Feels like Christmas at the Stangman household! Focals and Rhumba are here!

stangman67

I drove 300 miles today and went and picked up the Focal Aria 926s in PA and met Andy in Delaware to pick up the Backert Labs Rhumba. My new to me B&K ST125.2 arrived today as well, it is fairly beat up but seems to work well enough. The B&K is a stopgap until I get something else. The speakers are an interesting story, only the Walnut version was on sale so I bought a set of those. Focal delayed the shipment to the dealer twice and the dealer told Focal that it was not acceptable and convinced them to sell a set of black piano gloss to me for the same sale price. I am not certainly complaining, tremendous customer service by Ken at World Wide Stereo in Montgomeryville, PA.

Got everything set in place and wired up in about an hour. I am going to reserve judgement on everything until the speakers/pre/tubes get adequate break in time. Going to play music pretty much constantly this weekend to facilitate break in. I will say that I am already floored by the results though. I ordered a set of RCA 12AU7 cleartops to replace the stock JJ's at the advice of Andy from Backert.

Anyway, a few pictures

Conradicles

Beautiful!

WagnerRC

very nice. congrats

Clipdat

That gloss black looks sweet, matches your equipment rack!

stangman67

They do make a black one, just not available at the sale price as there were the last 1.1 units available. I'm not super OCD about component color matching or anything to the silver doesn't bother me

Clipdat

The fact that it's silver vs all the other black components, and that it's centered on the rack, actually draws your eye to it and signifies it's importance as the statement piece of the system, imo. Looks awesome.

stangman67 wrote: »

They do make a black one, just not available at the sale price as there were the last 1.1 units available. I'm not super OCD about component color matching or anything to the silver doesn't bother me

nooshinjohn

nice rig... congrats

halo

I used to have the exact same VTI equipment rack in the same color combination as you.

Don't count out the B&K ST125.2, it's a very capable amp with a pretty sweet sound signature. I thoroughly enjoyed the one I had for quite a while.

Ya, that Backert guy is pretty cool! He did the mods on my McCormack DNA-125 amp!

It looks to me like you have a really well balanced setup. The tubes & the B&K will add a little warmth to compliment the revealing nature of the Focal speakers. Enjoy!

gudnoyez

Nice very nice now sit back and enjoy.

vmaxer

Very nice system.

gfong

Looks awesome and bet it sounds great but where's the Rhumba... (j/k)

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BlueMDPicker

Enjoy!

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cfrizz

Congrats and enjoy.

stangman67

Thanks everybody! I am super excited, cannot wait to really get everything broken in and setup properly. Really impressed with the combo so far

kharp1

Turn it up! Skinnert! Play sone Skinnert!

MrBuhl

nice!! Hell that's sexy!

tonyb

Lookin' good bro. The Focals will mellow out some with a little time on them and the new tubes for the pre should give you a bit more tone and air. Nice job man, enjoy.

scubalab

Big thumbs up. Enjoy the music today Zach!

Emlyn

Very nice. The gloss black finish on the speakers looks better in that setting than the walnut finish would.

stangman67

Already have about 12 hours play time so far. I can certainly tell that the new setup is way more revealing. Poor recordings are very much exposed, which I was expecting. Initial impressions are that the components really do compliment each other well. These speakers certainly don’t represent the reported Focal brightness. The tubes most certainly thinly help with that aspect though

txcoastal1

What you playing? Got Shangri La CD?

voltz

Nice Setup Zach! Rock On!

stangman67

Nope. I’ve been listening to a lot of my go to bands, Pink Floyd, lots and lots of Genesis, mike and the mechanics, yes, and daft punk! Daft punk is pretty polarizing but I love it and these speakers really keep up with the bass. Big difference from the 703’s

voltz

I'd like to hear "Genesis Tonight, Tonight, Tonight on your setup or I Can't Dance.

stangman67

The remastered genesis stuff sounds pretty damn good, a lot of the original stuff not so much, I really would like to get my hands on some original genesis vinyl. Although that would require me to buy a turntable

Joey_V

Me likey!

Maybe one day I can join you with a Focal?

stangman67

Perhaps, they certainly make a nice speaker.

dragon1952

But I would drive 300 miles
And I would drive 300 more

stangman67

I received the "conn" branded RCA clear top 12AU7's today and I could tell instantly that they were not a good match for my setup. They made my rig way too aggressive on top, almost to the point of being shrill at times. I was afraig that clear tops paired with the focals wouldn't be a great match so I am not surprised. I'm going to give them a few days to break in but I imagine they will not change enough, they are almost unlistenable as is IMO. The stock JJ's just work better with the focals. I am looking for a tube with good bottom end and is a little darker up top, anyone have any suggestions? I texted andy real quick and he recommended I try the PSVANE 12au7's next so I may go that route.