JM Labs Beryllium

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.

I too was listening to one of the beryllium series at my local dealer recently. I found myself thinking as much about potential health hazards as I did about music. Beryllium is nasty stuff that can cause a lung disease similar to silicosis.

I'm no hazardous materials expert, but I wonder if there are any risks associated with exposure to the beryllium in the speakers?

I have the Mezzo`s I have listened to both the Alto`s and Nova`s with CJ tube`s. I must admit they both sounded very nice. But must also admit they did not sound 10K better a good used pair of mezzo`s are going for 5.8 to 5K. As Ghostrider45 has mentioned about hazardous material each of the 3 seperate encloser`s are lead lined on the Grand Utopia`s, Utopia`s, amd Mezzo`s maybe JM Labs next model will have a plutonium woofer.(Ha Ha). David