Полочная акустика — Focal DIABLO UTOPIA COLOUR EVO

The Diablo Utopia Colour Evo is a compact two-way reflex monitor from Focal, designed and manufactured in Saint-Etienne, France, with its cabinets built at Bourbon-Lancy. Among today's Utopia models it is both the least expensive and the smallest, a family that grew out of the Utopia III launched in 2008. The pair was listed at USD 16,990, and the matching stands add USD 2,980 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Focal fits a 27 mm IAL2 inverted beryllium dome, while a 16.5 cm Power Flower woofer with a W cone covers bass and midrange. Focal rates the response at 44 Hz to 40 kHz within 3 dB, with the -6 dB point at 40 Hz. Nominal impedance is 8 ohm with a minimum of 4 ohm, and sensitivity is 89 dB. The cabinet stands 431 mm high, 258 mm wide and 427 mm deep, and Focal lists the weight as 39 kg.

Engineering and use context

The two drivers meet at 2.2 kHz through a fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley network with a slope of 24 dB per octave. IAL2 is the second generation of the inverted beryllium dome with a neodymium magnet, and the letters stand for Infinite Acoustic Loading - a tuned, horn-shaped cavity behind the motor that works as a Helmholtz resonator and widens toward the sides of the tweeter sub-enclosure, while some rear energy escapes through the Poron polyurethane surround. That tweeter sits in its own tilted sub-enclosure. The W cone is a sandwich of glass tissue and Rohacell foam. Focal calls the cabinet construction Gamma Structure, an MDF build whose panels vary from roughly 50 mm to 66 mm in thickness, and the reflex port is a slot venting at the front. The painted versions get a polyurethane coat under acrylic varnish, in British Racing Green, Metallic Blue, Carrara White, Black Lacquer and Ash Grey, and two walnut options - Noyer Fonce and Noyer Naturel - are also offered. Focal ships the Diablo Utopia Colour Evo as a single-wired design, with one set of five-way WBT binding posts in brushed metal per box. Four spikes and four magnetic counter tips come in the carton.

Pairing

Focal recommends amplification between 25 W and 200 W per channel. Given the impedance minimum, a current-capable amplifier is the safe match within that power window. The dedicated stands are sold separately, so the price of a complete installation includes them on top of the speakers themselves.

Alternatives

Within Focal's stand-mount catalogue, the Kanta N°1 combines a pure beryllium dome and a flax cone at a sensitivity of 88 dB.