Nova Utopia Be $38K - Are they good?

I have an old mid-fi system but have listened to many speakers in the last ten years. I have been tempted to cash my EE bonds only once - for the Novas. They were in a $50,000 electronics set-up so I don't know if they would sound that fabulous with lower priced electronics but I was floored with the sound.

I would buy immediately if I could hear speakers with close to that quality in the $10,000 range but I know from years of experience in life that you usually get what you pay for.

I have a pair of the Nova Utopia Bes and they are the finest speakers I have ever had and very hard to beat in terms of the sonics/size/looks equation. If you could pick them up for the price mentioned, I would jump on them, though I doubt you'll find them for less than 18K used. They are the only speakers I ever auditioned that honestly blew me away, at the time with all of the reference Burmester gear. I am using the Dartzeel amp with them along with FIM/CRL Gold cables, a wonderful combination. I also have the new Tact Boz amps which are also quite lovely in this combo. There are perhaps better speakers in one way or another - Wilson Maxx II, Von Schweikert VR9s, Dali Megalines, etc. but in my opinion, all of the speakers that up the ante from the Nova Utopias involve significant tradeoffs in price, size or looks. This is an all around fabulous speaker - as it should be for the price, but one that satisfies on virtually every level. Happy listening!

heard them at the nyc 2005 show with balanced audio and shunyata electronics, they were breathtaking, very lively with incredible bass.

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.