JM Labs Beryllium

My friend has a pair of the JM Electra 936's. These are a very nice speaker. I really enjoy listening to them when I make the 14 hour drive out to his place once or twice a year. They in my opinion blow the CDM 9NT out of the water. I auditioned the B&W and bought the Paradigm Studio 100's a few years ago. The Nautilus tweeter in the B&W's is certainly nice but I preferred the overall sound of the 100's in no small part due to better bass handling. The non Be JM's use a very nice inverted dome tweeter which make lovely sound I enjoy very much. I've read that the Be tweeter which is basically the same design but with the lighter metal is a fair bit better still. I would audition the JM Lab speakers at your dealer including with the ones you mentioned a couple from the Electra line. Your Classe amp should drive these speakers wonderfully. My friend is using a pair of Meridian 505 monoblocks to power his 936's and the combo sounds great. Good hunting.

I've recently heard the Alto Utopias and they are impressive, but, when talking about a speaker that large and expensive, I wouldn't recommend making any decision based on comments you receive here. You really have to get them in your home and make sure your room is appropriate as well as your associated equipment.

For example, when I listened to them, I heard them with 3 different amps (all high quality) in the same room and the results were significantly different each time - some very good and some not so good.

Sorry not to be more help to your specific question, but I will say if you are looking at French speakers comparable to the B&W CDM series, I would look at the Cabasse models. They are less expensive and less hyped, but much better to my ears.

I heard the alto utopia's at delve audio in nj and it was one of the best setups I have heard at any price. Musical, detailed, fatigue free, full range with a huge stage and great image specificity. Give them a listen.