These highly musical speakers sound bigger than they look

French audio manufacturer Focal builds a wide range of world-class speakers, and bookshelf models are one of their specialties. The Aria series borrows advanced driver technologies originally developed for Focal's acclaimed Utopia speakers, giving you high-end sound without the sticker shock. The Aria 906s sound bigger than you might expect from such compact speakers, with potent bass, smooth, detailed highs, and a big three-dimensional soundstage.

 Cone material combines old and new

Speaker makers continuously search for new and better materials for drivers. An ideal driver material has three qualities

• lightweight, so it can accelerate quickly
• rigid, so that it moves like a piston, without bending
• well-damped, so that unwanted vibrations don't color the sound

In their pursuit of sonic excellence, Focal made a surprising discovery — right in their own backyard. Woven flax can form the core of a very rigid yet lightweight speaker cone. Some of the world's finest flax grows in fields near Focal's headquarters.

Focal creates this unique cone by sandwiching a layer of hollow flax fibers between two thin layers of fiberglass. The Aria 906's 6-1/2" woofer is made of this composite.

 Inverted dome tweeter looks different, sounds terrific

The Aria series also features Focal's 1" aluminum/magnesium inverted dome tweeter. Inverting the dome brings more of its surface area closer to the voice coil. That means the voice coil can be smaller and lower in mass. Focal has found that this reduced mass allows the dome to move faster than a conventional dome, for better high-frequency response.

And the tweeter's lightweight Poron "memory foam" suspension improves damping, which reduces distortion in the critical 2-3kHz range by a factor of three, compared to a typical suspension.

The inverted dome's spatial characteristics and wide dispersion are further enhanced by the waveguide plate it's mounted on. In the horizontal plane, the tweeter's frequency response varies by only ±0.5dB. The result is an incredibly stable soundstage, even for listeners not seated in the central sweet spot.

 Stylish, vibration-resistant cabinets

All Aria speakers feature ultra-rigid MDF cabinets with sturdy internal bracing and non-parallel sides. Focal takes these steps to eliminate the unwanted vibrations that lead to "boxy" colorations in the sound. The handsome cabinets have a traditional look, but with an unexpected touch — a leatherette finish on the front and back.

These speakers will sound their best when placed on high-quality speaker stands, like Focal's Aria S 900 stands.

 Build a complete Focal Aria system

A pair of Aria 906s will fill your small to medium-sized room with rich, articulate sound. If you're interested in a voice-matched surround sound system, check out these other Focal models:

• Center channel: Aria CC 900
• Surround speaker: Aria SR 900
• Floor-standing speaker: Aria 926, Aria 936, or Aria 948
• Powered subwoofer: Sub 300 P