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Dynaudio Evoke or Focal Aria Or Paradigm Prestige

Hello,

First time poster here. I live in Canada. I want to upgrade my speakers. Here are some info about what I have. My room is 14 feet by 13 feet but not fully closed. I listen to movies/ TV series (75 %) and music on vinyl (25 %). I have a Thorens TD 166, my AV receiver is a Yamaha RX-A1060 Adventage and my subwoofer is a Paradigm Monitor 7 (sub 8). As you can read, nothing very high end. After reading for months and dreaming about expensive wants, I have narrow it down to 3 brands that fits the budget. What are your thoughts on Dynaudio Evoke and Focal Aria ? If i go with Dynaudio, should I choose Evoke 10 and 30 OR 20 and 30 OR 20 and 50 ? If I go Focal Aria, for front speakers : 926 or 936 or 948 ? For back speakers, Aria 906 or SR 900 ? I also included Paradigm Prestige in the discussion because it is canadian built, but is it better than Focal or Dynaudio ? If you have other suggestions, i am open, but remember the size of my room and I live in Canada. Thanks a lot in advance.
bendogo
bendogo OP
3 posts
 
Thanks Banerjba. I wish i was in Toronto for something like choosing and listening to speakers. But I'm in Moncton. Here the only dealer worth mentionning carries Paradigm or B&W. In Halifax, I can have different choices like Dynaudio or Focal. Or I can also go to Quebec City (eventually) at Audiolight. So, i'm kind of limited, but thank you for your input.

cbrents73, also thanks for your comments. Here is my train of thought. My Yamaha receiver is about 3 years old, but my speakers are 19 years old. 4 bookshelfs and a center from a company called Athena technologies which no longer exists. This is why I wanted to find better speakers first. Long overdue. In fact, i'm looking for 2 fronts and a center first and foremost. Here is my question to you. Why buy a Power Amps using it a pre/pro first and then upgrade to a true Pre/Pro ? Why not buy a better true Pre/Pro first and not bother with a Power Amp ? What would you suggest in the Anthem line-up ?
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,274 posts
 
@bendogo, you sound a bit confused...  

You can use your current receiver as just the pre-amp (volume control) and the processor (surround sound) and buy a better amp(power) like the Anthem suggested. 
My advice would be to come to the darkside.  Scrap the receivers life and come to high end 2 channel audio.  Whatever you were planning on spending on 2 towers and a center channel, but 2 speakers and a nice, beefy 2 channel integrated amp.  With 2 properly set up speakers, you need no center channel.  
If your budget is $2500, you could get a really nice pair of used speakers and a nice 2 channel integrated amp.  Just a thought!  
Dynaudio, Paradigm and Focal are all great companies!  The descriptions given above of how they sound is accurate.

Being Canadian, Paradigm with Anthem might be cool!
bendogo OP
3 posts
 
Thanks b_limo. 

Food for thoughts. Before your reply, I went and read more or amp and pre-amp. Since i'm in Canada, I could add Totem in the mix to confuse poor me even more, lol.
cbrents73's avatar
cbrents73
151 posts
 
Hey Bendogo,

My apologies, when i read your post, I interpreted it wrong and saw Monitor 7's and didn't realize you were referring to your Sub 8 and was thinking you had Monitor 7 speakers and why I went the direction I did, so again sorry if I got you off track.  

With your existing speakers, you're definitely due for those first and can ignore my amp update recommendation.  Any of our great dealer partners can show you how that will work and what to expect down the road. 

I'm certainly biased toward Prestige, and again, any of our good dealers can give you a compelling demo to show you how good those are. 

I always encourage anyone in here to reach out to our dealers who can inspire, work with, and and support you.

Again, I'm sorry I misinterpreted your original post and got sideways on this, but if I can be of any further help, please don't hesitate to message me here.

Cheers.


bendogo OP
3 posts
 
Thanks cbrents73,

Someone else on an another website said that the Prestige series was maybe too good for the size of my room and to look at the Premier series. But if I go Paradigm (I can't afford Persona), I would still rather buy better speakers, because in the next five years, I will get another house with a real HT room.

From reading about the Prestige, it seems a huge step up from even compare to Premier and of course SE. What are your thoughts about it ?
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