It’s good you went for a listen, being honest, non of the speakers you mention are my cup of tea, your right about the ATC tho.So this morning I went to audition the ATC SCM40A's with the ATC SCA2 Pre-amp. I wasn't impressed at all - way way too bright for me, some tracks I tried were just unlistenable - Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin was like listening to shards of glass flying into my ears. If I was just going to play one type of music i.e. Jazz, then I suspect it would be a great listen as the clarity is excellent, but there is absolutely nowhere to hide with poor recordings.
Next up we hooked up the passive version of the ATC SCM40 to the Rega Aethos and what a difference! The sound was so much warmer and the bass more present. My wife and I spent some time trying various tracks and we both enjoyed the sound. There wasn't the clarity in the upper mid range when compared to some of the Neat speakers (or indeed the active version), but there was a nice tight bass and a more cohesive sound.
I was chatting to the dealer as we were on the way out and he suggested from my comments that it may be worth giving some Focals a listen. He didn't have any floorstanders in to try so we quickly hooked up a pair of Aria 906 to give us an idea of the Focal 'sound.'
I have to say we both liked them, they were a bit brighter in the top end than the ATC's but this was offset with a generally warmish sound and a nice low end.
Then the dealer threw a curve ball at me, Focal are doing a deal on the Focal Aria K2 Series for 3 weeks (2 weeks left). Trade in any working speakers and you get £1000 off the cost of the Aria K2 926 or £1500 off the Aria K2 936.
My current floorstanders are probably worth £100 - £150 max on a good day (Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo), so I'm thinking do I get a set of 936's - save myself some significant cash which will go to getting the rest of the system, and later on I can upgrade the speakers. This allows me to effectively get a damn site more money for my current speakers (that I will want to sell) than I could If i sold them myself, and get a half decent set of speakers for £2200 instead of £3700. When I want to upgrade, surely I wouldn't lose a huge amount of money on the Focals.
The dealer said he will get them in for me, I can audition them and if I don't like them, no problem, but if I do like them all he asks is that I buy them from him (the dealers lose out a fair bit on this promotion).
Obviously, these Focals are cheaper than the ATC's, ProAc D20r and the Neat Ekstras I've auditioned - but I did like the sound of the Aria 906 (and that was the standmount version).
Thoughts?
Are you being given the opportunity to try at home? This is where it really matters.