This has got to be an all time low. I'd be surprised if they drop any further in price
I'm tempted to pick up a pair myself
Focal Aria 936 Floorstanding Speakers Pair $2880 Delivered @ Addicted to Audio
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djevoultion on 09/03/2024 - 11:44 addictedtoaudio.com.au (3142 clicks)
Last edited 09/03/2024 - 11:49
Last edited 09/03/2024 - 11:49
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(profanity) bargain, thanks mate
Focal make some fantastic speakers. These would work as hifi / theatre speakers. Great deal!
While people will argue back and forth about monitors vs floorstanders even in a HT system, the real bargain remains the Philharmonic BMR monitors, which are incredible value if you're spending in this range.
another good option is the KEF R3 Meta
At the moment it's more expensive, and less capable in terms of horizontal dispersion, so it's a solution for very specific environments. I'd imagine most people would be doing better with the BMR.
@jasswolf: huh? the bmr has crazy wide horizontal dispersion and crazy narrow vetical dispersion in the high frequencies, the KEF coaxial is undoubtly the safer option for more environments, with the BMR you need to consider dampening on the walls sooner than you do on the r3 and the moment you stand up or go below the tweeter line, the highs just disappear while with the KEFs u can sit down and stand and they still sound good (I own the bmr and used to own a Q100)
unfortunately at the time i bought the BMRs they were more expensive than the R3Ms but they are a great option now that they have a shop front and have really good shipping rates
@Bacons: I didn't realise it was that alarming a situation for a 5.1 arrangement, will have to look into it, thanks!
@CocaKoala: I'm afraid I'm as unfamiliar as Bacons, though it reads as an impressive piece of engineering.
@Bacons: Thank you. Do you reckon the Hsu research ccb-8 is better or worse than these two? I have been considering importing those to create a new 5.2 setup (will get 2x their sub also) but that's purely based on reviews. Thanks
@CocaKoala: sorry! i dont know much about these, i usually get an idea of their performance looking at measurements from https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/
if you've read comparisons already and are happy with how others like them then I'm sure you'll be happy with them
Ok I researched more about these and caved. Now I need to find an amp..
This is the way.
Ne ready for good $3000 start
Can you fix my teeth
Yamaha RX-A4A
I'm tossing up between the nova 500 or the naim unity star
Maybe actually demo a few speakers first because there are heaps of options at this price, personally i dont love the sound of these
How do these compare to Klipsch RP-8000F II ?
…. and Edifier?
These are much more musical. Klipsch tend to emphasis high and low frequency for a more in your face movie experience.
Focal Kanta 2 or 3 a good buy?
Not bad - auditioned the Kanta's - was not quite going to push to the utopia range (.
Focal's can be polarising - and just did not grab me enough, and was grabbed by different set.what did you end up with?
Got a good deal on a set of 803D3's ).
So the Drivers are French but the cabinets CHINA?
Price is us what they should be RRP if thats the caseI previously bought a pair of chora 826, which is even cheaper than aria.
On the packaging box of the speakers, it prints 'MADE IN FRANCE' in large font.
I think this is referring to the whole thing otherwise it should be stated.Its made in France AFAIK
Can't China make things out of wood? They make laptops, phones, cars etc.
What do the French do differenty when cutting wood?
As someone who owns a set of Focal Arias, I can definitely recommend these. Amazing SQ, especially in the mid range. Well worth the price of admission if you have the funds (and system) to justify them.
What amp are you using to run them ?
Musical Fidelity M5si
Nice. I ended up going for the marantz 40n
Wow great prices
Do you need a sub with these?
An F3 of 39hz isn't great, but it isn't awful. You could add a couple subs and crossover at 80hz, I guess - But it would be best to hear them first and see if it bothers you enough. As they're "designed for Home Theater"(from the marketing blurb) I'd suppose they're anticipating you having a sub or two.
Depends on your use case, I have the 936 as part of my HT and have 1 sub. It's quite a noticeable difference for me.
Basically all speakers will benefit from a sub, so yes
I've got a Saxo 50 sub, will that go well with this? Or would I need something better?
I could only find the saxo sub 10 on their website, and it doesn't touch under 35hz (not much better than the speaker). I'd run it without, or try and get something that'll reach 20-25hz. SVS Subwoofers seem popular. I'd run them without a sub for music, or make an Ultimax 18 box for HT. Lots of options out there.
Thanks
Good luck with warranty or getting a refund with faulty or DOA products. Since they'll break every consumer law to avoid giving you a refund, they'll charge you out of pocket to freight the product back to them, then they'll just stop replying to you all together. When you initiate a chargeback they'll try do everything they can to try to trick you and get you to admit through email that there's nothing wrong with the product so they can use it as evidence against you when you try to claim a chargeback.
Best thing to do when try it is to avoid replying to them and refer your case to victorian consumer affairs who will take on the case on your behalf.
Funny thing is they'll just turn around and try to resell your returned product as brand new or b-stock again to another poor customer after you return it back to them faulty.
Any proof?
proof is trust me bro, aka cbf screenshotting the email that explains to them the troubleshooting I did to isolate the exact fault and how to exactly recreate the fault. The reply after 1 month of "testing" telling me they found no fault with the product. The invoice I paid to ship it it back to them and then another I paid to have the faulty item returned back to me only for them to never send it back. My charge back request I sent to the bank. Then the 8 emails they sent to me asking "I wanted to check in with you and see if you also found that your headset is no longer faulty?" or "Just following up with you regarding these focal clears. Have you received them and are they testing not faulty for you?" for the item that was never returned to me after I paid shipping and filed the charge back, and the supporting documents I sent to VCA to confirm that I went to me best available efforts to get a refund before requesting their help.
You can also find other accounts of them not honouring warranty by just googling them. but if you're happy buying from them with no warranty or want gamble if they'll honour warranty without any issues
Also ATA lost their partnership with focal and all "repairs" are now done in house, aka people with no specialised knowledge in focal products, rather than an authorised focal repair center. Confirmed this with Matt Walker the sales manager with Westan Audio who are the new suppliers for Focal when referring my case to VCA stating that ATA had no professional knowledge or adequate competence to be able repair the product. He also told me that being let go from the partnership means they have no access to ordering replacement parts from Focal, so I have no idea how they're going to repair this if any issues come up in the future.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a shonky outfit. Will avoid
Honestly I read over your comments on other store poste and was thinking damn this guy really has it out for them
Fair response, now I’m on the bandwagon of never buying from them
@Schema: Been a customer with them for 20 years when they were just a single store small business and they actually cared and would help solve problems swiftly, but since then have had countless issues with multiple purchases these past few years after they got bought up by Busisoft AV and rebranded their other stores to ATA. Which before purchasing ATA they also had a horrible track record of ignoring warranty and lying to customers about products not being faulty. So now any post for ATA I post about my experience if I have time since I'm still annoyed and bitter lol.
Surely these are heavy enough an item that they're required to collect them for repair, not force you to pay for freight back?
Keep following up your consumer affairs claim and recoup what they've charged you.
I did chase them up for all out of pocket cost I incurred with the return. They made me return the product back to them via express post and also had to purchase insurance for the RRP of the product or they won't accept the return. They try to make it as hard as possible to get a repair or refund to try and make most people give up so they can pocket the cash for a broken product.
I'd believe all of that. Addicted To Audio in Perth were terrible for one of my claims. They refused to honour statutory rights. They lost a customer then and there. I thought I'd support bricks and mortar stores and as a bonus get better warranty support if ever needed. I'd just buy online from anyone else now instead. It basically couldn't be any worse, so nothing to lose.
Can attest to this. Bought a pair of Focal headphones during their sale that arrived faulty. Sent it back to them and it took them 6 months to diagnose and repair them, ignoring almost all of my follow up emails in-between. Once I got the headphones back I asked for a repair invoice for proof of the repair and they told me they weren't able to provide one. So basically there's no record or proof of the repairs being done.
Great price on their Focal goods currently, but the warranty process is arduous and customer service basically non-existent. Buy at your own peril.
It took me an year of battle with Focal France to her a replacement driver which was broken out of the box. Magnet fell down when I picked it up. Raw drivers. I would never ever touch Focal.
Negged due to Bombdigidy's feedback on A2A's warranty process
Nice article about A2A/Busisoft losing distributor status with Focal
If you're dropping $3K on speakers, you better DYOR
Shortly after Busisoft took over the two brands in Australia the price of Focal and Naim products were lifted 40% with local distributor Busisoft telling ChannelNews that the move was “in line with overseas price rises”.
Aren’t these speakers a solid 10 years old now at least? Are they still worth buying in 2024, even at this price??
Buyer beware this company will make things up as they go, as per above warranty claims and restocking fees.
Dang I thought my issue was isolated, but I also had to raise a case with vcat with this company to get my issue fixed. Negging for this as well.
I find it quite alarming that there have been so many ATA deals posted here over the years but I don't remember once seeing any comments like the ones here regarding warranty claim issues. Has the business changed hands recently or has it always been like this?
I don't know but I've personally had no issues and I've purchased a handful of gear of the years. I had a problem with a Focal headphone (creaking headband) and they gave a full refund on return
They lost distribution of the Focal & Naim brands. It’s now with a company called Westan.
Theres amazing things coming later in 2024 with these brands including a new store in store for Melbourne.
Stock from ATA is only 12 months warranty(good luck) but any of the new partners are offering min 2 year.
I'm on the fence with this deal due to the issues other users have experienced with A2A, so did some research, but can only see A2A listing themselves as authorised delears and Busisoft still claiming to be distributors.
At the same time, Westan has a broken page for Focal..
Whats the best way to approach a big purchase like this?
Go for it, you're protected by ACL if anything happens.
@djevoultion: I would ask why make it hard on yourselves? If there's going to be a store in a year it might be worth waiting. But that's my opinion.
Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakersWell naturally more mileage in sneakers. Speakers are designed to be stationary … :)
this guys references are off the chain
everyone knows that
NAw, preefer new set of speakers - cause it's all rock n roll to me baby..
But it's still rock and roll to me.
Looking at my chorus 705/6 on their stands and thinking….I could do away with the stands 😝
I have similar warranty issues as other have. I end up dealing with the manufacturer directly.
Would love to see more audio gear on here.w/ expertise. It is a hard area to gain knowledge. I have a triangle color 3.1 system from 7 years ago and itching to upgrade eventually.
Stereonet maybe better option - just be aware budgets are intended to be broken :P.
Not having a job during Covid lockdowns, I became an audio nerd, haha.
Normal people use their gear to listen to music, Audiophiles use music to listen to their gear :)
We like to hear the sweat drop off the artist and hit the ground ).
Thank you for posting this. I knew about the loss of distribution and had my eye on the Focal wall-mounted 302s and 301s.
Your post alerted me to the fact that there has been another price drop (potentially across the board) and now the Focal 301's dropped from $959 down to a crazy low price of $640 ($1280 for the pair) which for me was an instant buy! I just hadn't got around to buying them yet with other "moving in" costs at my place.
So yeah, if anyone wants slim side or rear surround options, you can't beat the 301s and 302s for this price.
I compared to Kipsch 640D which don't go down as low and are too light, GoldenEar Supersat 60 are $3495 for the pair. Krix have a pair for $2800 which are ugly, Lyngdorf MH2 is $2k-ish for the pair but has no bass, Dali Oberon has super cheesy internals, their Opticon LCR MK2 is $3500 for the pair,, etc etc.
And I thought $750 each for Sonos Era 300 to be used as a rear speaker was mad.
jasswolf 23 hours 51 min agonew
+1
While people will argue back and forth about monitors vs floorstanders even in a HT system, the real bargain remains the Philharmonic BMR monitors, which are incredible value if you're spending in this range.
Yes,but they're not available in this country.
This is another expensive hobbies to get into.
I haven't purchased from this store before but I did just call the Newtown store in Sydney. Gentleman did assist but he was very short, and when I asked why they were selling Focal speakers for so cheap compared to their retail value, he just simply mentioned "it's business - we're moving away from the product". If he was being that short when enquiring about purchasing the product then they really don't sound like they're going to be helpful if ever anything went wrong with them. I'd refrain just over that, but the choice is yours if you're really into buying from these guys.
Sold out. :)
I am probably not that addicted to Audio 😅