I know people think reviewers should be completely unbiased, but anyone who says they are is kidding themselves.
I can venture to be as fair as possible, but my biases are baked into my brain.
All this preamble is to warn you upfront that Im a huge fan of Focals speakers.
TheFocal Solo6 Beis one of the companys premium nearfield studio monitors.
Its also actually the cheapest way to get Focals most advanced speaker materials.
Considering the Solo6 comes with amps built-in, they are arguably a decent value by audiophile standards.
The design
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Unlike many modern monitors, Focal does not use DSP with these speakers.
The sound as heard and measured
I adamantly believe that studio monitors should be paragons of neutrality.
As such, I wont be separating my listening impressions and speaker measurements in this review they go hand-in-hand.
That said, keep in mind that I make most of my listening notesbeforemeasuring.
They just happen largely to agree.
In this regard, the Solo6 performs quite well.
These speakers are just a little more neutral to my ear.
The Solo6 Be also have solid bass extension, which should provide useful energy into the 40Hz region in-room.
You could, of course, add some extra bass using the included contour knobs.
In any case, the speakers should mostly sound good out of the box.
The off-axis sound
Where the speakers flaws rear their head is in the overall off-axis performance.
Its worth reiterating that in a nearfield setup, youll mostly be hearing the direct sound.
The further you are, the more the sound will be approximated by the predicted in-room response.
Its possible Focal didnt consider smooth directivity a priority given the intended nearfield use.
It shows its age in this aspect.
They offer a small but purposeful-looking waveguide, which is a good sign.)
It also makes them somewhat worse choices for the living room than the studio.
Focals inverted dome tweeters are known for created these spatial qualities.
We can see this clearly if we isolate just the speakers horizontal response.
and it spatial presentation may just work better with your particular room.
Next, a quick look at the speakers vertical measurements (using the tweeter as the reference height).
It plays loud with no audible distortion, its free of hiss, and it has excellent dynamics.
Focal makes some fantastic drivers, and it shows here.
Still, those flaws didnt stop me from rocking out to the Solo6 Be.
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