Focal Twin 6's with sub review

[TML]

Have had a few weeks to mess around with this setup. Here's my non scientific findings.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the speakers was there were small 1/2 inch long dings on the speakers cabinets.... and the sub when adjusting the level control had an audible "cutting out for a second sound" as I adjusted it while playing material.

I placed them on stands about 4 feet apart in a triangle to the mix position. The sub was place in line with the tops. They are about 12 inches from the wall which has been "Real Trapped". The room is 10X13 so ymmv. First thing we did was run them for a day or so at a moderate volume to "break them in" so to speak....

Compared to my BM 15 a's, NS 10's, V4's and Event 20/20 bas.... we noticed:

Wide stereo imaging... more so than the others.

A more forward midrange... not as honky or boxy as the yamaha's.. but you can clearly hear all the boxy crap in your mix that needs to be addressed.

The top end was as extended as any speaker I've heard. This took awhile to get use to.. at first they sounded harsh but they grow on you due to the detail you get out of them. Some would find them "brash" sounding... ( I agree with the SOS review on this) due to the tweeter......early reflections that aren't controlled in some mix rooms will probably make them overly bright. There's always the eq controls on the back... but for the sake of what I'm trying to convey...will leave them flat. Some people will probably prefer the high on their Dyn's to these speakers. It's personal preference as many have said before on this forum. When adjusting 500 to 2 k say from the honk of a snare to a lead vocal... I could really hear the eq sweeping.

Same for low mids. They kill the Event and Dyn's in the low mid department. You know the "Holy Grail" area where everyone mixes to high cause they can't hear the firat couple octaves and limit the amount of space you have to place the kik and bass....this is why I was interested in them and the Adams in the first place.

The bass wasn't as quite as lo and shuddering as my Dyn's were..sans the sub. The Dyn's are definitly the lets put a mix up that is scooped and has a huge bottom to impress the kids factor. The Twins were not lacking however and put out as much tight bottom as I've heard on a speaker of this size. More tight bottom than the Dyn's.

The sub. Got this just cause I was feeling lucky at the time. I friend had been pushing me to try a sub last year so I got the KRK sub for the V4's. It was a cheap experiment and made mixing fun...as long as I dialed in the first 2 octaves....just audible. Again my room is 10X13 and has 8 real traps and a few others things here and there such as a nice big leather couch. When we fired up the Focal sub it was like we had the bass player in the room. The kik and bass was so detailed. Not just a low shudder but clear notes. It took some time to get the balance right. We put on some of Tony Levin's new solo record and it sounded great.... had all kinds of stuff in the ipod(wav files only) and we loved the detail. The only thing I couldn't do was really crank the setup cause room modes would eventually rear their ugly head. But at a moderate volume it was fine.

I'm dialing in the low end faster. Less trips to the car. When there is an issue and were back at the studio... you can hear it on the Focals as well. I'm keeping my NS 10's and Dyn's for now. It's nice to have flavors when mixing..like a new set of ears. The KRK V4's and sub will go bye bye.

[Alex.T]

Thank you for this.

[Musiclab]

What I like about the bass on the twin 6's is it seems clearer than DYNs, or many other
8" monitors

[TML]

For some reason I find myself mixing a little louder with these speakers.

[euphonic]

Do you think the Twins without the Sub are sufficient for mixing quality electronic Music (mostly groovy and clubby House)?
I know many of my colleagues use genlece (1031 or 8040/50) but as the Focals are on par with the Adam S3a qualitywise this would a quite step up from these (a tleast on the paper) and they would be in the same pricerange as the 8050, here in good old germany (even 50$ cheaper each).

Thanks in advance.

edit: I just forgott: awsome review!!!

[tonedef]

Great review.

I struggled with low mids when I had my BM15a's. I don't at all with the Twin 6's. Everything translates much better without the guessing game.

I don't have the sub but for me in the room that I have I get enough low end information without it. Between the Twin 6's and my B&W 603's my bases are covered.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by TML

For some reason I find myself mixing a little louder with these speakers.

What I noticed is they're not as sensitive as my old speakers so I have to turn the level up but I try to keep it around 85db

[Spec]

TML could you tell me which Focal sub you are using? i suppose the sub 6.. the sub that is built for the Focal 6 series.

also could you - or anyone else - speak a little more about the focal sub

i bought the solo 6 and want to get a sub but not sure whether to stay with focal or look at other manufacturers. hard to find many reviews of the focal sub and there is no focal dealership in sydney. so v. hard to audition.

thanks

Spek

[TML]

I think many people will be happy without the sub. It's the tweeter you have to get use too. Were going to have the Adam A7 and Sub 8 in here soon to compare... just for kiks. Ill let you know what my thoughts are then as well. If you like the Gen 10031 for house these will be great. I'm not familiar with the 8050's.
Tim

Musiclab.
That's it... there not as sensitive.

Originally Posted by euphonic

Do you think the Twins without the Sub are sufficient for mixing quality electronic Music (mostly groovy and clubby House)?
I know many of my colleagues use genlece (1031 or 8040/50) but as the Focals are on par with the Adam S3a qualitywise this would a quite step up from these (a tleast on the paper) and they would be in the same pricerange as the 8050, here in good old germany (even 50$ cheaper each).

Thanks in advance.

edit: I just forgott: awsome review!!!

[defkong]

recieved my twin 6BEs two days ago, but didn`t had the chance to wire them up yet. But man they really look so damn sexy, I´m in love Hope I´ll gonna love the sound to, just heard the 6BEs before and bought the Twins blind `cause of a good deal. Used to work with my Dynaudio 15p, but I think they`ll leave in the next days

[euphonic]

Originally Posted by TML

I think many people will be happy without the sub. It's the tweeter you have to get use too. Were going to have the Adam A7 and Sub 8 in here soon to compare... just for kiks. Ill let you know what my thoughts are then as well. If you like the Gen 10031 for house these will be great. I'm not familiar with the 8050's.
Tim

Sounds very promising...thank you.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by defkong

recieved my twin 6BEs two days ago, but didn`t had the chance to wire them up yet. But man they really look so damn sexy, I´m in love Hope I´ll gonna love the sound to, just heard the 6BEs before and bought the Twins blind `cause of a good deal. Used to work with my Dynaudio 15p, but I think they`ll leave in the next days

You have the right idea, what really counts is how they look, and boy do they look cool. just kidding, they're great and do look cool

[adrianex]

cool review

[raal]

thanks for the review. i have Adam S3As sans sub and Dynaudio BM15As + sub to monitor anything below 90Hz.

if by chance you could get some S3As w/sub to compare to your Twins i for one would be eager to hear your opinion.

i'm thinking of losing the Dynaudios and getting either Twins w/sub, Barefoots, or just getting a sub for the S3As. can't demo these things in mexico. thank you.

[defkong]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

You have the right idea, what really counts is how they look, and boy do they look cool. just kidding, they're great and do look cool

[Purusha]

Who would expect... I just brought home a pair of Dynaudio BM A6 MKII. and next to my Focal Twins
I have a feeling they have bigger or tighter bottom. Is this possible? The kick is really cutting through like
there is a sub running along... I think I'll keep them next to my Twins and funny Avantones.

Here goes my money again, what a gear addiction this is

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Purusha

I have a feeling they have bigger or tighter bottom.

bigger, yes. tighter, not to my ears. the twins are like lasers down there, narrow cut at 100 sounds way different than a narrow cut at 110.

i do like those dyns, i just don't find them as focused or revealing.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[Purusha]

They do sound close in some way. I wonder if I can gain anything by adding them next to my Twins...

Gregoire

you seam to know a lot of today's monitors, would you have any suggestions which ones to add to my existing sets?
I am doing more or less rock and new metal stuff. I already tested ADAM A7s and KRK V6 but no luck...

[u b k]

monitors i find 100% trustworthy, incredibly revealing, and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to:

adam s3a

focal twins

pro-ac 100's

atc scm20's


monitors i find 100% trustworthy but not as revealing:

dyn bm6a

focal solo's


from there i find the usual suspects --- other adams, dyn's, krk's, genelecs --- to have various compromises that either require me to learn and predict them, or that can't be worked around at all because the picture they paint is either incomplete or just plain wrong.

the thing i love about that first list of monitors is that they don't require a second reference, have little to no learning curve, and are effortless to work on. all i need to do is make things sound good, and they tell me how to do it without all the fuss.

it's quite a thing to know that when you're done with a mix, you will have zero surprises in the outside world, and to have that experience time and time again. it's damn near impossible to go back once you've mixed on systems that cooperate like that.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[Purusha]

Thanks Gregoire for your thoughts

[Purusha]

BTW, is there any chance that BM 6 should not be placed horizontally? I can't find any info about this in the manual...

[Sui_City]

UBK,

Where do the SM8s fall for you?

[AMIEL]

What I think is amazing in the Focal Twins is how can they reveal compressors behaviour.

Compressed sources sound so flat and masked in other monitors.
I was amazed how I can notice the nuances and behaviour of vocals thru the compressor....things that i could not hear in the Tannoys.

I guess is because the Twins have such amazing consistency in their drivers,

I put my Tannoy 800A in the storage...they are great..but next to my Focal Twins....no chance for me.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Sui_City

Where do the SM8s fall for you?

honestly? i prefer the analog line, especially the twins. the sm8's are incredibly revealing, and when i first got them i was astonished at how well i could mix with them. but the twins have 98% of the detail up top, 110% of the detail in the mids, and imho are way more enjoyable to listen to. also, they're sexier, which has to count for something.

IF, otoh, you are feeding the sm8's digitally, all bets are off and it comes down to whether you prefer a 2-way with heftier bass extension or a 2.5-way with a slightly more articulate window into the mids.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[lerone]

Originally Posted by u b k

it's quite a thing to know that when you're done with a mix, you will have zero surprises in the outside world, and to have that experience time and time again. it's damn near impossible to go back once you've mixed on systems that cooperate like that.


gregoire
del
ubk
.

You can't go back! You did miss a couple off your list though: K+H 0300, PMC TB2SA & B&W 805's for the smaller loudspeakers. Swapping my 805's for twin 6's and sub very soon. I can't wait! Auditioned sooo many loudspeakers & amps over the past few months. These sound like my perfect partners. mmmmmmm. The utopia + naim sounds gorgeous, but not practical here.

[youngmain]

Mr. Amiel, who does product service for Focal?

[FocalPro]

Originally Posted by youngmain

Mr. Amiel, who does product service for Focal?

Hi!

Sorry to reply for Amiel

That would be us directly, feel free to send me a PM / email anytime!

cheers,

Simon @ Focal

[marathon]

I just moved up to a Focal Twin 6 Be pair in my room. They're settling in nicely, though I'm still getting acclimated. The amount of detail provided still makes them seem bright to my ears. This thread drew my interest because I'm currently running them without a sub. I had a cheap consumer sub in line with my older monitors (KRK 7000B, and then a temporary pair of HR824's when I blew a the Focal kevlar tweeter on the 7000Bs after 15 years). It seemed nuts to match a downmarket, paper-cone sub with the Twin 6 Be's, so I'm doing without for now. Broke the piggy bank to get these, but I'm becoming very fond of 'em, and will hopefully acquire a Sub6 down the road - and then adjust all over again.

[garryrobson]

Originally Posted by marathon

I just moved up to a Focal Twin 6 Be pair in my room. They're settling in nicely, though I'm still getting acclimated. The amount of detail provided still makes them seem bright to my ears.

They may appear bright at first. This is, simply, because you are hearing more HF information as Twins are, pretty much, flat to 40k.

Also try in both vertical (tweeters outside) and horizontal positions.

Enjoy.

[Airia]

I'm demoing the Solo 6 right now and experiencing the following problems:

reverb rooms/tails are really hard too distinguish / identifiy at all with these monitors. Escpeiallly changes of reverb stereo width are almost not hearable.

I used various high quality reverbs and different room sizes etc..
Is it possibly the enhanced sweet spot of the 6 Line that fights against stereo seperation ? My impression is that everything sound a slightly bit mono / or kind of not very deep. I really miss the depth information.

Or is this maybe an issue, because break in is not completed ? Or is it my room ?

Thanks in advance