Anyone heard the new Focal Grande Utopia EM?

Sorry to bring back a thread from the dead, but what happened to Paul and his Utopia 3 EM's? I am thinking of trading in my Alto's for some LaScala's.

That move is questionable at best. While the Scala may be slightly better than the Alto, the improvement surely isn't worth the 15 grand or so it will cost to make that move; that money would almost certainly be better spent elsewhere in the system. In any case, if you are looking to stay in the Focal family and are looking for a worthwhile improvement from the Alto, you are probably looking at the Maestro and higher.

Here is a cool link to them and how they are designed, built, etc.
http://www.grande-utopia-em.com/en/video.php
Enjoy it.

Talk2me,

I finally had the chance to compare the Scala head to head with the Alto and I stand corrected - the difference is significant. What Focal has done is pretty impressive and something I am still having a hard time comprehending given what I thought were the similarities between the two designs; the Alto remains a great speaker but the Scala just improves upon it in every way top to bottom and somehow makes the Alto seem slightly veiled (which is pretty shocking considering how veiled most other speakers sound in comparison to the Alto ime).

I have a pair of Grand Utopia EM for 5 months.
it takes a long time to break in.

The result is great in term of soundstage, dynamics. They are also very fast. The difference between CD and SACD is now extraordinay with my DCS stack Elgar Plus / Verona / La scala. I may move to dcs scarlatti but I am so happy now that I am not in a hurry to upgrade.

You need a big room to let them breath. Set up needs a lot of time (it took me tens of tests after break in before I put the spikes which improve greatly the sound).

Sound can be big or more focused depending on your set up and taste. This is also the beauty of an adjustable speaker.

I have never heard these speakers with a proper set up (placement/adjustable level are very sensitive) in a dealer shop or at an exhibition. And usually they do not have spikes. As such, most reviews are useless...

Focal should release a new model with the EM technology later this year.