Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

[testp]

https://www.stereonet.com/sg/news/focal-adds-906-bookshelf-and-centre-speaker-to-k2-range

New Aria 906 K2.

Should not replace the actual Aria line from what I understood, but like the 936 K2 (which is also ugly as hell) is a higher end revision. Comes at 1500€/pair in France, literally twice as expensive as regular 906s (off deal).

holy crap, Focal is being busy right now....

althought looking at the measurements of Stereophile 936 vs 936K2 i see very little benefit so far, also man... do these yellow drivers look awful to me!

 

[Snoopy]

Ugly? I kinda like it. Wonder how focal speakers sound compared to focal headphones (love my Focal Elegia).

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Should not replace the actual Aria line from what I understood, but like the 936 K2 (which is also ugly as hell) is a higher end revision. Comes at 1500€/pair in France, literally twice as expensive as regular 906s (off deal).

Well it's questionable that there will be many audible changes between the revisions unless they tuned them differently.
You got the "ugly as hell" part right though. Sheesh, my 906 (Noyer) are true beauties against that one.

Ugly? I kinda like it. Wonder how focal speakers sound compared to focal headphones (love my Focal Elegia).

There's pretty much the same "house sound" between my Clear and my Arias, though speakers are obviously more room dependent.

 

[TheBatsEar]

I like the design

 

[nobodynoz]

Prices in France today

lowest price 590€ the pair

 

[VintageFlanker]

Prices in France today

lowest price 590€ the pair

Wait a bit more...

PS: 490€ by demande de prix.

 

[testp]

i love this:
https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17034-focal-aria-906-dark-ebony

or this:
https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17032-focal-aria-936-dark-ebony

 

[VintageFlanker]

or this:
https://www.homecinesolutions.fr/p/17032-focal-aria-936-dark-ebony

Goes down to 1580€/pair when asking for special price (I believe it retails for 4K$ in US). Not the cheapest I've seen, tho. But basically, for the price of new 906s K2, you may got 936s.

 

[daftcombo]

Today I measured my Aria 906 again, at listening position, grills on.

Right speaker:

Left speaker :

(1/6 smoothing applied)

Those measurements led me to refine the bass correction for left speaker, which is near a corner:

Right channel could also be corrected a bit, but I'm less sure.

Note that the Aria 906, helped by walls, go as low as 40Hz and below.
As a comparison, the Genelec 8030C that I measured yesterday in my other tiny listening room get shy at 50Hz already: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/post-908176

 

[testp]

Note that the Aria 906, helped by walls, go as low as 40Hz and below.
As a comparison, the Genelec 8030C that I measured yesterday in my other tiny listening room get shy at 50Hz already: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/post-908176

how is genelec versus aria overall?

i'm between these, whether go with Genelec 8030C, little cheaper + sub's later
or Aria 906 + amp (more fussing around, need an good amp ) + sub/sub's later

 

[Chromatischism]

Those are speakers with different use cases.

For nearfield monitoring, very few speakers will touch the Genelec.

But if you're listening at higher levels in a room, you may want a different speaker.

 

[daftcombo]

how is genelec versus aria overall?

i'm between these, whether go with Genelec 8030C, little cheaper + sub's later
or Aria 906 + amp (more fussing around, need an good amp ) + sub/sub's later

The Genelec are better overall (more neutral IMHO, with more detail around 3kHz-5kHz), but the Aria have several stronger points:
- dig a deeper (40Hz vs 50Hz)
- have a bigger sound stage
- can probably play louder without distortion out of the box
- are totally quiet when fed by my Hypex amp (the 8030C can be heard from 1m+ in a quiet room when no music is playing).

In a very small room and with a listening position at less than 2m, I would advise the Genelec.

I got two pairs of Aria 906 for 420 € each (new). If you pay a lot more, it might not be worth it.

 

[thewas]

- can probably play louder without distortion out of the box

How do you come to that assumption?

 

[daftcombo]

How do you come to that assumption?

From Amir's subjective listening tests of both speakers.

FFIW, I own both speakers, I don't play loud and none of them distorted yet.

 

[ad_fletch]

What time of year do the 906s tend to go on sale for 4xx Euros? That’s less than half the price in my country….

 

[theyellowspecial]

Today I measured my Aria 906 again, at listening position, grills on.

Do you have an overlay measurement with grills off? The grills definitely affect the sound on the 906, unfortunately. I like to have all-black speakers or grills on because I use mine for home theater in a black room. Colored drivers can be a distraction. Fortunately, the 906 grills are easy to take on/off with the magnets for music or movie occasions.

 

[daftcombo]

Do you have an overlay measurement with grills off? The grills definitely affect the sound on the 906, unfortunately. I like to have all-black speakers or grills on because I use mine for home theater in a black room. Colored drivers can be a distraction. Fortunately, the 906 grills are easy to take on/off with the magnets for music or movie occasions.

I almost always listen grills on.
I will measure with and without soon.

 

[Bohdan]

What time of year do the 906s tend to go on sale for 4xx Euros? That’s less than half the price in my country….

Enceintes bibliothèques

Livraison rapide de enceintes bibliothèques en stock. Conseils par mail ou téléphone. Marque Focal.

www.homecinesolutions.fr

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

A few days ago, I had the rare opportunity to listen to these puppies:

Maestro Utopia Evo, the legend is growing - Focal

Evo stands for evolution... Since 2008, when Utopia III was launched, Focal’s technological heritage has grown enormously.

www.focal.com

At a measly 27.500€ a pop... they are certainly easily affordable.... for oil oligarchs maybe.

They certainly looked very, very sexy but I was surprised how little difference there was to my Arias that cost .. erm... 1% of the above. Granted, the showroom was awfully reflective and being used to Dirac'd sound, the modal bass annoyed me.
The main differences were: no sub needed and they could play much louder at lower distortion. Well, they are huge and probably designed for large rooms as well.

It made me realize what a wonderful loudspeaker the Aria 906 is and how much quality you can get at a very modest budget with the caveat of needing the volume to stay at reasonable levels.

 

[Doodski]

They certainly looked very, very sexy but I was surprised how little difference there was to my Arias that cost .. erm... 1%

That's high praise for the 906. Did you AB the 906 and the Maestro Utopia Evo?