Focal Aria 936 / Elac Adante AF-61 / Von Schweikert VR-33 , impressions, thoughts?

Get at least 100 hours on them.  They should also be pointed almost straight out, barely any toe in at all.

Interesting.
My last pair of Focal Chorus 826v worked best with some serious toe in for my room. In fact since then nearly all speakers have sounded their best in here in roughly same position with same toe in. So that is how I plonked the 936 down.

Will have to play more with the toe in tomorrow.

uberwaltz
give the speakers time, at least 200 hours, then start w/ room placement.After 500 hours you will be set and rewarded at the same time. Keep me posted w/ 100 hour-mark updates.  Happy Listening!

Jafant.
I can see it being a long rocky road ahead.
I am not renowned for my patience ... Lol.

But yes I need give them time of course.

If you don't like the way they sound, positioning and room acoustics/treatment is your problem.  Break in will barely change the sound after the first 10 hours or so.  The main "break in" that happens is the speakers coming up to room temperature after sitting in a freight truck/warehouse for however long.
Tell us more about the room and the way the speakers are set up now.  Did you get rid of the toe in like I suggested earlier?

As well documented over the years I have a terrible acoustic room which is one reason I had gone to the Lyngdorf 2170 for the room correction to help.

This it did but there were other factors I ended up not liking too much on that amp and now use an Ayre ax7e.

Room is 4 walls of glass and a tiled floor....lol. And in case you are wondering how? It is actually an extension that was built on back of house as a Florida/sun room,hence the sloped ceiling as house is 2 storey and 3 sides of glass windows and 1 side of double glass sliding doors back into main house.
Have three huge soft sofas in there, large shaggy rug covering most of floor and wood window blinds on all windows and this helped a lot on any configuration of system. Oh and a sloped ceiling raising up back towards where the equipment and speakers are. When I do move house I will have a better room but this is what I am dealing with right now.

Best position I have found for any speakers in here has always ended up being roughly the same.

Approx 10 feet apart, and 3 feet in from back wall and side wall. Toed in so if I am the dead center at approx 7.5 feet distance, then they would converge approx 3 feet behind me. By trial this has always given best results prior to the 936. The DeVore Gibbon sound REALLY good set up like this .

Working away all this week so will not get any time to play until next Sunday.

Well one change would kill two birds there then.
If i pull them more intogether say 7.5 to 8 feet apart that would give and unequal corner distance, easy change to try.
Tbh in my room I have not had ANY speakers in tighter together that the present 10ft, maybe I have been missing setup altogether for a while!

Has anyone heard the Yamaha NSF901 in comparison to the Focal 936?

Be careful when ordering. None of the sellers are indicating " each ", as these retail for $5000. a pair. A few folks ordered, thinking they were buying a pair ( the ads say " speakers ", plural ), but they only received one speaker. Just what I am seeing. I would be interested to hear them, as Yamaha can build anything they want. Enjoy ! MrD.

They retail at $2499.95 each, now they are $1999.95 ea., on their web site. I suppose they are on sale ( it seems everyone is now selling them at 4K ). As far as they being a matched pair, knowing Yamaha, I am sure the tolerances are quite close between each and every unit. I would like to hear them. When I had NS 1000s, I enjoyed them very much. Enjoy ! MrD.

uberwaltz
a Florida room is a nice addition to any home. The challenge of room acoustics can be figured out by treatments.  How are you liking the 936?
Happy Listening!

Jafant.

Unfortunately I am working away all week, something has to pay for this hobby ... Lol.

However as of Sat night with only maybe 2 hours on them I was not happy.
But there have been suggestions here I need to act on when I get home until then its Dell laptop speakers and Tidal for me this week!

uberwaltz


Absolutely! It does take time and income to pay for our wonderful hobby.
After 100 hours, you will notice a difference for the better. Then another 100 hours and soforth...   Keep us posted after each 100-hour increment until you feel the speakers have bloomed to taste.

Happy Listening!

Its getting the time to get some hours on them!

Work is brutally busy with 70 hour work weeks away from home and then a mile long honeydew list when back at weekend.

Maybe put 8 hours on them last weekend if that, going to be some time before serious hours as we are busy from now till xmas. Oh well thats why I get paid the BIG bucks...lol.

uberwaltz
how are the speakers settling into your system? Yesterday I had a sweet audition with an Ayre AX-5 Twenty Integrated amp. Very nice sound indeed.

Happy Listening!

@jafant 

I am afraid the Focal,s did not survive the battle between the Devores and Gibbons, see this thread here ... https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/joseph-audio-rm-33le-vs-devore-gibbon-8-my-experience

For now the Josephs are best speaker I have had and refuse to look at speakers again at least for this year...lol