The word 'scale' pops up in several different contexts when discussing music; the wall of sound from an orchestra in full flight, or the delicate series of notes picked out in series by a beginner learning to play. Focal's Scala Utopia V2 really does do scale...

When James and Henry dropped my new pair round last week, my first encounter with these wonderful speakers left me breathless - in laughter -  as I saw the huge boxes in the back of the van! Over 80Kg each! Watching the Tom…

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It has been almost a year since I completed my new listening room, so I thought it about time to post an update here.

Having the space to explore my systems capabilities to the full has been a wonderful, and probably the most important upgrade I have made, as I have now realised how much my old room was holding the music back. It was never 'bad' and on most…

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This 3rd and final update concludes my brief series describing the design and construction on my new listening room. It's been quite an lengthy journey, mainly due to my decision to undertake most of the construction work myself at weekends and over my summer break, but the final result is breathtaking.

The goal from the outset was to create a…

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It's been a little over 3 months since I posted on my project to create a new dedicated listening room, so I thought I should provide a further update on progress.

With the block-work complete to form the new room I turned my attention to the ceiling which needed replacement as I wanted to provide a degree of acoustic isolation from the rest of the house. The first step was to bring down the old ceiling which to say the least was a messy job.…

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I suspect that most serious music lovers with a keen interest in HiFi would dream of having their own dedicated listening room; for me at last this is about to become a reality.

Over the next few months I will be regularly updating this blog to keep you all informed of progress and give you some insight into the planning and construction process.

The thought of building my own room has been percolating through my mind for several years since I realised that my current room…

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Last Friday, I had the pleasure of being one of the first people in the UK to experience the Statement at the Bristol Show. Following a few introductory words from Doug and Steve from Naim we were treated to around 20 minutes of aural delights from the new amplifiers driving a pair of Focal Grand Utopia EMs. I have to admit that the Focals are not to my personal taste, however they are hugely capable speakers that revealed the Statements' full capabilities. Wow!! It's hard to describe what… Continue