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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 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 ?
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,274 posts
 
My opinion of the Prestige is that they are in deed nice!  I’ve had a ton of Paradigm Speakers.  The Paradigms are prettier than Totems, but I prefer the sound of Totem over Paradigm, unless we are taking Sig 8 V2, Tributes or Personas...

For $1500 you can get a pair of used Totem Hawks and for $2000-$2500 you can get a pair of Totem Mani’s.


cbrents73's avatar
cbrents73
151 posts
 
Bendogo,

I don’t know about "too good" for your room size, I say if you like the sound of the speakers better than others, the better one wins regardless of the environment. In regards to listening in a commercial space (being a dealer’s showroom), you should love them way more when you get them home. That’s about 99% the case because the home has so many more advantages sonically than in a store/retail space.

And yes, the Prestige is a significant improvement over the Premier. You get a beautiful furniture grade quality cabinet with a significantly better crossover network in the speaker that makes them more revealing of everything you put in front of them with the ability to adapt and work with higher performing electronics - great investment!

Hope that helps...? Happy listening!
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