FOCAL JMlab Scala Utopia

I heard that Focal speakers were not particularly demanding for the placement which proved to be incorrect. The golden rule of hifi – the further from walls the better – holds true in case of Scala Utopia. Getting near a wall means tilting the fantastically flat frequency response, usually for worse. The Scalas require plenty of space around and you have the duty to provide it.

To get the sound from woofers and tweeters blend well at your listening position you have to sit in certain distance. Normally it is a matter of preference – in case of Scala Utopias there is something like optimum distance that eventually can be bigger, but definitely not shorter. Due to the concave array of the Scala´s transducers (not unlike Pioneer-TAD S-1EX and Wilson Audio models practice) there is a single point in space where axes of the woofers and tweeters meet and this is the point. In my case it was the point where I could hardly see top surfaces of the speakers´ cabinets. When I moved myself one feet further the sound´s pitch changed unfavorably, when I moved one feet closer the pink noise suffered from hollow coloration.

The lateral distance is more up to your choice. Considering that the Scala Utopias need to be at least 2.5 feet from side walls and that a standard room is about 14 feet wide, you will end up with both the speakers about 7-8 feet apart. For I was sitting 7 feet away the equidistant triangle principle was fulfilled. One of the very safe options is to place the Scalas along the longer wall (provided that your room is big enough not to sit too close or to have the speakers too close to room boundaries).
As far as imaging was concerned I reached the best results with more than usual toe in so that the axes of speakers crossed in front of my head. In this position the pink noise got perfectly centered and occupied a very narrow spot between the speakers. The sweet spot was very narrow too, however. As a compromise I ended up with more standard toe in that traded off the imaging precision for a wider sweet spot.

The Focal Scala Utopia offers a very interesting feature: at the back of speakers there are two adjustment links on the speaker´s crossover that can be repositioned. From their ´neutral´positions you can either shelve up or down the frequency response under 200Hz by +/-1dB, or adjust roll off from 2kHz by +/-1,5dB. Thus some anomalies of the listening environment (like underdamped or overdamped rooms) can be addressed.