Digital Ear (Room 4 of 5)

The big room. Focal Grand Utopia EM loudspeakers ($100,000/pair) standing at over 6' tall, dominated the room, looking like Transformers ready to devour us with music. The Burmester 911 Mk3 amplifier ($29,995) managed the Grand Utopias, the Burmester 089 CD ($28,995) and a Burmester preamplifer (I did not note the model but I bet it costs $xx,995) took care of rest, with Transparent Opus and Reference cables.

It's very difficult to ignore the pair of 573.2 lb speakers in the room but my note, just one, read "Jack be nimble." Of course, anyone interested in auditioning hi-fi for potential purchase, especially when spending this kind of money, will take their time listening and not base their judgment on a few minutes. Jack don’t be quick.

And no, there is no report on Digital Ear's Room 5 of 5. They were showing home theater—I was afraid I'd fall asleep in the dark!

COMMENTS
dmusoke's picture

I listened to these speakers for the first time as i was curious to hear what they sounded like for the $100K price they demand. I wanted to hear$100K+ sound but i was disappointed to hear the sound was, well, ok. That's the politest way i can put it.

I saw similar disappointed expressions on other listeners as well. I didn't last more than 5 minutes in their room and seemed others didn't as well.

Saint0's picture

They sounded good & musical, but in an understated way that belies the size. They're not shouting "Hey, look at me!". Some people may be underwhelmed as most of the music selections did not showcase the full capabilities of these speakers, IMO. It's a relief for me though that they were not cranked up to ear splitting volume level with bloated bass & treble like many other demos; e.g. the Wilson Sasha (Sunny) & YG Acoustics rooms were especially horrible.

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