Focal Aria 936 vs 926 bass response
kosst_amojan The 948's, with their hideous impedance low point of 2.5 ohm ...I'm not sure why you call this is "hideous." Many competent amplifiers can drive such a load. |
I have the 936's in a room that is 21 x 12 x 9. Because of non-audio constraints, I have them on one of the long walls with my ears about 91 inches away from the tweeters. Almost a near field setup. The bass absolutely does not overwhelm the room. BTW, I found I like them best farther apart from each other than from my seat and aimed at a point in front of me so that I can see a lot of the outside of the cabinets. |
Hi I'm new here and want some expert opinion on my future buy of focal aria I listened to the focal aria 936 in a shop with premium marantz pm14se and sounded good but i was not impressed Since the marantz is 2500 euro's i'm looking for an amplifier to drive the focal aria 936 or 948 I've listening room of arround 30m2 (60m2 in total) and shop advised me the 948 which shall have more bass (play a lot of soundtracks). I very much like bass but which is the best speaker ? 936 or 948 ? I'm confused reading above feedbacks . I thought with the right gear as amplifier its should be great a 948 So my question : Which aria to choose ? Planning on Rel sub for future to connect with aria but not directly Shall it make much difference with the 948 since bass is allready so strong.. Which audition i should do of amplifier ? Parasound (which one for the 936 and which for the 948 ?) Musical fidelity Peachtree nova 300 (for 936 and 948 ?) I'm lost also at buying a streamer ... Some advice would be great as a combo with amplier and focal Thanks ahead ! |
Unless you've got a really big room you don't need the 948's. They offer exactly 1Hz more bass extension over the 936's and will totally overwhelm a smaller room. I power my 936's in an average sized room with a 32 wpc Pass F5. It does an excellent job. They reward having the best amplification you can find. |
Thanks for the advice ! Just a thought ... I was thinking of going for surround with the focals If i buy a yamaha aventage and an parasound module just for stereo front speakers would it be a great combo... What are you're thoughts I try to keep budget not to high Buying a very good amplifier and a receiver is out of budget for me A little stuck now A dealer mentioned the dac of yamaha aventage is very good and can drive focal 936 as he does in his shop .... He also mentioned that if i want to use it just for stereo a stereo amplifier combo with yamaha would be great What about the rears ? Should i go for the Focal 906 stand speakers ?? Since stands are expensive a good idea i go for the focal 926 floor speakers as rear ?? Any experiences with this ??? |
There are purpose built rears in the 900 series made to be hung on walls. I'd suggest those. They're cheaper than 926's. As far as amplification, these are unique speakers in that they will reward using the best amplification possible, and I really can't emphasis that enough. I completely believe that these speakers are worthy of the Pass power behind mine. If you like how the Parasound works with them, go for it. |
Use the Yamaha for now, and get a Peachtree nova 150 or 300 (depending on how loud you listen and how much bass content your average choice of music has) to run the front two in Home Theater Bypass mode. That way you have a simple two channel dedicated rig (that sounds amazing and has more than enough grunt to power them), as well as an external amp for home theater that will relieve a lot of stress off the Yamaha during movie watching. If you have a sub or subs, the external amp will likely have no effect during movie watching as long as you have all speakers crossed over to the sub as you should. Unless you are in a large room and listen painfully loud. |
Thanks for feedback. Problem is in belgium peachtree isn't easy to demo in shops i know... Ideally i should test demo this in my home right in existing setup ... I was planning on sub in later stage. Concerning sub what would you advise for focal aria surround ? The sub from focal aria itself should be frequency wise a good idea ? i cannot find easily reviews of people who have experienced this sub... My favorite is a rel but i'm not sure which one to test demo Kind regards |
I auditioned my 936's with a Cambridge amp. Not bad, but nothing like my F5. It simply didn't grip those speakers with the same authority. What's more, we're talking about speakers with a 2.8 oh low point right in the middle of the mid-bass. No AV receiver is going to drive them competently and many won't drive them for long. An option with considering would be Naim. I'm obviously a big fan of Pass though. |
Pass Labs INT-60 should be enough for focal Aria 936 ? Or should i go higher up in the range Looks very very nice those amplifiers Strange i never heard about them and peachtree,parasound,cambridge is all over the net etc reading some very good reviews of this INT 60 Seems you have a good point ! Just hope its easy to find dealers in belgium which let met try this out at home |
The INT-60 would drive them well. I'm currently sitting in a vibrating chair compliments of a 32 watt F5, 936's, and some Bassnectar. I mentioned Naim because Focal owns them and uses their amps to voice their speakers. Bottom line is these speakers are well known for letting the amp speak with it's own character. I built my amp and tweaked it to sound the way I want. You really should do some listening and see what you like best. |
