Focal Aria floorstander owners?

[nervoustwitch88]

One thing you will read a lot is this;

Go and listen to the two side by side in a store.

Youre going to spend a substantial amount of money on something you will enjoy for years to come. Are you seriously going to make that choice on behalf of me or any other stranger?
Believe me ive done this myself and sold it with loss many times. Lesson learned.

I had the 926, and heard the 936 and i found the 926 to be more balanced. In your shoes i would go for the 948 without doubt. In france on sale now for bargain.

Secondly, please dont buy a focal sub. There are brands that are specialized in making of subs like rel and svs. Are you the guy that buys a BMW watch of bike just because it says BMW? No, you buy a trek bike because they know that branche.

This, yes! Absolutely listen first whenever you can. Some manufacturers offer FREE returns, and still others offer free returns w/ you paying return shipping. 100% worth the try before you buy whenever you can.

also, NOT a fan of the Mini DSP SHD. Or any sound correction to date. I've used ARC, Roomperfect and the SHD. All of them blunted sound quality in some fashion or another. You will notice if your hearing is still intact, and if your system is resolving.

I have the Focal 906 Arias and run them with a Wiim streamer and a PS audio Stellar Strata integrated with an oldish Velodyne sub and the sound is glorious in a smallish room: 10x12 with vaulted ceiling.

 

[nervoustwitch88]

Thanks for your help.

I understand what youre saying. What some forums said is very true, i dont care what the chart says..these speakers are VERY sensitive to their amp. Doesnt mean you need to splurge thousands on an amp. It just means that you need one that helps the focals to be their best. I noticed with a class d amp they were very harsh on some tracks...then i changed the opamps in that same amp and the harshness was gone. I will try to find an amp like parasound and see how they sound then but i have my eyes open to other alternatives.

This is not a plug and play, be amazed kind of speaker. Right room, right amp, they can be the best youve heard.

yeah, agree. I only just recently got my Aria 906's singing with a PS Audio integrated.
the 936's are tough on amps... partly i think because they will reveal the flaws in recordings and overall system. also, they can be bright, but so is a ton of audio gear out there, and bright + bright is no bueno.

 

[vicenzo_del_paris]

also, NOT a fan of the Mini DSP SHD. Or any sound correction to date. I've used ARC, Roomperfect and the SHD. All of them blunted sound quality in some fashion or another. You will notice if your hearing is still intact, and if your system is resolving.

The two last sentences appears condescending and seems to indicate that you are leaning more towards the subjective elitist audiophilia (better earing and better "resolving" system than others) side than towards objective science side backed by measurement.
I find your conclusion quite harsh and completely subjective.
Can you provide inspectable / measurable facts that DRC blunted sound quality that much?
Have you ever made measurements?
I have used room correction for years (from manual filters generated by rew and rephase to automated system such as Dirac) in different rooms and different speakers. It always improved the sound quality with measurement backing up these improvements.
Of course, improper usage of DRC, as any tools, could lead to disasters.

Even with my latest speakers (Focal Kanta no2, I presume that we can safely characterize them "more resolving" than Aria 906), Dirac correction made tangible sound quality improvements that are reflected by measurements.

 

[Witterings]

Has anyone heard the standard 926 / 936's against the K2's and has any comments on how they may differ in sound?

 

[audioenthousiast1988]

yeah, agree. I only just recently got my Aria 906's singing with a PS Audio integrated.
the 936's are tough on amps... partly i think because they will reveal the flaws in recordings and overall system. also, they can be bright, but so is a ton of audio gear out there, and bright + bright is no bueno.

i agree 100%

 

[mosulica]

Can anyone share the schematics for the Focal Aria 926 crossover ?
Thank you !

 

[Head_Unit]

936+subwoofer would be overkill

Depends what you are setting up. The 936 is tuned to 40 Hz so not useful below that. For movies, and the occasional long organ pipes, a subwoofer certainly is useful. That's also true of the 948s that are now up front.

 

[Timsonchin]

Interesting. Hadn´t heard of BKelectronics yet. I also heard that a sealed sub is generally going to sound more audiophile. Not sure if there´s any truth to that, but let´s not go off topic too far.

I´m getting the sub 1000 f to go with the focal 9X6. I´ll be sure to report my findings. Kind of surprised that I didn´t see anything on that combo in this thread (unless I missed it).

As promised (over a year later...) my findings:

• The miniDSP SHD + apollon audio 1ET400A stereo amp + Focal 936 is GREAT, I absolutely love it. The sound I'm able to get after calibration with UMIK-2 is the best I've ever heard, and definitely beats prior experiences listening to other peoples setups, try-outs in stores,...
• The Focal SUB 1000F was a big disappointment: it made a rattling sound at 80-85 dB. It might have been a faulty unit, but I kind off used that to finally convince my spouse that the SVS 2000 pro was necessary, which is an amazing fit after calibration through Dirac.
• The sound without Dirac has way too much bass in my room and listening position. The subwoofer being on or off is mainly noticeable in some songs I know to have low bass sound and movies. It definitely adds value to the system.
• I'm especially happy with the Focal aria 936 because I was one of the last buyers of the Focal 936 and got the pair of them for €1500! Incredible value...
• In terms of stereo imaging: I don't have a lot of experience with this, but in the horizontal axis, it's quite easy to "place" different instruments. What I did not expect is that there would be difference in the vertical axis as well. I'm assuming that it's due to the way the drivers on the 936 are laid out. I wonder how a symmetrical system like KEF would sound...

I've really been enjoying loads and loads of music on this system. I even ended up hosting a few rather loud parties without this system breaking a sweat. Fits my needs perfectly .

 

[Head_Unit]

I'm especially happy with the Focal aria 936 because I was one of the last buyers of the Focal 936 and got the pair of them for €1500! Incredible value...

Whoa! That IS a totally amazing purchase, felicitations!

 

[Esuarp77]

As promised (over a year later...) my findings:

• The miniDSP SHD + apollon audio 1ET400A stereo amp + Focal 936 is GREAT, I absolutely love it. The sound I'm able to get after calibration with UMIK-2 is the best I've ever heard, and definitely beats prior experiences listening to other peoples setups, try-outs in stores,...
• The Focal SUB 1000F was a big disappointment: it made a rattling sound at 80-85 dB. It might have been a faulty unit, but I kind off used that to finally convince my spouse that the SVS 2000 pro was necessary, which is an amazing fit after calibration through Dirac.
• The sound without Dirac has way too much bass in my room and listening position. The subwoofer being on or off is mainly noticeable in some songs I know to have low bass sound and movies. It definitely adds value to the system.
• I'm especially happy with the Focal aria 936 because I was one of the last buyers of the Focal 936 and got the pair of them for €1500! Incredible value...
• In terms of stereo imaging: I don't have a lot of experience with this, but in the horizontal axis, it's quite easy to "place" different instruments. What I did not expect is that there would be difference in the vertical axis as well. I'm assuming that it's due to the way the drivers on the 936 are laid out. I wonder how a symmetrical system like KEF would sound...

I've really been enjoying loads and loads of music on this system. I even ended up hosting a few rather loud parties without this system breaking a sweat. Fits my needs perfectly .

Hi Timsonchin, thanks for the informative post. I am picking this up because it touches on something I have been considering trying out.

But before I get to that, this is my first post (on any forum for that matter..) and I believe you first have to describe your system .
I have Focal Aria 926 (since 2019) and a REL t9x Subwoofer, all driven by a Nuprime IDA-16 amp and sources are a 2018 Bluesound Node 2i and Nuprime CDT-8 transport. I attach a picture. Room is 4,5m x 7,5m and 4,25m ceiling.

Back to the topic: I am fairly happy with the sound especially since adding the REL earlier this year. The room however adds some reverb, I guess in part due to high ceilings. There are some songs where I get a little muddy bass / boominess as well despite the Arias being 0,7m from the back wall.
Installing significant physical room correction is not really an option (not acceptable to my other half) so I am thinking of adding Dirac Live and possibly bass control to the system. This opens up a host of questions on where in the chain to add it. As I listen >90% of the time to streamed music, I‘d probably be leaning towards a new and better streaming DAC such as Auralic Vega S1 or maybe the new Node Icon.
Now finally my question to Timsonchin (you have a similar setup..) or others: do you think Dirac Live can solve some reverb as well as tighten up the bass? Most importantly: despite reading tons of websites, I still have not quite understood how Dirac might take into account my REL subwoofer during the analysis. In line with recommendations, it is connected to the amp via High Level inputs and it seems I need to disconnect those during the Dirac analysis process, i.e. it would hear only the Arias… has anyone here used Dirac with a REL sub that is being used purely in 2.1 stereo and with high level connection?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any advice both on the Dirac / REL issue and on how to best upgrade my system while introducing Dirac.. happy music to all!!