Made the move: Focal Maestro 3 to Focal Maestro EVO

I am sure they will only get better with more time on them, congrats!

How much did the upgrade cost? I wonder if going to prior gen Stella would be similar price and if that would yield a bigger upgrade over going to meastro evo.

Equipment done right at this level, especially when it happens to really be your cup of tea,  can be absolutely mind boggling.  Happy for ya!  😎   Congrats and enjoy! 

I will not discuss how much it cost to upgrade but it was considerable more. What I will say, it was worth it. With the new technologies introduced in the EVO series the noise floor is beyond anything I have heard before. Much easier to drive. They sound so much better at lower volumes.

I will. The Evo costs $38,000. I can't seem to find the price of the Maestro 3, only the Maestro 3 Utopia, which is $49,000.

They are both Utopias? Utopia or Evo Utopia Maestro. 

Well done. Congratulations!

Nice, enjoy. 

I got offered stellas (EM not Evo) in black from a dealer. New unit for $40k shipped. This was 1-2 years ago. In hind sight I probably should have grabbed them. But I didn’t have the space at that time for such a big speaker. And also thats a decent amount of cash.

If I had to choose I think stella EM even used over maestro evo. But it would be interesting to do that face off.

Congrats on your new speakers.

I can only dream…

I would choose the EVOLUTION series over the previous EM. What they have done with the EVOs is significant. Much lower less fatiguing sound. The EM upper frequencies could bite you in the long run if not tamed with the right equipment.

Hiendmmoe: congratulations.

I have owned several Focal speakers (Electra 1038Be, Sopra 3, Scala V1, and now Maestro III).

I do not like bright sounding speakers and the smaller Focals (1038Be) are bright.

However, to me, the Maestro III lean ever so much towards the warm side of neutral. Never any brightness or harshness.

I think the biggest reason for going for EVO over prior version (for some) has been that it runs better with tube amps.

With good SS monoblocks (paired with a good tube preamp), the Maestro III are amazing. It takes a high level of current delivering capacity to properly utilize the lower woofer.

Also: with Focals (through experience), I would stay away from dry-sounding class D amplification. Other than that, even inexpensive amps like McIntosh, Hegel, and Pass Labs go well with Focal (so long as they have good peak current capability, and not just high wattage).