Uncrating Focal Stella Utopias

Just recently I changed careers, and now work in the Hi-Fi Retail industry. Yesterday at our showroom we unpacked a pair of Focal Stella Utopia III EMs - this is the first time speakers of these quality and value have been publicly available in New Zealand in a retail setting for people to view and demonstrate. So here's a little video of us unpacking one of them...
   

   

The Focal SM9 Joy Continues...

Focal SM9

A few days on (see my previous post) and well I was continuing to be amazed by these Studio monitors and am being drawn even more to the music – at the time they were nearing the upper end of the 20 hours initial running in period at medium to higher volumes that is recommended to get them loosened up – and while I have not perceived any major shift in the sound ‘quality’ the music (as opposed to the ‘system’) they just seemed to get more compelling the more I listened!

Listening to The Eagles, “Hotel California”, in 24bit/192kHz resolution I’ve never heard the drums sound like they did on the title track – you can feel the tautness of the drumhead, feels like the drum kit is right beside you in the sense of the ‘realness’ and texture of the sound…