Genelec 8010A Powered Studio Monitor Review

[ahofer]

If pairing these with a sub (e.g. 7040 or similar), and just listening at near field distance at moderate volume (i.e. desktop), is there any real reason to get the 8020/30s over these?

I haven’t found any - for desktop use, that is.

 

[Xyrium]

Probably power handling, which may even translate to better linearity/distorion at lower levels (86dB ) as well.

Edit: Perhaps sub integration as well. Those little 3" mids might not transition as well as a 5".

 

[YSC]

If pairing these with a sub (e.g. 7040 or similar), and just listening at near field distance at moderate volume (i.e. desktop), is there any real reason to get the 8020/30s over these?

should not be a lot of drawback, but the 8020 and 8030 did goes a bit flatter, distortion charateristics should be better around cross over frequency and the directivity is also better

 

[Katcho]

Bought 7040 sub for my 8010, sound fine, but my room is really weird, got some dips at 36Hz range, whats wrong? My room is untreated, but im not sure its worth to invest.
Also frquency response is somewhat jaggy, its there easy way to fix?REW measurements are quite diferent than Sonarworks Sound ID too.

 

[movehome]

I got one of these Genelec 8010's to try out. I'm comparing it to a Tannoy 402 right now and the Tannoy seems to sound better in some ways. It only costs $100 too. I really expected the Genelec to be a step up since it costs 4x as much and is highly rated.

The Genelec has so little bass that it sounds really weak. I bought this one going on Amir's note that the speaker has a good amount of bass for a desktop setup... but it really doesn't. And I don't even listen to really "bass-heavy" type music either... mostly just rock-ish stuff with bass guitar (Joni Mitchell Edith and the Kingpin playing atm).

I thought it would suit me well since I don't listen to bass-heavy electronic and hip hop type stuff, and I don't listen loud at my desk, but man it can't even get bass going for Joni Mitchell... seriously.

Maybe some measurements would reveal flaws of the Tannoy that I'm not aware of, but to me it just sounds better at least without a sub.

Here's a track I listened to for comparison. Even this kind of bass-guitar playing feels completely lost in the mix on the Genelec. On the Tannoy it sounds great to my ears.

 

[digitallysane]

I got one of these Genelec 8010's to try out. I'm comparing it to a Tannoy 402 right now and the Tannoy seems to sound better in some ways. It only costs $100 too. I really expected the Genelec to be a step up since it costs 4x as much and is highly rated.

The Genelec has so little bass that it sounds really weak. I bought this one going on Amir's note that the speaker has a good amount of bass for a desktop setup... but it really doesn't.

I've been listening to a lot of rock and metal on 8010A s and they sound great with good bass.
Typical example: Metallica Black album.

Got the 8040 sub in the end because I also listen to quite a bit of bass heavy electronic music, and of course now even the Black album (or any other rock and metal stuff) sounds better and benefits from the extended range.
But I wouldn't have felt the need for a sub if I'd only be listening to rock/metal.

So what you describe sounds very different from my own experience.

 

[Buzz Roll]

I got one of these Genelec 8010's to try out. I'm comparing it to a Tannoy 402 right now and the Tannoy seems to sound better in some ways. It only costs $100 too. I really expected the Genelec to be a step up since it costs 4x as much and is highly rated.

The Genelec has so little bass that it sounds really weak. I bought this one going on Amir's note that the speaker has a good amount of bass for a desktop setup... but it really doesn't. And I don't even listen to really "bass-heavy" type music either... mostly just rock-ish stuff with bass guitar (Joni Mitchell Edith and the Kingpin playing atm).

I thought it would suit me well since I don't listen to bass-heavy electronic and hip hop type stuff, and I don't listen loud at my desk, but man it can't even get bass going for Joni Mitchell... seriously.

Maybe some measurements would reveal flaws of the Tannoy that I'm not aware of, but to me it just sounds better at least without a sub.

Here's a track I listened to for comparison. Even this kind of bass-guitar playing feels completely lost in the mix on the Genelec. On the Tannoy it sounds great to my ears.

Did you only buy one 8010, or a pair? For a monitor that only goes down to 67 Hz on paper, the bass is good on a desktop IME. I've found the amount of quality sound these little monitors can put out is amazing.

 

[Digby]

I got one of these Genelec 8010's to try out. I'm comparing it to a Tannoy 402 right now and the Tannoy seems to sound better in some ways. It only costs $100 too. I really expected the Genelec to be a step up since it costs 4x as much and is highly rated.

Without a sub and for almost any type of music larger speakers will, by and large, just produce better and deeper bass. This doesn't mean every larger speaker is better just because it is larger, but that bass reproduction is very important and will trump a lot of smaller considerations. A larger speaker has a significant advantage with bass reproduction for reasons of pure physics.

There is an implicit assumption on this site that people will use subwoofers to fill in the low frequencies, as best practise, of course this isn't always the case in reality.

If you want to use the speakers without a sub, then you typically want to look at the largest models you can use in your circumstance.

 

[Katcho]

I got one of these Genelec 8010's to try out. I'm comparing it to a Tannoy 402 right now and the Tannoy seems to sound better in some ways. It only costs $100 too. I really expected the Genelec to be a step up since it costs 4x as much and is highly rated.

The Genelec has so little bass that it sounds really weak. I bought this one going on Amir's note that the speaker has a good amount of bass for a desktop setup... but it really doesn't. And I don't even listen to really "bass-heavy" type music either... mostly just rock-ish stuff with bass guitar (Joni Mitchell Edith and the Kingpin playing atm).

I thought it would suit me well since I don't listen to bass-heavy electronic and hip hop type stuff, and I don't listen loud at my desk, but man it can't even get bass going for Joni Mitchell... seriously.

Maybe some measurements would reveal flaws of the Tannoy that I'm not aware of, but to me it just sounds better at least without a sub.

Here's a track I listened to for comparison. Even this kind of bass-guitar playing feels completely lost in the mix on the Genelec. On the Tannoy it sounds great to my ears.

Maybe move monitors closer to wall?
For a size have plenty amount of bass, especialy for desktop aplications. Its missing lower bass, thats for sure.

 

[tifune]

The amplifiers for the woofer and tweeter are just 25 watts. I suspect the amp is clipping before the woofer is:

View attachment 88483

View attachment 88484

I don't have the heart to show you the 96 dB SPL response.

When looking at results like this, I wonder if there's any meaningful way to calculate improvements once crossover is factored in? For example, if we cross this over at 80Hz, how much (if any) improvement will we see from 80-150Hz? How much would the peak/constant output increase? Setting aside people's tolerances for HD, i'm just trying to understand the test results a bit better

There is an implicit assumption on this site that people will use subwoofers to fill in the low frequencies, as best practise, of course this isn't always the case in reality.

This was my first improtant takeaway from GRADE - my desk creates a -14dB chasm at 100Hz, so I just cross over to L/R 7350s at 100Hz and response is much smoother overall. With 8341's at 1m, it's not like volume (or even bass for most music) is an issue but it easily fixed a significant FR issue. And then I present that to my Denon as single L/Rs and cross over again at 40Hz, followed by lying to myself and saying I have W351A's

 

[montyliam]

I'm currently using 8030'cs as LCR around 2.5m away in a small HT setup, I need to add some surrounds and looking at either these or the 8020d's. They will be around 1m away from my head each side and highpassed 4th order BW at 120hz. I usually play the system quite loud (close to reference) and was wondering if these will have enough output for that. The 8030c's despite their small size are able to reach my desired output at 2.5m away, so I can (assume) that these would suffice for the surround channel, or should I save a bit more and go for the 8020's? Thanks guys.

 

[staticV3]

@montyliam you lose 8dB SPL with the 8010 compared to the 8030, but gain 8dB SPL by putting the speaker 1m away instead of 2.5m.

 

[The French]

Bought a pair of these few days ago, and could not be more happier.

My only concern is, of course, the lack of bass. I listen to a lot of electronic music.

Some might say it would be better to get 8030...but those are much larger, and I'm not sure they are that better for a tiny desktop, than 8010 + a sub.

So my idea is to get a sub.

Is there a good reason to go with the 7040 from Genelec, apart from having a gene?
I mean, it's quite expensive, it apparently has a fixed crossover, and it's not particularly small (with a not particularly large driver).

Any subwoofer I should look at ?

 

[staticV3]

@The French ideally you want a sub with crossover and XLR pass-through built in.
A sub from Genelec gives you this, but in return the sub cannot play particularly deep nor loud.

There's a thread discussing just this:

Subwoofer/DAC for Genelec 8020d or 8030c

set to the lowest gain that allows you to get the loudest volume you need. You have more sensitivity in volume control and likely lower noise (hiss) then. The lowest gains would be +12 and +6 right? I believe I read somewhere that the numbers were reversed / counterintuitive to what one would...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[ahofer]

Bought a pair of these few days ago, and could not be more happier.

My only concern is, of course, the lack of bass. I listen to a lot of electronic music.

Some might say it would be better to get 8030...but those are much larger, and I'm not sure they are that better for a tiny desktop, than 8010 + a sub.

So my idea is to get a sub.

Is there a good reason to go with the 7040 from Genelec, apart from having a gene?
I mean, it's quite expensive, it apparently has a fixed crossover, and it's not particularly small (with a not particularly large driver).

Any subwoofer I should look at ?

I have the companion Genelec Sub with the 8010s. Works great, but 8010 is obviously very nearfield.

 

[digitallysane]

Is there a good reason to go with the 7040 from Genelec, apart from having a gene?
I mean, it's quite expensive, it apparently has a fixed crossover, and it's not particularly small (with a not particularly large driver).

Any subwoofer I should look at ?

Might want to check the manual and other docs, to get a better idea if it has what you want or not:

7040A Active Studio Subwoofer - Genelec.com

Our most compact professional subwoofer, the 7040A brings controlled low-end accuracy to the tightest of production spaces.

www.genelec.com

I got it for my 8010As and I'm very happy with it. But I didn't bother looking for alternatives.

 

[The French]

@The French ideally you want a sub with crossover and XLR pass-through built in.
A sub from Genelec gives you this, but in return the sub cannot play particularly deep nor loud.

There's a thread discussing just this:

Subwoofer/DAC for Genelec 8020d or 8030c

set to the lowest gain that allows you to get the loudest volume you need. You have more sensitivity in volume control and likely lower noise (hiss) then. The lowest gains would be +12 and +6 right? I believe I read somewhere that the numbers were reversed / counterintuitive to what one would...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I'm a bit confused by that internal crossover thing.

I understand that the 7040 crossover is fixed (at around 85Hz).
But how can that specific crossover be right for different speakers ? I mean, the 8010s, 8020 or 8030s do not have the same bass abilities, right ?

Isn't it better to adjust that crossover manually, and to try to adjust with REW ?

 

[staticV3]

I'm a bit confused by that internal crossover thing.

I understand that the 7040 crossover is fixed (at around 85Hz).
But how can that specific crossover be right for different speakers ? I mean, the 8010s, 8020 or 8030s do not have the same bass abilities, right ?

Isn't it better to adjust that crossover manually, and to try to adjust with REW ?

~80Hz Xover works well for most mains, regardless of their stock frequency response.
Any lower and you lose the distortion advantage of the sub
Any higher and you risk the sub becoming directional

 

[ElNino]

I'm a bit confused by that internal crossover thing.

I understand that the 7040 crossover is fixed (at around 85Hz).
But how can that specific crossover be right for different speakers ? I mean, the 8010s, 8020 or 8030s do not have the same bass abilities, right ?

Isn't it better to adjust that crossover manually, and to try to adjust with REW ?

The 7040 crossover isn't perfect in the sense that it doesn't appear to form a perfect LR4 crossover with any of the 8010, 8020 or 8030. But it's quite adequate and much better than nothing, and room issues are always going to dominate low frequencies anyway.

That being said, if you can manually do the crossover, it's quite possible you can do it better.

 

[The French]

That being said, if you can manually do the crossover, it's quite possible you can do it better.

I'm gonna try the manual way.

I'd have bought the 7040 if it wasn't so expensive, and big (for my desk).

In fact I'm sure the tiniest fostex sub, the PM submini2, would be more than enough for my need.
But no XLR., and I'll have to play with the mic and REW to adjust the best I could.