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.

The Beryllium Utopia series has a much better damped cabinet compared to the older Utopia series. The newer line will be almost twice as heavy as the model it replaces. The older Utopia sounded like musical intruments themselves, but they were colored and not for a moment was I convinced that theirs was a faithful reproduction of the music. The coloration is an extended note decay probably a result of the underdamped enclosure. It gives the speaker a wooden sound and helps to make the listener imagine they are seated in a symphony hall. Also the bass was lacking in tautness, even when driven by Sim Audio W-5. Don't interpret this as a slam on the older speaker. They are very special and the closest I have ever head SS come to sounding like tubes was when the Mezzo Utopia/Utopia were in the system.

The Beryllium line has tighter bass as a result of its damping. The extended note decay is also gone. The cabinet is very inert. But the Beryllium line that I have heard including the Grande, Nova, and Alto all sound congested and opaque compared to the older Utopias. The Beryllium tweeter takes several hundred hours to break in and I don't know that I've ever heard them properly broken in. I have not warmed up to the sound of the new Beryllium speakers. There is no denying my bias.

Bottom line is that these two series are totally different in sound. You really should listen to both before a purchase decision is made.

I too heard the JM labs Be's (I think they were Alto or Nova's) at my local dealer here in Austin (Sound mind audio, who are very nice/knowledeable guys to dreal with). They were powered by Boulder amps........ I think the front end was Accuphase. They sounded REALLY GOOD, great detail, very musical. They are out of my budget so I didn't check model too closely, sorry.

I agree with the above post and would think that you need to audition them in your room........ they are big and expensive.