Focal Solo6 Be Review (Studio Monitor)

[Pearljam5000]

 

[3125b]

From my experience with the first and second gen Alpha models I don't doubt that the new ones are better, but these sure have gotten uglier though.

 

[Jaxjax]

The twins are a whole mess - way, way worse directivity behavior and a big on-axis scoop out around 2-3k that isn't present on these.

I've had these & Shape before that. I really tried to get on with the twins as I was tired or repacking. They absolutely tried to destroy my ears. I wish I would have tried the solo6 Be but skipped them for higher spl as my listening distance was 9'. I run Dynaudio core 59 now & couldn't be happier but would have been fun to give the solo 6 a shake down.

 

[musictracer]

Room factor is obviously critical and I understand it's difficult to define or describe the way it might degrade speakers performance.
But may I ask you to share your mixed emotions?
What you like and what you don't like about the speakers?

Generally I would say they worth the money they cost for sure, probably even a lot more as many owners confirm. They are very good quality made speakers , handmade in Poland, built like tanks and utilizing the renowned Seas twitter drivers. Τhe vast majority of the people using them are praising the resolution, depth, neutrality and natural sound (they are fully analog) they produce. The low end is also impressively deep and clear for such a type of speaker. In my case I seemed to have some coherence issues in the mid area, but I hesitate to think it is due to the speaker's response. I have a semi treated room, but it is small and thus I am having comb filter issues for sure in there. For instance I get to miss the 740hz constantly when mixing, but the weird thing is that I don't experience this with my hs5's in the same room where the seem to work better. Anyways, I really don't want to say anything more because I don't want to deter you from giving them a chance, and this wouldn't be fair nor for you or the company's credibility . I have yet to see an unsatisfied owner of these speakers so far, so this is why I am craving to find out what is the reason I am not getting the most out of them.
One thing also worth mentioning about the company though is that Ray, the CEO and owner of APS, is a quite generous person! I had read that in various reviews before purchasing, and I confirmed that through our communication.

Regardless, it is quite strange that for such a commercially successful speaker model, there still hasn't been someone to send his own piece to Amir for testing. Even Dsaudio.review have included it in their comparison videos on youtube the past few months and their "underground" reputation (they are a boutique company) grows impressively through the years.
I would gladly get mine to Amir for testing if I could, but it's impossible as I live thousands of miles away. So, let's just hope a fellow friend will do it at some point in the future.

 

[heflys20]

For instance I get to miss the 740hz constantly when mixing, but the weird thing is that I don't experience this with my hs5's in the same room where the seem to work better.

Not surprising, it appears the HS5 are slightly hyped in that region.

Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor (speaker). I purchased it this afternoon for US $200 which is the price that it goes for everywhere. This is for a single unit by the way. The industrial design of the HS5 is fantastic: Get the larger ones and I am...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[musictracer]

Not surprising, it appears the HS5 are slightly hyped in that region.

Yes, all the way up to 1khz. I can sense the difference with the klasiks2020 in that specific mid range region. There is an interesting explanation that sonarworks gave as to why Nakamura (the designer of the renowned ns10's) decided to go with such a design. After analyzing their performance in a few rooms they found that they seem to perform a lot better than dead flat monitors in smallish home studios like mine:

https://blog-uploads.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/2020/09/ALL_FRgraphs.png

Regardless, I don't seem to be having much of a problem with the whole of that specific mid region when using the klassiks2020, but only with particular notes (frequencies) in that region. Basically around the F#5 (roughly 740 hz). But again, I hesitate to think it is a speaker design issue, particularly for such a successful speaker in terms of sales and reputation. But on the other hand the fact that I don't miss the 740hz with the hs5's or my 2.1 desktop speakers makes me wonder what might be the cause in the case of klasiks2020. Most probable one I can think of is that its DI is quite smaller than the one of the hs5's, which results in my semi treated but nonetheless small room interacting with the on axis beaming due to reflections, causing some kind of comb filtering in the sweet spot. If that is the case then a spinorama analysis would be enough to validate this hypothesis.

 

[heflys20]

There is an interesting explanation that sonarworks gave as to why Nakamura (the designer of the renowned ns10's) decided to go with such a design. After analyzing their performance in a few rooms they found that they seem to perform a lot better than dead flat monitors in smallish home studios like mine:

https://blog-uploads.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/2020/09/ALL_FRgraphs.png

No reflection on you, but that's a bunch of bull. LOL. There are so many factors, even in small rooms. IMHO, the design is intentional to give the impression (especially to the layman) of a detailed/neutral mid-range, particularly since the speakers are anemic in the bass region. I can't recount the times I've seen people claim that the HS5' sound horrible, but then claim that's how "neutral" speakers are supposed to sound. The speaker is anything but neutral. In most measurements I've seen, the Klasik 2020 is a pretty neutral speaker; but like you, I'd still prefer a more detailed analysis (distortion, directivity, reflections, etc). I'm almost tempted to buy a pair just to send to Amir.

 

[musictracer]

No reflection on you, but that's a bunch of bull. LOL.

No problem at all! Sonarworks have been criticized by many other audiophiles as well from time to time anywise. The only reason I referred to this particular assumption of theirs is that in my case it was validated 100%.

I can't recount the times I've seen people claim that the HS5' sound horrible, but then claim that's how "neutral" speakers are supposed to sound. The speaker is anything but neutral. In most measurements I've seen, the Klasik 2020 is a pretty neutral speaker

The hs5 is a great speaker. Producers like Ott swear by them. Actually he considers them as the best monitor under £2500 (!?!?!?). Of course you are right, it is far from a flat speaker and that's a common fact with many yamaha monitors. They tend to mimic an ATC sound signature, thus sounding a bit mid rangy. And that's not to wonder. The people you are referring to are bound to believe that the flatter the monitor the better the translation. Well, if that is the case then ask them, how come so many grammy winning studio albums have been mixed in ns10's, a speaker that not only isn't flat at all, but was not even intended to be used as a monitor speaker in the first place? Flat is desirable in many cases, but that doesn't necessarily mean more effective.

I'm almost tempted to buy a pair just to send to Amir.

That's great to read!

 

[heflys20]

The hs5 is a great speaker. Producers like Ott swear by them. Actually he considers them as the best monitor under £2500 (!?!?!?). Of course you are right, it is far from a flat speaker and that's a common fact with many yamaha monitors. They tend to mimic an ATC sound signature, thus sounding a bit mid rangy. And that's not to wonder. The people you are referring to are bound to believe that the flatter the monitor the better the translation. Well, if that is the case then ask them, how come so many grammy winning studio albums have been mixed in ns10's, a speaker that not only isn't flat at all, but was not even intended to be used as a monitor speaker in the first place? Flat is desirable in many cases, but that doesn't necessarily mean more effective.

Well, you could probably mix on laptop speakers once you become acclimated to the sound. The larger HS8 has a fairly neutral response, so it's not the whole line. I also guarantee you those grammy albums weren't just mixed on some NS10.' It's kinda like Mix Cubes. A tool to contrast with more neutral speakers, and to focus on a specific region in the frequency response. Regardless, I'm fairly certain it'll be easier to mix on a monitor with a neutral response, as opposed to one that hypes the sound; particularly if that's the only tool available.

 

[musictracer]

Well, you could probably mix on laptop speakers once you become acclimated to the sound.

Sure, that would be useful too. The smaller the speaker, the harder the process. But once you get it to sound good there, it will translate to other systems too.

The larger HS8 has a fairly neutral response, so it's not the whole line.

Maybe you misread my comment. I said "many", not "all" yamaha speakers.
As for the hs line, the hs8 is the only one of the three with a fairly neutral response, indeed.

I also guarantee you those grammy albums weren't just mixed on some NS10.'

Sure, and I can guarantee you'll be hard pressed to find a grammy album that's been mixed on only ONE pair of speakers! This has been a common mixing knowledge for years now. Hannes Bieger for instance uses more than 10 (!?!?!) monitor systems/headphones when mixing. You can check here. If you want to be accurate you need to have options. ;-)

Regardless, it still amazes me to know that even nowadays great mixers/producers like Chris Lord Algee or Ott I mentioned before use ns10's as their main mixing tool. Maybe it's not to wonder that much though, as most of the instruments claim their space in the mid region, while the lows for example are only covered by two instruments in most cases. Also fitting the bass to sound right in a small speaker is an art by itself. The transients of a closed cabinet are incomparable also , so the ns10's tick many boxes already to not be considered as a powerful mixing tool.

I'm fairly certain it'll be easier to mix on a monitor with a neutral response, as opposed to one that hypes the sound;

It's more of a taste issue in my opinion.
Since I mentioned Ott already, it's good to point that along his main ns10's he only uses a pair of senheiser hd650's and an old Sony cassette player from the early 90's that at some point had to glue with tape so that the rca cables stay in conduct, due to time impact. It's quite clear that none of what he uses can be considered flat and that is by choice. Still he creates great mixes with such an not flat equipment.
Anywise, no "flat" system is going to sound flat even in a common studio control room. So flat is rather a somewhat misunderstood concept.

 

[musictracer]

Hey just came back to add an interesting post that Bob Katz posted yesterday that validates my claim about "flat" being a misunderstood concept but takes it even one step further:

So it's clear that not only two renowned flat pairs of monitors sound different in two different, yet decently acoustically treated rooms, but even if you get the responses and decay times of these rooms to match , the two pairs will still sound different!!
Interestingly he also suspects directivity differences between the two as a major cause for this fact, which is exactly what I suspected in my case in my #286 comment. Of course this is reasonable, as the way a speaker behaves in different angles plays a great role in how it performs in a room and this is the reason why Amir and many others insist so much in analyzing how the speaker performs in different angles.

 

[heflys20]

Yep, monitors will definitely sound different depending on the room they're placed in, which is why I said sonarworks claim was a bunch baloney. It's impossible for Yamaha to design a speaker (especially a non dsp, analog speaker) that will perform well in most small rooms, or that most "flat" speakers will perform poorly by comparison. That would also be direct contradiction to their own marketing that claims their speakers are " neutral".

 

[Pearljam5000]

The new tweeter of the Solo6 ST is 1.5 inch vs 1inch tweeter in the old Solo6 BE
How significant is this?

 

[AnalogSteph]

The new tweeter of the Solo6 ST is 1.5 inch vs 1inch tweeter in the old Solo6 BE
How significant is this?

Considering that they're not using much of a waveguide, this should make for a better directivity match at crosssover, which may also be lower than before. Expect narrowing dispersion up top, though a 38mm driver still isn't overly large when compared to planar tweeters. I'm impressed that they claim to have pushed a dome this size to 40 kHz at -3 dB, even if that may be on the descending side of a big breakup peak. I'm guessing the Be diaphragm is good for something for once. (Plus Nd magnet and shorting ring, perhaps?)

 

[kolestonin]

I received a pair of the new version and having passed three weeks with the speakers, I would like to write my first impressions in a kind of a brief(may be not) review coming from the most average of the average users.

Never involved with music production, no audiophile background, with some really basic knowledge around audio matters.

Best speakers I ever owned were my previous LSR305.

I am using a Topping E30 DAC with an SVS1000pro sub woofer playing flac’s on foobar(ASIO/windows 10).

If I had to write only one sentence for the Focal’s:
Astonishing stereo image and incredible clarity.

Music is everywhere in this wide sound stage while clarity is impressive on both low and high.
Distortion is an unknown word.

This beryllium twitter is crisp, pleasant, detailed, informative. And also merciless as sometimes you can even hear a breath that went a bit deeper or two lips that touched a bit stronger. Always with stellar moments of cymbals, chimes, trumpets, vocal peaks etc.

I would dare say slightly pronounced in some rare cases and with certain songs. A kind of a feeling that there is a bit more energy on the upper part of the speaker, which, even more rarely, can start flirting with harshness. It can also be that there are moments in which the lack of a proper and sophisticated waveguide becomes evident. I tried lowering the high filter by 1db and rising low filter by 1db but I need to listen more in order to say if helps.

The ‘wow factor’ is also valid for the woofer. So many details, such a music dispersion, a dominating loudness. I never felt uncovered beefy wise, but I was always using a sub. And while I am already considering adding a 2nd one, I also have to admit that there is nothing weak or shy here. Tried a couple of songs with sub off and my 5 minutes session was also not disappointing.

I think a badly produced song is more easily revealed with these speakers. A good studio work is also more obvious. Bad flac’s are better identified as well. At least to my ears and my familiar songs.

Listening in low loudness is excellent. You turn down the volume and once your ears adapt, you can hear that everything is still there and equally enjoyable. As a guy who had his previous speakers constantly on for 5 years just because did not want to bother with the switch daily, I would love to use the automatic standby feature. During these three weeks It was only 3-4 times that it skipped ‘erroneously’ while listening in low volume. But listening to very low volume, as I frequently do, is impossible, therefore I permanently disabled it.

All the above with the speakers as they came from the factory, so with the sensitivity switch set to +4db. Using the same non-professional equipment I was using with my previous speakers which were set to -10db. With the Focal’s there is distortion, harshness, negatively affected clarity on -10db. And I tried matching the sound level and going back and forth several times. The music is richer in a way, more punchy, seems to carry more info, but the result is not pleasant. It is only the last 3 days I listened the speakers in -10db as I wanted to long try them in the way they come from the factory and familiarize my self with them. Setting the sensitivity to +4db puts everything in place. You may have an impression that you lack energy, or that you are in a way limited, sterilized. But music is clear as hell and everything is balanced. From the separation of the instruments to tonality and music dispersion. And the speaker is again a pleasure to listen, exactly as I already described above.

There is audible hiss with my ear at 4-5cm from the twitter but not at all audible otherwise. Hiss is audible from 12cm when sensitivity is -10db.

My main listening position is within a perfect 2,40m triangle on a 30m2 non treated living room.

The construction is more than solid and you can understand these 13kg boxes are built like tanks every time you look or touch them. Not charmed by the aesthetics though. They are definitely more beautiful than any monitor I can quickly recall. But they have a modern techy style I don’t like and they are also too boxy for my taste. I believe this was also the case(boxy) for Solo 6 Be, but I loved their vintage classy look, the darker wood and the twitter cage(even though without a waveguide). The metal back plate on my Solo ST6 gets really hot even on moderate loudness levels. And when I say hot, I mean hot. The first touch is at annoyance levels and after 5 seconds your fingers adapt to the heat and can be hold there for as long as you want without being annoyed. But certainly, feeling the heat. And that’s only when touching behind the tweeter amp or the middle of the speaker. Cause behind the woofer amp you can always keep your hand but with annoyance and it would be most probably impossible touching it for long. Without measuring I would say we are on the 60c region. All this in a high(27c) room temperature. I was never a friend of long working duty electronics constantly producing heat, and for me this is a source of worry even with a top-notch quality product like this one.

Speakers are placed in two 62cm wooden stands filled with sand exactly as the previous ones were. It is worth mentioning that isolation is better while using the same decoupling solution. These 3 times heavier and more powerful box transmits less energy to the stand. And this is most probably due to the 22mm mdf, TMD, and the out of this world craftmanship in sealing the cabinets. So, I guess there is an improvement in this regard as I can remember some people saying previous version was not the easiest speaker to isolate.

That was all for the moment and I will come back if I think of something else.

 

[Pearljam5000]

I received a pair of the new version and having passed three weeks with the speakers, I would like to write my first impressions in a kind of a brief(may be not) review coming from the most average of the average users.

Never involved with music production, no audiophile background, with some really basic knowledge around audio matters.

Best speakers I ever owned were my previous LSR305.

I am using a Topping E30 DAC with an SVS1000pro sub woofer playing flac’s on foobar(ASIO/windows 10).

If I had to write only one sentence for the Focal’s:
Astonishing stereo image and incredible clarity.

Music is everywhere in this wide sound stage while clarity is impressive on both low and high.
Distortion is an unknown word.

This beryllium twitter is crisp, pleasant, detailed, informative. And also merciless as sometimes you can even hear a breath that went a bit deeper or two lips that touched a bit stronger. Always with stellar moments of cymbals, chimes, trumpets, vocal peaks etc.

I would dare say slightly pronounced in some rare cases and with certain songs. A kind of a feeling that there is a bit more energy on the upper part of the speaker, which, even more rarely, can start flirting with harshness. It can also be that there are moments in which the lack of a proper and sophisticated waveguide becomes evident. I tried lowering the high filter by 1db and rising low filter by 1db but I need to listen more in order to say if helps.

The ‘wow factor’ is also valid for the woofer. So many details, such a music dispersion, a dominating loudness. I never felt uncovered beefy wise, but I was always using a sub. And while I am already considering adding a 2nd one, I also have to admit that there is nothing weak or shy here. Tried a couple of songs with sub off and my 5 minutes session was also not disappointing.

I think a badly produced song is more easily revealed with these speakers. A good studio work is also more obvious. Bad flac’s are better identified as well. At least to my ears and my familiar songs.

Listening in low loudness is excellent. You turn down the volume and once your ears adapt, you can hear that everything is still there and equally enjoyable. As a guy who had his previous speakers constantly on for 5 years just because did not want to bother with the switch daily, I would love to use the automatic standby feature. During these three weeks It was only 3-4 times that it skipped ‘erroneously’ while listening in low volume. But listening to very low volume, as I frequently do, is impossible, therefore I permanently disabled it.

All the above with the speakers as they came from the factory, so with the sensitivity switch set to +4db. Using the same non-professional equipment I was using with my previous speakers which were set to -10db. With the Focal’s there is distortion, harshness, negatively affected clarity on -10db. And I tried matching the sound level and going back and forth several times. The music is richer in a way, more punchy, seems to carry more info, but the result is not pleasant. It is only the last 3 days I listened the speakers in -10db as I wanted to long try them in the way they come from the factory and familiarize my self with them. Setting the sensitivity to +4db puts everything in place. You may have an impression that you lack energy, or that you are in a way limited, sterilized. But music is clear as hell and everything is balanced. From the separation of the instruments to tonality and music dispersion. And the speaker is again a pleasure to listen, exactly as I already described above.

There is audible hiss with my ear at 4-5cm from the twitter but not at all audible otherwise. Hiss is audible from 12cm when sensitivity is -10db.

My main listening position is within a perfect 2,40m triangle on a 30m2 non treated living room.

The construction is more than solid and you can understand these 13kg boxes are built like tanks every time you look or touch them. Not charmed by the aesthetics though. They are definitely more beautiful than any monitor I can quickly recall. But they have a modern techy style I don’t like and they are also too boxy for my taste. I believe this was also the case(boxy) for Solo 6 Be, but I loved their vintage classy look, the darker wood and the twitter cage(even though without a waveguide). The metal back plate on my Solo ST6 gets really hot even on moderate loudness levels. And when I say hot, I mean hot. The first touch is at annoyance levels and after 5 seconds your fingers adapt to the heat and can be hold there for as long as you want without being annoyed. But certainly, feeling the heat. And that’s only when touching behind the tweeter amp or the middle of the speaker. Cause behind the woofer amp you can always keep your hand but with annoyance and it would be most probably impossible touching it for long. Without measuring I would say we are on the 60c region. All this in a high(27c) room temperature. I was never a friend of long working duty electronics constantly producing heat, and for me this is a source of worry even with a top-notch quality product like this one.

Speakers are placed in two 62cm wooden stands filled with sand exactly as the previous ones were. It is worth mentioning that isolation is better while using the same decoupling solution. These 3 times heavier and more powerful box transmits less energy to the stand. And this is most probably due to the 22mm mdf, TMD, and the out of this world craftmanship in sealing the cabinets. So, I guess there is an improvement in this regard as I can remember some people saying previous version was not the easiest speaker to isolate.

That was all for the moment and I will come back if I think of something else.

Excellent review

 

[kolestonin]

I finally decided to return the speakers.
I can't tolerate the heat and the hiss for the price.
Further using showed that speakers do not get hot by overdriving them, but by just using them. And once they get hot you only have one option to make them cool down. Use the on/off switch on the back or enable the automatic stand by feature. Otherwise the temperature will not drop. I left the speakers turned on(not playing music) overnight and the morning they were still hot! And at this point I felt like leaving for work without unplugging the toaster. Cause I already said in my previous post I will forget to use the switch 9 times out of 10, and enabling stand by is also not an option due to my extended and frequent low volume sessions.
I discovered that hiss is also more audible than I thought. I had the chance to check during a dead quiet Sunday night with no cars in the avenue an no noises in the building, and realized that hiss is audible even from my 2,40m listening position. Always in a dead silent room and by focusing to it.
Returning the speakers was not an easy decision as their sound is extraordinary. Always to my untrained and not having a reference comparison ears. These speakers were the best I ever heard but this statement has low value as I actually never heard something from the upper(or even lower) league. I was astonished by the sound but I also think I can find it elsewhere by spending this amount of money.

 

[IronPyrite]

I finally decided to return the speakers.
I can't tolerate the heat and the hiss for the price.
Further using showed that speakers do not get hot by overdriving them, but by just using them. And once they get hot you only have one option to make them cool down. Use the on/off switch on the back or enable the automatic stand by feature. Otherwise the temperature will not drop. I left the speakers turned on(not playing music) overnight and the morning they were still hot! And at this point I felt like leaving for work without unplugging the toaster. Cause I already said in my previous post I will forget to use the switch 9 times out of 10, and enabling stand by is also not an option due to my extended and frequent low volume sessions.
I discovered that hiss is also more audible than I thought. I had the chance to check during a dead quiet Sunday night with no cars in the avenue an no noises in the building, and realized that hiss is audible even from my 2,40m listening position. Always in a dead silent room and by focusing to it.
Returning the speakers was not an easy decision as their sound is extraordinary. Always to my untrained and not having a reference comparison ears. These speakers were the best I ever heard but this statement has low value as I actually never heard something from the upper(or even lower) league. I was astonished by the sound but I also think I can find it elsewhere by spending this amount of money.

Class AB amplifiers are inherently hot due to their inefficiency. Are you aware there's an auto-standby switch on the rear of the speakers that turns off the amps when not in use?

As for hiss, my Focal Solo6's (new version) are dead silent, unlike the Dynaudio BM5 Mk III monitors they replaced (I'm using balanced audio XLR connectors). Its possible your source of hiss is from your source DAC, or EMI being picked up by your cables, in which case any/all speakers will hiss regardless of price.

 

[IronPyrite]

Mini review, for the new versions released in July 2022 (I'll answer other questions if folks have any they'd like to ask):

• They are very detailed without being fatiguing, the beryllium tweeter is amazing. Along the scale of "analytical" -> "flattering," they're somewhere in the middle. Despite their detailed nature (they are studio monitors, after all), listening to music is enjoyable for hours on end.
• I can crank them until there's visible woofer excursion (to the point of inducing vibration in a carpeted floor), with NO distortion at all.
• There's no cabinet noise due to the thick 7/8" housing.
• The front woofer ports are a huge bonus for me, as I no longer have to worry about proximity to the rear wall; there is no chuffing around the laminar ports at all.
• Isoaccoustics ISO-200 stands fit them perfectly. Despite their 29 lb weight, they aren't tippy at all on the stands, even using the 10 inch extensions.
• Although their bass extension is very good, I'm using them with a Martin Logan Depth subwoofer (now discontinued), set at a 35 Hz low-pass crossover on the sub. Focal's Sub12 is massive, and "only" goes down to 28 Hz.

 

[kolestonin]

Class AB amplifiers are inherently hot due to their inefficiency. Are you aware there's an auto-standby switch on the rear of the speakers that turns off the amps when not in use?

As for hiss, my Focal Solo6's (new version) are dead silent, unlike the Dynaudio BM5 Mk III monitors they replaced (I'm using balanced audio XLR connectors). Its possible your source of hiss is from your source DAC, or EMI being picked up by your cables, in which case any/all speakers will hiss regardless of price.

Class AB amplifiers are inherently hot due to their inefficiency. Are you aware there's an auto-standby switch on the rear of the speakers that turns off the amps when not in use?

As for hiss, my Focal Solo6's (new version) are dead silent, unlike the Dynaudio BM5 Mk III monitors they replaced (I'm using balanced audio XLR connectors). Its possible your source of hiss is from your source DAC, or EMI being picked up by your cables, in which case any/all speakers will hiss regardless of price.

I have to admit that heating is more a personal annoyance and basically a fear that the speakers will start having problems after some years functioning is such high temperatures.
Or not feeling comfortable leaving for holidays with a constantly producing heat electronic device in my apartment.
But I cannot say that this can be considered as an issue for everyone given the high construction quality. After all most people will not forget to simply turn off the switch before leaving for holidays

I am also aware of the stand by feature and I would love using it(you can read my review above) but I frequently listen to very low volume and stand by was skipping so much that using the speakers was impossible.

As for the hiss, my first thought was my source or some ground looping issues but the hiss is there even with the speaker plugged in the wall with no other cables attached to it.

I read your review and I agree with you that the speakers sound fantastic.
It is just that everyone has different needs or priorities and considering the plus and the minus I took the (hard) decision to return them.