Got ‘em from a small dealer in NC near me
who took them in on a trade from the original owner
They were 2 years old.
I’ve had them for about 3 months
They are not bright and really balanced
Looking for Advice on Focal Speakers
Hey everyone, so currently I have a 9.1 Klipsch RP system. I’m looking to upgrade big time with new towers and a center channel. I was able to audition some Focal 936s last week and was really impressed. The store offered me a pretty good deal on them and also a good deal on the Kantas which I love the look of, but haven’t been able to audition them. Are they worth slightly over double the price? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
These will be used in a living room, open floor plan. I have a Marantz Receiver and a Parasound Halo for the tower speakers. I am mostly upgrading for music listening, but of course I would also appreciate the extra quality for movies/tv.
I’m drawn to focal for the aesthetics and sound quality. I also like Sonus Faber but all of their speakers have leather on them which is a non starter for me. I only mention these so you can get an idea of the style I like. I dislike the more futuristic plastic looking speakers out there. I’m open to suggestions. I did audition some Paradigms and I did not like them (too bright for me).
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@suboost Per your last question, when you are not using bypass your integrated amps preamp section will be in use. When you are using bypass, it is removed from the equation and the integrated just becomes a power amp slave for the HT receiver powering front L/R. You never told us what you are doing for a streamer/source? Just reading between the lines it sounds like you are just getting started in upping your game. Get the Arias, get the integrated, and have a reasonable (BS node is fine) streamer directly into it. Highly recommend Qobuz as the source. Play with that for a while and then decide if you need tubes, external DAC, etc. |
@mtbiker29 Hey so my source for everything is a PC. All digital and all FLAC. No streaming or Bluetooth and no physical media. I ordered the Arias and I think I'm going to hold off on the integrated until a good deal pops up on a used Moon 340i. My dealer offered basically no discount so I figured what's the rush. I just want to enjoy the speakers for maybe a month or two and if a good deal hasn't come up then I'll suck it up and buy it at full price. In the meantime I'm going to run a new dedicated 20amp line, get a decent receptacle ($40 not $400, ha), a power conditioner and some good powe cables and upgraded speaker wires. Any other recommendations? Thanks again for all the advice, it's a huge help. |
Amazing how many people responded that don’t own, and never did own, Aria 936s. Guess what? I do. The Focals will be a huge upgrade over the Klipsch metal driver speakers you have now ~ better tonality, better low-end, more detail w/o the metallic-sounding high end. In your room, they might be a trifle bright, but if you are willing to put a second [large] area rug under your couch, it will help tame the highs, although I agree w/others who’ve already said, at the very least, get some curtains over those windows. I am NOT a fan of metal tweeters, as a rule [I have three setups, and the other two have soft domes], but these are highly detailed w/o the usual "metallic artifacts" of most other metal tweeters which I’ve heard. If they do prove a little bright in your room, just a bit of judicious tweaking of whatever EQ option you have on your receiver should be adequate ~ that’s exactly what it’s for. Let me know how it goes for you! |
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