
For $12,000 plus - expect to be seduced by your music collection all over again. Add in a top-level subwoofer and expect to get 85 to 90 percent of the performance of the $185,000 Focal Grand Utopia BE reference speakers, a speaker that many think are the best speakers money can buy. If you wanted to make an argument that this makes the Diablos a relative value, I wouldn't argue with you. When paired with a sub, Focal Diablos will take on Wilson Sasha WPs, Bowers & Wilkins 800 Diamonds, Revel Salon2s and Magicos and give them a run for their money on all counts.
I suspected that that's the crowd you're running with when you add JL-quality subs to the Diablos. Read the whole review; he found the Diablos musically seductive and totally involving.
Subs with stand-mount speakers also have the distinct advantage of lower cabinet noise. As opposed to large floorstanders, small speakers have no large side panels and no huge woofer backwave to deal with in the same space as the midrange and tweeter. Properly integrated, JLs plus Diablos should sound cleaner than full-range speakers *built to the same price point.*