3 hours Ago By Viju Mathew
The Utopia loudspeakers from French audio manufacturer Focal are highly regarded for their accurate sound, excellent build quality, and head-turning industrial design. Their look is a signature of the entire lineup—from the $280,000 Grand Utopia to the $21,000 Diablo Utopia bookshelf model—and distinguish these from any other loudspeaker. Like most high-end speaker systems on the market, each is a passive design, meaning that it takes one or more sources, amplification, and a lot of cables to make any of them sing.
After five years of development, Focal now introduces the Diva Utopia, the brand’s first wireless, active loudspeaker, one designed to simplify the equation by eliminating the requirement for most components upstream of the speakers themselves. The elegance of a powered speaker is that dedicated amplifiers and crossovers are packaged in each enclosure, so that speaker cables and costly stand-alone electronics aren’t required. Focal’s partner brand, UK-based Naim Audio , has designed three Class AB amplifiers that deliver 400 watts of total amplification for the Diva’s three-way design.
The driver complement includes a 15⁄8-inch pure beryllium tweeter extending to an inaudible 40 kHz, powered by its own 75 watt amp. A front-mounted 61⁄2-inch mid-bass driver uses another 75 watt amp, and four 61⁄2-inch bass drivers—two per side, mounted on both flanks of the enclosure in a push-push configuration—go down to 27 Hz, powered by a 250 watt amp. The cabinet itself is made from high-density polymer, specially molded to provide exceptional rigidity and freedom from vibration and resonance.
A ported design, the enclosure employs a heavy aluminum base engineered for optimal laminar airflow of bass energy. Each four-foot-tall loudspeaker, which weighs 141 pounds, is fitted with casters for easy placement. Solid spikes can be used instead, once final placement is determined.
An interesting twist is the cabinet finish itself; instead of a more traditional wood veneer or lacquer finish, Focal designers have opted for a gray felt surface that lends itself to contemporary environments featuring soft, natural materials. Intended to function within a whole-house music system, the Diva Utopia integrates into the Focal & Naim “ecosystem” that centers on Naim’s Pulse Platform active module, which accesses streaming services such as TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, and QQ Music. The Pulse Platform facilitates a multiroom configuration with other products from the Focal & Naim family.
The speaker supports AirPlay2, Google Cast, UPnP, and Bluetooth protocols. While connections to streaming sources are best done through cables, Focal & Naim’s UWB (Ultra Wideband) technology enables reliable, high-definition audio transmission at 96 kHz/24 bits, delivering what the designers claim as cable-like performance without the actual cable. Importantly, the Diva Utopia also includes inputs on the master speaker’s rear panel for connecting external sources, such as HDMI eArc, S/PDIF, and single-ended RCA, which will be appreciated by CD users as well as LP collectors who will never give up their turntable .
Living with a powered loudspeaker, hard-wired or connected wirelessly to a streamed source, really can simplify one’s listening experience, bringing freedom that many hair-shirt audiophiles eschew just on principle. Admittedly, greater sonic refinement is usually achieved by separate components—including analog sources—yet there is much to be said for an “all-in-one” loudspeaker, especially in a system as ambitiously designed as the Diva Utopia. Controlled by one’s mobile device or tablet with the Focal & Naim app for iOs and Android, this loudspeaker setup offers a simplicity that, once savored, can become an addiction—one that will cost you $39,999 per pair.
Click below for more photos of the Focal Diva Utopia wireless loudspeakers..
