Fresh off a debut at the Munich show comes a big follow up to the intriguing Focal Sopra Series. A natural progression from the Sopra No. 2 we saw [here] and [here], the 3-way bass reflex No. 3 comes to us sporting larger drivers and a slightly larger cabinet.
While Audio-Head wasn’t able to make the trip out to the big Europe show this year, we were treated to a special listening session with the new Sopra from US dealer The Source A/V Design Group. Sporting the same unique color options as the rest of the line, the new big baby Utopia runs up the flagpole to $20k ($6k more than the 2) and harnesses the same Tuned Mass Dampening and Infinite Horn Loading design talking points.
The mid to upper responsibilities are handled in the much same fashion with a 6.5″ W Sandwich midrange driver and a 1″ Beryllium Tweeter, however a new crossover is employed across the two. Responsibilities shift a bit for the low end where a pair of 7″ drivers are swapped out for 8″ rumble buddies. Then there is the cabinet space, 30% more internal real estate and a few more inches to the height. Total weight also measures in at 32 lbs. heavier for those counting.
Listening to tracks varying from Eric Clapton to Jason Mraz, the new love potion No. 3 showcased excellent bottom end that was both unmuddied and reaching for the depths with a thumpy retrieval and plenty of shove. More demo-orinted tracks pushed our listening sessions further even further down and did a excellent job of pea cocking the loudspeaker to impressive levels of detail and dynamic-but-believable mids and treble. The highs were very easy to listen to without sacrificing any detail, and the Berylluim tweeter design managed to deftly avoid any sibilance and general screechiness across the board. Very tasty for the $20k range of loudspeakers.
Those interested in the new loudspeaker #3 in North America can find it through Los Angeles-based The Source A/V. The well equipped show room has already moved a surprising amount of inventory of the new model on the heels of the May launch date. More info and contact details available here: [http://thesourceav.com].