Put all this together and what have you got? A relatively compact, distinctively styled two-box system, roughly the size of a Sopra 3 (or Sasha for you non-Focal folk). I use the term ‘system’ advisedly. While the Diva will accept external sources, it is very much a ‘plug and play’ system in and of itself. Which brings me, finally, to what this product represents and how it relates to the existing Naim and focal product lines.
Both companies have built their reputations firmly in the field of high-performance separates – digital source components and amplifiers for Naim, passive loudspeakers for Focal. All of a sudden here we have a self-contained, active speaker system that is streaming and wireless capable. How does it relate to the existing product lines? It doesn’t. This isn’t being offered as an upgrade to existing Naim amplifier, Sopra or Utopia owners. It isn’t an evolutionary step along a linear developmental path. This is a huge side-step (akin to Phil Bennet playing for the Ba-Bas) and just like Phil, this Diva establishes a whole new, separate but parallel direction of travel. Which is the whole point. The Diva takes Focal and Naim’s hard earned knowledge, right down to the spikes and footers supplied in the accessory box, and applies it to a different problem. The DNA is writ large in every aspect of the design – but the adaptation places it in a very different market context.
This isn’t the first model in a new range that’s going to replace the existing Utopia series – allthough clearly it is the first model in a new range: Focal would be crazy not to leverage this technology into different sized and priced products. This is a different product for a different customer – just as the Naim Statement amplifier served a client outside that company’s existing client base. But in this case, rather than stepping further up the separates market, Focal are stepping outside it, appealing to a younger demographic who don’t (and likely won’t ever) own or embrace separates, with their size, cost, complexity and unsustainable environmental footprint – although I can also see more than a few down-sizing boomers trading in their big box systems for something distinctly Diva-like. And talking of cost, what will the Diva Utopia set you back? €35,000 a pair – or £30,000 (both including VAT), or 40,000 of your Yankee dollars (plus whatever you’ll have to pay in local sales tax). And remember – that’s for the whole kit and caboodle. Which makes it a lot of speaker, a lot of technology and a huge sound for your money. This Diva isn’t replacing the existing Utopia series – it’s establishing a whole new family tree, which is why, at the end of the day, it carries the Utopia moniker.
In many ways, the Diva Utopia sets out to re-write the audio rule book, creating a new paradigm for high quality home audio system: a paradigm that embraces multi-media sources, can expand to include surround-sound or immersive music options, that can – in essence – follow and adapt to a changing, evolving and emerging market. It’s an impressive piece of engineering and an impressive piece of cooperative development: one that couldn’t possibly succeed if Focal and Naim weren’t singing from the same song sheet. The question now isn’t how the diva Utopia relates to the existing Focal range. The real question is, is it enough better than the Vienna Acoustics Mozart Infinity, enough cheaper than the Goldmund? Time will tell – but the pedigree and first impressions are certainly promising…
