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Tyler Acoustics Highland H3.5 or Focal Aria 936

I am trying to decide if I want to move away from my Aria 936s to the H3.5s. The H3.5s use top notch scanspeak mid range and woofer drivers and they have the scanspeak beryllium tweeter. Problem is, I can’t listen to them first. Will they be better than the 936s? I have read that the Tyler Acoustics products punch way above their price and compete with much more expensive speakers. They are definitely a risk though, if I don’t like them there will be a huge hit taken because of the relatively unknown brand. What do you do when faced with a conundrum like this?
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baclagg's avatar
baclagg OP
151 posts
 
@alexopth1512

I love my 936s, but I feel sometimes that I want a little sharper imaging and depth to the sound stage and just a smidge more bass. 
alexopth1512
21 posts
 
OK you can get a whole more bass with 948s if you like the focal's character. For imaging and sound stage, I changed amplifiers and I have huge image with 948s
blkwrxwgn
240 posts
 
Tyler is a great guy, a pleasure to deal with but I just couldn't pull the trigger.  If you don't like the speakers your only option is to send them back and take the hit on the restock fee, you can't really resell them as there isn't much of a market for them.

His pricing is all over the place too, people pay all kinds of different prices for the same speakers, so again, resale is a mess.  Really wanted to go that direction but maybe one day, might buy some of his speakers used, which offsets the risk a bit.
baclagg's avatar
baclagg OP
151 posts
 
@alexopth1512 My 936s do a really great job of duplicating the sound of acoustic guitars but there seems to be something missing when it comes to vocals. There is some detail missing there that causes me to not believe the singer is in the room. Sometimes acoustic guitars are startling because of the sense of presence. I think the 948s would have similar issues.
baclagg's avatar
baclagg OP
151 posts
 
@ blkwrxwgn

I have been working with Ty for a few weeks now. I feel like you do, I am having problems deciding to pull the trigger. I have asked for a customer or two to call and see what their impressions of the sound is and then maybe if possible go there to listen to a pair. I have read reviews that go both ways, like every other speaker out there, but most of the reviews and impressions are very positive. They are very nice looking speakers and it would be great if they sound as good as they look!

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