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.
Unlike most studio monitors that have industrial looks, the Solo6 Be comes across as a high-end home speaker with its nice wood finish:
Despite its small size, it is incredibly heavy! I can't figure out where all the weight has gone but this is one sturdy "bookshelf" speaker.
The back panel is much simpler looking than typical monitor as well:
The frequency shaping is all analog with a detent which is what I used to adjust the two controls. Assuming it is analog in nature, there may be some small variations.
After testing, I was surprised that the back panel was quite warm. Not at a level that would concern me but in this day and age of class D based amplifiers, they usually run cooler than this. The wide and large metal surface is likely used to dissipate needed thermal energy.
The claim to fame of this monitor is use of Beryllium for the tweeter. Company marketing video says no other speaker at is price has such.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of about 1%. Clear high frequency response is responsible for ease of measurement in this regard.
Reference axis is approximately the center of the tweeter.
Focal Solo6 Be Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Hey, this is nice! Yes there are some resonances here and there and a broad boost between 200 Hz and 3 kHz on axis but as a whole, this is good. No waveguide is used so naturally we see some directivity error as the woofer gets directional but then the tweeter takes over and it is not. This is happening at rather high frequency so hopefully its impact is lower.
Near-field response shows very good control of cabinet/port resonances which we almost always find to be a problem with front-ported speakers. Not so here:
The tweeter shows wavy response but I wonder if that is due to the sound bouncing back and forth between the inverted dome tweeter and my measurement microphone. I say this because our spin graph doesn't show this type of variation.
Early window which is computed for far-field listening shows the main issue being vertical directivity:
Having a high ceiling and or using absorber at first reflection plus doing something about console bounce could be advised. There is also sharp drop off of high frequencies but in near-field listening, this may not be a big deal.
Predicted-in-room response is once again for far field listening so not very applicable:
Still, not bad.
Distortion at 86 dBSPL is very low and impressive:
Horizontal beamwidth is wider than normal and decent:
And by the same token, horizontal directivity:
Due to the ditch created by ceiling and floor bounce, vertical directivity is something you need to be mindful about (common among non-coaxial 2-way speakers);
Our 3-D contour plot at three different frequencies shows good behavior:
Finally, for time domain fans, here are the waterfall and impulse responses:
Resonances are visible.
Focal Solo6 Be Listening Tests
A few seconds into my first reference test track and it was clear that the tonality was right on the money. Continued to the rest of the test tracks and the theme stayed constant. The sound is just right. I did experiment with a broad filter to pull down the response from a few hundred Hertz to a few Kilohertz and it was a tossup as to which one was better so I am not going to show it to you.
What was such a pleasant experience was the ability to play as loud as I wanted with nary a sign of distortion or strain. This speaker just does what you ask it to do. You don't have to bend to its limitations. It follows you. So many small powered speakers run out of amplification juice, woofer excursion or both, ruining an otherwise excellent speaker. Not the Focal Solo6 Be.
Nice.
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 capable and beautiful looking speakers.
It is my pleasure to recommend the Focal Solo6 Be. It is a job well done.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Unlike most studio monitors that have industrial looks, the Solo6 Be comes across as a high-end home speaker with its nice wood finish:
Despite its small size, it is incredibly heavy! I can't figure out where all the weight has gone but this is one sturdy "bookshelf" speaker.
The back panel is much simpler looking than typical monitor as well:
The frequency shaping is all analog with a detent which is what I used to adjust the two controls. Assuming it is analog in nature, there may be some small variations.
After testing, I was surprised that the back panel was quite warm. Not at a level that would concern me but in this day and age of class D based amplifiers, they usually run cooler than this. The wide and large metal surface is likely used to dissipate needed thermal energy.
The claim to fame of this monitor is use of Beryllium for the tweeter. Company marketing video says no other speaker at is price has such.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of about 1%. Clear high frequency response is responsible for ease of measurement in this regard.
Reference axis is approximately the center of the tweeter.
Focal Solo6 Be Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
Hey, this is nice! Yes there are some resonances here and there and a broad boost between 200 Hz and 3 kHz on axis but as a whole, this is good. No waveguide is used so naturally we see some directivity error as the woofer gets directional but then the tweeter takes over and it is not. This is happening at rather high frequency so hopefully its impact is lower.
Near-field response shows very good control of cabinet/port resonances which we almost always find to be a problem with front-ported speakers. Not so here:
The tweeter shows wavy response but I wonder if that is due to the sound bouncing back and forth between the inverted dome tweeter and my measurement microphone. I say this because our spin graph doesn't show this type of variation.
Early window which is computed for far-field listening shows the main issue being vertical directivity:
Having a high ceiling and or using absorber at first reflection plus doing something about console bounce could be advised. There is also sharp drop off of high frequencies but in near-field listening, this may not be a big deal.
Predicted-in-room response is once again for far field listening so not very applicable:
Still, not bad.
Distortion at 86 dBSPL is very low and impressive:
Horizontal beamwidth is wider than normal and decent:
And by the same token, horizontal directivity:
Due to the ditch created by ceiling and floor bounce, vertical directivity is something you need to be mindful about (common among non-coaxial 2-way speakers);
Our 3-D contour plot at three different frequencies shows good behavior:
Finally, for time domain fans, here are the waterfall and impulse responses:
Resonances are visible.
Focal Solo6 Be Listening Tests
A few seconds into my first reference test track and it was clear that the tonality was right on the money. Continued to the rest of the test tracks and the theme stayed constant. The sound is just right. I did experiment with a broad filter to pull down the response from a few hundred Hertz to a few Kilohertz and it was a tossup as to which one was better so I am not going to show it to you.
What was such a pleasant experience was the ability to play as loud as I wanted with nary a sign of distortion or strain. This speaker just does what you ask it to do. You don't have to bend to its limitations. It follows you. So many small powered speakers run out of amplification juice, woofer excursion or both, ruining an otherwise excellent speaker. Not the Focal Solo6 Be.
Nice.
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 capable and beautiful looking speakers.
It is my pleasure to recommend the Focal Solo6 Be. It is a job well done.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
