Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

[AudioJester]

I am really tempted to jump on this but I have neither the space nor an amplifier to run them

No one can help you with space, but lots of cheap, efficient class D amps these days. Cant imagine amplifier being a limitation with these

 

[Ron Texas]

It’s on Amazon.

Yeah, $900 for dark walnut with a coupon. What's not on Amazon?

 

[lc155]

Am I the only one that prefers the glossy black finish to the walnut?

 

[Ron Texas]

Am I the only one that prefers the glossy black finish to the walnut?

Nope, but the deal seems to be on walnut.

 

[Anmol]

I own these speakers (with Musical fidelity m3si +2Qute Dac) - After enjoying for last few years , i can say that for my tastes, these speakers need to be positioned a little away from walls and slightly angled to form a listening triangle. there is another comment earlier that avoid position above ear levels, that also is a good advice with these speakers and matches my listening experience. ideally stand mounted- focal stands with these speakers are not cheap but look stunning, speaker in gloss black of course. I know there is a mention earlier of bass- i find bass not overwhelming but rather mellow but it is present to my ears. these speakers do not sound nice in smaller rooms. you need room size of around 15 squared meters both in my experience as well per focal documentation i read somewhere a while ago. with a decent amp , these speakers sound bigger than typical bookshelf speaker. when you add everything - we get an awesome sounding speaker with matching looks at a reasonable price point from a western company with a made in Europe product and what appears with good quality controls.

 

[Rja4000]

Happy to see those tested here...
And happy for the result.

I paid mines around 550€ for the pair in Belgium, at a reputable dealer (not a big discounter by any mean).
Normal price is between 800€ and 900€, depending on finish. (Note there has been 2 different walnut finishes: one cheap plastic -the onev I own- and the darker, with a real wood finish).

As I wrote before on this forum, I like them pretty much. Now we know why.
And no, they are not perfect.

I hope you'll be able to test some of it's bigger brothers someday: Aria 926, 936 or 948.
I personally use the 948 in my main system. They are awesone looking, huge in size and sound is, in my opinion, incredible for a pair I could buy new for less than 2000€. Normal price is around 3500€ I think.
Well, your back may not like it, though. They are also quite heavy.

 

[milosz]

The cones are made with flax fibers, not flax seeds. Flax is the fiber used to make linen cloth.

Focal has other cone materials they use- Focal makes these "sandwich" cones f a materall "W" it's made of a thin membrane of fiberglass resin with a thin layer of styrofoam bonded to one side of it,the shiny fiberglass-resin side is what you see when you look at the speaker from the front, with these "W" cones there is a dark gray or black dot spatter or pebbled pattern on the surface. I think the bigger "W" cone woofers have three layers - two layers of the glass fiber / resin membrane with styrofoam between them. The thin glass fiber/ resin membrane can actually "ring" so to damp that kind of behavior Focal bonds that thin layer of styrofoam on the back of the cone. These layers are very thin. The styrofoam is very light and damps the cone pretty well.

These flax fiber cones use natural flax fibers sandwiched between two membranes of fiberglass/resin, the flax fibers damp the tendency of the fiberglass to ring.

 

[Dmi3i]

Dear forum users who have a wharfedale diamond 225?) Provide them to Amir ... looking forward to a review of them! I would send my kit but I live at a great distance, in Russia, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean) and the package from here can easily not arrive to Amir (( thanks for the review 906

 

[Xyrium]

This is a weird one, though highly anticipated by me. The CSD seems to show that 800Hz peak/resonance, yet the port output must be combining with something that the tweeter is doing to make that happen, because it's not as pronounced as that 60Hz peak at the port and CSD.

That directivity, weird....

The woofer distortion at 86dB is amazingly well behaved, just amazing actually, as it the FR below 1kHz. I wonder about the 96dB measurements though. I'm beginning to think that any 2 way design is going to begin to lose composure at that SPL.

Thanks for the phase/step response!!!

 

[typericey]

So I owned these for a few years then eventually sold them just because I got bored with them. This was well before my enlightenment in joining ASR.

You never know what you got until you lose them. The one that got away. And all those cliches.

I like the fact that they are made in France. Well made and aesthetically well designed too. But I feel their flax cone is gimmicky and just marketing hype. They did write a whitepaper about them though.

FWIW, I'm running the car version of these speakers in my Subaru.

 

[Gatordaddy]

We've now identified 3 speakers in the 500-1000 dollar price range that have great measured performance and have sufficient output for Amir's mono listening tests. It seems like in this price range the north American market has Elac/Revel, and europe has Elac/Focal.

Due to their overbearing/"marketing-forward" presence in car audio, I always discounted Focal's products. I will need to seek out a dealer at some point to try their home loudspeakers.

It's interesting the extent to which well-measured speakers on the klippel usually have corresponding "good" in-room or stitched measurements from the stereo magazines. It's also interesting that these measurements usually don't correspond to subjective reviewers' impressions. If a community fund or methodology for speaker measurements materializes on ASR, stereophile/soundstage network/audioholic measurements could play a role in identifying candidates.

 

[kodreaming]

Nice review. Also great choice of test track. Love Allan Taylor!

 

[Vindermere]

The focal shape series (active speakers) with flax drivers is very good too, particulary the shape twin.

 

[pavuol]

I'm just curious if prior testing standard running-in period was "applied" or the accelerated one, like Focal suggest?

 

[amirm]

I'm just curious if prior testing standard running-in period was "applied" or the accelerated one, like Focal suggest?

Yeh, as if I am going to sit there for the 20 hours doing this:

Maybe the person who wrote this, writes the manual for cars in another job and forgot which client he was writing for!

I should go back and chop off the Panther head for this write up!

 

[maty]

They measure at 2m, so the same as 96dB @ 1m.

Well, double distance, + 3dB. Then is as 93 dB at 1m.

 

[maty]

...these speakers do not sound nice in smaller rooms. you need room size of around 15 squared meters both in my experience as well per focal documentation i read somewhere a while ago. with a decent amp , these speakers sound bigger than typical bookshelf speaker.

6 1/2" (165 mm) - Midwoofer

Usually does not like small rooms (better 5.25").

55 Hz - 28 kHz (+/- 3 dB). I thought they were going down more.

 

[pavuol]

Yeh, as if I am going to sit there for the 20 hours doing this:

View attachment 68979

Maybe the person who wrote this, writes the manual for cars in another job and forgot which client he was writing for!

I should go back and chop off the Panther head for this write up!

Now I can imagine a customer living in a flat house who prior speaker purchase visits all his neigbours asking them if they would be considerate enough not to call a police during the compulsory running-in period

 

[amirm]

Well, double distance, + 3dB. Then is as 93 dB at 1m.

No. SPL changes 6 dB with halving of distance.

 

[maty]

You are right. P=V*V/R. I got confused with what happens by doubling the number of speakers (mono -> stereo: +3 dB).