Anybody listened to Focal Aria 906?

[NJB]

Hi,

My understanding is that the newer Focal speakers have a more neutral character compared to the previous generations that were reckoned to be a little bright and lightweight. I am encouraged by information that the 900 series sits nicely with Naim gear, which I have. Has anybody heard these? I am interested in the 906 as I want a stand mount, but the floorstanders also look interesting.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Heard the 905 at the Bristol show a few weeks ago with Naim kit.

They were impressive under the conditions. Very natural sounding. Good match.

 

[CnoEvil]

When I heard Naim with Arias (926), I found the opposide of Thompson UXB.....which is why you need to hear for yourself.

 

[NJB]

I am off to hear the 906 on Saturday. Plus, I am hoping for an Epos K2 demo too at another local store. Hard to compare when in different shops etc, but know what I like and will hope that one of them hits the spot.

 

[bigfish786]

Try and have a listen to the previous range of focal speakers as well. You'll probably find you can get an awful lot of speaker for the money.

I'm totally happy with mine. Build and sound quality are fantastic.

People read metal tweeter and assume bright sound. I find them perfect.

 

[yani]

Hi

i tried out the 906 standmounts at home. I had heard these in the shop when I purchased my Rega Elex. They were very smooth in the high frequencies. Bass was tight and the mids very clear with nice vocals. On bringing these home to try out I did initially like them. The Elex was showing up deficiencies in my old Celestion tweeters which at times verged into brightness. With the Focals this was never a problem which was very pleasing to me as I had doubts about my new amp purchase. I was fortunate to have them a whole week to assess. Towards the end I felt there was something missing and realised they did not have the scale and room filling sound I was used to with the Celestions.

 

[NJB]

I am off to hear the 906 on Saturday. Plus, I am hoping for an Epos K2 demo too at another local store. Hard to compare when in different shops etc, but know what I like and will hope that one of them hits the spot.

My lovely local dealer has just dropped off a pair of Epos K2s, which are mine until Thursday. They are good, exceptionally good in my opinion. Subtle, musical, with a bit more bass clout than my old ES14s. Great balance, even at low volumes, and I don't think he is going to be getting these back. OK, so he will, but he had better bring my new set with him.....white or black, hate having to make decisions.

 

[Jota180]

Try and have a listen to the previous range of focal speakers as well. You'll probably find you can get an awful lot of speaker for the money.

I'm totally happy with mine. Build and sound quality are fantastic.

People read metal tweeter and assume bright sound. I find them perfect.

Metal tweeters used to be bright, almost across the board, a couple of decades ago but they're generally well sorted these days. I think they had some natural resonance or breakup, something like that, below 20kHz back in the day but with a lot of research into materials and design they've pushed that into the 30kHz area and beyond. So they've managed to move this breakup from the audible range to beyond the audible range.

 

[Al ears]

I am off to hear the 906 on Saturday. Plus, I am hoping for an Epos K2 demo too at another local store. Hard to compare when in different shops etc, but know what I like and will hope that one of them hits the spot.

My lovely local dealer has just dropped off a pair of Epos K2s, which are mine until Thursday. They are good, exceptionally good in my opinion. Subtle, musical, with a bit more bass clout than my old ES14s. Great balance, even at low volumes, and I don't think he is going to be getting these back. OK, so he will, but he had better bring my new set with him.....white or black, hate having to make decisions.

Black.... or white if you are thinking of moving home anytime soon..... or have a wife

 

[LDTM]

Listened to them when I was last in Tokyo. I thought they were very nice indeed. Pretty too. I auditioned them with a bit of classical, a bit of jazz, and a sprinkling of power metal and I think you could do far worse things with your money than buy a pair.

Go on, you know you want to...

 

[iceman16]

Heard them at my local dealer with Naim XS2 and yes they are very good but not great if you know what I mean. They're not as forward sounding as most Focal speakers I've heard.