Interesting. I can currently get the gloss black (€200 more to other finishes) for €1980 + €290 postage (delivered from France to Ireland). I believe this price will get even lower if I wait but my worry Is that they might go out of stock everyhwere.
I've been considering them for a couple of months now but haven't managed to demo them as no stores have stock near me. I did audition the aria 926 and liked them but they obviously lacked in the lower end.
Now my budget is around €2000 and my room measures 24m². My taste in music varies with a slight lean towards different genres of rock. This will be my first proper setup as I bought a pair of q accoustic concept 40s but I sold them on before unboxing them.
With all of the above in mind, which other speakers should I be considering for the price range? I've created a shortlist of floorstanders below. I would really appreciate your input. Thank you so much
R11 is the flagship of the new R Series range. Boasting four 165mm (6 in.) hybrid aluminium bass drivers, R11 digs deep and retrieves an exceptionally clean and musical low-end performance.
petertyson.co.uk
AVForums review of the Q Acoustics Concept 50 2.5-way floorstanding speaker with gelcore cabinet construction, P2P bracing and an HPE tube design
www.avforums.com
Classy Italian floorstanders that have plenty of charm
www.whathifi.com
The Polk Reserve R700 Floorstanding Speakers offer a unique blend of style, functionality, and sound quality. Its aesthetically pleasing design, high-resolution audio performance, innovative Pinnacle tweeter, dedicated mid-range drivers, and powerful bass combine to present a sophisticated and...
www.hifix.co.uk
Peter Tyson is proud to be the only retailer offering the 'Dark Ebony' finish for the Aria 948 floor-standing loudspeakers. This pair of 3-way speakers provide intense bass, true acoustics and rich tones. Thanks to the host of technologies inside and out, the 948's deliver superior sound quality...
petertyson.co.uk
Speakers - Per Pair
www.richersounds.ie
That's an excellent list you've compiled there, and in my recent speaker search I considered several of those. Last November, I got a really good deal from a dealer on a set of Sonus Faber Lumina V, so I jumped on it. Since you mentioned bass, one thing SF seems to do well is bass. I feel like Focal assumes Aria speakers will be used in a home theater setting and it seems like the bass rolls off too much and too fast for my liking. Not so, with the Lumina V. I don't see how they get the bass out of them that they do. That said, I have to say, I was unimpressed, overall, after I got them. It just seemed like they were lacking a bit in bass and mid-bass "slam" and attack, as well as imaging and sound stage. They sounded decent, but it just seemed like something was missing.
So, I started looking around at other options. Recently, I have auditioned the new Martin Logan Motion F100 and F200 towers at four different audio stores. Now, those will crank out some serious power on acoustic instruments. I compared them side by side with the KEF R11's. The KEF are very accurate, but just didn't reproduce instruments like the Martin Logans. I've been seriously considering picking up a set of them.
But then something happened which now has me holding on to my Lumina V's. I ran across a YouTube video of a guy recommending getting rid of the stock terminal jumpers and replacing them with copper wire jumpers. I thought to myself, yeah, yeah, what a click bait video. But I did have a set of such copper wire jumpers on an old set of speakers I have around the house. I removed the stock jumpers from the Lumina's and found that they are extremely light and chintzy. So, I inserted the copper wire jumpers on the Lumina V's.
My goodness, I am shocked at the difference! I now have gobs of bass, well articulated, and slam galore. The palpability of kick drum attack is fantastic. Not only the bass is better, but the mids and highs are, as well. So, I'm sticking with the Lumina V's for at least a while, although I'd still like to try out the Martin Logan F200's.