Напольная акустика — Focal GRANDE UTOPIA EM EVO

The Grande Utopia EM Evo is a four-way bass-reflex column from Focal of Saint-Etienne, France, belonging to the Utopia III Evo line. Focal presented it during the May 2018 High End event held in Munich together with the Stella Utopia EM Evo, bringing to the two big models the upgrades that had reached the rest of the Utopia III Evo range a year earlier, and deliveries began that September. Pricing was set at USD 120,000, EUR 180,000 or GBP 159,999 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Five drivers are used per speaker - a 27 mm IAL2 inverted dome tweeter of pure beryllium behind a protective grille, two 16.5 cm Power Flower W midrange units with TMD suspension, a 27 cm low-midrange and a 40 cm W woofer with an electromagnet motor. Focal quotes 18 Hz to 40 kHz within 3 dB and 14 Hz at -6 dB. Sensitivity is 94 dB, nominal impedance is 8 ohm and the minimum falls to 3 ohm, and the recommended amplifier range spans 50 to 1,500 W. Each column is 2,012 mm tall, 654 mm wide and 880 mm deep and weighs 265 kg.

Engineering and use context

No permanent magnet is fitted to the woofer. Its field comes from an electromagnet fed by an external supply with signal detection, and the voltage can be set in six steps corresponding to 9 W to 90 W of power, which changes how firmly the cone is controlled. Compared with the earlier EM version, the Evo received a redesigned crossover with reselected parts, internal cabling of 20% larger gauge made in France and thicker wadding inside the woofer enclosure. Machined Reinforcement Rings of solid aluminium sit between the baffle and the driver baskets of the midrange units, with segments on the woofer as well, to stiffen the mounting. The TMD surround steadies midrange cone behaviour between 1 and 4 kHz, and the NIC motor keeps its magnetic field stable. The upper cabinets are hinged and can be tilted by a leather-wrapped crank under the Focus Time system so that driver arrival times coincide. An OPC+ network offers 1,458 response combinations. Launch finishes were Metallic Blue, Ash Grey, British Racing Green, Black Lacquer and Carrara White, with Graphite Black baskets and tweeter enclosure.

Pairing

High sensitivity allows modest amplifiers to work, yet the low minimum impedance requires an amplifier that holds up into such a load, and the upper limit leaves room for powerful mono blocks. The floor must carry more than half a tonne for the pair.

Alternatives

Another electromagnet floorstander from the same 2018 launch is the Focal Stella Utopia EM Evo.