Focal Grand Utopia Bi-amplified by Pass Labs X250.5?

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mert

Member
Joined 2006
Dear Nelson,

This time I am seeking help for a despirate fellow audiophile. He has Focal Grand Utopia be, Boulder 1050 monos, 2010 pre amplifier, Meridian 808 Cdp. He has a major problem of driving these speakers since Boulder 1050 monos(500 watts in Boulder Watt , don't take Boulder specifications seriously) can't drive sufficiently and gives you a strong feeling of absence of bass.
This guy wants to drive bass with X250.5 together with Boulder 1050 monos.(mids and highs) I would like to learn your idea and suggestions. Plus can there be any drawback of this configuration?

Regards

Mert Tetik
:cool:
 
M

mert

Member
Joined 2006
Nelson Pass said:
Boulder does not have a reputation for failing to meet specs -
perhaps there is another problem.

Having said that, I don't see any drawbacks. You only have to
see to it that the levels are adjusted between the two amplifiers.
Click to expand...

can you be more specific? How can we adjust the levels of both amplifiers? or what figures we have to look for in order to obtain matched level?
 
Nelson Pass

Nelson Pass

The one and only
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Normally you want to be able to adjust the relative gain between
the amplifiers. It is not enough that the gain might be matched,
becuase you inevitably want to play with it. A simple attenuator
on the amplifier which has more gain would do the trick.
 
B

bobsinclar

Member
Joined 2006
Why try to biamp this speaker? it has a sufficiently complicated internal crossover that hardly tries to make all the speakers sound with coherence...if you bi amp you are just adding complexity to the whole system, and ajusting levels is part of the problem, because amps may have diffrent gains whatever power they can deliver...without mentionning any other specificities ...
Vince
 
B

bobsinclar

Member
Joined 2006
Nelson Pass is known as the best of the best, but he is not superman...trying to get these speakers to work coherent with good imaging and strong bass is a job for god!
Just kidding...but it's just that each time I listen to it i just ear speakers playing independantly , not a real fusion between them

Pass amps can drive anything , if it doesn't work fine then you'd better suspect the speaker rather than the amp connected...
grey gave you a start point...you could also look at the crossover if there is a switch for adjustment or anything inside that isn't working as expected...
 
T

tinitus

Ex-Moderator R.I.P.
Joined 2005
bobsinclar said:
Why try to biamp this speaker? it has a sufficiently complicated internal crossover that hardly tries to make all the speakers sound with coherence...if you bi amp you are just adding complexity to the whole system, and ajusting levels is part of the problem, because amps may have diffrent gains whatever power they can deliver...without mentionning any other specificities ...
Vince
Click to expand...


I agree with bob, coherence may suffer with biamping...unless you want to establish something that wasnt there from the beginning...as Nelson suggested, turn down the gain on the amps driving mid/high
 
M

mert

Member
Joined 2006
Thanks for all feedbacks, fellow audiophile decided to run the speakers by only Boulder monos. In reality, he can't sell boulder monos easy where he lives. If he was living in the states, he could trade them for Pass labs X1000.5 or XA200.5 which can drive Focal Grand Utopia be better than Boulder Monos.

Sometimes owning 500.000 USD equipment will not justify best sound. Carefull system matching is the trick of the game.

I feel myself lucky since I already own Pass labs X250.5 and very right speaker with only one pair of terminals(wilson Sophia series 2)

:cool:
 
B

bobsinclar

Member
Joined 2006
OBIWAN,
actually I spend 2/3 of my time on crossovers building,and this since I finished my aleph 3 as well as preamp (almost a year ago), and my thoughts really are that building crossovers is a hard part ....whatever experience you have ...the problem isn't only getting the speakers crossed well on the graphics...but the result has to sound musical , refined and airy ...and the hardest part it has to fit your expectations in sound aesthetics:rolleyes:
then ,he more you are expecting from your spkrs the more you'll spend time tweaking them...
and in the 4 way system getting right summation and delay from all those spkrs isn't always the best sounding spot...that is why I just hate those ...and almost never listened to a descent 4 way system in my life...
the best spkrs I listened to were 2 ways and wideband...
so I insist making a 4 way passively crossed is a 10years job !
Vince
 
B

bobsinclar

Member
Joined 2006
Mert,
last week we went to a dealers place to listen to your spkrs (Wilson) and we braught my Aleph 3 to pump them...the dealer was kind enough to leu us plug my DIY aleph to the Wilsons...
we spent a goon hour having the 30 Watts of the alephs making them cry , actually the seller was stunned by the aleph's low end tight response...as well we spent a good time listening to these spkrs that are (IMO) much more interesting than the G UTOP of your fellow... they really sound sharp and nice , and are very well done...I just find them a bit dark on pianos, but in general they are good...especially with PASS amps...
Vince
 
ShinOBIWAN

ShinOBIWAN

diyAudio Member
Joined 2004
bobsinclar said:
the best spkrs I listened to were 2 ways and wideband...
so I insist making a 4 way passively crossed is a 10years job !
Vince
Click to expand...

Hey Vince

I like the challenge of complicated systems, if your not pushing yourself then some of the fun is missing I think. You'd probably have an hernia if you saw the last speakers I built - 5 drivers in a 3.5way. I agree that crossovers, like wine, get better with age.
 
ShinOBIWAN

ShinOBIWAN

diyAudio Member
Joined 2004
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