Focal Grande Utopia- Anyone heard them live?

[jshouse23]

I used to sell focal speakers and I always thought they were a bit overpriced but still excellent sounding, so I got a pair for myself. But the other salesman and I had heard about the Grande Utopia's from the Focal rep and they were like a tall tale to us. So now I wonder, has anyone heard them and do they justify the insane price tag?

 

[Boerd]

I used to sell focal speakers and I always thought they were a bit overpriced but still excellent sounding, so I got a pair for myself. But the other salesman and I had heard about the Grande Utopia's from the Focal rep and they were like a tall tale to us. So now I wonder, has anyone heard them and do they justify the insane price tag?

The price is waaaay out of my league.
IF I was rich I'd probably buy in the 10-20k$ range, like Revel Salon 2 or ML Summit or both but I'd never encourage 180k$ speakers.
What can they do to cost 180k$? Can't imagine.
Snake oil.

 

[walter duque]

My local dealer has a floor model for 35K complete with wooden inserts . So even at 35K the dealer is not loosing any money, that's for sure. Nice little markup.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I'm sure they sound fantastic.

But we're only humans, and we can only see so much and hear so much.

Beyond the great sound, they are mainly a statement piece, and only millionaires could justify the price.

How much are your houses, your cars, your amps, and your speakers?

But sure, I would love to listen to them.

 

[GranteedEV]

I think they are some sexy LOOKING speakers.

As for the sound, I enjoyed what little I heard of their little brothers, the Scala Utopia. Quality image depth, a relaxed, smooth transition from midrange to treble, and solid, deep impactful bass. I sure as hell wouldn't pay that much for them though!

If I'm going to spend that kind of RIDICULOUS money I would get TAD Reference One or JBL Everest, no other options!!

 

[Docks]

If i was super rich.... Id probably own a pair because they look badass.
In all reality, any REAL high end speaker probably wouldn't include any sort of passive xovoer, and would be phase linear using FIR.

I still want them though.

 

[ratso]

heard them last year at RMAF. they were the only (and i mean the ONLY) one of the "super-speakers" that actually floored me. most of the uber-expensive speakers didn't really sound all that much better than my salks (and some didn't sound as good as them). i was not alone, BTW - the group of people that were in the room with me were similarly impressed. however, i must add, that what was REALLY impressive about the demo was how little drop of SQ there was when they changed from the big utopia grandes to the new smallest of floorstanding utopias, the viva utopias (which are still mega friggin expensive).

edit: as for the OP's original question (do they justify the price) - of course not, how could they. i am answering that question as a middle class average joe, however. if you play in the stratosphere and are going to spend insane amounts of money for things like stereo speakers, than yes i would say they are the class leaders (IMO again).

 

[GranteedEV]

What can they do to cost 180k$? Can't imagine.
Snake oil.

I think 180k is a LOT for them, but I will say that it's about the only speaker i've seen with a 16" electromagnet woofer. It hits 18hz as a -3db point, 14hz as a -6db point and has 94db sensitivity which is unheard of.

 

[PedroDepue]

I always thought they were a bit overpriced but still excellent sounding

 

[ichigo]

Most likely for $180k you are spending $175k for "cost of development" to pay off the CAD artists, designers, and engineers--since they move less units, they have to charge more to pay off the sunk costs.

Followed by $3k in worksmanship and assembly.

And $2k in parts.

IMO a possible scenario.