Focal -JM Lab Nova Utopia Be VS. B&W 801D

I would add that the Nova has some of the best bass definition I have ever heard -- if you want to hear timpani reproduced in a lifelike manner, it is hard to do better.

I otherwise agree with Dave (Audiooracle). I have heard the diamond tweeter in a pair of 802D's and was very impressed, but the Nova is a more refined speaker (as it should be given the gigantic price differential). Be careful with tube amps featuring high source impedences, however, as they will tip up the high frequency response and make the berylium tweeter sound hot.

Hi Sirspeedy:

I respectfully disagree. I have heard a lot of acoustic-suspension designs, not to mention that I ran Dunlavy's for six years with solid-state amplification (and I owned Advents for many years, not that they were particularly good examples of the design approach). For that matter, my closest hi-fi friend ran huge Dunlavy V's and I knew them very well. Sealed-box, ported, transmission line, isobaric, peanut butter -- it's all blather depending upon how the speaker is actually designed and executed (although I will grant you that a properly implemented sealed-box design has a lot of advantages). In short, I do not recall having heard a speaker that is more spot-on in the bass than the Novas.

PS - I hate to disappoint you, but I'm a guy. Raquel is my wife's name. She was with me when I was rushing to bid on a cartridge a number of years back and I needed a quick user name. The clock ticking loudly, I asked in a partial panic, "What name do I use?" She said, "How about my name?" I agreed. I won the cartridge. I still have it. I still have my wife (last time I checked).

Audiooracle very much knows what he is talking about with this speaker -- I heed his word and wonder whether he has anything more to add about the characteristics of Focal's Be tweeters as used in the Utopia Be line. Are they, like Focal's tioxid tweeter used in the first Utopia line (and used, I believe, in modified form by Wilson), inherently hot? I was with Cincy_Bob when we heard the Novas at Singer. I did not find the treble remarkable one way or the other, but I have a bit of hearing damage in one ear that "rolls off" treble a bit for me. We were very much hoping to hear the speakers run with the Burmester amp in that big room, but something prevented it -- I can't recall what. So I would add that the spectacular bass definition I heard was yielded by, of all things, an 845-based single ended amp (albeit a very, very good one). I admit that my exposure to the speaker was limited to that two-hour session, but I heard them long enough to get a feel.

Sir Speedy: I agree with virtually everything you wrote. And you are to be commended on your spectacular speakers -- weren't the Ascents designed when Charlie Hanson was still part of Avalon?

Not to thoroughly hijack this thread, but simply for the sake of discussion, I note that I heard the original Grand Utopias in the same room at Singer back in 2000 driven by big Krell and supported with Krell's big subwoofer ("Master Reference"). Of course it went loud as hell and shook the foundation, but it sounded, overall, totally unconvincing -- it was as far away from the actual sound of unamplified instruments in its own way as a clock radio. We then went into the much smaller adjoining room ("we" -- Cincy Bob was in town and along for the ride that day as well) where a pair of Meadowlark Herons driven by a VAC 30/30 did everything right that the JM Labs / Krell set-up did wrong -- we shook our heads in amazement at how much better the Meadowlark / VAC combo was at emulating the sound of unamplified musical instruments.

PS - I would bet the ranch that Audiooracle, whose talents I know well, almost certainly put together the Meadowlark / VAC set-up, and that he had nothing to do with that dreadful Grand Utopia / Krell set-up !!

Leemincy:

An amplifier's output impedence "reacts" with a speaker's impedence, and vice-versa. Many tube amps have a generally high output impedence that features large peaks and dips (solid-state amps tend to be more linear in this respect). The impedence of speakers can also vary widely and feature peaks and dips (with cone speakers, usually in the bass, but not always). The uneven nature of a tube amp's output impedence can cause a speaker to have uneven output, especially where the speaker itself has a roller coaster impedence, which is to say, the lows, mids or highs do not all put out the same volume in response to the same signal volume. For example (and this is purely a hypothetical), in response to warble tones that should result in 90 db. of sound coming from all frequencies, the bass and mids would put out 90 db. each, but the treble would put out 95 db. Thus, on music, the treble will be too strong relative to the other octaves and will be perceived as sounding hot or screeching. If it is the bass that is exaggerated, the speaker will sound boomy. When John Atkinson measured the Nova Utopia Be for Stereophile, he wrote:

"[D]espite its having a nominal value of 8 ohms, the Nova's impedance varied considerably, remaining below 6 ohms for much of the midrange and above 9 ohms for much of the treble (fig.1, solid trace). If the Nova Utopia is used with an amplifier having a highish source impedance—a classic tube design, for example—the treble region will shelve up by a couple of dB, changing the perceived balance considerably. However, it is probably not a good idea to use a tube amplifier with this speaker, as it is a demanding load in the bass region. Not only does the impedance drop almost to 3 ohms in the midbass and the middle of the midrange, there is a punishing combination of 4.1 ohms magnitude and -50 degrees electrical phase angle at 62Hz. A good 4-ohm-capable solid-state amplifier will work best with this speaker."

I hope this responds to your question.