Focal Utopia Scala V2 or Persona (9H/7F)

We are one of the fortunate displaying Persona dealers in the East Coast of the USA, NJ to be exact and we have a lot of experience with these speakers.

These are two fantastic speakers with some similar traits and some major differences.

Both are fast, clean and dynamic, however, Focals don't image very well their large wider baffles create a big sound stage, the Personas have a much more focused sound stage which is both wide with superb image specificity set up correctly the Personas are incredibly holographic!

Also the Personas use the same material Beryllium for both the tweeter and midrange drivers, so the sound is very coherent and remarkably detailed. Their midrange is a bit cooler then the Focals whose W sandwich cone has a bit more coloration. 

Lastly the Personas have deeper bass with the added advantage of active room correction to ensure that the bass response in your room is very tight and clean this also makes them highly adaptable and immune to room size.

We had fantastic sound in the last New York Audio show in a very small hotel room.

These are two very revealing loudspeakers so you must be very careful how and what you are using with them.

The Krell electronics are very good however, they can seem a bit mechanical and don't have the speed and articulation of some of their newer competitors, and cast does not sound as good as regular cabling. 

However, with the right digital front end, cabling and power conditioning the electronics you have may be able to work very nicely. 

If you can pay us a visit our reference system will convince you on how magnificent the Personas are when paired with the right components.

Our reference setup includes T+A electronics, Baetis music server, LH Labs Davinci Dac plus Enklein Cabling:

Here was our show setup:

https://www.facebook.com/rutherfordaudio/photos/pcb.612221115616753/612220672283464/?type=3&thea...

and after the show
show

https://www.facebook.com/122499304489958/photos/a.122500301156525.22643.122499304489958/138072913200...


Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Thanks Contuzzi 

I know you are hearing what we are hearing with the Personas.

I think if you keep on looking at the differences between the two the Personas are still really heard to beat.

The active room corrected bass is a fantastic feature that guarantees one of the most difficult to achieve things in all of audio is done properly ie, clean tight well defined bass response in room.

A passive speaker without room correction technology will be difficult to get the bass to be in the same league. 

Troy and Dave
Audio Doctor NJ 

Dear Shpitz,

Yes there are always buys on the older model,  and should not be the answer, if you purchase a great product that you can buy and keep for a long time you will gain much greater satisfaction and not be shopping for the next deal for a long time, 

It has taken us 3 years to build our reference system and quite frankly we wouldn't want to change it just tweek it. 

Once you create a system that sounds magical you will want to get off the merry go round. 

We could show you a lot of tricks that will make you take notice of how real a system can sound. 

If you purchase a great anything you will not be tempted to exchange it for a long long time, that includes cars, watches, women, etc. 

Find what works and keep it you will be happier and wiser in the long run.

That is our approach to audio, we have the best sounding turntable one that costs $7k and it sounds nearly as good as a $40k one, so why would we be looking for another? Same thing with our choice of T+A electronics and the LH Labs Davinci dac, which we compared to the DA2, no contest there at all. The LH Labs Davinci can be upgraded from MK 1 to MK 2 for a reasonable cost, so if you purchased one 5 years ago, you would still be happy today again long term satisfaction vs models which can't be upgraded such as DCS, and Meitner. You can do board upgrades but you can't turn a Dac2xSe into a Da2 different platforms for examplel. 

Different philosophy if you want a deal, we have a pair of $68k Polymer Research MKXS which use all Aucton pure Diamond drivers, for $28k probably the best speakers ever made, dropping the line due to lack of marketing otherwise buy a pair of Personas or the newer Focals and keep them for 10+ years.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Your room is way too small for almost all of these speakers. The Personas 9H might work due to the room correction of the speaker and their ability to tune out bass nodes and standing waves. 

The Persona 3F are similar the 9H, in many ways, the 9H do indeed sound better, the biggest issue with the Personas is setup many dealers are not up to the task of showcasing a speaker system with this kind of resolution. 

As per the Focals sounding bright they are a bright speaker it is only with setup that speakers with high resolution tweeters Personas, Focals, etc will sound good, the Dynaudios are a much more laid back sound without the incredible clarity that the Focals or Personas have so they are much less likely to overwelm a listener with too much treble information.

The Wilson Sashas are a bit over blown in the bass and will probably sound very boomy in that size room.

What you need is either a smaller reference speaker that won't overload the room or some kind of room tuning either in the speaker or external.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Bar we are not selling this man anything! He lives in Canada where the Personas are made therefore it is impossible for a US dealer to make that sale.

Just a bone of contention:   this mans room is 12* 16
                                           the Focals bass in room -3db at 27hz
                                                                                  -6db at 24hz

You misunderstand that the Focals allow for basic boost/cut in reality this is a very primitive way of helping make a bad situation slightly less bad by offering a few positions of bass boost or cut, even in the EM Focal models you are controlling damping which can create tighter or looser bass but still can’t magically create in reality a totally shelved bass response, with tighter damping you will create a bit less bass, but the amount of air a large cone makes is why people use large bass cones in the first place.

If you notice I said the Personas might work, they are also go too deep in the bass for that size room. The only saving grace with the Personas is that they have very advanced room correction which is a sophisticated way of creating numerous digital filters in the bass frequencies designed to tame standing waves.

In a digital filter you can create a many position parametric equalizer and can therefore precisely affect the room in the ways you want to with the end goal of creating a flat bass response.

The ARC (Anthem Room Correction) measures numerous positions and then calculates the null points in the filters to compensate for the higher room gain caused by room positioning.

We had a pair of Personas in small hotel room that was about 13 wide by 16 deep and the sound in the bass was shocking, it was deep, tight and tuneful without boom. All the room’s participants were just stunned at how good the system was sounding. So we have direct experience that this system with careful tuning might work.

Without electronic room correction I would never venture to put that large a speaker in that size room.

Traditionally a room that small can handle bass to 30-35hz with out severe issues with bloat and boom.

As per Focal speakers they are great we really like them they are a bit more colorful than the Personas, personally the Personas image better, the Focals have always been tuned to offer punchy bass, a full bodied midrange and a bit aggressive treble with great clarity and a bit of air.

The Personas are the more neutral of the two and require a bit more work to add some color to their sound, we have found that when setup correctly they are very, very, hard to beat.

So Bar if you want to come to the shop and take a listen then maybe you might see things differently.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Dear Patsuh,

Our shop has been championing the Personas since they came out and all I can say is right on!

The issue with the Personas is their remarkable transparency just doesn’t hold anything back and comments we have heard from some of the other people who have heard the Personas, not running on the correct gear, was that many of these people were not blown away or found them bright.

Too many dealers accross the country do not have the correct matching equipment or setups that an uber high resolution speakers like the Personas really require.

We would invite you to hear our reference setup with the Persona 9H it is a jaw dropping mix of T+A electronics, a Light Harmonic Davinci MK II Dual Dac a Baetis computer and Enklkein cables. Spooky trasparent, and oh so holographic. The midrange and tweeter being made out of the same material makes the speakers so coherent, and I always thought the midrange in the Focals and the tweeters sounds a bit different.

Wilson doens’t have the transparency of the Personas, and the fact that the Persona 9H can do battle with an Alexia at $55k is a testment to the engineering prowess that Paradigm has demonstrated with this line

If you ever are in our neck of the woods please give us a call and take a listen to this setup it is truly amazing.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Atacgene,

We don’t sell the Focals, the Kantas are good the Sopras are much better.

As per Kantas vs Personas both are really good, we prefer the more holographic imagey of the Personas and their incredible coherency and more detailed sound.

The Kantas are very good speakers, to our ears they are a bit richer in the midrange, the treble isn’t as intergrated and the bass isn’t as deep.

The Kantas may be a bit easirer to get right, as the Personas are uber clean and can sound a bit too cool unless the gear match is correct.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Persona dealer