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Thoughts?

I already have a pair of Focal Aria 906 bookshelf speakers and a Denon X3700.  I’m looking to start building a surround setup in my gameroom.  I don’t really have a place for the 906s other than this room, so if they’re not utilized here, then they’d either end up in storage or on the market. These are the options I’ve been tossing around:

1) buy stands for the 906s and use them as L/R, buy the matching Aria Center channel and add a sub.  Add surrounds and height speakers later on when budget allows (most cost effective option)

2) Buying a new pair of towers (sub $3000), adding a center and sub.  Adding rears at a later date.   

3) Buying open box Aria 926 towers at  below $3000, buying the matching center, and trying to incorporate the 906s as rears.  Also would have to buy a sub (least cost effective option)


mlenow
auxinput
2,924 posts
 
If you are looking at $2800 Aria towers such as the 926, you will probably be just fine. I’m saying that the 906 bookshelves will not have a strong enough midbass for left/right (my own opinion).

The SVS will definitely have stronger bass than Focal (even with Focal towers), but they are not going to be as refined or as high resolution. SVS uses polypropylene drivers for woofer/midrange and they are not as clean/clear sounding as other drivers because the poly material has a lot of flex.  It's up to you for what is more important.

For subwoofer, I would look at Rythmik subs first. I generally like ported subwoofer better because they have a thicker/meatier sound.
auxinput
2,924 posts
 
If you want to consider a really refined high-resolution tower with good bass "for the money", maybe look at Elac Carina, or even better Elac Vela.
soix
11,250 posts
 
Using the 906es as rear speakers seems a bit overkill and a little wasteful to me.  I think you were smart to consider just going with SVS.  You could get the Tower Surround package with their PB1000 Pro sub for about $2100 less whatever you could sell the Focals for and have a very good (read the reviews) and matched complete 5.1 system for very little incremental $.  I particularly like their center speaker that’s a true 3-way design with a dedicated midrange driver located beneath the tweeter that provides more even L/R dispersion than the more common 2-way MTM designs (like the Aria center BTW).  Anyway, that’s what I’d do FWIW.  Best of luck. 
mlenow's avatar
mlenow OP
15 posts
 
@soix  do you have an SVS setup or just like their products?  A local store is selling an SB4000 for $1000 andan Ultra center for around $400. 
soix
11,250 posts
 
I just have their SB2000 sub, but if you read reviews of the speakers they — like the subs — get consistently glowing reviews, and as they sell direct they offer a lot of performance per $.  They also have excellent customer service and offer legit risk-free trials, so they believe in and stand by their products.  What’s not to like?  For HT purposes I’d consider snapping up the Ultra center and sub as they seem like pretty good deals and add Prime towers and surrounds unless Ultra speakers are in the budget.
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