Thank you Thomas , I have learned so much from you , When i started my channel i didn't know the Language used by many audiophile reviewers I had my own way of describing the sound signature 😆, Thanks so much you and Sean both have been a joy to watch, I would really enjoy one day to have you all on my channel and set back and just tune in and tune out to some good ole PINK FLOYD playback !!

I have the 926 with Kimber Kables with a Adcom 555 200 watt amp and NAD preamp. It sounds unbelievable. Detailed, not harsh at at at 95 Db. Great depth front to back and is amazing

Thanks for the content. I have the 926's paired with a A11 Tribute and the sound is fantastic with no hint of harshness, my listening level is only 65-75db though :-)

I've had the 926's for 4 years, absolutely love them, they sound great across all genre's of music, excellent clarity! Low volume, high volume, these are wonderful speakers. I've used 4 different power amps with them, and yes, they do sound better with >100w and higher quality amps, but I think that is normal, no? Based on my experience with this speaker, they paired well with the XTC A2-300 power amp (~$500), but if your budget allows, they do sound slightly better with the NAD C275 BEE (~$1400).

Very insightful video! My experience with Focal (948) and the relation between harshness and volume is the opposite as yours: the more I turn the volume up, the less harshness I get. With loud volume, the bass increases exponentially, bass needs power since woofers need power to move air. Please keep posting your findings 👍

I bet if you went with something higher end it would drive them fine, Hegel, Moon, Naim. I Had SDA 1C speakers which were notoriously difficult to drive. People would say you needed minimum 200 WPC to get them to sound right. I used all kinds of amps on them, a big Yamaha receiver (125wpc) , a high end Yamaha power amp( 240 wpc), multiple Rotel power amps (160 wpc, 120 wpc), a high end hybrid tube amp (100 wpc), a vintage Marantz monster receiver(135 wpc). I was selling the the SDA because I was never totally satisfied until I demoed them with my 65 wpc Hegel. I was shocked how good they sounded. Not just the upper bands, but the bass! Finally these speakers opened up in a way I never thought possible. That little Hegel seem to drive them effortlessly, and the SDAs are only 88db. It's all about quality power in my opinion. I have had this kind of experience few other times now. Luxman was another manufacturer that opened my eyes in this way.

Thomas, I know it was too the delight of you and the guy that brought the cable regarding the change in sound that cables can make and it is truly a shame that we still have these argument with people over cables not making a difference. I own mostly Audioquest and use the Niagara(which is discontinued) a silver cable being connected to my turntable and phono preamp and I can recall a time that I was evaluating a phono cartridges some years ago and last week, that by changing to King Cobra, also Audioquest that the sound changed from bright to balanced depending on the components and phono preamp used, I have three and the best of the three is the Audio Research PH8. Cables can be too bright, or muddy or too much bass depending on the system, which you proved in your own testing between your amp and receiver and I have proven in my own testing. You are blessed enough to have friends that you can both bounce things off of and that have the equipment that you are able to either borrow and hear, so that you know the differences. I have a dealer, that has become a friend and I too can go into the shop and borrow any piece of equipment to listen too, including cables so I too know there is a difference. You must also try equipment in your own Acoustical environment, which you do, Thomas. Most people that argue the cable thing don't have these options, so it's much easier to say there is no differences or they will say that they are Engineers and based off of their training there are no differences. Paul Mcgowen from PS Audio, who is the CEO of PS Audio, has said that he tried a pair of Audioquest WEL cables in his Infinity RS System and he said it was a huge difference. Mcgowen said that it doesn't make since from an Engineer prospective, but it was apparent to him and all of his staff that has listened. I own all Audio Research Equipment. You are so right about System Synergy and there is cable capacitance. Keep trying other things Thomas and good luck with your Focal and keep the thought provoking content coming. We can all benefit from your experiences if we keep an open mind.

TOOOOOBES!!! I've got a PrimaLuna Prologue 5 coming in less than a week to drive my GoldenEar Triton 2+s, I'll keep you posted.

You are a professional reviewer Thomas, can you post a focal Aria 948 review in future ?

@Thomas and Stereo thank you for always doing an excellent job!! Have you heard the Focal 936 K2? How do they compare to the 936 with Flax cones? Wondering if the K2's are an upgrade. Thanks

I am on the verge of getting a pair or 926. My current setup is Krell S300i with Audioquest Gibraltar Speaker cables - Hegel cd 2 and cambridge cxn v2 both with Cardas neutral reference interconnect. Speakers are Audio Spectrum Artemis (Seas drivers and tweeters). Question is , Amp should drive them pretty easy but i listen a lot of rock music, should i look elsewhere? I had Focal Utopia (setup was only sq) in my car and used to love them, is the 926 going to sound very harsh? Thank you!

I have the 926 (piano gloss white). None of the Aria line are going to give you a strong bottom end. I decided to save some bucks and go with the 926 seeing as how I am going to use a pair of subs to fill in the bottom end. Pairing these up to a Bryston B135³ using Kimber. More than pleased with the sound on a range of music styles.

Hello, Does a good amplifier with onley 50 watt , like the Arcam sa 10 a good match with the focal 926 Aria ?. It looks that the Amplifiere is warm sounded. Maybe less chance of sounding harsh?

Hi, I had aria 906 and 706 in my home for demo and felt a little harshness in 706 but it wasn't runned in and aria was. But overall sound was better with chorus 706. So I boought it but walnut version - I had black version at demo. Walnut version was harsh at all. I have naim nait 5si and cd5si and naim naca5 4m as recommended from naim. It is excellent sounding system, so good that my wife didn't allow me to try any other speaker and we all now thar female are much sensitive regarding harshness.

I have a set of the Focal 926 and have enjoyed them, but have never been wowed by them. I'll try a higher powered amp, perhaps a Mcintosh, to see if I can get more out of them.

Have you tried to pair with any of the naim amplifier + Naim NAC A5 speaker cables? Currently, naim and focal are both recommending Naim Uniti Atom with Focal Aria 926.

A true audiophile 😃

@Thomas & Stereo Thank you for the nice video. Given the tough time you have had pairing the 926s with amplifiers and me wanting to avoid the same given my limited time and resources, would you be able to recommend an integrated amplifier under USD 2000 that would work best with the Aria 926s. I ask this since I am getting a good deal on the 926s but with a limited budget I would not want to spend a lot on the amplifier since this will be my first hi-fi system.

Hey Thomas- Have you heard the Aria 936? Any thoughts? What do you think of the overall performance of the Flax drivers? Thanks

I wanted to ask you a question to see what you think: Do you think the Focal Aria 926 would go well with the Cambridge Audio CXA81 amplifier? Thank you.

I was considering these or the 936. All of the equipment matching almost scares me away about the Focal. I am really leaning towards Revel F206 or the F208. Any opinion on these?? Thanks

Hello mr.Thomas 2x30 class a tube amp is capable for drive them? As long as you have tube amps also as i saw from your videos. Thanks in regards.

How long you waited before making tweaks? Sometimes you have to let your ears adjust to the sound.

Thomas I’m actually considering the 926 with my prima Luna integrated dialogue HP. I’m actually changing out the 2 primary of the 6 preamp tubes to tone down the top end and using Brimar 12au7’s. I was concerned of the harshness that I have heard of also from the 926. How was the bottom and on the 926 compared to a 936 if you had to have a chance to hear them? Also how about a rough comparison to the Elac uni b5s... cheers

These speakers sound really good, I’ll listen to $30k to $60k speakers and there’s not much of a difference when compared to these🤔🤔

Did you have a chance to test drive your 926 to the Bel Canto amps (pictures in background). If so, what were your impressions? I have 926 and a Bel Canto c5i and find the same impression of ‘lightness’ especially for the bass. Will be testing on my NAD 315bee and Marantz SR5013 soon. May need to think about other ‘warm’ amp options down the road...

hi sir is great to see this tuto about Focal Speakers, just I bought pair of Focal Aria 948, plz can u recommend a power Amp to my speakers? I have no ideas about the amplifier....

Hi Thomas. I will follow your recommendation about the speakers cable. Could you please tell which SignalCable did you use? I cannot see if they are the Classic (13 AWG) or the Ultra (10 AWG). Many thanks

Ive got these speakers! I got them in 2014

Thomas, Happy Holidays !!! Which is better between Focal Aria 948 speakers and Kef R11 for 2.0 stereo. Thanks

Hi Thomas. I currently own a pair of Dali Opticon 6 paired with an Arcam SR250 AVR. How would you rate the Focal 926 compared to the Dali's. Also, would you say the Arcam SR250 is a good match for the Focals. I use Van-Damme speaker cable... Open to suggestions on my cable choice. Thanks Thomas. Mike.

Since professional measurement devices are more sensitive than the human ear we should be able to measure a 30% drop in "harshness" aka distortion or an elevated frequency response.

Hello Thomas, How close or how different is Aria 926 to Kanta n2? Is it safe to say Kanta is less bright but has more bass than 926? This is based off your review clips on both models.

Hi Thomas! Thanks for your nice review. I have a pair of Focal Chora 806 in white cream. They are great speakers but a bit too much forward with mids in my place. I paired it with an Class D smsl amp. i would like to pair them with a more laidback amp ( kind of v curve) for now and i'm ready to upgrade. I was thinking about the denon pma 600 which is laidback but maybe too much. Which amps do you recommend in order to get a less forward and less mid tone sound in the 400-600 euros range without loosing to much the clean tigh bass. even if i have a subwoofer to compensate a bit. Denon, Yamaha, Cambridge, others? small tube amp? a softer Dac? Nemo propaganda told me that you're the V curve man!!!Thank you so much for your reply. Musically.

Do you think Signal cable would be a good match for 1028 also? Im on Audioquest Type 4 at the moment, nut not too happy with quality of highs. Thanks!

I have a 926 connected to a Marantz PM14 S1 SE and an Audioquest rocket 44. Focal Aria 926 are great ... I don't think they are bright, I find them to be quite warm sounding ...

Hello Thomas, If you had to choose between Focal Aria 948 and Klipsch Cornwall IV, which one would you choose? Thanks.

I have got rather negative experience with Focals 926. Powered by moderate 100W Atoll IN100 integrated they sounded harsh and at the same time they produced very poor bass. Well, mids were forward and lively but it was not enough for comfortable listening. I really had a feeling that only an amp with enormous power and grip could make them sing. Hegel H90 could do nothing and up the ladder I won't go. After that I traded them for Sonus Faber Venere and now I can really enjoy my music.

Thomas Would it be possible to compare this Focal with dynaudio focus 160 in terms of sound quality? That would be interesting.

why would you use 3K cables with 2K speakers? same question with 5# cables..

Hello Thomas, what is your honest opinion on Focal's Aria 948 speakers? Are they good and value for money? Are they good with Bass? Thanks.

This might sound like a silly question but I recently just bought some Aria 948 tower speakers in the one I was about to hook them up with my speaker cables that I have with banana plugs on them I noticed in the back of these speakers brand new they have these little red and black little plastic caps that are blocking the inserts of the terminals to plug your cable straight down going into the terminal I tried popping them out and I can't have tried everything that's really in there do you have any advice how to pop those little plastic caps out so I can plug my speaker cables into it ? I also see another way I can do it I don't have to take the caps out I can slide my banana plug cables underneath there's a little hole I can slide it through at the bottom and then just tighten the bolt at the top to tighten onto the speakerbut will I lose sound quality plugging my cables into it that way versus me taking the little caps out and put in my speakers directly inside? I hope you can understand this is a really silly question but I don't know how else to describe it but they're just not coming out so I decided just to plug my banana cables directly into the little holes underneath for now but it bugs me..

I recently bought the B&W 603 s2, but I found if harsh and lacking in bass. Seller indicated me the Focal Aria 948 and Dali Opticon 8 mk2. I am really uncertain about which one to choose. Almost impossible to find dealers with demo units in here. Amp is Hegel H390.

has it occured the idea that perhaps the harshness went away after the speaker was "broken in" and run for a number of hours and little or nothing to do with cables or amps?

FOCAL BEST!

Ok not sure how these ever sound harsh they are actually on the warmer sound. Overall fantastic speaker at $2300 price I got for piano black. Definitely not klipsch or B&W harsh at all. Using a moderately rated AU-717 and AU-919 rated at 85 and 100 watts respectively. After about two weeks, I actually prefer them without my subwoofwer. I have an older NHT 12 250 watts RMS and SVS SB3000 860 watts rms. Of course more bass if you do use them, but I found for music I am not missing anything. Still I give edge to my home built speakersfor overall sound.

How do you feel about those Monitor Audio Gold 300 vs these 926? I work for a dealer of both so I can get them at a discount. I've been listening to the 926 everyday after work. And they're pretty good. But I think I'm more into ribbons personally.

Correct me if I am wrong: those speakers to get to 88db they need about 1W of rms power. So how is it the 50w amp is not enough to power these speakers at 1W to full resolution? Also I would like to ask you, how can you hear a difference between two different speaker cables when my oscilloscope is not seeing any difference under any load on any arbitrary waveform simulation. Aren’t audible frequencies all under 20000 hz hence unaffected by the quality of the speaker cable, unless off course cable is not bottlenecking the current.

Thank you for such reviews Sir! I would like to ask for help with sub. I have pair of these Aria 926 - very satisfied with the sound, clearness, mids, highs - all fits perfectly my ears, except the bass (room is cca 45m2, open). I'm not a fan of boomy sound of today, no rap or dance, but still - it's kinda "small", like hidden somewhere, when you expect kick - it's just not comming and you wait and wait. So thinking about getting a sub to improve the lows. Found few, which I hope could make it for me. SVS SB2000 Pro, BK Elec P12-300SB-PR or REL HT/1205. What do you think? Any idea, anyone? Thank you!

I have the Focal 926. My source is a CD/Pre-Amp combo called the Musical Fidelity CD Pre-24: www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/715/index.html. I have this connected to my power amp which is the Musical Fidelity A3 CR Dual Mono Power Amplifier: www.musicalfidelity.com/uploads/manuals/English/a3crpow_eng.pdf My speaker cable is Chord Odyssey with a JPS Ultraconductor interconnects ($300). I found this setup to have too much high-frequency detail. It was tiring listening to it over long periods and I didn't enjoy it as much as I should. I then saw your video's and thought I'd try the Van Den Hul D-102 interconnects ($190) I've had in a cupboard for years - even though they are not as expensive as the JPS. Wow! What a difference. It toned down the high frequencies and put more emphasis on the mid-range - especially the vocals. The pianos and guitars sounded very real rather than reproduced. So thanks for the advice Thomas! I also tried the Van Den Hul 'The First' ($275) but even though they are a more expensive cable than the D-102, I didn't like the sound as it was similar to the JPS. Too much emphasis on the higher frequencies rather than the mid-range. So if any Music Fidelity owners read this try Van Den Hul D-102 (avoid the fancy carbon ones and stick to the D-102).

How is this Aria 926 vs Kanta no.2?

How is Quad S and Z tower speaker series ?

Dear Thomas, I owe you an apology. I have focal speakers chorus 706 which share the same tweeter with aria range and recently I had to setup my system again. I turn the volume up and I heard what you were talking about. I assume that would hear better on more revealing system than mine. Then I remeber that What hi fi? Mag tested aria 906 and it said that it needs some 30 minutes to warm up before serious listening. I try that method and everything sat on the right place for me. I will try to re run-in the speakers for loud listening in next few weeks and I will send you my findings. I suspect that cooling fluid that is inside tweeter needs to take its shape and I didn't run my speakers very loud continuously for very long periods so I hope that it will take new shape because it is like memory foam. Otherwise warm up time remains. Will see.

what amps are you using to test them

Do you think the Aria 926 is worth the premium over the Chora 826?

Try using Vacuum tube amplifier to drive thease speakers!

6:45 Jumpscare warning!

Hi Thomas, Hi everyone, do you think Marantz PM8005 will be a good combo with the Focal Aria 926? Thank you :)

Where do you buy and sell your used gear?

Thomas - can you tell me if you were able to get the speaker plugs/ caps to insert banana plugs into these speakers? Just got my Aria 926 pair yesterday, but I'm unable to remove those binding post caps.

what was the few reasons you've sold your focal 926?

Hi Thomas. Thanks for doing the great reviews, really enjoying them and your audio journey. I decided to buy the Focal Aria 936 as there is an offer I can't pass on it. Was thinking which amp to use. After lot of research: Musical Fidelity A5/M5/M6 and as you suggested Hegel H160 looks good. Probably going to get the H160. 1 - Have you heard this combo from the time you released the video? 2 - Any experience with Musical Fidelity? 3 - Most importantly - what cable to get for Focal 368 + Hegel H160? Thanks very much.

Hello Friend, your expert adv on emit30 Dynaudio compared to this speaker. Running on Arcam 850 receiver, blue ray oppo.

I am not going to argue whether or not the Focals tend to be bright. That debate can be dependant on multiple factors. Bright to me, is something like proac and Klipsch. Proac, because the bookshelfs have very little bass to spectrally balance the top. klipsch, because they are unrefined and have a cheap, nasty tweeter coming through a $5.00 crossover. Focals (starting with the chora 806). and up take a while to break in. I have some focals with a sub, and no regrets. I tired of the Burchardt/vandersteen/ harbeth/dynaudio speaker types that smooth out the top to the point of polite and often boring. I have a fine DAC, Fine high powered solid state front end and proper room treatment and size for the bookshelf speakers I have. Listening to Yo-yo ma /Goat rodeo sessions and Zuill Bailey playing Bach cello: I'm getting that initial attack of the bow and strings lost on soft voice speakers. Listening to Mile Davis: The trumpet shines and his drummers (Philly Jo Jones, Tony, etc) all have crisp, and shimmering cymbals with a more true to life energy than I got from Dynaudio, Vandersteen or others. Nojima plays Liszt: each piano key has proper tone and definition. Not a smoothed-away attack. I will not downplay the other brands, because I enjoy them also for different reasons. FWIW: I use only low capacitance belden ic's and cables. No special effects filters for me. I also have a well-tuned sealed sub for spectral balance. I feel that I am harnessing the "bright". in the right way.

What exactly is difference between bright and warm speaker. What are the pros and cons of each.

I tried 1 silver cable and it was harsh, never again.

You need a new mic. Too much sibilance... Speaker cable nor interconnects costing more than 10$ per foot don't make any difference! And the Focal Aria 926 is a great speaker which sounds like the amazing Aria 906 only with better lower end and punch. My Aria 926 is connected to ICEPOWER 125ASX2 monoblock (BTL) and a NAD C658 preamp-DAC with Dirac Live EQ. I only use Amazon basic cables and the sound is amazing... Maybe you should check your ears...

I used to own Focal but never buy again. I dont like the low-end on Focal. Its just not there. KEF, Dali, B&W, Dynaudio, ProAc, all sound better to me.