Focal Aria 936 / Elac Adante AF-61 / Von Schweikert VR-33 , impressions, thoughts?


Thinking of upgrading my speakers and in the past have just gone with what I thought was a great deal, sometimes that worked, more often it did not!

Have a shortlist right now of those 3 speakers.

Focal Aria 936
Elac Adante AF-61
Von Schweikert VR-33

Presently using Triangle Altea ESW speakers.

What am I lacking right now? Possibly some lower bass, the Triangles are superb in the mids and upper registers but you can definitely tell they are  a little limp below 40hz. And at the end of the day even though I consider them to be fantastic speakers, they were after all only 2k brand new so there are likely better options out there to consider.


So thoughts and impressions on those 3 speakers or any serious contenders in the same sort of price bracket, I am looking at used examples only so think 3k max.

Will be driving them with an Ayre AX-7E integrated which I will NOT be changing anytime soon (famous last words I know!)

Thank you
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xuberwaltz
Another speaker I should consider as I like the Triangle house sound is one of their bigger brothers like the Volante.
Another option for sure.
There was a dealer listing the Volante for the lsat year and a half . Have gone unsold to my knowledge .Thinking he is asking too much . Like around $2800 if I recall . I bet he still has them for sale . Somewhere in the midwest .I  have been watching the listings the whole time . Unfortunately he never lowered the price as of yet . 
@stereo5I agree, sometimes things do not add up.  It just reinforces the point that your room is the single biggest factor sometimes.
I had a pair of 7" Scanspeak revelators with an aircirc tweeter and high end crossover--the VR-33's gave overall a better performance, including the bass.  So go figure.  I also owned  Magnepan 1.7's and enjoyed them very much.  But they would never perform close to the front wall like the 33's do.

@uberwaltz  I did own a pair of Triangles years ago. I liked them. If memory serves me, I would say from the midrange up the two are not too dissimilar. I think the 33's may be a bit more organic with a sweeter high end however.
The triangle Volante 260 had a retail of about 6500 so 2500 for a very good condition pair would be fair imho.

But I am still leaning towards the 936 atm.

My previous Focal Chorus 826v were really nice in my room and for the price was hard to beat. Well I decided to upgrade and I actually had a pair of aria 936 lined up from a dealer at 2600 shipped and I stupidly decided to buy a pair of Wilson Witt instead.

Not a mistake I will ever repeat.
I own 948's luv them. Every day I listen I continue to be pleased with the sound.