Upgrade from B&W 802D1 to Focal Utopia Scala Evo


If you had the chance to upgrade from  the B&W 802D1 to the  FOCAL UTOPIA SCALA EVO, which would you choose and why? 

onehorsepony

Top to bottom:

Arcam CD-72 or Mark Levinson 5101 SACD player

Cardas quadlink 5-c RCA interconnects

PSaudio BHK preamplifier (has input tubes)

XLR Audioquest Water interconnects

PSaudio BHK 300 monoblocks (has input tubes)

Bi-wired speaker cables,

Cardas Quadlink 5-c speaker cable for upper frequencies

Audioquest Indigo speaker cable for lower frequencies

Room is furnished with rug, cement floor, sofas, long curtains, many pillows and throws

 

Thanks. If rug is between listening position and speakers that’s fine. Nothing there stands out to me as a red flag except the first reflection points if speakers are close to side walls.
How far apart are the speakers? Measured between center of woofers and what is the toe in? And how far to side walls and front wall behind the speakers?

I’ll add that if you are willing to make this work you will need to re-evaluate your cabling as well. 
I’ve not heard that particular cardas or audioquest but none of that stuff is going to do these speakers, or the B&Ws justice. But the wires is something you can address later. Get a hold of a stereophile test CD and play low frequency tones on repeat at normal volume for an hour to give the woofers the needed workout. Or get a cheap streamer like wiim pro and stream tesr tracks from qobuz to shake things out for at least several hours each day. 

All measurements are from the center of the woofer:

8' between speakers

4' from each side wall

3' from front wall

very slight toe-in

Op we are Focal dealers and can assist you

 

First thing  to change are the  aq interconnects. We tried aq for a while vs our Wireworlds and the aq stuff was beaten badlyby wireworlds comparable models

 

And also acoustics are not snake oil the are very effective and have demonstrated this in many demos and reviews once you understand how they are designed you would gain a lot more respect for them.

 

Please give us a call we can.give you some suggestions on how to improve your setup.

 

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect NJ

Focal Wireworld and Isoacoustics dealers.