Looking for Advice on Focal Speakers

I have the 948s in my living room and the Maestro Utopias in my listening room.

If I were to compare the 2, the Maestros are about 20% better. Listening to something like Tin Pan Alley sounds amaizing on the 948s but it is holographic on the Maestro towers. The strings sound like they are above your head. The 948s have great low end and clean mids and highs. Definitely not to bright and I usually prefer a silk dome tweeter.

I have never heard the 936s but I'm very pleased with the 948s. I would purchase them again. 

The maestro towers are driven by Pass Labs 250.8 mono blocks and are fed by a Dave DAC with Mscaler. The 948s are driven by a Pass Labs x150 and a Cutest Chord DAC. 

Suboost, welcome to the forum!

Are Kantas worth slightly over double the price of 936s?  Yes, probably - if you are building a system incrementally and it is within your budget.  I would say no, if you are not building incrementally.

Do you know what was driving the Focal 936s when you auditioned them?  The preamp/amp is an important part of what you will hear (as are interconnects, room treatment, etc.).  Your Parasound Halo A23 is a power amp only -  not integrated.  So there is no preamp built into it.  The only preamp component I can tell you have in your system is with the Marantz AV receiver.  That receiver is likely very good for movies/shows, etc., but not as good as an integrated amp for 2 channel music listening.

I would sell the Parasound and apply that money towards a good integrated amp with HT (Home Theater) Bypass.  That way you can use the front left/right speaker for both home theater audio through the Marantz and 2 channel listening through whatever integrated amp you buy.

The Kantas won’t come close to showing their true potential if you stick with your current components.  However, if you are building your systems incrementally, and are interested in the Kantas, I would audition them and see if you feel they are worth the higher price.  If so, buy them, but make sure you upgrade your other equipment to a level that matches the Kantas.  Hope this makes sense.

Here’s a video about setting up HT bypass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7f_w1_wy5I

@ricmech23 Yeah I was open to the 948s, but the dealer I spoke with said that for my room size and the fact that I have a sub it would be a complete waste of money. First time a dealer of any kind encouraged me to spend less money, haha.

@cd84 Thanks for all the info! Do you think that an integrated amp would sound better or offer any benefit over just buying a pre-amp? Now that I finally understand what all this stuff means, I'm just trying to figure out the best option. It would be a fairly similar price to add that vs selling mine and buying an integrated, so I'm totally open to opinions on this subject. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

@suboost, a used Parasound Halo P5 (I think it is discontinued) or a Halo P6 should work well with the A23.  There's other preamps that should work with A23 - so you are not limited to using the same manufacturer.  But you would also need interconnects.  Both of these preamps have HT bypass.  See Parasound links below:

https://www.parasound.com/p5.php
https://parasound.com/p6.php

You might let the vendor know you're interested in the Focal 936s but also let them know you are using the same space for both home theater and 2-channel listening.  What options might you have with your current equipment where you could switch between the two.  Hence the suggestion for the HT bypass option on an integrated amp OR buy a preamp with HT bypass and the interconnects.

Hope that helps.