I gave advice based largely on your original post, as a fan of Focal speakers. There are many separate threads on this forum dealing with your subsequent questions with advice from others wiser than I. Most on this site would tell you to keep the integrated and DAC separate, mostly for the reason that DACs are likely to get better over time — but also because you are out of commission if one of the parts go bad (most likely the DAC). I think most would agree that a solid state integrated likely has a shorter lifespan than a corollary separates system, given the impact of heat on the circuitry. Cool running Class D integrateds however would be an exception I think. I would not pair Class D with Focal speakers IMHO. I think most would tell you that the sound of separates (amp + preamp) exceeds that of an integrated, but the margin here has gotten smaller over time, and really high end integrated amps are perhaps equal to or better than separates (the argument being there are shorter signal paths with no need for interconnects that can color the sound). Robert Harley gave a highly favorable review >5 years ago on the Moon 600i integrated, stating it gave separates a serious run for the money. This is likely outside of your budget. As an aside, I am also a fan of Moon and believe that integrated with Sopra 2s would be a giant killer, and compete with systems twice its price. There are threads on the issue of HT bypass. I am in the camp of keeping 2 channel and HT systems separate. Hope this helps — but again, I am one person giving you his opinion so keep that in mind. Best advice perhaps is to use this forum to do your research, narrow down your choices, and then let your ears decide.

One last bit of advice. If you cannot home audition equipment from your local brick and mortar audio shop, or travel to listen to your narrowed field of choices, there are many companies that will let you home audition for 2-4 weeks provided you pay a nominal restocking fee if you opt to return it. Schitt is one such company, and the $900 Schitt Freya+ tube preamp has been said to offer 85-90% of the performance of high end tube preamps. FWIW. 

My vote is for a pair of Kanta II’s

i picked a pair for half of retail $5,500

and it has been the best choice I could 

have made 

powering with Parasound A21+ 

Killer combo

good luck Willy-T

@willy-t Damn that's a steal. You get them on here or local?

Got ‘em from a small dealer in NC near me

who took them in on a trade from the original owner

They were 2 years old. 
I’ve had them for about 3 months 

They are not bright and really balanced 

FOCAL TRIO6 BE(3-way mode: 35 Hz - 40 kHz ±3 dB / 2-way mode (Focus): 90 Hz - 20 kHz ± 3 dB)  better and broader response w/ amps same price as 936 (39-28,000 Hz)

@suboost Per your last question, when you are not using bypass your integrated amps preamp section will be in use.  When you are using bypass, it is removed from the equation and the integrated just becomes a power amp slave for the HT receiver powering front L/R.  You never told us what you are doing for a streamer/source?  Just reading between the lines it sounds like you are just getting started in upping your game.  Get the Arias, get the integrated, and have a reasonable (BS node is fine) streamer directly into it.  Highly recommend Qobuz as the source.  Play with that for a while and then decide if you need tubes, external DAC, etc.  

As for how to view my (or anyones) system, click my name and then details and you'll see both laid out.  Keep us posted.  

@mtbiker29 Hey so my source for everything is a PC. All digital and all FLAC. No streaming or Bluetooth and no physical media. I ordered the Arias and I think I'm going to hold off on the integrated until a good deal pops up on a used Moon 340i. My dealer offered basically no discount so I figured what's the rush. I just want to enjoy the speakers for maybe a month or two and if a good deal hasn't come up then I'll suck it up and buy it at full price. In the meantime I'm going to run a new dedicated 20amp line, get a decent receptacle ($40 not $400, ha), a power conditioner and some good powe cables and upgraded speaker wires. Any other recommendations? Thanks again for all the advice, it's a huge help.

Amazing how many people responded that don’t own, and never did own, Aria 936s. Guess what? I do. The Focals will be a huge upgrade over the Klipsch metal driver speakers you have now ~ better tonality, better low-end, more detail w/o the metallic-sounding high end. In your room, they might be a trifle bright, but if you are willing to put a second [large] area rug under your couch, it will help tame the highs, although I agree w/others who’ve already said, at the very least, get some curtains over those windows. I am NOT a fan of metal tweeters, as a rule [I have three setups, and the other two have soft domes], but these are highly detailed w/o the usual "metallic artifacts" of most other metal tweeters which I’ve heard. If they do prove a little bright in your room, just a bit of judicious tweaking of whatever EQ option you have on your receiver should be adequate ~ that’s exactly what it’s for.

Let me know how it goes for you!

I love the Aria series. I bought (on trial basis) three of the Focal Aria series models - 906, 926 and 948. The 906 was amazing and I wanted more. They went back and I had the 926 and the 948s delivered the same day.

I had a tough time choosing, but ended up keeping the 926s. I use stereo subs. The 948s were overkill with subs and for my room size (14’ x 21’).

The three models I bought sound very much alike. All four models have the same tweeter; it’s made of Boron, not Beryllium. The 926, 936 and 948 also all share the same midrange driver, so the differences are basically cabinet size, woofer size, and I would imagine some crossover changes.

I didn’t try the 936 but I can’t imagine it being much different from the others.

Oh about the prices: this speaker lineup has been around since 2013, and they stayed pretty cheap until recently. Yes, inflation’s part of it, but they are a quite a bit more expensive than they were two years ago.

I think the Arias sound wonderful. Smooth as butter. I don’t find the tweeters harsh at all but I do prefer slightly bright speakers. I have Kantas in my big room - I love them too (though they are fugly - the Arias are so simple and pretty), although it seems lots of folks find them to be too bright as well.

The advice about toe-in is spot-on. Arias prefer very little of it.

Hope this helps.

If you get the Kantas, I highly recommend the Gaia II footers. They improve the bass tremendously.  I recently sold a pristine used pair with the Gaias for $6500. Look for a clean used pair and go with the higher end. They look so much better. 

" All four models have the same tweeter; it’s made of Boron, not Beryllium. "

Clarify mac742's statement

The tweeters are some kind of aluminum/magesium mix with Poron used for its suspension.

From a materials site:

VTNF tweeter | Focal

I too find the Aria series quite nice. Almost bought a pair of 948's awhile back. Went with an older model ML stat instead.