Please settle a bet!


This is purely intended as an exercise in vicarious fun. However, there is a bottle of fine Scotch, likely single malt, riding on this bet. So, please be somewhat serious and well-reasoned with your responses.

My audiophile friends and I have recently been waxing philosophical, as audiophiles with too much time on their hands are wont to do, and bantering back & forth which pairs of speakers, among 3 specific choices, would, hypothetically, sound "best" in a two-channel application when paired with either a McIntosh MA5200 or MA5300. We, of course, fully understand that "best" is a subjective concept and appreciate the many variables involved, especially with regard to speakers (e.g. sound room dimensions; speaker placement; room acoustics; etc.). As such, let’s assume a hypothetical living room ... say ...15’X20’ with 8’ ceiling, no windows, average wall-to-wall carpeting, proverbial sheetrock construction, average couch & love seat, not chock-full of furniture, etc. Also, please assume good quality modestly priced 12-guage name brand speaker cables (e.g. Audioquest).

The 3 specific pairs of speakers involved are:

Revel Performa3 F208

Focal Aria 936

Revel Performa3 F206

All of these speakers are certainly outstanding in their own right. However, as all audiophiles know, components must be properly paired in order to sound their best. As such, please keep in mind the virtually identical characteristics and power levels of the amplifiers involved, the sensitivity or efficiency of the speakers, etc. Using your best audiophile skills & know-how, personal experiences, etc., please rate, in order, which speakers you think would sound best, second best and third best, in your opinion(s), and explain your reasoning, conclusions or prognostications in this regard.

As indicated at the outset, there’s a friendly wager riding on this (i.e. bottle of fine Scotch) and, of course, audiophile bragging rights for years to come.

Thanks for any and all responses! Have fun!

oldaudiophile

"Im loving the $5/gal gasoline, buying from the Middle East and Russia, despite having the largest oil/natural gas reserves in the world."

I'm happy for you, the United States is 9th in oil reserves, not 1st.  I am pretty accustomed to folks claiming fact versus opinion here on Audiogon, but you win today's prize.  

It's estimated that the US has more untapped oil reserves than any other nation.

You reprobates are all hilarious! So far, the "best" suggestion is, buy the Scotch and split it while enjoying some tunes. With all this "enlightened " "help", this is probably what we will end up doing; not that we don't do this already on a regular basis.

Of my little group of audiophile friends, I am the only one who's heard all of these speakers paired with the same amps, in the same sound room. Ozzy came the closest, I think, to what I was expecting someone to say about the F208. That is, that they are certainly great speakers but require more juice or current than what either of those MAC amps can deliver in order to sound their very best.

@mlsstl, just reading this thread should answer your question. Audiophiles are nothing if not opinionated. We are hoping some bona fide professional reviewers will chime in on this one.