I see nothing wrong with that pairing. I think you'll be in heaven...both stellar components. 90w into 8 ohms should drive those efficient speakers brilliantly. I've never had issues with buying used speakers. Other than what you said, visually checking the domes and tweeters for damage and making sure the rubber/foam surrounds aren't dry or cracking, I would definitely take them for a test run before purchasing.

Man, that is truly a painful story. What a bummer. It was too good to be true, as it sounds like the guy finally clued in that he was underpricing it. That's like half the price of what they're going for.

Oh well, onward!

So sorry to hear about the jerk who was obviously trying to squeeze more money out of you! After a 4 hour excursion, I would have had a few choice words for a person like that! While I understand a fully appreciate the emotional attachment to certain audio toys (I still have a Sansui 2000X I purchased new in 1972), such behavior in inexcusable!

I've spent serious seat-time with both the Focal Aria 926 and Aria 936, the latter powered by a McIntosh MA5200 and, immediately thereafter, by its Luxman integrated competitor. That combination, with either of those integrated amplifiers, was awesome! I demoed the Aria 926 last year, paired with an outrageously powerful and outstanding Classe Delta stack. That was outstanding, as well! However, of those 2 experiences, I much preferred the Aria 936 & MAC MA5200 pairing. The Classe Delta stack was/is just too much power for the Aria 926. That being said, I'm certain the Aria 926 would sound very nice with either the MAC MA5200, its Luxman integrated competitor or something of roughly equivalent quality & specification(s) (e.g. Simaudio Moon NEO 340IX; Musical Fidelity M6si; etc.). If your ears are anything like mine, I'm confident you'll find the Aria 936 to be significantly better performers than the Aria 926.

With the MAC MA5200, which I own, I would advise that you stick with 8 ohm nominal load design speakers. While the MA5200 is conservatively rated at 100 watts RMS into 8 ohms, it's been bench tested at 130 watts into 8 ohms. McIntosh tends to rate their equipment very conservatively. However, its power supply is relatively limited. As such, it very likely will not get everything out of 4 ohm nominal load design speakers that they are designed to deliver, even very efficient ones. It will be quite capable of driving many speakers like that but there is a big difference between just being able to drive speakers and being able to really make them sing. The Simaudio Moon I mentioned may be an exception here because it has a huge power supply. As in all things audio, you really should listen and let your ears decide. Speaker and amplification pairing is very important in this regard.

Since you like the Wharfedale sound signature, my guess is your ears may like speakers like Monitor Audio and B&W. You might like to put those on your shopping list. There are many fine speakers. The challenge is really doing some critical listening with as many as you like, under controlled conditions or as controlled as you can get them (e.g. as similar to your home sound room as possible; same or similar equipment; dimensions; speaker placement; acoustics; sweet spot; etc.). I have the Revel Performa3 F206 paired to the MAC MA5200 and, as far as I'm concerned, that is a marriage made in heaven! Take care in orchestrating your critical listening expeditions and your ears will steer you in the right direction.

Best of luck!