Pre/Power or Integrated for Focal Utopia Scala?


Hi, been shopping around for quite awhile but would like to get more ideas from you guys. Budget is about $30k+.

Primary music is classical, jazz and trance. No vocals. Key emphasis on dynamics and tonality. I am not particular about soundstaging and so on but expect a degree of detail.

I have tried these few brands:
- Chord
- Spectral
- Karan
- Goldmund
- Passlabs
- Jeff Rowland
- Plinius
- Octave

Each has some plus and minus.

- I find Goldmund power to be very good but not convinced about their pre-amps which can be abit dry. In comparison, Spectral and Karan are abit heavier and have their own tonality.
- I also liked Plinius power amps but their highest end pre-amp has a performance limitation (though good for the price).
- Chord's pre was good but the power abit strange. Not the last word in aggressiveness but good otherwise.
- Octave, as a tube, is missing the low end bite of solid state and not that expressive.
- Passlabs and Jeff Rowland are abit slow for me.

I intend to give Gryphon and Orpheus a try and perhaps ASR.. hope to have some other recommendations.
quest88
Consider the Micromega AS-400 integrated. It was used with Focal Utopias at several shows receiving high praise.

I have spent much time with the AS-400 and can tell you it is a very impressive unit.
You should try Accuphase.
I have a great experience with Accuphase and Focal Electra.
For what I know the amps in the Focal's factory listening room are Accuphase.
Thanks guys. I've booked a flight to the HK hifi show to check out more options. Hopefully will get some ideas on the way. Interestingly, think Devialet has been hooked up to Scala lately, but not too sure about class d.

Anyway, turns out the distributor of Accuphase in my country only sells Bose.. wouldn't have imagined.

Mceljo: Thanks, very useful as I'm a Nordost user and was afraid the Krell combo might be too aggressive, though Valhalla has abit of a soft edge. I don't think I can buy Odins though. :)
Went to the hifi show and came back impressed by VTL. Will try to find a way to listen to them with my Scalas.

May do a comparison to Octave. Seems like very sparse reviews on the differences between these two.
quest88, the vtl will be a good choice with the scalas. octave is very good too ,but different sound completely.