Focal Aria floorstander owners?

[mbl1116]

I've now had my 926's for a while and my comments would be .... right song, right volume they're absolutely amazing ... although their mid / lows could be a lot better.

Turn them down for background music at low volume and you may as well have a £20 bluetooth speaker playing instead.
I was running them in a quiet multiroom setting tonight, the other speakers were Elac B5.2's with a sub in a room with the worst acoustic setting you could possibly imagine and yet they completely smashed the Focals out of the park making them sound really cheap and tinny.

Just interested to hear other's comments, time has gone by, their detail / seperation is incredible but they are quite bright and their low volume performance I find seriously lacking.

You could argue they need to run with a sub ............. err .... hang on for a second, I'm spending nearly £2000 on a pair of speakers and I need to then buy a sub because they can't do the job?

This is exactly what I’m experiencing

Sometimes my 926s sounds amazing, other times flat out disappointing. I can’t always play music as loud as they seem to require which has prompted me to look around for replacements

 

[delta76]

This is exactly what I’m experiencing

Sometimes my 926s sounds amazing, other times flat out disappointing. I can’t always play music as loud as they seem to require which has prompted me to look around for replacements

maybe a long shot in the dark, but what amp are you using?

with low volume speakers draw very little power from the amp, and those are usually with higher distortions.

 

[mbl1116]

maybe a long shot in the dark, but what amp are you using?

with low volume speakers draw very little power from the amp, and those are usually with higher distortions.

Denon avr x3700

 

[MarcT]

BTW, check out this video of a set of Aria 948 that were modified with a beryllium tweeter. I know it's only a YT video, but it sounds quite impressive to me.

 

[Head_Unit]

I am now deliberating between SR 6015 + Parasound A23+ combination OR Marantz SR 8015. Any recommendations?

Did you already do something? If not I'd try the SR6015 standalone-it's only 1 decibel less power and still 9 channels. If that is not loud enough I'd want to add a THREE channel amp, the fronts should really have the same power. And I'd want probably more than the Parasound which is maybe only a decibel or two more than the -8015 (maybe several more than the -6015). I do like Parasound though! We like our ATI 525NC which a cool feature is it is now going back to get two more channels added in.

 

[Rja4000]

I've now had my 926's for a while and my comments would be .... right song, right volume they're absolutely amazing ... although their mid / lows could be a lot better.

Turn them down for background music at low volume and you may as well have a £20 bluetooth speaker playing instead.
I was running them in a quiet multiroom setting tonight, the other speakers were Elac B5.2's with a sub in a room with the worst acoustic setting you could possibly imagine and yet they completely smashed the Focals out of the park making them sound really cheap and tinny.

Just interested to hear other's comments, time has gone by, their detail / seperation is incredible but they are quite bright and their low volume performance I find seriously lacking.

You could argue they need to run with a sub ............. err .... hang on for a second, I'm spending nearly £2000 on a pair of speakers and I need to then buy a sub because they can't do the job?

That probably just means that your ELAC sub balance is not correct at low volume.
It's well known that we hear an unbalanced sound at lower volume.

What you need is probably a RME ADI-2 DAC and its loudness compensation feature.

 

[quattr0]

I hope I don't speak too soon but it seems like there's something about Focal Aria and Denon.....they sound amazing! That is comparing w a 6x more expensive system that I own. Let that sink in a a few minutes ;-)

I have the Focal Aria 926 in a 13x12ft room with the back side of the wall wide open and is blocked by my sofa. I bought it new 2020.

I also have svs pb 2000 pro sub for both my home theater and music. Denon avr x3700h drives everything (5.1.4 setup for theatre). My other system in the pic below is Wilson Audio SabrinaX and Asthetix Mimas integrated w tubes preamp.

My music choices are mostly acoustic, jazz both old and new and classical. I do like Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Metallica and old/alternative rock also.

I have gone through a few DACs. Teac 501, RME Adi 2 fs pro black edition, Khadas Tone board, iFI iDSD Pro and now am settled with Weiss 501.

There will be no speakers, perhaps, that will play all the songs well for you. So many variables.

 

[Revelation Sound]

I am still loving my Focal Aria 926'. I recently upgraded my turntable to a Rega 6 and the music through the Focal's is stellar.

 

[MrTurner7]

Hi guys, I've read this while thread in the hope of gaining some knowledge on the Aria 948s. A local retailer has them on sale for £1650. I just wondering if they're the best speakers in that kind of price range? Should I consider others? Do tye 948s play well at low volumes? How is the bass extension? What would you recommend to power these in a 3.1 setup? Thank you in advance

 

[DoesNotExist]

Hi guys, I've read this while thread in the hope of gaining some knowledge on the Aria 948s. A local retailer has them on sale for £1650. I just wondering if they're the best speakers in that kind of price range? Should I consider others? Do tye 948s play well at low volumes? How is the bass extension? What would you recommend to power these in a 3.1 setup? Thank you in advance

Price Is in line with the Black Friday One or when the french retailers propose Focal Aria on sale

Normale price for Aria 948 is in the 3200-3500€. You can monitor prices thru Idealo.fr

I bought them in last Black Friday. Up to now, I'm quite satisfied for the purchase, but I deem that the normal price Is too high, while the sale one Is the right one for these speakers

I deem It Is not very detailed at low volume. But currently I drive them with a medium/low power Amplifier, in the 50 watt range. Searching for a big class D amplifier.

I'm using them in 2.0 setup. Waiting to buy the Aria 900 central channel when on sale. For the other channels, I'm managing the WAF. When my wife saw the size of the Aria, there was a bit of challenge between us...

I hope I gave some useful small infos on these big floorstanding speakers

 

[jbuhl]

 

[dedobot]

Had a Aria 948 for a 5 years , brought them online from Stassen hi-fi ( top notch service). Sold them a year or two ago. With relief. Treble , mids excellent, but the low region - I didn't like it. Tried almost everything , even with Yamaha ns-300 sub w/o success . The amp was NAD c370 . Room 7x4 meters . I still have a pictures from inside the speakers - doesn't look very good.
Also my first post, long time lurker

 

[PHD]

With the exception of the Aria 948, provided that you have a good RC solution with bass management, then the Aira 906 + dual sealed subs like the SB2000 Pro will outperform the Aria 926 and 936.

 

[anotherhobby]

With the exception of the Aria 948, provided that you have a good RC solution with bass management, then the Aira 906 + dual sealed subs like the SB2000 Pro will outperform the Aria 926 and 936.

As somebody with dual JL Audio e112's that went from Aria 906's to 936's, I had the completely opposite experience. I upgraded to 936's specifically due to midrange distortion at higher volumes on the 906's.

The 936's are a pretty dramatic upgrade to 906's (even with subs), especially in the mid-lower mid range, since the 906 has no bass woofer (only a mid-bass driver). The 3 bass drivers in the 936's are crossed over at 280 Hz, so they get a ton of action, even with properly set up subs, and they offload the bass from the mid-bass driver greatly lower midrange distortion.

If you listen at lower volumes or nearfield, you may have less differentiating results.

 

[MrTurner7]

Price Is in line with the Black Friday One or when the french retailers propose Focal Aria on sale

Normale price for Aria 948 is in the 3200-3500€. You can monitor prices thru Idealo.fr

I bought them in last Black Friday. Up to now, I'm quite satisfied for the purchase, but I deem that the normal price Is too high, while the sale one Is the right one for these speakers

Thanks I deem It Is not very detailed at low volume. But currently I drive them with a medium/low power Amplifier, in the 50 watt range. Searching for a big class D amplifier.

I'm using them in 2.0 setup. Waiting to buy the Aria 900 central channel when on sale. For the other channels, I'm managing the WAF. When my wife saw the size of the Aria, there was a bit of challenge between us...

I hope I gave some useful small infos on these big floorstanding speakers

Price Is in line with the Black Friday One or when the french retailers propose Focal Aria on sale

Normale price for Aria 948 is in the 3200-3500€. You can monitor prices thru Idealo.fr

I bought them in last Black Friday. Up to now, I'm quite satisfied for the purchase, but I deem that the normal price Is too high, while the sale one Is the right one for these speakers

I deem It Is not very detailed at low volume. But currently I drive them with a medium/low power Amplifier, in the 50 watt range. Searching for a big class D amplifier.

I'm using them in 2.0 setup. Waiting to buy the Aria 900 central channel when on sale. For the other channels, I'm managing the WAF. When my wife saw the size of the Aria, there was a bit of challenge between us...

I hope I gave some useful small infos on these big floorstanding speakers

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate your feedback

I actually missed out on the deal I mentioned above, but I've sourced the same pair from a French retailer for €1780 plus €290 postage from France to Ireland. Im still hesitant to pull the trigger and I'm wondering what alternatives I should consider. I really do love the look of the arias though

You said low volume listening isn't great, that would be an issue for me. Also, my room size is only 24m² which is below the recommended 30m².

Funny that you mentioned the size being an issue with your wife because I'm having similar issues trying to convince my partner of the same

Thanks again brother

 

[MrTurner7]

Had a Aria 948 for a 5 years , brought them online from Stassen hi-fi ( top notch service). Sold them a year or two ago. With relief. Treble , mids excellent, but the low region - I didn't like it. Tried almost everything , even with Yamaha ns-300 sub w/o success . The amp was NAD c370 . Room 7x4 meters . I still have a pictures from inside the speakers - doesn't look very good.
Also my first post, long time lurker

Thanks for sharing dude. I also watched a dismantling of the Aria 906s and the components looked cheap.

I'm disappointed to hear that the low end was lacking because I really love the vocals wheni auditioned the 926s. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to audition the 948s but I think I'll now turn my attention to purchasing some alternative in the €2k region

 

[dedobot]

Thanks for sharing dude. I also watched a dismantling of the Aria 906s and the components looked cheap.

I'm disappointed to hear that the low end was lacking because I really love the vocals wheni auditioned the 926s. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to audition the 948s but I think I'll now turn my attention to purchasing some alternative in the €2k region

Not exactly lacking in low end , but something strange which I can't explain with my limited knowledge. For example - MJ's Thriller album sounds excellent, but very often dance/house tracks from the same years have "cardboard" beat - extremely annoying. The Clash's "London calling" -superb , Stereo MC's "Connected" - ugly ..and so on.

 

[Simpleman88]

Not exactly lacking in low end , but something strange which I can't explain with my limited knowledge. For example - MJ's Thriller album sounds excellent, but very often dance/house tracks from the same years have "cardboard" beat - extremely annoying. The Clash's "London calling" -superb , Stereo MC's "Connected" - ugly ..and so on.

Whats your source/amp?

 

[dedobot]

Whats your source/amp?

It was bunch of CD players- 3 or 4, Fiio x1 2nd gen, NAD C 370 fully refurbished main amp, tried with my old Technics su-vx 700, an Sony - can remember, also had a chance to borrow for the weekend Accuphase e-380 . Nothing changed. With a shame I confess I borrow different "audiophile" power/speakers cables - same outcome.

 

[Simpleman88]

Im getting mine next week, will report back my experience. 2 demos gave me great impressions