Nova Utopia Be $38K - Are they good?

I recently acquired the Novas which replaced B&W N800’s. Prior to my decision to buy these, I evaluated Wilson’s Grand Slamm (Series 2) in my room. Front-end is all Levinson. Overall, the Novas are stunning and in my system, the speakers disappear on most CDs.

Comparing to N800:
- Bass is much faster and lower (no need to get a sub)
- Midrange is significantly more accurate and makes the N800 sound ‘constipated’
- Top-end is cleaner
N800 tends to draw attention to itself as in ‘listen to me’ whilst the Novas draws your attention to the music.

The Grand Slamms was a very interesting experience although my room size wasn’t ideal. I found both to have much in common and the overall sound was similar which perhaps makes for some form of convergence for high-end speakers. Where the Grand Slamms offered better performance was in dynamics whilst the Novas delivered better driver integration and soundstage height (which I suppose is a result of my room as I always felt I wanted much greater listening distance).

Hope this helps.

For the most part,I sort of,agree with the above comments,but with a few caveats.Firstly let me say that for the money,you mention,they are Well worth it.

Now my two cents worth,AND I would love any feedback regarding my comments,as I've been enthralled with these speakers,in the first and second version,for quite some time.

I auditioned the orig Utopia some time ago,and fell in love with them.Suffice to say I've heard them with top flight stuff,and they sounded everywhere from simply EHH,to fabulous.I AB'd them against the Avalon Eidolon's some time ago,and they simply blew the Eidolon's away.I own Avalon Ascents(which I love),but when I went to hear the Eidolon,and subsequently heard the Utopia,in the same room,that was it.I was hooked!!And BAD!!

Always pondering my potential future upgrades(which sometimes take quite a bit of time,but allow me to be well versed,in what I'm trying to accomplish)I set out to hear these speakers,in a variety of set-ups.I LOVE the fact that these speakers are kind of a "Drop in" for the amp I'm using(a ROWLAND)and are easy to drive,as well as requiring only one quality set of cables(as a sidebar,I am enthralled with the Dali megalines,but they need two identical stereo amps).

I heard Jonathan Scull's set-up,once.At his home,just before he left the Mag,he wrote for.A friend got me the invitation.Scull was a really fine guy,and wanted to please us.He had SOTA stuff,and a huge listening space.He,also,previously owned,and still loves, my current Avalons,so I wanted to see what the deal was.I was NOT disappointed.He ran a 100 wpc tube amp for the occassion,which was very powerful,but had a midbass hump.This was to be expected,and the sound was actually quite good.Vey open,dynamic,with stunning timbres.Imaging not in the league of my Ascents,but few speakers are,and that is only one parameter.

I heard these speakers(Utopias) on two occassions,running YBA stereo 200 wpc amps,with a tube line/phono,and HERE it WAS MAGIC.One location was a dealer who pushes(big time)Kharma stuff.The Kharma's sounded fine,but,especially for the money,actually even not taking price into account,the Utopias FLOORED me.Smoked any Kharma I've ever heard,and I like Kharmas,though they are laughably overpriced.In ALL areas,Timbres(which many audiophiles are clueless about)were stunning,and there was a huge sense of dynamic scale,with NO mid bass bloat.I was HOOKED.My beloved pondering took on a whole new meaning,for my future listening considerations,and my tennis game began to suck.Who cared!!I was in the Audio sweetspot,as opposed to hitting my serve,in the sweetspot!

Enter the Nova Utopia Berrylium.I have heard these two times.Both under show conditions,but with quality gear.To me,there has been a shift in timbral presentation,for the worse.However,not wanting to give up on such a STUNNING product,I would give the benefit of the doubt to the fact that the speakers were probably, NOT broken in, store speakers,and were uncrated"new" for the show.I assume(hope)this was the case,as I still love these speakers,and it seems that JM Labs is keeping the price somewhat reasonable,what with the dollar's drag.I hope they still list at 37.5.

Now the surprise,to ME!--At HE 2005,the Nova's were set up down the hall from the TAD Model one speakers.I heard the Tad's in 4 and 2 channel.I kept going back to compare BOTH demos.My comments are in the 2 channel mode,which is what I prefer.NO CONTEST!!Did I say NOT CLOSE!!The Tad's list for 7 grand more,but to me(and I hope the "break in" issue was a factor,here)the TAD's SMOKED the Nova's,in virtually all areas.Anthony Cordesman reviewed these some months ago,where he stated that these speakers were the greatest audio product he has ever experienced.I must say,in terms of transparency,accurate dynamics,image accuracy,point source realism,overall presentation,and a real sense of NO mechanical iterations of any kind,the TAD's were IT,and did I say IN SPADES!!Amazing!!!

Now my dilemma---I still love the Nova's.They would be such an easy load for my amp,where I think the Tad may require me to consider another unit(I don't want to,unless forced).Also,they are still a few thousand dollars cheaper,and I find it hard to believe that Focal would market a newer version of the Utopia,which I know of one person who traded in a Genisis 1.1 for.He wanted more space,and felt the Utopia was close enough.Not the Grand Utopia.So,for me,the jury is still out.For YOU,at 18-20 k for a pair,the verdict is in.IN SPADES!!Viva L'difference!!

Best of luck!!

Sirspeedy, by way of background, regarding your experience with the timbral balance issue with the new Utopias. I initially heard the Utopias with all top of the line BAT gear and I walked out of the room, happy that I didn't have the Utopias. There was a discontinuity between the berrylium tweeter and the other drivers which was very disconcerting. I heard the speakers again 4 months later with Burmester gear and the room was magical. I doubt the BAT was the issue in retrospect as I have heard the BAT gear to very good effect with the Utopias. Conclusion: the speakers were more than likely not burned in.

By the way, as an aside and in further response to Sirspeedy, and I apologize in advance for being off topic, I spoke with someone at TAD today, who indicated that the Model one are no longer being produced despite what was an order backlog. They will introduce a new speaker in the same price range, though they would not say it was a replacement, at CES 2006. Hmmm?

Slaufer,WOW!!Thanks for the info.