Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

[Subway2400]

That bump he recreated between 2 and 8 kHz is exactly what should NOT be done if you want a Focal speaker to sound good. Their inverted dome tweeter has a specific directivity pattern and Focal has improved over the time in order to tame the particuliar sonic characteristic this may give.

So by doing this, he just went back 15 years in the past

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Focal Aria 906 by Danny Richie

YOU CALL THIS HI-END HI-FI? WHAT THE FOCAL?!

I have no clue how he comes to the 2200 price-tag. MSRP here in Europe is 450€ per speaker but you can buy them at half price if you are patient..

He paid more for the crossover parts than I paid for the entire speaker. :'D

 

[EB1000]

I have no clue how he comes to the 2200 price-tag. MSRP here in Europe is 450€ per speaker but you can buy them at half price if you are patient..

He paid more for the crossover parts than I paid for the entire speaker. :'D

I paid 800$ a pair for the black gloss models. They're only expensive in the US.

 

[mightycicadalord]

I have no clue how he comes to the 2200 price-tag. MSRP here in Europe is 450€ per speaker but you can buy them at half price if you are patient..

He paid more for the crossover parts than I paid for the entire speaker. :'D

Focal stuff in the U.S. has decent price increase. They're ~$2200 here.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Not a good deal at $2200 US.

 

[VintageFlanker]

They're ~$2200 here.

Then this is a scam. Nothing can justify asking that much money for these speakers. This is about 4 times their regular price in France...

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Focal stuff in the U.S. has decent price increase. They're ~$2200 here.

Focal Aria Speakers - Crutchfield

Shopping for Home Speakers? Our Virginia-based experts love helping folks find the right gear. Get FREE 2-day shipping and free lifetime tech support with your order.

www.crutchfield.com

Damn, these prices are bloody ridiculous. As much as I love my Arias but at these prices ... nope.

 

[digitalfrost]

I think Focal speakers are a great deal in europe and competition for KEF. However buying them in the US doesn't make any sense, just as we have a hard time to buy anything from Revel. Maybe the reason KEF is so popular is that you can get them just about anywhere.

 

[tw 2022]

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...

It's semi common for his work to be more of a subjective " improvement" rather than objective imo... If you want to upgrade your speakers send em to Dennis Murphy...

 

[NoSnakeOil2]

It's semi common for his work to be more of a subjective " improvement" rather than objective imo... If you want to upgrade your speakers send em to Dennis Murphy...

Why does Danny's initial measurements on the speaker's linearity look so different to Amir's measurement?

 

[tw 2022]

Why does Danny's initial measurements on the speaker's linearity look so different to Amir's measurement?

idk , that's a good place to start looking for answers in general though, good thought imo....

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Why does Danny's initial measurements on the speaker's linearity look so different to Amir's measurement?

Doesn't look that different to me, actually. Sure there is a bit of room in the measurements, which is probably why he cut anything below 200Hz, since he knows the values are complete bogus but you can clearly see the same tendencies in Amir's measurements.

The slight peak at 800Hz is there.
The slight dip at 1.5K is accounted for.
Dip at 3K
Back up at 4-5K
Big dip between 6-8K
Rise from 10-20K.

Obviously, Amir's are much more accurate but his measurements are enough to see the general characteristics of the on axis curve.

Frankly speaking: I'd be super curious to see a Klippel measurement of his modded speaker, to see what exactly changed besides frequency response.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

I had an interesting conversation with the guy on YT:

Thanks but uuh ... I'll pass and listen to my Focals "untamed". I like my 906 just the way they are. If there is a little brightness, Dirac Live takes care of it, though I do not find them bright even w/o DSP. If you paid 2200 for these, you got scammed. They can be had as low as 500€ A PAIR in France. Yep that's what I paid and for that price the performance they offer is awesome.

Digital correction of the amplitude won't compensate for the poor quality parts in these things. The upgrade is a transformation.

That's a matter of opinion/taste. Ultimately, you hardware-EQ'd the thing via crossover adjustments. You may like it better that way, and that's totally okay but I do not see any objective quality increase (except maybe the reduced ringing you mentioned). Comparatively, you added A LOT of energy in the 2-8KHz band, which would make the speaker quite a bit brighter. Using expensive parts just for expensive parts sake is not well thought out engineering and not a sensible thing to do if you want to market an effective product, aimed at the entry level enthusiast. I do agree with you that 2.200$ is a ridiculous price to ask for these. Definitely would not recommend them at this price, as there are alternatives with better price/performance ratios.

The change in amplitude is minor compared to the improvements made from the increase in parts quality. Significant improvements were made in clarity, detail levels, less smearing, more space between notes, preservation of spatial cews, improved imaging, increased sound stage size, etc.

Sorry but these are just "audiophile buzzwords". To get the real picture, you would have to measure the speaker with a Klippel system before and after your modifications. It certainly would be an interesting experiment to see what has changed beside the raw frequency response.

They are always measured before and after our mod. Re-measuring them with another measuring system isn't going to tell you anything new, and won't reveal the difference in sound quality.

Let's respectfully agree to disagree on that front, shall we.

I'm not sure what to make of it. On one hand he uses measurements to design his crossover to make things "sound better" but on the other hand he states that measurements will not reflect the improvement of sonic quality. Erm ....

 

[TheBatsEar]

I'm not sure what to make of it.

Dude sells parts to a certain community. EQ in the digital realm doesn't pay:

 

[thewas]

I'm not sure what to make of it.

I am, his replies confirm his state of confusion and/or snake oil salesmen.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Dude sells parts to a certain community. EQ in the digital realm doesn't pay:

*chuckles* DSP does pay (Dirac is bloody expensive) but not for him, I guess.

Well, in his defense though: if you measure too small an area wit Dirac live, it actually can make it sound very dry/sterile almost "boxed in".
I made that mistake when we demo'd DL on a friends system (very reflective room, very wet sound). It was as if we took the artist out of the concert hall and stuffed him into a broom closet. Needless to say: the friend did not like the result.

Maybe he tried DSP once but did it incorrectly. Though you're probably right. Can't sell overpriced mods if people fix their speakers with DSP.

Binaural blind comparison test of 4 loudspeakers I

Binaural blind comparison test of 4 loudspeakers II

Ooh that looks like fun. Will look into it over the weekend. Thanks.

 

[Chromatischism]

Some of that quackery is covered here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...6-bookshelf-speaker-review.14363/post-1178557

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Okay I get redesigning the crossover to adjust the FR (though it would have been way easier to tame the 4-6K peak via DSP) but when he starts raving about bloody cables and bidning posts, making a "big difference" I just can't take this seriously.

I'd never have expected to see that a bit of dampening material in the cabinet has influence on the impedance curve. Oo

 

[Streamc]

I think Focal speakers are a great deal in europe and competition for KEF. However buying them in the US doesn't make any sense, just as we have a hard time to buy anything from Revel. Maybe the reason KEF is so popular is that you can get them just about anywhere.

What KEF? R3 annihilates Focal Aria 906 totally.

 

[TheBatsEar]

What KEF? R3 annihilates Focal Aria 906 totally.

He was talking about availability and pricing in different regions, not which speaker beats which.