I finally got around to posting up one of my systems of which this is probably about the 400th iteration. Constants through all of them have been Focal and TARA. I have not found a better cable in 10 years of using The Zero or a more versatile speaker than a Utopia Series Focal.
The Grande Utopia EM is a techno tour de force that shreds all other full size speakers that I have sampled including in the lowest registers and dynamics which is typically an area where the Wilson X2 S2 would win. The Focal beats it by a mile. In my 38' by 24' room with 20' ceilings, a am getting extension well below 20Hz, dynamics that make your stomach turn, and can push volume levels that would strip the black off a crow. Yet at low volumes, it is all there, even at a whisper the linearity never falls off and the scale never goes away. The soundstage is massive yet the proportions of the instruments and height of the vocals is perfect. These are not like so many large speakers where a flute is the size of an elephant! The mid-bass is perfectly tight, the midrange is smooth as silk and the highs have air and transparency that even the best electrostat would be hard pressed to match.
The full stack of MBL Reference Series components are simply amazing. As a system, these electronics have amazing detail and transparency but ad just a touch of tube-like air to the mid without any significant coloration, loss of resolution, or veiling. Dynamics and micro dynamics are superb as you would expect and the amps have endless power and current to run the Grandes to any volume (the are efficient but they love current).
For cables, I have the TARA Zero Gold/Omega Gold and these cables offer performance like no other. Nordost, MIT, Transparent, etc, do not even come close to the neutrality of these cables nor do they add that special magic that the Zero offers. It is difficult to describe but when you put a Zero in a system, any system, it is transforms it and takes it to a totally different level. The Omega Gold speaker cables and Cobalt XL AC cords offer similar levels of performance in their categories.
For the all important power conditioning duties, the Running Springs D'Mitri is untouchable. It is one of the only conditioners that I have experienced that does no harm, only good. It improves most every aspect of performance with no current limiting, compression of soundstage, or limiting of dynamics. Leaps and bounds above the offerings from Shunyata and Audience that I have tried.
Also in the pictures are the brand new MBL 111F radials that I am playing with. These are strikingly good and while not a $180K Grande Utopia EM, you don't find yourself wanting for much except 16Hz bass extension...yes I am addicted to a solid foundation. The MBL radials do an amazing job of adding three dimensionality to material that lacks it without exaggerating the soundstage of otherwise well recorded pieces. They also have a level of transparency that is second only to the big Focals and a perfect sense of scale but once again, not exaggerated. This small speaker can compete with most $60K speakers that I have heard so I will venture to call it a stone cold bargain.
I will add that I am in the industry and have been for many years but my personal system is a reflection of what I feel is the best available and not the product of bribes or freebies. In general, if you can think of it, I have probably tried it!
