Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

[Chromatischism]

My BIC Venturi Formula 2's rested flat on the shelf at that height. I noticed that I heard more in the treble when I stood versus when I sat to listen. Then I put a couple of doorstops under each speaker. With that tilt, the difference shrank to inconsequential (for me). If there is another term for this, please let me know.

That would be the correct term and it sounds like you found the cure.

 

[Chazz6]

Vertical directivity - deal breaker? I am waiting for Focal's reply to this question:

I consider purchase of the Focal Aria 906 pair, but there might be a problem. I must place them on a shelf at a height of 2 meters. They will be just under 1.5 meters apart and about 0.6 meter in front of the rear wall. The listener will sit approximately 2.6 meters in front of them. I can tilt the speakers as needed. Is this arrangement acceptable?​

I am not a highly demanding listener. Details and musicality count, at low to middle volume. Not much concerned with soundstaging. My taste runs to pre-fusion jazz and baroque. Aria 906 or Elac Debut Reference 62? Thank you for any observations.

Follow up: I've heard nothing from Focal after two or three days since my inquiry by webmail on their website. However, I bought a used pair of Aria 906's, swapped out the old BIC Venturi Formula 2's, and put the Aria 906's in the same place with the same tilt by means of doorstops. The 906's have, to my ear, less vertical directivity of the treble than the Venturi's. And they sound great in general.

 

[ArtfulDawdger]

Can anyone recommend a sub to use with these ? Looking to spend <$1k

 

[EB1000]

Can anyone recommend a sub to use with these ? Looking to spend <$1k

SVS SB2000 Pro is a great match (I have two of them)

 

[sweetchaos]

Can anyone recommend a sub to use with these ? Looking to spend <$1k

Look at my 'subwoofer comparison' spreadsheet.

 

[Pritaudio]

I’m considering either focal chora 806 with rel t5i sub or Neumann kh120 with kh750 sub.
I can use umik 1 mini dsp mic with rew software for the passive option.
I know which will be more neutral and offer Neumann s own ma1 mic measurement for seamless room correction.
but will my rme adi dac 2 combined with the hypex nc502mp amp provide a sinad which has lower distortion, clarity and detail then the Neumann combo.

 

[Pritaudio]

Also I can get focal chora 806 for £499, or aria 906 for £799.
is the chora more neutral?
what are the minor differences in sound. Please explain.

 

[Helicopter]

Also I can get focal chora 806 for £499, or aria 906 for £799.
is the chora more neutral?
what are the minor differences in sound. Please explain.

The Aria has slightly better frequency response due to the rounded cabinet edges and possible better crossover. The difference is very subtle. The Chora is already a really good speaker.

 

[trivium]

Can anyone recommend a sub to use with these ? Looking to spend <$1k

I use the klipsch synergy sub-100, after REW I’m pretty happy with it. Not it’s not an $800 SVS but it has decent distortion specs and once I dialed in the room placement and correction with REW the sub also disappeared, I can’t localize it’s sound at all.

 

[napilopez]

I’m considering either focal chora 806 with rel t5i sub or Neumann kh120 with kh750 sub.
I can use umik 1 mini dsp mic with rew software for the passive option.
I know which will be more neutral and offer Neumann s own ma1 mic measurement for seamless room correction.
but will my rme adi dac 2 combined with the hypex nc502mp amp provide a sinad which has lower distortion, clarity and detail then the Neumann combo.

It is highly unlikely you will hear the benefits of your dac and amp relative to the substantial frequency and directivity characteristics of the speakers. I would go with whatever you think you'll prefer based on the speakers alone. And if you don't have another way of doing room correction, then that is definitely an advantage for the neumanns. The neumann's will probably be a little more neutral, but the Focal's have wider directivity and should sound wider with most content.

Also I can get focal chora 806 for £499, or aria 906 for £799.
is the chora more neutral?
what are the minor differences in sound. Please explain.

Without any direct comparisons of the speakers available, all we have is frequency response information available. As noted by @Helicopter, they are very similar.

For example, I'd generated a spin for the Chora that looks very similar to the arias, even though this was back when I was only doing incomplete spin measurements. Solid are my measurements of the Chora, dotted are Amir's for the Aria.

The Chora actually comes off looking a little better, as it doesn't have as much of a 800Hz hump nor that PIR/SP dip at 3kHz but given the incompleteness of my measurements in this case, I wouldn't be completely sure. And bass differences could partly due to errors in my nearfield summation.

Soundstage network, which measured both the 806 and 906 in an anechoic chamber, shows this similarity even more dramatically, at least in the horizontals. Here are the measurements at 45, 60, and 75 degrees (I've colorized the Chora to blue):

It is rare for two different speakers to measure so similarly, even if they are using the same basic tweeter design. Once again, the chora appears to have just a hair more bass, although the soundstage network measurements are not fully accurate below 80Hz . In any case, the results are extremely similar, to the extent that it's not much different from what you might expect from simple sample variation for the same model, let alone two different ones.

I suspect that if there is a meaningful difference between the two speakers, it would have to come down to something other than frequency response. Technically, the Aria's flax woofer is supposed to be a slight step up from the Chora's Slatefiber woofer, but at least in terms of THD, soundstage network also shows similar performance here.

Unless the Chora does in fact have a little bit more bass, I would be surprised if listeners could consistently choose a better speaker in a blind test. So basically, I think you'd be just as fine saving money with the Chora, but just choose whichever you think is prettiest.

 

[Helicopter]

In the factory tour Video the Focal rep says the fibers are purely aesthetic. I am guessing the tweeter, woofer, crossover circuit, and cabinet volume are the same, with better crossover components, finish, and cabinet shape on the Aria. If you like the look of Chora, I would get those. I got Arias because they don't make a Chora 848 and the Arias were 40% off.

 

[trivium]

In the factory tour the Focal rep says the fibers are purely aesthetic. I am guessing the tweeter, woofer, crossover circuit, and cabinet volume are the same, with better crossover components, finish, and cabinet shape on the Aria. If you like the look of Chora, I would get those. I got Arias because they don't make a Chora 848 and the Arias were 40% off.

The arias look more classy and elegant, the chorus look more contemporary in my opinion. Has anyone measured the directive and horizontal dispersion between the two?

 

[Chazz6]

In the factory tour Video the Focal rep says the fibers are purely aesthetic.

In the portion of the hour-plus factory tour video that I saw, he said that about wood fibers used in another model than the Aria. And later he repeats the standard line that combining fiberglass and linen gives rigidity plus damping.

 

[Helicopter]

In the portion of the hour-plus factory tour video that I saw, he said that about wood fibers used in another model than the Aria. And later he repeats the standard line that combining fiberglass and linen gives rigidity plus damping.

Yeh, I guess he does tout the composite.The damping foam has like 20x the mass of the linen and the aramid cones all use the same crossovers as linen and probably slate too. I doubt any difference is half the sample variation.

 

[Pritaudio]

It is highly unlikely you will hear the benefits of your dac and amp relative to the substantial frequency and directivity characteristics of the speakers. I would go with whatever you think you'll prefer based on the speakers alone. And if you don't have another way of doing room correction, then that is definitely an advantage for the neumanns. The neumann's will probably be a little more neutral, but the Focal's have wider directivity and should sound wider with most content.



Without any direct comparisons of the speakers available, all we have is frequency response information available. As noted by @Helicopter, they are very similar.

For example, I'd generated a spin for the Chora that looks very similar to the arias, even though this was back when I was only doing incomplete spin measurements. Solid are my measurements of the Chora, dotted are Amir's for the Aria.
View attachment 118044
The Chora actually comes off looking a little better, as it doesn't have as much of a 800Hz hump nor that PIR/SP dip at 3kHz but given the incompleteness of my measurements in this case, I wouldn't be completely sure. And bass differences could partly due to errors in my nearfield summation.

Soundstage network, which measured both the 806 and 906 in an anechoic chamber, shows this similarity even more dramatically, at least in the horizontals. Here are the measurements at 45, 60, and 75 degrees (I've colorized the Chora to blue):

View attachment 118047

It is rare for two different speakers to measure so similarly, even if they are using the same basic tweeter design. Once again, the chora appears to have just a hair more bass, although the soundstage network measurements are not fully accurate below 80Hz . In any case, the results are extremely similar, to the extent that it's not much different from what you might expect from simple sample variation for the same model, let alone two different ones.

I suspect that if there is a meaningful difference between the two speakers, it would have to come down to something other than frequency response. Technically, the Aria's flax woofer is supposed to be a slight step up from the Chora's Slatefiber woofer, but at least in terms of THD, soundstage network also shows similar performance here.

Unless the Chora does in fact have a little bit more bass, I would be surprised if listeners could consistently choose a better speaker in a blind test. So basically, I think you'd be just as fine saving money with the Chora, but just choose whichever you think is prettiest.

regarding your first part of the response. I though the neumanns were ruler flat frequency response. Are you sure there isn’t that much difference Between the chora 806.
furthermore Neumann has developed two methods of room correction including phase alignment and other features.
the first is through an iPad app, and the newest method requires an audio interface with their propritary mic.
something like micro detail retrieval should theoretically show up on the graphs, but it’s more about the perception of the recording.
but the soundstage is even difficult to reproduce, and I’m not sure graphs can be helpful there.
Surely a better sinad of amp can be evaluated in these terms, compared to the objective flat response of the neumanns.

 

[napilopez]

regarding your first part of the response. I though the neumanns were ruler flat frequency response. Are you sure there isn’t that much difference Between the chora 806.
furthermore Neumann has developed two methods of room correction including phase alignment and other features.
the first is through an iPad app, and the newest method requires an audio interface with their propritary mic.
something like micro detail retrieval should theoretically show up on the graphs, but it’s more about the perception of the recording.
but the soundstage is even difficult to reproduce, and I’m not sure graphs can be helpful there.
Surely a better sinad of amp can be evaluated in these terms, compared to the objective flat response of the neumanns.

-The neumann's are indeed ruler flat, and are technically better in this respect. What I'm saying is that the difference may not be as dramatic as you expect. They are both "neutral-ish" speakers, but I suspect much of what you notice when comparing them will be related to directivity because it's so different.

Second, you can readily predict soundstage performance from Spinorama data if you understand the interaction with your room well enough.

The goal of my post is to say that you should decide based on what speaker you want and to not worry much about the electronics. The differences in SINAD between potential setups is highly unlikely to matter much compare to the other differences between speakers. The Neumanns will probably be a little more neutral and have a 'sharper' soundstage, the focals will probably throw a wider image but maybe sound a little less even in tonality.

 

[repsych]

Hello, the fiber comes from the leaves of the flax plant not from the seeds.

 

[milosz]

Flaxseed oil is high in omega 3 fatty acids, and is used in some dietary supplements.

Flax fiber, from the leaves and stems of the plant, is used in some Focal drivers. Flax fiber is also what linen cloth is made from.

 

[echopraxia]

The Flax Seed Oil topic comes up so often, at this point perhaps Focal should add a disclaimer like this:

Focal Aria - Made in France with Flax Cones (*)

(*) While Focal Aria loudspeakers are rich in dietary fiber, they are not a sufficient source of the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (a heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid). If you are considering natural treatments to reduce cholesterol, blood sugar, digestive conditions, inflammatory diseases, and other conditions, please do not eat our speakers. Warranty does not cover damage resulting from human ingestion of the speaker cones or cabinet, either intentional or accidental. (**) Studies do indicate, however, that enjoying music on good speakers may improve mental health. (***)

(**) In case of accidental swollowing of whole Focal Aria towers, please contact your nearest Guinness Book of World Records department immediately.

(***) These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

 

[gsp1971]

Question to @amirm and other members more scientically-savvy than myself :

Given the equal loudness contours, which state that in the 2-4kHz region our ears are very sensitive and we perceive sound as being 1-2 dB louder than it actually is, could it be possible that the Estimated In-Room Response dip of the Focal Aria 906 in that region (blue arrow) will actually be perceived as 1-2 dB louder, i.e. pretty much on the red trendline, making the Estimated In-Room Response flatter than it actually is?

Your thoughts are welcome.