Utopia Skala / Alto speakers anyone hear them both

Elviukai,

Thanks for the information. It will be interesting to compare the Alto to the Scala to hear what Focal have been able to do when comparing apples to apples; it's particularly interesting to hear that the new line has a more intimate presentation. However, I'm even more interested to hear how the Nova replacement compares against the Isis as the pricing I'm hearing on the Nova EM is a little bit crazy imo (although one would hope that given the euro's decline against the dollar, Focal would adjust their prices accordingly).

for customers Maestro will come out in a two three month or so , Nova Em litle bit later. It passed some time when I last heard alto, it was with top ayre and esoteric gear, valhala cables line.(much more expensive than speakers)but i remeber it has nice ,accurate and traditionaly to focal -warm sound(midrange bloom) Scala is much more dynamic sounding in midrange and treble and more three dimensional with better sense of space and most important is does not sacrife "easy flow of music".. the same wartmth is still here.

as for diablo- diablo comparing with scala not so dynamic=lively but its calm and smooth all the way no matter what record.

as for Isis, I DID NOT heard it , but i perfectly know the drivers and litle bit their enginiers xover implementation. isis should be more imediacy sounding and very good on audiophile female voices, on clasical works, other material it likely WILL be(unless isis will do revolution) be somewhat hard , cold sounding ,unless you using tube amps-they will round a litle bit that c173n midrange. if you like very trasparent and very dynamic,fast and lively but somewhat cold/sterile studio sound like midrange -isis may be a solution, if you like litle bit(still very good) slower smoother midrange .

as fow lows there wil be oposite- nova will be bullet fast real life like performance and way better in that respect than iris. if you in a clasical music nova will show what EM are capable of. iris in bass would be better on rock and electronic. I am prety sure, but to clear myself i DID NOT heard iris.

Elviukai,

Could you elaborate a bit on your statement about Diablo being the golden egg of the line. Am I to assume that you think it represents the best value in the Utopia III line? Any thoughts on comparisons to other stand mounted monitors? Specifically, two other European models: Raidho Ayra C1.0 and Tidal Amea.

Diablo is 100% like grand EM in higher midrange and hights, the only diference to my ear is dynamic, because it has atenuated tweeter by 9db. Actualy I have ablity in home on my equipmnet to compare Diablo,Scala, Maestro(which is unreleased to public yet ) and yep.. - grand EM(Grand EM without 16' inch Em woofer just top 11 inch woofer ) side by side. If i would be customer i would buy Diablo(because it cheap for what it offers) or Nova EM, nothing worong with scala ,its very good sounding just no major diference in bass comparing with Alto , if talking about Maestro its just for bigger or “bass hungry” rooms, but its not Scala with aded woofer - sounds diferent from Scala in midrange, its more like grand EM, but still nothing revoliutonary change in bass from Scala just more extended and punchy . Nova is EM is another major improovement and step . however in that price range there lot of other fine speakers. Grand EM is for big boys with big rooms.. as for my opinion if there were released not Scala but Scala with EM it would be very sucesfull speaker and offer one of the best sound and technology for the money. I still think diablo is very good value for the money I tested Sonus faber audiotor M and even big cremona M against the diablo and it was clearly that diablo is better speaker it has the same musicality as sonus faber even more, but it does it on high end way-not coloured . One negative thing for the diablo is that it no very sensitive(arround 84-85db/w/m which is not bad as for monitor) and needs at least 30wats an shines with 100w amps

As for raidho and Tidal I can not say anything as I do not familiar sonicaly with theese brand (at least Tidal) so you need to hear them by yourself and compare.

Elviukai,

Thanks for your insightful comments on the Diablo. However, both Sonus Faber models are lower priced than the Diablo and SF does have a reputation for being colored although in a very pleasing way. Have you read Chris Thomas' review in HiFi+ (there is a link to it on Focal's website) and if so, do you concur with his observations?