Genelec 8050B Review (Studio Monitor)

[YSC]

That sounds like a design flaw. Users shouldn't have to open up their speakers and add "extra gasket tape here and there".

I did found the genelec standard screw tightening force might be a tad too light, and maybe during shipping my own 8030C have one with uneven gap which didn't really affect sound, but as some guy who feels this annoys me I take a hex screw driver and can easily tighten the wider side of the gap a turn and it all becomes normal looking, contacting Genelec service they say they will review the manufacture process and apologize to me. it seems more like transporting vibration caused that and if loosen enough it could break the factory gasket

 

[Frank Dernie]

I did found the genelec standard screw tightening force might be a tad too light, and maybe during shipping my own 8030C have one with uneven gap which didn't really affect sound, but as some guy who feels this annoys me I take a hex screw driver and can easily tighten the wider side of the gap a turn and it all becomes normal looking, contacting Genelec service they say they will review the manufacture process and apologize to me. it seems more like transporting vibration caused that and if loosen enough it could break the factory gasket

This may be a difficult problem to solve.
It is important for vibration damping for bolts not to be over tightened. In the case of the metal shelled Genelec speakers I would guess (I do not know for sure but have a lot of noise and vibration experience) that the gasket is the major part of the cabinet damping and if the bolts are tightened too much the gasket contribution will be reduced and if enough for metal to metal contact reduced a lot.
If the correct torque for damping and normal handling is not enough to guarantee bolts not coming loose during long distance transport in a high vibration environment a light loctite may be the answer.

 

[YSC]

This may be a difficult problem to solve.
It is important for vibration damping for bolts not to be over tightened. In the case of the metal shelled Genelec speakers I would guess (I do not know for sure but have a lot of noise and vibration experience) that the gasket is the major part of the cabinet damping and if the bolts are tightened too much the gasket contribution will be reduced and if enough for metal to metal contact reduced a lot.
If the correct torque for damping and normal handling is not enough to guarantee bolts not coming loose during long distance transport in a high vibration environment a light loctite may be the answer.

yea, and somehow genelec told me if I use a hex screw and easily can tighten it a bit then go ahead, but don't use both hands and try too hard to tighten them when might damage the gasket

 

[edbosscom]

yea, and somehow genelec told me if I use a hex screw and easily can tighten it a bit then go ahead, but don't use both hands and try too hard to tighten them when might damage the gasket

For future reference, I measured these bolts & mine were tightened to roughly 3 Nm from the factory.

 

[Sprint]

This is really interesting info. I was considering getting a pair of 8330A's but was wondering if they'd have issues like this. Are you familiar with this series? Worth it?

I use them for surround duties with 8340 as LCR in my living room supported by 2 SVS 12" subs. To my ears, I find them perfect and they play clean. my average sound is around 75 db(z). I have used GLM to take care of room correction. This combination rocks for both movies and music. I wanted to purchase 8350 or 1032c for LR as they measured even better than 8351 as per soundandrecording (mainly 8350) but it was not available in white color.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Interesting-I would think heat dissipation at high volumes might be an issue?

The cabinets are die-cast aluminium and that is an excellent heat conductor, so that would help a lot.

 

[YSC]

That's unusual; my 8040 has a pretty transparent limiter, no clipping sounds. I had an issue with what sounded like bass distortion, which I got rid of by opening up the speaker and adding some extra gasket tape here and there

actually out of curiosity, what was the sound like? was it something similar to farting as in air leak in them?

 

[soundwave76]

may I ask why say so ? I think if for nearfield 2.1 setting properly set up the 8030+sub should dig deeper and yet cheaper?

Just a personal opinion. I have yet to encounter a speaker+sub combo that works flawlessly with music. The Genelec SAM series with room correction come close though. With movies the sub and speaker pairing problems are not that relevant and the extra bass punch is welcome.

 

[peniku8]

actually out of curiosity, what was the sound like? was it something similar to farting as in air leak in them?

I can't really tell anymore, it didn't occur often (or it was masked by other spectral content) and it wasn't super loud. Sounded like a cable was rattling hitting something rather soft (like a rattling sound low-passed at 200hz, if that makes sense). I couldn't even identify the culprit, so I added some extra gasket tape to the woofer shielding, but maybe just moving the cables a bit fixed it.

 

[YSC]

I can't really tell anymore, it didn't occur often (or it was masked by other spectral content) and it wasn't super loud. Sounded like a cable was rattling hitting something rather soft (like a rattling sound low-passed at 200hz, if that makes sense). I couldn't even identify the culprit, so I added some extra gasket tape to the woofer shielding, but maybe just moving the cables a bit fixed it.

Ic, so maybe it's just cable, so you didn't tape more on the two halves gasket joint?

 

[Hephaestus]

I use them for surround duties with 8340 as LCR in my living room supported by 2 SVS 12" subs. To my ears, I find them perfect and they play clean. my average sound is around 75 db(z). I have used GLM to take care of room correction. This combination rocks for both movies and music. I wanted to purchase 8350 or 1032c for LR as they measured even better than 8351 as per soundandrecording (mainly 8350) but it was not available in white color.

They are available in white. You can get them even in pink by special order but it is more €€€....

 

[richard12511]

I'd say if you haven't had to open up a speaker or two to chase down a strange noise, a vibration, or simply something touching the back of the cone at some point in your audiophile journey, then you need to buy more speakers!

I've crawled around behind speakers with my ear in ports, poking at terminal plates, checking unglued capacitors/chokes, loose spade terminals, rubbing voice coils etc etc. Honestly, I don't think there's a speaker on earth that doesn't make some kind of noise it shouldn't at some stage of its life.

Don't give me another excuse to "buy more speakers" . If anything, I need to slow my roll on buying new speakers. I live in a fairly small house and don't have enough room to support the ones I have atm . A lot of them are just sitting in storage.

 

[Sprint]

They are available in white. You can get them even in pink by special order but it is more €€€....

Not really. The Genelec website says the only color option is grey and it was the same a year back when I brought 8340. Now I will wait until the next Finance budget approval which could be after 10 years looking at the history

 

[TimVG]

Not really. The Genelec website says the only color option is grey and it was the same a year back when I brought 8340. Now I will wait until the next Finance budget approval which could be after 10 years looking at the history

The 4 series is available in any RAL color, and since the cabinets are exactly the same it would seem logical you'd be able to special order an 8 series with other colors as well.

 

[Sprint]

They are available in white. You can get them even in pink by special order but it is more €€€....

Not really. The Genelec website says the only color option is grey and it was the same a year back when I brought 8340.

View attachment 113966

The 4 series is available in any RAL color, and since the cabinets are exactly the same it would seem logical you'd be able to special order an 8 series with other colors as well.

Thanks! I will check with Genelec. I am anyway in touch with them to clarify a GLM related question.

 

[Hephaestus]

Not really. The Genelec website says the only color option is grey and it was the same a year back when I brought 8340.

View attachment 113966


Thanks! I will check with Genelec. I am anyway in touch with them to clarify a GLM related question.

Yes they are. Grey, Black and White are standard options. B&W cost slightly more. RAL colors are available also for 8350A and it is going to be special order and costs extra.

For some reason Genelec lists grey only on their website. Finnish dealers are listing black and white as well.
https://www.hifistudio.fi/fi/tuotte...50a-wm-dsp-kaiutin-polar-white/64381280015346

 

[Thomas_A]

Regarding the detail of the frequency response between 1-10 kHz, my only concern is the dip between about 1-2,5 kHz compared to 2,5-4 kHz. Although it is small enough to not give signifikant problems in the short run, I prefer to have the opposite small "correction" (as I mentioned in other threads). This is for example seen in the Revel M106/M16, where the energy on-axis 1-2 kHz is slightly higher than 2-4 kHz. These are rather small differences but makes the sound better when used in stereo, IMO.

 

[richard12511]

I prefer to have the opposite small "correction" (as I mentioned in other threads). This is for example seen in the Revel M106/M16, where the energy on-axis 1-2 kHz is slightly higher than 2-4 kHz. These are rather small differences but makes the sound better when used in stereo, IMO.

Subjectively, what effect would you say this has. The 8030c I own has the same dip, and it shows in all of my MM measurements, and @Maiky76 s EQ tweak fixes it. I also have the M105 on hand to compare and see if I can notice the difference.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

One of us with 8351Bs really needs to bite the bullet and send one in, but ugh I really don't want to deal with cross-border shipping one of these pricy things

I don't see much benefit. We have the spinorama for 8341A and SPL/distortion for 8361A.

 

[infinitesymphony]

I don't see much benefit. We have the spinorama for 8341A and SPL/distortion for 8361A.

A designer in Finland whose only credit is the 8351B breathes a sigh of relief. His mistake will remain a secret.