Reply to Kmccarty. I know exactly what you mean. How many times do we hear great audio gear sound terrible at dealers, audio shows, ect... I have a pair of JM Lab Electra 920.1 speakers in my two channel setup and JM Lab Chorus in my home theatre which both sound great. I've also heard them at dealers where they sounded horrible. If that was my impression of JM Lab speakers I would of thought they sucked! I think some audiophiles tend to make judgement too quickly based on experiences of poor sound at dealers. IMO most dealers would be rich if they could make money on demonstrating poor sound. Some audiophiles go on about what is wrong with the design of a particular product and therefore claim its no good. Most of us are really not qualified or have done proper experiments to come to these conclusions. A great example is how some claim that the woofer has to be a certain size in relation to the midrange in a 3 way design. Both the Nova Utopia and the 801d have large woofers compared to their midrange (13" and 15" 3 way systems). Both can sound utterly superb in the right setup. That being said its my own policy to hear potential upgrades in my own room because you simply can't trust what we hear at a dealer or what people say. By the way I've never had the pleasure of hearing the Grande Utopia Be but can only imagine how amazing they can sound!
