I found the fix for getting blasted when trying to wake up the monitors was to hit play on some audio while the monitors are in their dorment state with the volume all the way down on my interface and then bump it up a healthy amount for a split second and then bring the volume back all the way down. This gave it the signal to trigger them on and then when the display told me they were active I could just use the volume control as normal...I really like this feature btw.
absolutely terrific monitors. the passive radiators result in amazingly tight and powerful bass all the way down to 35ish hz. the standby feature can be disabled if you take the back plate off the monitor and find the switch on the PCB. I believe Focal is disabling that feature by default for some regions or maybe just forgets to enable it, as mine have never gone into standby (though I've not taken them apart to verify the switch setting). they definitely require a longer-than-usual (per Focal) burn-in period. I used a multi-color modular noise source.
@@trixniisama best studio money I've spent. when you hear new things in albums you've listened to for 20 years you know you have some pretty good speakers.
@@negativesaucer Nice! Would you suggest the smaller Shape 50 for a desktop PC/table setup? Listening distance of 0.8m - 1m. I like that I don't have to worry about the distance to the wall with these. Thanks :-)
I'm REALLY appreciating your honest and critical reviews. Every other youtube channel just talks about how "awesome" whatever newest item they just got is. You are gonna be big if you keep this up! Please do MORE reviews! I'd love to see you do some more monitors in the $1000-$3000/pair type range! I'm kind of agonizing over monitors right now. Been using my crappy Behringer Truths for about 17 years (!) and I want to get something nice, but also loud and robust enough for a large-ish room. I do very little critical mixing- mostly just production and composing, and the information on the net is heavily biased toward mixing vs production!
@@Thoracius I mean, you have a point. I've been working on them (and making a decent amount of $$$ working on them!) over the years! As I get more wise and experienced however, I'm starting to really HEAR what they're often missing. Also, as a professional bassist, it's striking sometimes how masked and hazy the low end can sound on the Truths. Like I'll be in the car and hear tons more detail on the bass part of a song than I do on the Truths. They definitely are fantastic for their asking price, but they absolutely have glaring weaknesses, and they could be quickly outgrown by a more discerning user.
It would be interesting to compare them to the focal shape twin...They normally need 10-40 hours to break in. I had a pair of YG Acoustics (crazy audiophile system I have) need 250 hours to break in becasue they use a crazy crossover and solid aluminum T6 machined drivers not stamped.
Nice review that gels well with my experience (I've had a pair for just over a fortnight and I love 'em). Standby power consumption is 0.5W according to the manual. And yeah, the left one always comes out of standby before the right one does. What's up with that?
The cone is made out of flax seed, not bamboo. The reason they used that is because it emits sound better than most other materials like Kevlar or fibre glass. It's also one of the most rigid cones in the industry which is meant to give a very tight, mid-low to low response. I've had mine for over a year and reasonably happy with them. The main downside is that they only go down to 40Hz which is fine if you're working on pop music for example, or simply editing soundtracks, but if you're working on bass music then you might want a little more low end. They do pack a punch though, and you can always buy a sub if it's an issue. What you hear on them is pretty much how it will sound on other systems, so they are pretty accurate.
@@ManchesterMusic I know, but you didn't mention flax seed either so thought I would clarify. With regards to aesthetics, in my opinion they look nice especially compared with say, Adam speakers, but this is negligible compared to how they sound. Overall it was a decent and honest review, and I agree with the top end sounding "smooth" which takes some getting used to.
hey ! mr. Geoff ! like ur video ! Im in a 3.6m x 4.5m room real good acoustic treatment ! all bass trap , cloud, first reflection front and back wall ,all treated! Im confused about choose Focal Shape 65 or Focal Solo6be . mainly use it for Tracking , Production , Mixing . I heard SHAPE series are more adapt to small room (like my 3.6m x 4.5m) and find some comment says Shape65 tells problem in Mix , if its sounds bad then u need fix in mix , also mention Solo6be just sounds good no matter mix is bad or good ? wanna hear ur opinion! thanks !
What do you use for music listening? I'd like a pair of speaks for primarily music listening but ones that can double as monitors in a pinch (for playing guitar)
Could these translate well to use as general hi-fi speakers? I live in an apartment, so no need for giant speakers. I just want great sound, so I am looking to pro monitors as opposed to hi-fi separates. Thanks!
I feel that you would get impressive quality from a decent “bookshelf” monitor such that you wouldn’t need to fork out a ton of cash on Focals. Don’t get me wrong, they sound great but their application is mostly designed for critical listening.
I heard the 4'' of this line, the lows was *insane* for their size! Absolutely jaw-dropping for a speaker with a 4'' woofer. Or 3 woofers per speaker? haha Dunno. Anyways. Point made 🤪
Thanks for this calmy and smooth review! I can't reach for the Solo 6be, except than used. Givent hat I can take my hands on a used pair: I have a very difficult and small room. Waht would you suggest: Shape 65 (or Twin, which should be more defined in midrange, which is important for me, slightly overdriven Guitar and jazz mainly), with passive Radioator an more filters forto manage room problems or Solo6 be whith teh better sound? Thanks for hints and advises!
Hello. I hear these monitors dont have volume control? So if i want to connect them directly to my dj mixer master our, how it will be? No problem? How to adjust volume becouse no amplifier.
What a good and convivial review ..thank you ! I have Yamaha’s H7 since 2013 in a 15m2 treated room.. and I finally decided to upgrade .. found your channel .. so those or Genelec ? To stay In the midfiled monitors…PopRock Rock blues music. Thanks.
I can sum them up here: they’re very reliable and offer great low end resolution without needing a sub (necessarily). My only complaints are these: I wish they’d offered built it protection tweeter protection. A metal grill or something. They’re made of beryllium and quite exposed. One cracked during a move. The other thing, and I have no empirical proof, is that they seem to be slightly lower output than when I first bought them. Little quieter. Otherwise, they’re great
@@ManchesterMusic Thanks for your quick response. Need to hear them myself. By the way: Their latest update of this model offer the protection for the tweeter. They say that they even compensated for the expected slight tonal change. Grettings
I was recommended the Focal Shapes. However, I have my reservations regarding the auto standby feature. Can this be defeated? I think this will be a problem if I listen to music using a lower volume. This is very concerning. If this can't be turned off, what similar quality monitors do you recommend? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
Hi, I'm about to buy Focal Shapes, also having doubts about this feature, but multiple sources say that there is an internal switch to turn the Auto Standby feature off.
@@vitnemec8365 Well, yes. I showed a photo of this to someone, as I'm blind, and they helped me open up the speaker and turned the switch off. With care, they put the speakers back together. Once the auto-standby was turned off, the startup of the speakers were faster. I've had the Focal Shape 65s for almost a year now and loving them!!! I think you should go for it.
In my opinion, if you want to just listen to music, you should take a look to the phantom by Devialet... you will put the same price, and these a really really impressive for just listening to music.
Old video, but i want to give my opinion about Focal Shapes. I had Focal CMS 66 and Focal Shape 65. They are two different things. The CMS have the Focal Solo6 signature sound and they are really good monitors for mixing. Very critical, mids focused and the most important, the mixes translate almost perfectly. The Shapes i had one year and never been able to mix on them. Actually they sound really nice, warm, organic, but to me they are not fast and you lose the articulation of the sound on this monitores. To me the Shapes are HiFi monitors. In the studio you can use them for composing, playing, maybe even for some production works, but definitely not for mixing.
I share some of your thoughts, I have right now the cms65 and shape 65 in my room, I think the tweeter sounds more open and detailed, and the bass is deep and rounded, great punch at low-mid without muddiness, the stereo image is some diffuse and cloudy, it's like a phase weird sound... at other side the shapes 65 has better transient response and incredible precise stereo image and sweet spot (really awesome), but sounds a little muddy at the low-mid, the twitter has a warmer sound that soften the details. Definitely its funniest to listen at focals cms 65, the shapes sound dull for me, maybe I need more time to learn them, its curious I have too a pair of Yamahas HS5 that cost the fifth part of focals, and they are better to show the balance at mid frequencies to set the volume of voice and instruments. Good complement.
I had a pair of the solo 6's had to sell them when times got bad.. now Im interested in these..I will mainly use these for mastering work and general listening.. do you think they are a downgrade compared to the solos..??
I'm torn between going all out on these, or Tannoy Gold 8's. There's no where near to me go and listen to each of them though. How much difference do you think there will be between the Focal Shape 65's and Tannoy Gold 8's? The Focals are double the price, but not sure whether it's worth it for a home studio. thanks
@@jontshyza I ended up with the Tannoy's in the end. They sound absolutely beautiful and clear especially in the mid-range, my only complaint is that for an active set of speakers their volume adjustment doesn't go low enough, so you have to rely on turning down the input signal (which isn't ideal with respect to signal-to-noise ratios.) I still haven't had the chance to hear the Focals in person so it's really difficult to say whether I made the right decision, but overall I'm certainly happy with the Gold 8's.
Between them, Adam 5X and Yamaha HS8 which one would you recommend for production/mixing purposes (i know it it's not about genre specific but i'm still mentioning that i make electronic music - downtempo, ambient, techno, trip-hop.) :) Thanks!
I have not compared them to the evos. I did have a pair of Adam A7Xs but I didn’t have them in the studio at the same time as the focals so I can’t really compare them.
@@kazmir_ im sorry mr. Professional, I just do things at home for fun and and certanly for no money. I have another career completely unrelated to music mixing and gives me joy and money but i like good experience of detailed sound and mix things i do. Ive owned most of the entry level studio monitors. Now i own the focal alpha 80s and evo 50s and I like the performance them so perhaps the shapes are good improvement to what i have. So im asking again...are these any good?
This was pretty helpful. My gut feeling from what you've said is that for the money there are probably better options at this price. It sounds like there are issues in the highs and issues in the low mids. Shame as I'd really like some focals.
Hi, I realise it’s not the same thing, but would you recommend the Focal Alpha 65 for a semi treated room that’s about 10 by 11 feet. Would they be too powerful. Have no chance of demoing them hence asking around.
@@accentontheoff my room is somewhat treated. I'm usually 3 feet away at a moderate volume. I love the Focals and my sonics have dramatically improved since getting them.
I no longer have these monitors on loan so I can say for sure. A quick search online seems to indicate that this feature cannot be disabled. I might be wrong, but good luck.
@@ManchesterMusic I have a pair and I disabled it because the auto-off feature was driving me NUTS 😵💫I got in touch with someone at Focal who sent instructions on how to shut it off - great review! what are your monitors these days?
Hey Geoff, I always enjoy your videos! Do these Focals have any hiss? I'm asking because I just bought a pair of Adam Audio T5V's, which sound really great for the price. But a slight audible hiss from the tweeters (self-noise even without any input) bothers me to the point where i'm considering returning them. Do the more expensive monitors from Focal or Adam suffer from this in your experience?
Hey Bart. This is definitely a bug, not a feature of those monitors. This could be a few things; dirty power/ground loop/cellphone interference/wifi interference. Try using a different power source if you can, going straight into another outlet. I used to have wifi Router interference in my Focal Solo Bes so I called my ISP and got them to switch channels I was using for transmitting wifi and this actually worked. So try that too. Also, sometimes if I keep my iPhone close to my monitors I get all kinds of unwanted interference. The first thing I’d do is contact Adam and see if they have any additional steps. I’m doubtful this is something to do with the construction of your monitors.
@@ManchesterMusic Thank you so much for taking the time trying to help! I tried different power outlets in different places. I tried the monitors in the garden out of WiFi-reach. But the sound (a hiss, not a hum) is there from the moment I power them on. So I suspect it is inherent to them. I have no other experience with active monitors to be honest. But could it be that all active monitors have some kind of quiet hiss? My passive Elac-speakers coupled to a Yamaha-amp don't have this (only when you put your ear right to the speaker). I was planning to use the T5V’s not only for mixing (where some hiss is not very bothering), but also for enjoying music late at night at low volume levels in a quiet house. So maybe I’m looking for something that doesn’t exist, a hardwood floor with the comfort of a carpet, to use your wonderful analogy :-) I contacted Adam in the meantime, waiting to hear from them.
The helpful people at Adam Audio already sent a reply: "This is normal behaviour for the T5V. Due to the high-performance amplifier, the T5V produces a low self-noise, which should not be perceived as disturbing from a distance of 1.3 meters. It can be reduced a little by turning down the level at the back of the T5V and increasing the level of the source accordingly."
A interesting addition from Adam Audio: "Dear Bart, all of our monitors emit a certain hiss from the tweeter. The models of the AX-Series and the S-Series do this to a lower degree compared to the T-Series." So I might try a different model. Anyways, have a great day Geoff! Looking forward to your next videos, they're always great!
@@bartloomanmusic Hey Bart, did you end up returning them? I just bought a pair and noticed the hiss too. I'm trying to figure out if other brands in that price range have the same issue.
I’m really considering the Adams A7X’s. I’ve been comparing these, the A7X’s and the DynAudio BM5mkIII’s. I’m upgrading my home studio from 12 year old KRK’s. Any advice is helpful. Thanks!
@@Avedis-G wow , eaxctly the same here , i have KRK ROKIT 8 first generation and i`m looking for an upgrade too , what did you buy and how do you compare it to the KRK`s ?
DJ_URBAN_BG I ended up going with the Adams A7X’s. The KRK’s were great for learning on and served me well for 13 years but there is absolutely no comparison at all. The Adams have that ribbon tweeter and the cleanest, flattest response I could find.
@@Avedis-G i am happy for you , i still wonder which monitors to choose , i heard that in this price range GENELEC M040 is the best , and Neumann KH 120 a little after them , but i guess they are all good and its just a matter off taste
Hey man Great review!How do they compare with the solo 6s?I just got a pair of solos and i was really wondering about the low end on shapes are they any better in that territory (tighter/punchier)?And translationwise which one seems to you better?
Debating on grabbing these or Shape Twins. Price isn’t an issue, it’s just I’m a bit “worried” that the twins might be too big for my room (12x12x8). It’s extremely well treated, tested and analyzed using SoundID Reference and REW. Hoping to grab these 65 or twins next Wednesday:)
@@Null_Point3r I never had that series go sleep even on very quiet listening volume but the definition for very quiet can be different :D Anyway you can disable the sleep function. I did on mine at some point as I use em with a sub, which is an older model and has no sleep function.
@@ognyankoynashki Thank you for your response. I have purchased these speakers a while ago and I love them. To disable the sleep function you'll have to open them apperantly as there is no switch for the sleep function on the backside
i think this monitors would be perfect if the frecuency knobs was with steps, click, or directly a switch, because we need perfect stereo pair setup for critical monitoring, other way its so difficult to get the same response, so great tecnology with, twiter, woofer, cabinet, passive radiator, drivers, and the last cherry over cake...... that awfull frecuency knobs. my 2 cents
Hey man, i have a 1100 budget for monitors... really disappointed on what to get... i'm doing rap music... mixing my tracks etc.. and i don't know where to go. I'm currently treating my room for acoustics.. some helps maybe ?
@@ManchesterMusic yep.. the 2 for 1100 was thinking .. focal 65s or a7X from adam i'm producting rap music most of the time... and i planned to treat my room acousticly. :)
Romain st ok. If I were you I spend as much as you can get away with treating your room. It’s crucial. I’ve generally had better luck and been more impressed with Focals entry monitors than Adams (see my review of the A7Xs).
@@ManchesterMusicI went with the focal 65... i heard both... with my music .. for 30 to 40 min inside a treated room at the store in Paris. We'll see how it sound in my room after burn :) Thanks for your both videos.
It's not your room. All passive radiator speakers tend to build up mid frequencies. I first realizes that a few years back on some cheaper Definitive Technology S.M. 55's.
@@ManchesterMusic No I agree but in this video you state that bright can be a good thing, yet you called out the Adams A7X for being too bright! Anyways your videos are amazing! so much detailed information! I love how you cover every specification while applying it to the behavior of the room.
Gotcha. It’s tough, but it’s one of those “I know it when I see/hear it” kind of things. The Adam’s are blindingly bright, to me. Funny enough, folks will often admit that they’re very bright and weave the brightness into a competitive advantage story which..I dunno, just doesn’t work for me based on my experience with the product. But anyone reading this please: TRY THEM FOR YOURSELVES AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND.
these monitors have great sound BUT THE FEATURE THAT MAKES IT SO U HAVE TO WAKE UP THE SPEAKERS WITH A CERTAIN LEVEL OF VOLUME MAKES THESE SUCK SO MUCH BECAUSE U NEED TO START UR LISTENING SESSION WITH SOMETHING HIGHER VOLUME THAN U WANT IT IT MAY EVEN HURT UR EARS IF U PUT SOMETHING ON THAT HAS REALLY PUNCHY BASS IT JUST SUCKS AND IT REALLY SUCKS WHEN U WANT TO LISTEN TO SOMETHING SPECIFIC AS THE FIRST SOUND U HEAR FOR THE DAY AND U MISS THE BEGINNING OF THE SONG THAT U WANTED TO HEAR AND HAVE TO GO BACK OR U HAVE TO PLAY SOME OTHER THING FIRST. THE FEATURE JUST ALL AROUND SUCKS I HATE THAT FEATURE
Such a fantastic review. You covered everything I am curious about with these monitors, and you did it in a very listenable way. Please keep it up!
They look like super high end Hi-Fi bookshelves, love the design!
I found the fix for getting blasted when trying to wake up the monitors was to hit play on some audio while the monitors are in their dorment state with the volume all the way down on my interface and then bump it up a healthy amount for a split second and then bring the volume back all the way down. This gave it the signal to trigger them on and then when the display told me they were active I could just use the volume control as normal...I really like this feature btw.
Thanks for taking so much time to review and share your insight. It was greatly helpful!
has anybody try the presonus spectre
absolutely terrific monitors. the passive radiators result in amazingly tight and powerful bass all the way down to 35ish hz. the standby feature can be disabled if you take the back plate off the monitor and find the switch on the PCB. I believe Focal is disabling that feature by default for some regions or maybe just forgets to enable it, as mine have never gone into standby (though I've not taken them apart to verify the switch setting). they definitely require a longer-than-usual (per Focal) burn-in period. I used a multi-color modular noise source.
Still great ?? :)
@@trixniisama best studio money I've spent. when you hear new things in albums you've listened to for 20 years you know you have some pretty good speakers.
@@negativesaucer Nice! Would you suggest the smaller Shape 50 for a desktop PC/table setup? Listening distance of 0.8m - 1m. I like that I don't have to worry about the distance to the wall with these. Thanks :-)
I'm REALLY appreciating your honest and critical reviews. Every other youtube channel just talks about how "awesome" whatever newest item they just got is. You are gonna be big if you keep this up! Please do MORE reviews! I'd love to see you do some more monitors in the $1000-$3000/pair type range! I'm kind of agonizing over monitors right now. Been using my crappy Behringer Truths for about 17 years (!) and I want to get something nice, but also loud and robust enough for a large-ish room. I do very little critical mixing- mostly just production and composing, and the information on the net is heavily biased toward mixing vs production!
Truth not so crappy. Genelec sound at Chinese prices.
@@Thoracius I mean, you have a point. I've been working on them (and making a decent amount of $$$ working on them!) over the years! As I get more wise and experienced however, I'm starting to really HEAR what they're often missing. Also, as a professional bassist, it's striking sometimes how masked and hazy the low end can sound on the Truths. Like I'll be in the car and hear tons more detail on the bass part of a song than I do on the Truths. They definitely are fantastic for their asking price, but they absolutely have glaring weaknesses, and they could be quickly outgrown by a more discerning user.
This is great! Thanks Geoff, been wanting these for a while and waiting for a great in-depth review. 🤟
It would be interesting to compare them to the focal shape twin...They normally need 10-40 hours to break in. I had a pair of YG Acoustics (crazy audiophile system I have) need 250 hours to break in becasue they use a crazy crossover and solid aluminum T6 machined drivers not stamped.
Bought a pair of Focal twin Shapes last week and I must say I am very impressed by them!
How are they treating you 1 year on?
I need at least one month to be able to really judge a speaker. That said I bought two Focal Shape 65s today. Good stuff, thank you.
Whats the word, do u still like them?! Lol. Deciding between these or a7x. I already have the a5x so kinda want a diff brand to switch between
Nice review that gels well with my experience (I've had a pair for just over a fortnight and I love 'em). Standby power consumption is 0.5W according to the manual. And yeah, the left one always comes out of standby before the right one does. What's up with that?
The cone is made out of flax seed, not bamboo. The reason they used that is because it emits sound better than most other materials like Kevlar or fibre glass. It's also one of the most rigid cones in the industry which is meant to give a very tight, mid-low to low response. I've had mine for over a year and reasonably happy with them. The main downside is that they only go down to 40Hz which is fine if you're working on pop music for example, or simply editing soundtracks, but if you're working on bass music then you might want a little more low end. They do pack a punch though, and you can always buy a sub if it's an issue. What you hear on them is pretty much how it will sound on other systems, so they are pretty accurate.
cun7us I said it looks like bamboo. I didn’t say it was made out of bamboo.
@@ManchesterMusic I know, but you didn't mention flax seed either so thought I would clarify. With regards to aesthetics, in my opinion they look nice especially compared with say, Adam speakers, but this is negligible compared to how they sound. Overall it was a decent and honest review, and I agree with the top end sounding "smooth" which takes some getting used to.
This or solo 6be?
Why is this dudes voice so relaxing
@@leosoundtrack facts
hey ! mr. Geoff ! like ur video ! Im in a 3.6m x 4.5m room real good acoustic treatment ! all bass trap , cloud, first reflection front and back wall ,all treated!
Im confused about choose Focal Shape 65 or Focal Solo6be . mainly use it for Tracking , Production , Mixing . I heard SHAPE series are more adapt to small room (like my 3.6m x 4.5m) and find some comment says Shape65 tells problem in Mix , if its sounds bad then u need fix in mix , also mention Solo6be just sounds good no matter mix is bad or good ? wanna hear ur opinion! thanks !
What do you use for music listening? I'd like a pair of speaks for primarily music listening but ones that can double as monitors in a pinch (for playing guitar)
Could these translate well to use as general hi-fi speakers? I live in an apartment, so no need for giant speakers. I just want great sound, so I am looking to pro monitors as opposed to hi-fi separates.
Thanks!
I feel that you would get impressive quality from a decent “bookshelf” monitor such that you wouldn’t need to fork out a ton of cash on Focals. Don’t get me wrong, they sound great but their application is mostly designed for critical listening.
@@ManchesterMusic makes sense. Thanks for the reply!
I heard the 4'' of this line, the lows was *insane* for their size! Absolutely jaw-dropping for a speaker with a 4'' woofer. Or 3 woofers per speaker? haha Dunno. Anyways. Point made 🤪
When you tuned the EQ on the speakers, what did you use to reference the room response?
Im debating between these or APS Klasiks 2020.. Hmm anybody have thoughts?
Thanks for this calmy and smooth review! I can't reach for the Solo 6be, except than used. Givent hat I can take my hands on a used pair: I have a very difficult and small room. Waht would you suggest: Shape 65 (or Twin, which should be more defined in midrange, which is important for me, slightly overdriven Guitar and jazz mainly), with passive Radioator an more filters forto manage room problems or Solo6 be whith teh better sound? Thanks for hints and advises!
Hello. I hear these monitors dont have volume control? So if i want to connect them directly to my dj mixer master our, how it will be? No problem? How to adjust volume becouse no amplifier.
What a good and convivial review ..thank you !
I have Yamaha’s H7 since 2013 in a 15m2 treated room.. and I finally decided to upgrade .. found your channel .. so those or Genelec ? To stay In the midfiled monitors…PopRock Rock blues music.
Thanks.
Focal shape 65 or adam a7x ? What would you pick?
Love your reviews, very honest and in detail. It would be great if you could share your opinion about the Focal Solo6 BE!
I can sum them up here: they’re very reliable and offer great low end resolution without needing a sub (necessarily). My only complaints are these: I wish they’d offered built it protection tweeter protection. A metal grill or something. They’re made of beryllium and quite exposed. One cracked during a move. The other thing, and I have no empirical proof, is that they seem to be slightly lower output than when I first bought them. Little quieter. Otherwise, they’re great
@@ManchesterMusic Thanks for your quick response. Need to hear them myself. By the way: Their latest update of this model offer the protection for the tweeter. They say that they even compensated for the expected slight tonal change. Grettings
What are you think about the Focal Shape Twin? They are better or just other/different? Thanks!
I use ableton for pro mixing :(
I was recommended the Focal Shapes. However, I have my reservations regarding the auto standby feature. Can this be defeated? I think this will be a problem if I listen to music using a lower volume. This is very concerning. If this can't be turned off, what similar quality monitors do you recommend? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
Hi, I'm about to buy Focal Shapes, also having doubts about this feature, but multiple sources say that there is an internal switch to turn the Auto Standby feature off.
@@vitnemec8365 Well, yes. I showed a photo of this to someone, as I'm blind, and they helped me open up the speaker and turned the switch off. With care, they put the speakers back together. Once the auto-standby was turned off, the startup of the speakers were faster. I've had the Focal Shape 65s for almost a year now and loving them!!! I think you should go for it.
Should I get those just as quality pair of speakers for music listening?
In my opinion, if you want to just listen to music, you should take a look to the phantom by Devialet... you will put the same price, and these a really really impressive for just listening to music.
Will these be good for EDM?
Old video, but i want to give my opinion about Focal Shapes. I had Focal CMS 66 and Focal Shape 65. They are two different things. The CMS have the Focal Solo6 signature sound and they are really good monitors for mixing. Very critical, mids focused and the most important, the mixes translate almost perfectly. The Shapes i had one year and never been able to mix on them. Actually they sound really nice, warm, organic, but to me they are not fast and you lose the articulation of the sound on this monitores. To me the Shapes are HiFi monitors. In the studio you can use them for composing, playing, maybe even for some production works, but definitely not for mixing.
What? Shape 65 are one of the fastest and most articulated monitors in their price range. Maybe something was wrong with your pair
disagree, had the solo 6 and now shape 65 and the shape really better, particularly they have a very usable bottom end
I share some of your thoughts, I have right now the cms65 and shape 65 in my room, I think the tweeter sounds more open and detailed, and the bass is deep and rounded, great punch at low-mid without muddiness, the stereo image is some diffuse and cloudy, it's like a phase weird sound... at other side the shapes 65 has better transient response and incredible precise stereo image and sweet spot (really awesome), but sounds a little muddy at the low-mid, the twitter has a warmer sound that soften the details. Definitely its funniest to listen at focals cms 65, the shapes sound dull for me, maybe I need more time to learn them, its curious I have too a pair of Yamahas HS5 that cost the fifth part of focals, and they are better to show the balance at mid frequencies to set the volume of voice and instruments. Good complement.
your mic sounds awesome
Is the Solo 6Be more detailed?
which brand of subwoofer would you recommend?
As I do not currently own one, I don’t feel comfortable recommending any.
Did you try turning up the high shelf on the back at all? Wonder if they still would have sounded soft.
I was curious about that as well
Great review.
I have a pair of focal shape 50, what sub do you suggest for them?
I don’t! Not that I don’t recommend subs, I’ve just never owned one and can’t really recommend as such.
I had a pair of the solo 6's had to sell them when times got bad.. now Im interested in these..I will mainly use these for mastering work and general listening.. do you think they are a downgrade compared to the solos..??
I prefer them compared to solo6
I'm torn between going all out on these, or Tannoy Gold 8's. There's no where near to me go and listen to each of them though. How much difference do you think there will be between the Focal Shape 65's and Tannoy Gold 8's? The Focals are double the price, but not sure whether it's worth it for a home studio. thanks
What did you buy?
@@jontshyza I ended up with the Tannoy's in the end. They sound absolutely beautiful and clear especially in the mid-range, my only complaint is that for an active set of speakers their volume adjustment doesn't go low enough, so you have to rely on turning down the input signal (which isn't ideal with respect to signal-to-noise ratios.) I still haven't had the chance to hear the Focals in person so it's really difficult to say whether I made the right decision, but overall I'm certainly happy with the Gold 8's.
Between them, Adam 5X and Yamaha HS8 which one would you recommend for production/mixing purposes (i know it it's not about genre specific but i'm still mentioning that i make electronic music - downtempo, ambient, techno, trip-hop.) :) Thanks!
I’ve tried neither unfortunately :(
@@ManchesterMusic Thanks for replying! :)
They can't have any dsp since they don't receive digital data to begin with, those potentiometers must be analog filters.
Did you had a chance to compare them to the focal evos or the adam audio?
I have not compared them to the evos. I did have a pair of Adam A7Xs but I didn’t have them in the studio at the same time as the focals so I can’t really compare them.
Are these focal any good for mixing? They are pricey and it would be a waste of money if they are good just for producing and listening to music
Lol
Lolll “pricey”
@@kazmir_ im sorry mr. Professional, I just do things at home for fun and and certanly for no money. I have another career completely unrelated to music mixing and gives me joy and money but i like good experience of detailed sound and mix things i do. Ive owned most of the entry level studio monitors. Now i own the focal alpha 80s and evo 50s and I like the performance them so perhaps the shapes are good improvement to what i have. So im asking again...are these any good?
This was pretty helpful. My gut feeling from what you've said is that for the money there are probably better options at this price. It sounds like there are issues in the highs and issues in the low mids. Shame as I'd really like some focals.
result 6, adam a7x, focal solo6be which do you like speaker?
Focal
@@ManchesterMusic Thank you
Hi, I realise it’s not the same thing, but would you recommend the Focal Alpha 65 for a semi treated room that’s about 10 by 11 feet. Would they be too powerful. Have no chance of demoing them hence asking around.
I own those and man they're good at low volumes and should be enough for that size room.
@@QuickQuips Great thanks. Would a distance of 3 feet to my ears be sufficient.
I own the Alpha 65. I love them!!!!
@@AH20XXWhat’s the distance of the speaker from your ears. Is your room treated.
@@accentontheoff my room is somewhat treated. I'm usually 3 feet away at a moderate volume. I love the Focals and my sonics have dramatically improved since getting them.
you can disable the auto-off feature by flipping a switch inside the speakers ⚡️
I no longer have these monitors on loan so I can say for sure. A quick search online seems to indicate that this feature cannot be disabled. I might be wrong, but good luck.
@@ManchesterMusic I have a pair and I disabled it because the auto-off feature was driving me NUTS 😵💫I got in touch with someone at Focal who sent instructions on how to shut it off - great review! what are your monitors these days?
Hey Geoff, I always enjoy your videos!
Do these Focals have any hiss? I'm asking because I just bought a pair of Adam Audio T5V's, which sound really great for the price. But a slight audible hiss from the tweeters (self-noise even without any input) bothers me to the point where i'm considering returning them. Do the more expensive monitors from Focal or Adam suffer from this in your experience?
Hey Bart. This is definitely a bug, not a feature of those monitors. This could be a few things; dirty power/ground loop/cellphone interference/wifi interference. Try using a different power source if you can, going straight into another outlet. I used to have wifi Router interference in my Focal Solo Bes so I called my ISP and got them to switch channels I was using for transmitting wifi and this actually worked. So try that too. Also, sometimes if I keep my iPhone close to my monitors I get all kinds of unwanted interference.
The first thing I’d do is contact Adam and see if they have any additional steps. I’m doubtful this is something to do with the construction of your monitors.
@@ManchesterMusic Thank you so much for taking the time trying to help!
I tried different power outlets in different places. I tried the monitors in the garden out of WiFi-reach. But the sound (a hiss, not a hum) is there from the moment I power them on. So I suspect it is inherent to them. I have no other experience with active monitors to be honest. But could it be that all active monitors have some kind of quiet hiss? My passive Elac-speakers coupled to a Yamaha-amp don't have this (only when you put your ear right to the speaker).
I was planning to use the T5V’s not only for mixing (where some hiss is not very bothering), but also for enjoying music late at night at low volume levels in a quiet house.
So maybe I’m looking for something that doesn’t exist, a hardwood floor with the comfort of a carpet, to use your wonderful analogy :-)
I contacted Adam in the meantime, waiting to hear from them.
The helpful people at Adam Audio already sent a reply:
"This is normal behaviour for the T5V.
Due to the high-performance amplifier, the T5V produces a low self-noise, which should not be perceived as disturbing from a distance of 1.3 meters.
It can be reduced a little by turning down the level at the back of the T5V and increasing the level of the source accordingly."
A interesting addition from Adam Audio: "Dear Bart, all of our monitors emit a certain hiss from the tweeter. The models of the AX-Series and the S-Series do this to a lower degree compared to the T-Series."
So I might try a different model.
Anyways, have a great day Geoff! Looking forward to your next videos, they're always great!
@@bartloomanmusic Hey Bart, did you end up returning them? I just bought a pair and noticed the hiss too. I'm trying to figure out if other brands in that price range have the same issue.
I’m really considering the Adams A7X’s. I’ve been comparing these, the A7X’s and the DynAudio BM5mkIII’s. I’m upgrading my home studio from 12 year old KRK’s. Any advice is helpful. Thanks!
Well, you should take a look at my review of the A7Xs I just did!
Manchester Music thanks!
@@Avedis-G wow , eaxctly the same here , i have KRK ROKIT 8 first generation and i`m looking for an upgrade too , what did you buy and how do you compare it to the KRK`s ?
DJ_URBAN_BG I ended up going with the Adams A7X’s. The KRK’s were great for learning on and served me well for 13 years but there is absolutely no comparison at all. The Adams have that ribbon tweeter and the cleanest, flattest response I could find.
@@Avedis-G i am happy for you , i still wonder which monitors to choose , i heard that in this price range GENELEC M040 is the best , and Neumann KH 120 a little after them , but i guess they are all good and its just a matter off taste
I own Focal Alpha 65, I was wanting an upgrade, are these an upgrade?
For the price, keep what you have and maybe buy a better DAC or preamp. I don't think the upgrade is worth...
Hi Geoff , off topic Apols .. but would you so kind as to mix some orchestral stuff in neutron 3 please ?
I’ll watch this out of courtesy lol x
As a carpenter, wood can be fixed up in all kinds of ways, plastic, not so much.
Hey man Great review!How do they compare with the solo 6s?I just got a pair of solos and i was really wondering about the low end on shapes are they any better in that territory (tighter/punchier)?And translationwise which one seems to you better?
I find the Solo6s are noticeably better at reproducing great low end with very little distortion at high SPLs. Just my 2cents.
Debating on grabbing these or Shape Twins. Price isn’t an issue, it’s just I’m a bit “worried” that the twins might be too big for my room (12x12x8). It’s extremely well treated, tested and analyzed using SoundID Reference and REW. Hoping to grab these 65 or twins next Wednesday:)
Did you get a hold of these? I'm wondering if they go to "sleep" at very low volume
@@Null_Point3r I never had that series go sleep even on very quiet listening volume but the definition for very quiet can be different :D Anyway you can disable the sleep function. I did on mine at some point as I use em with a sub, which is an older model and has no sleep function.
@@ognyankoynashki Thank you for your response. I have purchased these speakers a while ago and I love them. To disable the sleep function you'll have to open them apperantly as there is no switch for the sleep function on the backside
Great review as always, ehat mic are you using, i think my voice is similar to yours
It's a Shure SM7B.
i think this monitors would be perfect if the frecuency knobs was with steps, click, or directly a switch, because we need perfect stereo pair setup for critical monitoring, other way its so difficult to get the same response, so great tecnology with, twiter, woofer, cabinet, passive radiator, drivers, and the last cherry over cake...... that awfull frecuency knobs. my 2 cents
My mate has a pair of these and compared to my Kali In-5's they sounded a bit muddied.
Hey man, i have a 1100 budget for monitors... really disappointed on what to get... i'm doing rap music... mixing my tracks etc.. and i don't know where to go. I'm currently treating my room for acoustics.. some helps maybe ?
Hey there. So 1100 for a pair?
@@ManchesterMusic yep.. the 2 for 1100 was thinking .. focal 65s or a7X from adam i'm producting rap music most of the time... and i planned to treat my room acousticly. :)
Romain st ok. If I were you I spend as much as you can get away with treating your room. It’s crucial. I’ve generally had better luck and been more impressed with Focals entry monitors than Adams (see my review of the A7Xs).
@@ManchesterMusicI went with the focal 65... i heard both... with my music .. for 30 to 40 min inside a treated room at the store in Paris. We'll see how it sound in my room after burn :) Thanks for your both videos.
Romain je taime
It's not your room. All passive radiator speakers tend to build up mid frequencies. I first realizes that a few years back on some cheaper Definitive Technology S.M. 55's.
It’s funny because when you reviewed the Adam A7X you said they were too bright 😂
They are
@@ManchesterMusic No I agree but in this video you state that bright can be a good thing, yet you called out the Adams A7X for being too bright! Anyways your videos are amazing! so much detailed information! I love how you cover every specification while applying it to the behavior of the room.
Gotcha. It’s tough, but it’s one of those “I know it when I see/hear it” kind of things. The Adam’s are blindingly bright, to me. Funny enough, folks will often admit that they’re very bright and weave the brightness into a competitive advantage story which..I dunno, just doesn’t work for me based on my experience with the product. But anyone reading this please: TRY THEM FOR YOURSELVES AND MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND.
Alex
Alexsandr Warzar
The unprotected Speaker and radiators on side are just asking for an accident on a computer desk.
It's hard to find an actual listening test, not just talk.
Did you say the claws (or even your isoacoustics) effect standing waves? Haha! No.
these monitors have great sound BUT THE FEATURE THAT MAKES IT SO U HAVE TO WAKE UP THE SPEAKERS WITH A CERTAIN LEVEL OF VOLUME MAKES THESE SUCK SO MUCH BECAUSE U NEED TO START UR LISTENING SESSION WITH SOMETHING HIGHER VOLUME THAN U WANT IT IT MAY EVEN HURT UR EARS IF U PUT SOMETHING ON THAT HAS REALLY PUNCHY BASS IT JUST SUCKS AND IT REALLY SUCKS WHEN U WANT TO LISTEN TO SOMETHING SPECIFIC AS THE FIRST SOUND U HEAR FOR THE DAY AND U MISS THE BEGINNING OF THE SONG THAT U WANTED TO HEAR AND HAVE TO GO BACK OR U HAVE TO PLAY SOME OTHER THING FIRST. THE FEATURE JUST ALL AROUND SUCKS I HATE THAT FEATURE
Breathe lol
He really likes talking to himself
Isn't that a great, useful and supportive, grateful-for-the-in-depth review, thank you comment?