Here the review on the Diva Utopia. Should, normally, be allowed, as it’s a Naim component review.
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I know esthetics are subjective. But, I have never been a fan of the way Focals look.
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Me neither, which is a shame as they can sometimes sound rather good. I do wonder if the style and appearance is more a cultural thing?
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I think a lot of industrial design is. I’ve noticed, for example, that over the past decade, UK product designs have leaned towards a sort of dark pessimistic aesthetic which I call “New Brutalism” and I suspect it mirrors aspects of the national psyche. The New Classic stuff is the absolute epitome of this style.
Focals always strike me as looking good next to your Chanel and Delveux and LV luggage set.
Canard a l’Orange next to Roast Lamb and spuds. One’s not better than the other but the presentation is very different.
Of course, if taking cues from French design movements, I’d have preferred they borrowed from Art Nouveau.
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Brutalism, canard à l’orange…
Not all brands follow Focal design.
Here the Davis Acoustic Stellar, a big French speakers company :
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Brutalism was my description of UK aesthetic recently and especially New Classic. Focal is very much Couture. And those Davis also, like the Focals, look very French to me.
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Brutalist was an aesthetic style in the UK in the 1970s.
This style of lamps can sell for many thousands of pounds.
DG…
I always think of brutalist being an architectural style of the late 50s and 60s with the South Bank arts centres being archetypal. The sort of thing that the then prince Charles was exercised about.
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Yeah, late 50s and 60s but carried on into the 70s. Some say it was named after the French term “béton brut” for raw concrete. Certainly that style of architecture has plenty of exposed concrete on show in, for example, the SouthBank Centre and Barbican in London.
So the concrete finish on the Focal Sopra 2s released for the special 10th anniversary edition is rather closer to New Brutalism than the New Classic boxes, to my eyes. 
Roger
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Brutalism is Barbican for me. A nice site with some hifi:
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Perhaps you only like vintage, and why not ?
I find personally Focal speakers, in the utopia range, brutal looking. Much more masculine than feminine refinement.
In the spirit of French business area in la Défense :
« here we make money, no time for dream and art «
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Personally I think the Grande Arche hypercube is rather imaginative, although it’s rather dwarfed by surrounding buildings in the photo.
Roger
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Nice site. Interesting read and some good photos. Thank you for posting that. A number of personal reasons for particularly enjoying it, which I’ll spare the thread, but really appreciate the link 
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Well if it’s New Zealand roast lamb, slow cooked, there’s no contest. Anything else is a poor imitation.
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Both are my favourites.
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The review was interesting enough, and I’m sure it has its appeal as a simple and excellent on-line streaming setup. It would be nice to know how it compares to a similarly priced NC and speaker set-up - which I’m guessing would be a 222/NPX300/250 plus good speakers?
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Convenience always costs a premium. Doesn’t make any less valuable if that’s what the buyer needs.
I’ve had active speakers with a source before. Given the need for unobtrusive but big sound they were great. But in terms of pure sound quality a very entry level budget speaker with separate amp and CD player utterly trounced them at just a tenth of the cost. I knew that going in but my needs were different and I was a happy customer.
I doubt the ratio is as extreme but with these Focals but I’d still bet half the budget could better it. Also worth remember it’s aimed at a buyer for whom it’s more important to find an integrated solution at that price point than it is to be able to carefully choose speakers.
I see this more like the next level up conceptually in the Muso range.
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Well, I disagree! I think they sound absolutely fabulous and perform better than any Naim or other system of separates at up to twice the price.
And, no, I haven’t heard them either.
Roger
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This is what I was wondering as well. If the development of active speakers comes to a point where they are matching the traditional set up with separate devices where it comes to sound quality, then I think we may have a revolution on our hands. If we haven’t already.
@Stevesky mentioned in another thread I believe that sound quality wireless with the Diva was at the level of the wired equivalent. This because of UWB.
So I’m really curious where this may lead. Perhaps it’s a kind of sacrilegious here, but if this development is the future then what would be the path for Focal and Naim? Given these are now separate brands. A road ahead to proceed as one?
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