jm lab grand utopia be--- any thoughts ?

Kmccarty notes:

...reproduction of a live jazz concert in an intimate acoustic is very different from the reproduction of a full orchestra playing full tilt with chorus and(/or) soloists

Quite so. I often have trouble explaining this.

As s/one put it, "reproducing an audiophile recording of "girl with guitar" music, is different from tackling Mahler 8.

Gotta love these people who make sweeping generalizations of a brand based on a couple crappy hotel room demos! That speaks volumes doesn't it? too funny.

stevecham---

the 2 speakers that you had mentioned as "surpassing", the jm lab ,are ,with all due respect ,not even in the neighborhood of the jm lab , and i am refering to the utopia be line.
you are really making very general statements ,that can frankly ,be said just about any component out there.
every speaker ,or any gear ,for that matter ,has drawbacks. but i find ,the jm labs ,in my room ,and with my familiar settings ,to be very musical , with the right sonical timbre and presentation.
but let's not turn this into a "mine is better" kind of thing- i really wanted to hear what fellow a/goners ,with the grand utopias bes have to comments on these SPECIFIC speakers, before i decide to upgrade my nova bes to the grands.

Go Ahead and try to auditon the New "Grande Utopia EM" !!

http://www.grande-utopia-em.com/

Hurry up !

Ozy,

I am not familiar with the Nova but I have listened extensively to a well setup Alto - let me say these are indeed awesome speakers. However, if I am nit picky then I share your concerns about the bass - that was pretty obvious from the get go - dynamics were also not as strong as I was expecting in such a large speaker. However, I was also puzzled by the imaging. I did not get precise definition in the soundstage. On Roger Waters Amused to Death Track 3 there were some great effects (very wide soundstage - extremely impressive sound from the left and in your left ear) - however, contrary or in the opposite vein - the female vocalist was not precisely or soldily centered nor was Roger Waters (centered but vaguely so - such as you would not be completely convinced they were there standing in front of you).

Anyway - those were my findings - it may simply have been colored by something else in the chain (the DAC for example - it was all high end SS gear). FWIW: They are absolutely stunning looking speakers, which is why I had to listen to them - but I did come away ever so slightly disappointed given their price.