Quote:
Originally Posted by Glisse
Bit late to this party. To my ears, the Aria range is voiced quite differently to other Focals - smoother, warmer. Less demanding on positioning than the Electras, and most certainly Utopias. I recall reading somewhere that these are the first Focal's voiced with Naim, given the shared ownership situation. Whilst they lack a little dynamic punch and transparency compared to Electra Be, they work with everything and everywhere. I bought a pair of Aria 907s as back up speakers just because they are so balanced, and also have Electra 1007Be. I would use the Arias with a cooler sounding amp, and the Electras and 7/8 series with a warmer sounding amp, if that makes sense. I have never listened to any McIntosh amps, so don't know how they fit.
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I'm running the Aria 948's as the mains in an all-Focal 5.1 system. I believe the this is an incredible value in the Focal line. At $5k (less if you have a good friend/dealer), this speaker running off my MX121/MC205 sounds like systems I've heard with speakers in the $10k + range. The bottom end probably lacks the slam of the higher end competition, but the midrange and tweeter output reproduces jazz and Focals with incredible warmth. As mentioned before, other than liking distance from a back wall, these speakers image beautifully in most rooms with little effort. Mine are 2 feet from the back wall, and about 8 feet apart with zero toe-in and they image beautifully. I would consider these a nice step towards the more exotic speakers at 2-3 times the price. Color me happy (for now!).