Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

[Streamc]

super late to this comment but it stuck out to me because i deliberated and scrutinized over the R3s and 906s in my bedroom for 5 days before returning the R3s and keeping the 906s. the majority of what i listen to is vocal heavy and the 906s were markedly preferrable for that style. if i listened to electro or house i'm sure i would have opted to keep the R3s, but they underperformed for vocal work.

No problem. If I would try some over R3 it would be not standmounter or it would be something like KEF Reference. It sounds clearer in every YouTube video.

 

[Streamc]

no it's a mechanical thing. the R3s are startlingly good at pushing air for their size. the sort of punchy bass you can feel in your chest
but they dont sound "beautiful"

And neither 906.

 

[delta76]

It all started with this. For a very long time I didn't want to get into Hifi because it feels so complicated (dac, preamp, amp, wire etc. ) and expensive. 906s made me realize I can get into hifi with low cost. Not exactly cheap, but incredible value for the price.

 

[departure]

No problem. If I would try some over R3 it would be not standmounter or it would be something like KEF Reference. It sounds clearer in every YouTube video.

i'm surprised it needs to be said but you can't compare speakers by youtube recordings

 

[Streamc]

i'm surprised it needs to be said but you can't compare speakers by youtube recordings

I heard both of them alive with different amps. I mean 906 and R3. Also what I ve heard with r3 on YouTube correlate with R3 alive that I own and listened in my room and show room so I believe in correlation. And Reference is more clear and Better speaker than R3 and of course 906.

 

[delta76]

R3 has higher pref score (0.9) so it is expected more people will like it better than 906. With a bit of EQ 906 can be quite better but still not reach R3. I would think it is fair to say R3 is a better sounding speaker. But relative to the price here in europe, shipping from France, it is about 1/3 price of R3, it is competitive again.

 

[Chromatischism]

R3 has higher pref score (0.9) so it is expected more people will like it better than 906. With a bit of EQ 906 can be quite better but still not reach R3. I would think it is fair to say R3 is a better sounding speaker. But relative to the price here in europe, shipping from France, it is about 1/3 price of R3, it is competitive again.

No. The preference score is a broad indicator and is only accurate when the disparity is very large. It is not what I would call an accurate indicator of sound quality.

 

[departure]

R3 has higher pref score (0.9) so it is expected more people will like it better than 906. With a bit of EQ 906 can be quite better but still not reach R3. I would think it is fair to say R3 is a better sounding speaker. But relative to the price here in europe, shipping from France, it is about 1/3 price of R3, it is competitive again.

according to my experience comparing the two i'd rather argue the mechanical characteristics of the two products are similar enough that it's unreasonable to say the one is unilaterally better than the other, maybe if i had to blindly recommend one over the other i'd recommend the R3 just because for the average person the more pronounced lower end is probably more viscerally exciting. on the other hand, if i knew they listened to singer-songwriter type stuff i would absolutely insist on the arias.

 

[delta76]

No. The preference score is a broad indicator and is only accurate when the disparity is very large. It is not what I would call an accurate indicator of sound quality.

I remember the difference needs to be 1.0 to be statistically significant. In this case 6.5 vs 5.56 is close to 1.0. As pref score is how accurate the response frequency is, it is definitely related to sound quality

 

[jmillar]

A typical Danny "tuning" messing up the sound power for a flatter on-axis to impress his half-knowledge fans, original horizontal angles FR

View attachment 203384

and after his mod

View attachment 203385

with a heavy sound power peak between 2 and 8 kHz where no experienced loudspeaker engineer would like to have a peak...

3-4 kHz bump. "Presence". B&W, SF territory. From the looks it will sound very different. Attention grabbing, but colored and unbalanced.

 

[Rjbell78]

It's incredible you can make even a mediocre speaker In Europe with real wood veneer for £700 never mind something this good.

 

[Yameyo]

Hi all

Please would someone be kind enough to let me know if I've done this correctly? I've entered the values into REW as shown in the screenshot below, saved them as a .REQ file, and then converted to them to a WAV which I'm then using in a convolver plugin in Foobar. Does this at all sound like the correct process, please? Are there any steps I may have missed that could be detrimental to my Focals?

 

[HonestSonics]

I'm looking for something in the sub-£1000 range as a potential replacement for Triangle BR03 speakers. Nothing wrong with them, I just get itchy feet/ears. The 906 looks like a good candidate, and has a front bass port which is preferable for my situation over rear facing. Is there anything else out there in this range with a front port I should have a look at?

 

[My adventures in stereo]

The 906 has very nice build quality, is good value for money
I have used mine in both near field & far field settings and have been happy with its performance

 

[Chromatischism]

I'm looking for something in the sub-£1000 range as a potential replacement for Triangle BR03 speakers. Nothing wrong with them, I just get itchy feet/ears. The 906 looks like a good candidate, and has a front bass port which is preferable for my situation over rear facing. Is there anything else out there in this range with a front port I should have a look at?

ELAC UBR62, Revel M16.

Or go up a level and look at Ascend Sierra-LX, or another level and look at Revel M106, Buchardt S400. Even better if you can find the latter two used, probably the best deal.

 

[damirj79]

I'm looking for something in the sub-£1000 range as a potential replacement for Triangle BR03 speakers. Nothing wrong with them, I just get itchy feet/ears. The 906 looks like a good candidate, and has a front bass port which is preferable for my situation over rear facing. Is there anything else out there in this range with a front port I should have a look at?

Based on £ you can probably easily find some good deals in EU for Focal Aria 906. Elac UBR62 would be good also, but price in EU is not very competitive, unless you find a really good price. It will be stil higher than Focals.

 

[HonestSonics]

Based on £ you can probably easily find some good deals in EU for Focal Aria 906. Elac UBR62 would be good also, but price in EU is not very competitive, unless you find a really good price. It will be stil higher than Focals.

I really like the look of the UBR62, thank you. Only ever owned two way bookshelf speakers so would be interesting to see how a three way design benefits the presentation,. And it has the front port design too. Do you have any experience with it by any chance?
In the UK where I am both the UBR62 and the Aria 906 are roughly £750. Perhaps an audition is in order if I find a dealer with both models available.

 

[rcstevensonaz]

For Focal Aria 906, check out this vendor: https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17034-focal-aria-906-dark-ebony

Click on their "Confidential Price". Or, for a steal, that page was showing 2x Focal Aria 906 + Stands for 808 €. (Highly recommend Focal's stands for these speakers).

 

[VintageFlanker]

For Focal Aria 906, check out this vendor: https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17034-focal-aria-906-dark-ebony

Click on their "Confidential Price". Or, for a steal, that page was showing 2x Focal Aria 906 + Stands for 808 €.

There have been way better deals from HCS. Like 420€ for 906s and 198€ for S900s (what I personally paid for these great stands).

Better wait a few weeks for Winter Sales to start.

 

[damirj79]

UK is not in EU any more so the prices got higher. If you import from FR there are import taxes to add to the listing price.