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
uberwaltz-

another +vote for the Focal 936 speaker.  Hope you like them in your system.  Happy Listening!
I heard the 936's a while ago.  Left me scratching my head, not in a good way or a bad way, just a bit perplexed.  To my ears, they didn't fall on the usual scale that runs from bright/forward/analytical to warm/laid back/musical.  I found it hard to find the right adjectives to describe the presentation, the tonality, the timbre.  It was different.  Quite detailed, certainly, allowing you to listen into the music, and certainly far from unpleasant.  Having heard Audio Note AN-E's years later, and allowing for acoustic memory, I'm going to say they didn't sound, to me, as natural as the AN's did, but again I'd be hard pressed to come up with the right adjective to describe how they departed (just a little) from that ideal of naturalness.  We'll be curious to hear your impressions. 
Well the 936 arrived and in system and definitely not quite what I was expecting, yet at least.
Kosst and any other actual owners, if you bought new how long break in did they need?
These are new so obviously not sounding their best but I have not found the speaker house sound to change drastically with break in.
Right now they sound very closed in, bass is loose, vocals and acoustic guitar a little wooly. 
They look good though.... Lol.

Somebody give me words of hope here!
If your Triangles sound like mine (Titus) only bigger and better I’d think it over carefully before parting ways.

I added a sub to mine rather than part with them because they do what they do very well and would be hard to replace.

If you are heading in a different direction totally in terms of the sound you want then more power to ya.