Dynaudio Esotar vs Focal Utopia - Building Best System Possible!!

[jrhunkler]

I am considering installing the Focal Utopia or Dynaudio Esotar's in my 2011 Tahoe as a demonstration / competition quality stereo system.

Ive had the old K2 Focal's, CDT Audio's, and Dynaudio EsoTEC's - all sounded great, but the Dynaudio's sounded best to me... however, the new Focal tweeters, and of course the Utopias, Dynaudio Esotars etc come highly recommended...

I also always hear that you shouldn't use "rear speakers" - which I understand for vocal, acoustical, classical, etc... but when a customer listens to electronic, dance, etc... they really isn't a "sound stage" - correct? Vehical should sound like a "night club" when that type of music plays... IMO anyway...

With that said, Ive been guided towards:

• Speakers: Dynaudio Esotar, Focal Utopia.
• Amps: Arc Audio SE or TRU.
• Processing: Arc Audio (their new processor soon to be released after SEMA) or the Pioneer DEX-P99RS with built in processing.
• Subwoofers: Arc Audio or Dynaudio Esotar
• Dampening: Hushmat or Second Skin

Does anyone have any experience with these particular components / systems?

If so, please give your professional, trained ear, opinion?

We are not in the audio business, but we do build high end custom "Supervettes" - and with this, naturally comes a great system!

Any other recommendations are more than welcome.

Our clientele typically spend between $5-$10k USD on a system in a Corvette... (We cater to 2005+ Corvettes only)

Any advice would be greatly apreciated.

[petegt]

Originally Posted by jrhunkler

I also always hear that you shouldn't use "rear speakers" - which I understand for vocal, acoustical, classical, etc... but when a customer listens to electronic, dance, etc... they really isn't a "sound stage" - correct? Vehical should sound like a "night club" when that type of music plays... IMO anyway...

Allot of night clubs are set up very poorly compared to live sound venues. I would not have rear speakers no matter what music. Maybe run just mid woofers at the back.
Less speakers, less audio sources to interfere with each other

[igor0203]

When you put best possible speaker in a car then fun only begins. It's not enough to throw in best speakers, best amps, best cables etc and expect great sound. It's not plug&play system. It will sound better than most ordinary systems but far from its full potential.
You must spend lot of time for EQ and setting up proper delays etc. If you're not prepared to do this, save money and buy cheaper speakers/amps.

Alse check Hybrid audio speakers.

[StevenZ]

I second the Hybrid Audio recommendation. I also agree that just because you have the most expensive gear in the world, doesn't mean you'll have the best sounding. Positioning and tuning will make or break you. If you're gong to use rear fill, make sure you have an amp that can dial down the gain for the rear speakers. Rear fill can help in some cases like yours, but say you have a 2-seater sports car, you won't want it since the front speakers should be doing all the work to create that perfect sound stage and proper imaging.

I run Focal K2P's in my 350z and it took a lot of placements and a lot of dialing them in to get the absolute best sound. Good luck and have fun.

[petegt]

Originally Posted by igor0203

When you put best possible speaker in a car then fun only begins. It's not enough to throw in best speakers, best amps, best cables etc and expect great sound. It's not plug&play system. It will sound better than most ordinary systems but far from its full potential.
You must spend lot of time for EQ and setting up proper delays etc. If you're not prepared to do this, save money and buy cheaper speakers/amps.

Alse check Hybrid audio speakers.

+100000 on this. 90% about the install, positioning and final set up. A car cabin is a really rubbish place to try to get good sound so it takes lots of work, not just top of the range equipment.

For example I have some tannoy studio monitors (£400 each when new) at home but the listening room is really reflective and creates lots of peaks and nulls in the frequency response depending on speaker placement in the room. Really not ideal. I tried them out in an acoustically treated room and it was a night and day difference.

Im a strong believer in getting the mids and tweeters as infront of the listener as possible to get them on axis (where freq response will be the flattest), especially the tweeter get them as close to ear level as possible. That approach does take allot of work but is probably worth doing if your spending top dollar on speakers.