# Focal Twin6 Be - Anyone use these?



## quantum7 (Dec 21, 2012)

I am really close to purchasing a pair of Focal Twin6 Be's for my home studio and wanted to see what others here at VI-control think of them. They will be going here to replace my JBL's:


----------



## Diffusor (Dec 21, 2012)

I have the Solo6's with the Sub6 and they are awesome. I've also used the Twins and they are incredible too; they have a bit more lo mid detail I think and probably work best if you have a bigger room. You can't go wrong with either.


----------



## José Herring (Dec 21, 2012)

Twin 6be are really good. Perhaps one of my favorites.


----------



## quantum7 (Dec 21, 2012)

Thanks. My room is around 12x16.


----------



## dgburns (Dec 21, 2012)

I have a 5.1 setup with 3 twins across the front and two singles for rears with sub.the focals have a more upfront nature to them then say genelecs.I find I hear less "room" with them,and maybe the hi end is more rigid.I took a long time to get used to them,having come from jbl's,which are a bit softer sounding to me.but I like the jbl sound as well.
some time later,I have come to trust them,and find that when the sound " jumps out" from them,the sound "sits" well listening on other speakers.not sure if that makes sense,but there it is.
i no longer feel the need to cross check mixes anymore.I just run with what sounds good on them,and it works.they do need to be broken in however.
respectfully submitted
david


----------



## quantum7 (Dec 21, 2012)

Thanks David. How do you break them in? I was just thinking about playing some CD's through them overnight...for several night at a medium volume. Would that work?


----------



## kgdrum (Dec 21, 2012)

Twin6 user for 6 years,they are great speakers!
I tried the Solo6 1st and they are very good but I prefered the Twins.
Break-in takes a while,they start to sound great after about 150 hours,total time in my experience for proper break-in is about 250 to 300 hours.
Medium volume the 1st 24 hours,after that you can raise the volume a bit.


----------



## quantum7 (Dec 22, 2012)

kgdrum @ Fri Dec 21 said:


> Twin6 user for 6 years,they are great speakers!
> I tried the Solo6 1st and they are very good but I prefered the Twins.
> Break-in takes a while,they start to sound great after about 150 hours,total time in my experience for proper break-in is about 250 to 300 hours.
> Medium volume the 1st 24 hours,after that you can raise the volume a bit.



Good to hear. I am hoping to not need a sub for decent low-end with the Twins. About 80% of the time I do not write music that would require a sub anyway, but do want to hear low frequencies well, of course. I hear that the Twins had better low-end than the solos.


----------



## kgdrum (Dec 22, 2012)

I prefer them with out a sub,I actually had the Twins mated with a JL Audio F112 which is a great sub and it sounds better without the sub to me.


----------



## dgburns (Dec 22, 2012)

kgdrum @ Sat Dec 22 said:


> Twin6 user for 6 years,they are great speakers!
> I tried the Solo6 1st and they are very good but I prefered the Twins.
> Break-in takes a while,they start to sound great after about 150 hours,total time in my experience for proper break-in is about 250 to 300 hours.
> Medium volume the 1st 24 hours,after that you can raise the volume a bit.



i agree with the above.but i do really like their sub,and now could not think to work without it.as for break in,it's more just to play it safe for the first little bit.they open up with use.


----------



## colony nofi (Dec 28, 2012)

Another very happy Twin6 user here. Both in stereo and 5.0 (I'm a fan of mixing film scores in 5.0 - so find it much easier to mix on a 5.0 system than one that is bass managed. Just me though. And I've only mixed the music on a couple of features, so I'm hardly an expert.) A sub is useful just to "check" that you haven't forgotten to hipass a channel. 
I find the focals useful down to around 35Htz. I'm not sure what the -3 or -6dB points are (I know that when it does drop off, it does so VERY quickly) - but I've recently been using some 35htz sine sub effects, and they come across fine in my room, and have translated great once the piece reached the mix theatre.

One interesting tit-bit of info on the focals - is their horizontal vs vertical use. While originally designed as a horizontal mount, much testing by some acoustic folk have found that they indeed seem to work better (in some rooms) when vertically aligned. This is how I use them in my small composition room (our larger pres room has the 5.0 system in horizontal alignment). I'm now scratching the depths of my memory and knowledge, but it had to do with horizontal dispersion in di-pole systems (though the focals are not strictly dipole, they do exhibit many of their properties)


Cheers! B.


----------



## quantum7 (Dec 28, 2012)

colony nofi @ Fri Dec 28 said:


> One interesting tit-bit of info on the focals - is their horizontal vs vertical use. While originally designed as a horizontal mount, much testing by some acoustic folk have found that they indeed seem to work better (in some rooms) when vertically aligned. This is how I use them in my small composition room (our larger pres room has the 5.0 system in horizontal alignment). I'm now scratching the depths of my memory and knowledge, but it had to do with horizontal dispersion in di-pole systems (though the focals are not strictly dipole, they do exhibit many of their properties)
> 
> 
> Cheers! B.



Hmmmm......I just spent nearly $400 on Primacoustic isolation pads for the Twins based on them sitting horizontal in my studio. I hope they do sound better that way. I should be receiving mine next week.....and cannot wait.


----------



## quantum7 (Jan 2, 2013)

Got my TWINS this evening and am breakin' those puppies in for 100-150 before I give a proper listen. I have to say that they are the most beautiful monitors I have ever seen in person. It is so nice NOT to have yet another piece of Chinese-made CRAP in my studio.


----------



## quantum7 (Jan 6, 2013)

The Twins are sounding fantastic now that I've burned them in for nearly 100 hours now. I had to get rid of my dual display monitors for now, but my Focals now can be pushed back a little more and moved in. I will still keep messing with it. Can anyone give me recommendations on exact measurements where they should be placed?


----------



## germancomponist (Jan 6, 2013)

I think you have to experiment, Sean. Place them there where you get the best results.


----------



## XT26 (May 25, 2013)

Hi Sean,

How are your twin going now you've had them for a while? Did you end up keeping them horizontal or go vertical?

I am about to purchase a pair, I listened in the shop and they sound incredible, love to hear your thoughts on them now.

Tom


----------



## quantum7 (May 27, 2013)

I kept them horizontal just like the photo above. I couldn't tell whether they sounded better when I did try them vertically. Personally they look much better horizontally, though. I also added the Focal Sub6....and WOW!


----------



## XT26 (May 28, 2013)

Hi Sean,

Glad to hear they are working well for you, I'm just about to buy them myself as there are some great deals on them at the moment.

cheers,
Tom


----------



## quantum7 (May 28, 2013)

If you can get a deal on them I would jump on it because no one was budging a cent on the price when I purchased them.


----------



## Diffusor (May 29, 2013)

Focal have great monitors but I sometimes question their reliability. Over the past 6 years I've had about 4 amp failures and one tweeter completely falling apart. I am out of warranty now and recently had another amp fail and it's been two weeks since I sent it off to be repaired. Warranty service was great as they cross-ship you an replacement. Now I have to send it back in to be repaired and since they are in Canada they have you ship to New York and then they bring it across the border which takes another extra week to even get there.


----------



## quantum7 (May 29, 2013)

Diffusor @ Wed May 29 said:


> Focal have great monitors but I sometimes question their reliability. Over the past 6 years I've had about 4 amp failures and one tweeter completely falling apart. I am out of warranty now and recently had another amp fail and it's been two weeks since I sent it off to be repaired. Warranty service was great as they cross-ship you an replacement. Now I have to send it back in to be repaired and since they are in Canada they have you ship to New York and then they bring it across the border which takes another extra week to even get there.




I hope they are reliable because whether or not I upgrade to the Focal SM9's next year will depend on that.


----------



## kgdrum (May 30, 2013)

Diffusor @ Wed 29 May said:


> Focal have great monitors but I sometimes question their reliability. Over the past 6 years I've had about 4 amp failures and one tweeter completely falling apart. I am out of warranty now and recently had another amp fail and it's been two weeks since I sent it off to be repaired. Warranty service was great as they cross-ship you an replacement. Now I have to send it back in to be repaired and since they are in Canada they have you ship to New York and then they bring it across the border which takes another extra week to even get there.


i consulted and evaluated the Solos and the Twins when they were 1st released in the USA for Focal/AudioPlus
All of these issues you have had is very weird and unusual, I've had my pair of Twins for 6+years without a problem, no amp or tweeter failures whatsoever......
I'm sorry to hear about all of the issues you've had, I also had the Solos for a few months without a problem.
4 amp failures on 1 pair of speakers is beyond comprehension..........


----------



## Diffusor (May 30, 2013)

kgdrum @ Thu May 30 said:


> Diffusor @ Wed 29 May said:
> 
> 
> > Focal have great monitors but I sometimes question their reliability. Over the past 6 years I've had about 4 amp failures and one tweeter completely falling apart. I am out of warranty now and recently had another amp fail and it's been two weeks since I sent it off to be repaired. Warranty service was great as they cross-ship you an replacement. Now I have to send it back in to be repaired and since they are in Canada they have you ship to New York and then they bring it across the border which takes another extra week to even get there.
> ...



Yeah, I probably just had a bad pair and bad luck. They replaced a pair of Alesis M1 actives which I never had one issue with in 7 years. Though Focal did tell me there were some "flaws" in the original amps that they corrected.


----------

