Tubed Monos for Focal Aria 948s

@gmercer I'll bet that sounds great. If the Sopras sound half as good as they look you must be pretty stoked. I heard a pair of Kantas at a dealer's home and that's what got me hooked on Focals. The clarity and detail was like nothing I've ever heard so when an opportunity to score some 1.5 year old 948s came up at the price they did, I jumped. I figured they would be lean in the bass like the Kantas but they are not at all. They just need that something extra to push them across the finish line.

I hace the 948. Very good speakers at budget prices these days. New and used. New if you get the walnut. I preferred black gloss. Looks good with a jl fathom gloss sub. But anyways i currently have a audio research ref 75. Sounds great. But the amp i had before and wont sell because i got it for a grand is a krell kav 2250. It sounded just as good as the arc. You can find one for a grand somewhere and its built like a tank. But my preamp is a audio research ref 5. So maybe the krell and arc preamp matched just as well as the arc tube amp.
Hace2 denafrips pontus dac and my arias sound really great. If you havent gotten some isoacoustics gaias yet. Go ahead and grab those. It cleans up a already clean sound and youll notice right away. I bought some used gaia iii for my aria 948 even though the arias are a little over the recommended weight if the gaia iii at 70 lbs. Save some money they work fine with arias. 
I started out woth electra 1007be and it sounded very good and detailed. Then someone sold me a pair of used chorus 836v focals. And wow, i realized that towers sound so much better. Or at least it did to me. I will not be selling my chorus or krell amp. Ill put them in another setup someday. Im currentky wanting some sopras in blue. But they cost way too much. So im currenttly carbon fiber vinyl wrapping my chorus 836v. It's gonna turn out pretty sweet. I got my blue speakers one way or another. I feel like you cam get the focal sound in the basic models just as easy.
The budget line of focals is where its at. Feel like kanta 2 may be a hair better than my arias but im paying for looks and not sound at this point

The arc amp is nice but that krell held its own. And it weights 70 lbs so its not a pushover amp

@ikluemper00
I did get the isoacustics you mentioned. They do make a bit of a difference. Overall, I love these speakers. I was considering the Kantas but when the opportunity to get these popped up I jumped. Very glad I did. I’d love to try the Sopras some day just to hear the difference 

Well i finally found a pair of focal sopras in blue and pulled the trigger. They were the sopra 3. Definately too large for my room. Compared to the 948 using my audio research ref 75 amp. Main difference was bass. The sopra has midbass for days. I could honestly sell my sub now. When using the 948 the bass was nice and tight but still needed some sub help. The sopra 3s dont need any sub help. They look stunning. But i may be getting a tad bit better detail but the bass was the hugest impact. As soon as i turned a track on i was stinned. I went to check what i had the sub on. Because sometimes at night i would lower the knob of the sub. It was in the very low setting. It felt like the sub was cranked to what setting its initially at. During the day that is. Nights ill lower it. 
Ill be honest the aria 948 can hold its own in the midrange and highs. The sopra you do get a more presents. Like it has more authority. Its Definately a better speaker. It should be it costs more than quadruple its price. Im now considering selling my audio research gear and getting naim or micromega integrated. Since those brands mesh well with focal. Audio research sounds great but whats funny is when i crank up the ref 75. The watt meter barely goes over 5 watts. Its hard to get them to go over 10 wattts. 
It doenst take much to drive focals. I feel the arias were harder to push than the sopras according to the vu meters. 
So im at the point that maybe a integrated would push these sopras fine in class a/ab amp like a micromega m150 or naim nova. Decision decisions.
The krell was sooo good it makes me think i could do without a tube amp. And maybe its because my preamp is so good. Best of luck to you. Arias are still a great product line. Sopras have more definition, presents, authority... Best way to describe it. Thanks

Congratulations on the Sopras. They are beautiful speakers. I've been playing around with placement of the 948s. I positioned them a third of the way into the room and set them 3.5 feet off the side walls without toe-in. The soundstage really developed nicely after that. I've been using Tool's Fear Inoculum to test it. Could always hear the guitar and bass directly from the left and right speakers respectively before but since spreading them further apart, the band is all in the center now. I raised the front of the speakers about 5mm to raise the soundstage a bit and the bass really came to life. On cello soloist music it's like I can feel the vibration of the wood body now. I don't think I will mess with the amps now. I'm going to enjoy this for a bit.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the Sopras