New member looking to grow in the audiophile world.

[Cvbryso]

Hello all!

My name is Craig and I'm looking for advice on a new system I am putting together. About 6 years ago I finally convinced my wife to let new break into the audio/ video world. I spent time researching speakers to build a home theater system that could double as a 2 channel system. I spent weeks going to my local highend audio/ video store listening to so many speakers I started confusing myself lol. I finally settled on the B&W 683 , 685 and the htm62 after listening to the advice of the professionals. After getting them home and setting them up I realized they didn't sound as good in my home as they did in the store. They didn't make it 2 weeks before I returned them. As I was leaving the store I happened to hear the Martin Logan ESL and fell in love with them. I never really auditioned them because they were such a weird looking speaker (the wife factor played a part as well) .

Long story short, I bought them with a Yamaha 2050 and have enjoyed them ever sense. I enjoyed how well they sounded that I decided to build my entire system with Martin Logan's. My system comprises of the ESL's , Martin Logan SLM XL as my center ( due to space) , a pair of LX 16 for the rears and 2 dynamo 700's. Now about 6 months ago I got the upgrade bug and wanted to break into separates due to reading about how much better it can sound. Due to the wife factor again I needed to look for the best value and decided on Emotive . So I use the pre outs on the 2050 for a XPA-3 gen3 and BasX-300.

I have been reading and looking on line so much that I was able to catch a weekend sale over the weekend for a pair of New Focal aria 926 for $1800 and a pair of Aria 906 for $750. Both pairs were from an authorized dealer and come with a 5 year warranty. So I thought it was such a good deal that I asked for forgiveness instead of permission from the wife lol. I have read raving reviews on the Aria line so I'm very excited to get these tomorrow. My concern is how will the Yamaha and Emotivas pair with the focals. If I needed to get something else I can invest about $1800 into new parts but wouldn't know where to begin. I would appreciate any advice and thank yall for taking the time to read my long post.

 

[lovinthehd]

I doubt that separates would provide additional quality....additional amp power for difficult load speakers can be nice (or to get really loud). Should be no issues for your electronics for the new speakers, tho. What did you do with the MLs?

 

[Cvbryso]

I doubt that separates would provide additional quality....additional amp power for difficult load speakers can be nice (or to get really loud). Should be no issues for your electronics for the new speakers, tho. What did you do with the MLs?

Thank you so much for your response lovin. I honestly haven't decided yet what to do with the ML's. I have the room for everything but I doubt they would get used like they deserve. I have debated selling the Yamaha and all the ML speakers so I could put that towards a new system. Im a huge fan of warranties so everything but the ESL's are under warranty and the Yamaha and 700's warranty can be extended. The SLM and the LX16 were purchased less then a year ago. I figured that would help in resell if I did sell them. I have a bedroom that isnt even being used and thought about starting a 2 channel system there so I can escape from there wife and kid lol.

 

[lovinthehd]

I always move older gear into other rooms I don't live where selling is easy but don't really like dealing with it either. Haven't used up all the rooms quite yet so no worries. MLs are nice to listen to but can be demanding as far as room placement goes plus the panels can deteriorate so never really considered ML much and haven't been impressed by the value in their subs altho if heavily discounted maybe.

 

[snakeeyes]

How big is the room? You might want bigger subs was my thought.

 

[Cvbryso]

I always move older gear into other rooms I don't live where selling is easy but don't really like dealing with it either. Haven't used up all the rooms quite yet so no worries. MLs are nice to listen to but can be demanding as far as room placement goes plus the panels can deteriorate so never really considered ML much and haven't been impressed by the value in their subs altho if heavily discounted maybe.

So I have a 9 year old boy that I absolutely spoil lol and I will probably end up moving them into once of the bonus rooms that just here uses. He is a little me and enjoys the same things so im sure he would use it from time to time. When I got the subs it was more of a spur of the moment buy to go with everything else and looking back I would have liked to get jl audio subs but I honestly didn't know they made them for home even though they are the only subs I have ever had in my car. I got an injury settlement about 8 months ago and if it was up to me I would have bought a pair of FOCAL UTOPIA MAESTRO EVO and the FOCAL ASTRAL 16 to go along with it. Like I was ready to press the order button but I decided to talk to her first and it was a quick delete lol. I was lucky enough to hear them and the receiver in action and that was the best sound I have ever heard. But my wife forced me to make an adult decision and pay off both cars and all credit cards. Looking back I know she was right lol. But getting into the focal line truly makes me happy. And I guess I get to stay married so I guess that's a plus.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

How big is the room? You might want bigger subs was my thought.

Yep. This...

 

[Cvbryso]

How big is the room? You might want bigger subs was my thought.

The room is a 20×18 but the issue is it's a part of the L shape open floor plan. So it's kitchen, then the dining room that also has a bay room, then living room, and formal dining room which we turned into a sitting room instead. We had gotten new furniture so moved our oversized leather sectional into that room.

 

[lovinthehd]

So I have a 9 year old boy that I absolutely spoil lol and I will probably end up moving them into once of the bonus rooms that just here uses. He is a little me and enjoys the same things so im sure he would use it from time to time. When I got the subs it was more of a spur of the moment buy to go with everything else and looking back I would have liked to get jl audio subs but I honestly didn't know they made them for home even though they are the only subs I have ever had in my car. I got an injury settlement about 8 months ago and if it was up to me I would have bought a pair of FOCAL UTOPIA MAESTRO EVO and the FOCAL ASTRAL 16 to go along with it. Like I was ready to press the order button but I decided to talk to her first and it was a quick delete lol. I was lucky enough to hear them and the receiver in action and that was the best sound I have ever heard. But my wife forced me to make an adult decision and pay off both cars and all credit cards. Looking back I know she was right lol. But getting into the focal line truly makes me happy. And I guess I get to stay married so I guess that's a plus.

Debt for audio I would never recommend. Debt free is much more important. FWIW JL are nice for their size but overpriced.

 

[Cvbryso]

Debt for audio I would never recommend. Debt free is much more important. FWIW JL are nice for their size but overpriced.

Lol yeah I knew it wouldn't have been a wise decision. It was more me trying to make myself feel better due to the injury and all the surgeries . I have been recovering for 2 years from 3 major shoulder surgeries. And it's looking like next year I will be having my right shoulder replaced

 

[Cvbryso]

Lol yeah I knew it wouldn't have been a wise decision. It was more me trying to make myself feel better due to the injury and all the surgeries . I have been recovering for 2 years from 3 major shoulder surgeries. And it's looking like next year I will be having my right shoulder replaced

I have heard a lot of good things about REL would those be subs you would reccomend ?

 

[Cvbryso]

Debt for audio I would never recommend. Debt free is much more important. FWIW JL are nice for their size but overpriced.

I have heard a lot of good things about REL would those be subs you would reccomend

 

[Bucknekked]

Debt for audio I would never recommend. Debt free is much more important. FWIW JL are nice for their size but overpriced.

I'm with you @lovinthehd : going in to debt right now, especially for audio, just doesn't sound like a good idea. I love audio. I love spending money on it. But debt in these times is not your or my friend.

 

[Bucknekked]

Lol yeah I knew it wouldn't have been a wise decision. It was more me trying to make myself feel better due to the injury and all the surgeries . I have been recovering for 2 years from 3 major shoulder surgeries. And it's looking like next year I will be having my right shoulder replaced

Dang! that's a lot of repairs. My heart goes out to you dude. I hope you have a good prognosis in front of you. That much injury or need for repair might affect a lot more than your ability to enjoy audio. I hope your health gets much better.

 

[Cvbryso]

I'm with you @lovinthehd : going in to debt right now, especially for audio, just doesn't sound like a good idea. I love audio. I love spending money on it. But debt in these times is not your or my friend.

Lol I hate debt. And I can tell you it was the most painful thing I have done giving my card number to business that supply the loans and credit cards and seeing 100k just vanish from my bank for the same thing I owned lol. They were tears of sadness and joy at the same time lol

 

[Cvbryso]

Dang! that's a lot of repairs. My heart goes out to you dude. I hope you have a good prognosis in front of you. That much injury or need for repair might affect a lot more than your ability to enjoy audio. I hope your health gets much better.

Thank you so much!!! I tore all 4 muscles for the rotator cuff, tore my biceps tendon off my shoulder and tore my labrum 100% on both shoulders. The cartilage was so deteriorated that my 11 anchors in my right shoulder failed. The arthritis is so bad that replacement is my only option now.

 

[Cvbryso]

Dang! that's a lot of repairs. My heart goes out to you dude. I hope you have a good prognosis in front of you. That much injury or need for repair might affect a lot more than your ability to enjoy audio. I hope your health gets much better.

Thank you btw. Not being able to do much else makes my itch to upgrade grow and having the ability to buy certain things doesnt make it better lol.

 

[lovinthehd]

I have heard a lot of good things about REL would those be subs you would reccomend

Rel am not a fan of, also overpriced (at least in the US). I tend to look at the leaders in the field like Funk, JTR, Deep Sea Sound, Seaton, Hsu, SVS, Rythmik, Power Sound Audio....but I build my own these days.

 

[Cvbryso]

Rel am not a fan of, also overpriced (at least in the US). I tend to look at the leaders in the field like Funk, JTR, Deep Sea Sound, Seaton, Hsu, SVS, Rythmik, Power Sound Audio....but I build my own these days.

I have read good things about svs but also hear that at times it overpowers everything else

 

[lovinthehd]

I have read good things about svs but also hear that at times it overpowers everything else

Overpowering is simply bad integration. Or preference SVS isn't the value they once were but their customer service is hard to beat here in the US....free home trials. Demoing a sub in a store is generally useless.