Focal Solo6 Be Review (Studio Monitor)

[YSC]

I have always been a fan of Focal look and design, nice that they did well in this 2014 (old) professional speaker, it seems that despite the use of class AB without a huge heatsink sticking out it still survives well through 7 years of use (no idea if it's daily usage), I will be ok with the measurement for either the reviewed sample or the grilled one shown by another member. If I have had the space and budget I would've probably gone for this instead of the Genelec, although Genelec sounded likely even better and more uniform in room

 

[respice finem]

Whenever a beryllium tweeter is discussed there is inevitable handwringing about the toxicity of the metal. No doubt it is a pretty nasty element, but the level of fear sometimes encountered is somewhat over the top.

Beryllium is a pretty amazing metal. Lighter than aluminium and stronger then steel. It is a significant step up from titanium. As an airborne powder it is fiendish. Otherwise not so much. A beryllium tweeter very little risk.
Don’t grind your tweeter into a powder.

This Is a very comprehensive guide.

a quick summary from it is this:

And don't lick your tweeter

 

[LearningToSmile]

Very nice. Any audible hiss with those?

Now I'd love to see measurements of the Focal Shape series, particularly 65 and the Twin.

 

[sq225917]

Real beryllium should have a resonances at 30 kHz and over. In #18, we can see that the resonance is just past 20 kHz, in @amirm’s measurements none is to be seen. That is rather curious.

Grilles...

Focal use stamped beryllium foil for their tweeters, it's not 100% beryllium, but it's over 98%...

 

[uwotm8]

Thanks for a review, Amir! Btw how do these Solos sound compared to best-ever-made-monitors aka JBL 305P mkII?

 

[AudioSceptic]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Focal Solo6 Be studio monitor (powered active speaker). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,499 each.



Conclusions
By now the message should be clear. The Solo6 Be is a well engineered speaker with slight compromise in objective measurements. What small faults exist there, were not a factor in listening test where super dynamics and correct tonality leads you to garden path. Combined with its attractive looks, this speaker is not only good for professional applications, but also where you want superbly cable and beautiful looking speakers.

" but also where you want superbly able and beautiful looking speakers."?

These seem great and make all the LS3/5a versions and descendants look poor value.

For anyone wondering,

• Dimensions (W x D x H): 240 x 290 x 330 mm (9.4 x 11.4 x 13.0 in)
• Weight: 11 kg (24 lb)

Is there any smaller speaker this good?

 

[outlookrt]

Nice lack of port resonance. Good example of the benefits of using a 'slot' port over the more common flared tube?

 

[mjvbl]

Classic description of BASH suppose that "class D" pwm modulation according to input signal applied to power rails with few volts addition. Like tracing voltage power supply.
And between those rails typical class AB is powering speaker.

Or to rephrase the question, a rail-tracker, like "class H" but with what could be seen as a class D amp as the power supply?

 

[CMB]

Cocorico !

... and the panther with the soccer ball ;-)

 

[AudioSceptic]

Same here. This seems to be me a much better fit than Genelec for someone looking for midfield/high SPLs.

And no comparison when it comes to looks in the average home!

 

[voodooless]

Grilles...

What about them? Are you saying they were so stupid that they made the grillethat resonate at 20 kHz?

Focal use stamped beryllium foil for their tweeters, it's not 100% beryllium, but it's over 98%...

Good enough for me to call it a real beryllium dome.

 

[Frank Dernie]

which might break the diaphragm and release toxins.

Breaking it won't release toxins. You need to burn it. It can get hot enough to give off harmful gas or dust whilst machining so very few machine shops here in the UK are licensed to machine it. Once made and at room temperatures it is harmless iirc.

Real beryllium should have a resonances at 30 kHz and over. In #18, we can see that the resonance is just past 20 kHz, in @amirm’s measurements none is to be seen. That is rather curious.

The first breakup mode frequency depends just as much on the geometry as the material. All we can be sure of is that for a given dome shape the Berillium one will have a higher frequency first breakup than titanium, aluminium or magnesium.

 

[3125b]

I'm surprised I haven't seen the video linked here yet. There is a two hour factory tour of the Focal factory on Youtube.
Here the reporter compares the tweeter materials:

The whole video worth a watch.

EDIT: Here is a size comparison between some active monitors with 6.5" woofers.
https://www.matheretter.de/geoserva...o monitors with 6.5" woofer"`2`)&axesoff&cp=8

 

[Frank Dernie]

I'm amazed at the low bass distortion at 96 dB.

This is a much better driver than most manufacturers use and supplied with enough power so it doesn't amaze me but make me happy the at long last Amir has tested a smallish monitor that would be suitable for my domestic use.
Splendid.

 

[EXIF68]

This system looks like to be the better A4-Monitor. The front from its measuring is about the Paper size A4. The sound seems to be much better. Long time ago there was a small speaker project in the Elektor Magazine called “A4 Monitor” with expensive Scanspeak drivers.

 

[Pearljam5000]

The only worry I have with it is I've read about reliability issues of the Solo6 not a few times on Gearslutz over the years.
Hopefully the revised version doesn't have these problems.
Anyways it's a though choice between Genelec 8050B, Neumann KH310 and Solo 6

 

[FeddyLost]

rail-tracker, like "class H" but with what could be seen as a class D amp as the power supply

As far as i understood the concept, exactly.

 

[q3cpma]

Focal seem to have quite the fanboy population. This is honestly quite bad for the price, when you consider the competition: Sweetwater has the 8340A only $200 higher and 8330A for $900 (can get a pair of those with a 7350A for the same price).
I mean, midrange full of resonances (probably from the port, as the woofer nearfield measurement is clean) including a wide hump around 1 kHz, an obvious directivity issue (that'll induce brightness in the mid field) that the resident audiophile population explains (which is not the same as "justify") with the house sound blurb that you see from B&W cultists, no builtin DSP and high midbass distortion.

You may think me extra harsh, but that's exactly because of Focal's size, something people were talking about: they can do better engineering, but marketing and image is their priority. It's really like Dynaudio, in my opinion.

Focal has rather blinder-like focus on low distortion and the W cones are about the best out there. Truly brilliant cone design. Consider for a moment that these are nearfield monitors and 86dB per speaker at 1m is far louder than you'd be listening at most times, and clearly the distortion behavior is excellent.

What are you on about? The smaller and cheap Peerless in a 8030C does better at 86 dB.

In a way. My understanding is that they emphasize maintaining wide horizontal directivity more than anything. They aren't going to sacrifice wide directivity in the name of a slightly smoother crossover region with a big waveguide for instance.

When Revel manages to be wide while still using waveguides, you know it's only an excuse.

I'm amazed at the low bass distortion at 96 dB.

Eh? If you ignore H2, it's certainly quite good. In a comparison with the 8050B, it's clearly better in the deep bass, but a lot worse after (where it matters, because subwoofers exist).

 

[MZKM]

Now we need a review of these monsters
View attachment 144793

Is anyone else making 3-way monitors that have the T&M section rotatable? Also, I hope it clicks into place.

 

[respice finem]

Yes, but you have to use a screwdriver https://www.thomann.de/de/neumann_k...R5UXtGe5mHMztF_EJvZhJQiujjvdOFrhoCBOUQAvD_BwE
or these, you only rotate the box itself https://www.thomann.de/de/genelec_8351b.htm