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VAC amps and Focal Grand Utopias at $195k a pair

Ny audio best of show had to have been the VAC suite driving Focal Grand Utopia speakers. Dynamics were off the chart! Bass was tight and forceful!! The Eagles singing Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over Tour had to have been the most realistic presentation that I've ever heard on any playback system anywhere in the world at any price! (Granted total room electronics cost topped $600k) It would have cost less to have the Eagles perform live at the show!! Anyone else get a chance to hear it or feel system didn't live up to hype and price??
lepps200228
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I went to dinner with some friends on Friday night, then came back to the show with an hour to go. We stopped in this room and ... it was empty. We had an hour to play all our own music.

Heaven! Not even a hint of a smudge of a taste of an idea to move on to any other room.
chayro
3,012 posts
 
Amazing. I have no axe to grind with VAC or Focal, but I thought the sound in there was horrible. It sounded like the bass was being cancelled out and all that was left was a gritty midrange. I tried moving around the room because I thought I must have been sitting in a bass null, but it seemed the same. I really wanted to have a good experience in that room, but it was not to be. I think those speakers were just too big for the room. Or something.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,505 posts
 
I've heard other similarly large Focals but not the top EM versions off ARC amps in a decent sized dealer showroom at Lyric in NYC and though what i heard sounded quite fine and effortless, I felt substantiated in my general thinking that speakers that size really need quite a large room to breathe and for everything to integrate optimally on a large scale.

gpgr4blu
1,094 posts
 
Did not like the sound at all in the Focal room. Agree that size of room could have been the problem.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,985 posts
 
Me neither. Recessed midband, lack of air. Flabby bass.
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