I am happy with Focal 906's. A light cotton curtain over the window right behind the listening seat was quite helpful. I bought the used 906 pair at about half price on craigslist.
Looking for Advice on Focal Speakers
Hey everyone, so currently I have a 9.1 Klipsch RP system. I’m looking to upgrade big time with new towers and a center channel. I was able to audition some Focal 936s last week and was really impressed. The store offered me a pretty good deal on them and also a good deal on the Kantas which I love the look of, but haven’t been able to audition them. Are they worth slightly over double the price? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
These will be used in a living room, open floor plan. I have a Marantz Receiver and a Parasound Halo for the tower speakers. I am mostly upgrading for music listening, but of course I would also appreciate the extra quality for movies/tv.
I’m drawn to focal for the aesthetics and sound quality. I also like Sonus Faber but all of their speakers have leather on them which is a non starter for me. I only mention these so you can get an idea of the style I like. I dislike the more futuristic plastic looking speakers out there. I’m open to suggestions. I did audition some Paradigms and I did not like them (too bright for me).
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My son has the Focal Aria 948 and think they sound great. Very good bass and not too bright on the highs. I ran them in my setup for a few months before my son got his place. I have Klipsch Cornwall III’ s which I have paired with subs. You can see my profile. The Focals do not need to be ran with subs in my opinion because the bass is that good. If you like the 936’s I would try to find 948’s but I’m sure the 936’s will sound great. |
I have the 948s in my living room and the Maestro Utopias in my listening room. If I were to compare the 2, the Maestros are about 20% better. Listening to something like Tin Pan Alley sounds amaizing on the 948s but it is holographic on the Maestro towers. The strings sound like they are above your head. The 948s have great low end and clean mids and highs. Definitely not to bright and I usually prefer a silk dome tweeter. I have never heard the 936s but I'm very pleased with the 948s. I would purchase them again. The maestro towers are driven by Pass Labs 250.8 mono blocks and are fed by a Dave DAC with Mscaler. The 948s are driven by a Pass Labs x150 and a Cutest Chord DAC.
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Suboost, welcome to the forum!
Are Kantas worth slightly over double the price of 936s? Yes, probably - if you are building a system incrementally and it is within your budget. I would say no, if you are not building incrementally.
Do you know what was driving the Focal 936s when you auditioned them? The preamp/amp is an important part of what you will hear (as are interconnects, room treatment, etc.). Your Parasound Halo A23 is a power amp only - not integrated. So there is no preamp built into it. The only preamp component I can tell you have in your system is with the Marantz AV receiver. That receiver is likely very good for movies/shows, etc., but not as good as an integrated amp for 2 channel music listening.
I would sell the Parasound and apply that money towards a good integrated amp with HT (Home Theater) Bypass. That way you can use the front left/right speaker for both home theater audio through the Marantz and 2 channel listening through whatever integrated amp you buy.
Here’s a video about setting up HT bypass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7f_w1_wy5I |
@ricmech23 Yeah I was open to the 948s, but the dealer I spoke with said that for my room size and the fact that I have a sub it would be a complete waste of money. First time a dealer of any kind encouraged me to spend less money, haha. |
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