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FOCAL ARIA 926
FOCAL ARIA 926 REVIEWS
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All there really is to be said about the Focal 926 speakers is that they are a constant delight.
Play just about anything through them, from speech radio podcasts to high-resolution files played on the NDS, or through the Esoteric over USB, and there’s just one simple emotion to be had: if your listening experience of them is anything like mine, it’ll have been a long time since music has sounded so uncomplicated and enjoyable.
You just put some music on, and you think ‘Yes, that’s how it should be.
So you turn it up a bit louder than you might have done before, have another listen, and it’s even more captivating, to the point where you find yourself flitting around your music collection from orchestral to solo voice-and-guitar blues to a big choral work to a flat out rocker to a couple of tracks of Pink Floyd to piano trio jazz to Culture Club’s Victims – yes, really! – to violin concertos to plainsong to…
Well, almost anything, as fast as taps on a screen can take you.
There’s punchy, ‘gets you where it matters’ bass on offer here, both fast and well-extended; a seamless transition into the midband with no suggestion of drive units passing the baton between them, and a treble that’s both sweetly controlled and capable of beautifully clean imaging and ambience.
Listening to the Aria 926s for a couple of weeks was fascinating, and actually reminded me of the fun I had with a pair of Tannoy DC2000 speakers more than two decades ago: they didn’t take much power to get them moving, sounded clean even when pushed, and were deep, fast and exciting with their 20cm Dual Concentric drive unit and woofer of the same size.
They were great party speakers, great ‘listening to rock in the dark’ speakers, and made everything you listened to through them exciting and involving. I’m sure the Focals are rather more refined than I remember the Tannoys being, but they have many of the same characteristics: there’s an uncomplicated ‘rightness’ about their sound, and best of all they make you want to keep on listening to more and more music. Or radio. Or whatever.
I can honestly say I can’t remember when I listened to so much music and so many podcasts and plays and everything; I feel like I may have taken root on this sofa, and have to keep on dragging myself off to do trivial things like make a drink or sleep.
These are gloriously enjoyable speakers, and if the rest of the flax-toting Aria 900 range is up to this standard, Focal could well have a serious sales success on its hands.
Something tells me there’s going to be a lot of ‘pff, pff, boom’ going on down in Saint-Etienne this Autumn…
ANDREW EVERARD
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FOCAL ARIA 926
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The Focal Aria 900 series has been conceived as a simple, elegant yet timeless loudspeaker. The design exudes style and quality, helping it to blend in perfectly with traditional or more contemporary interiors.
The Aria 926 embodies the home 3-way floor standing loudspeaker. This musical and expressive loudspeaker is easy to install. All kinds of music lovers will be thrilled with its acoustic qualities. The Aria 926 is by definition an affordable audiophile loudspeaker.
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