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They are surprisingly heavy for their size.
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Genelec 8030C Studio Monitor Review
- Thread starter amirm
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Miguelón
Major Contributor
I loved them, finally get the floor stands for better acoustics taking the speaker out of the table but were really useful
Miguelón
Major Contributor
I'm fully in love with those little monitors, but as in many great loves they appear some conflicts 
Currently using a WiiM Ultra as a source and for my personal taste I prefer by defalut - 6 dBu sensitivity unless recommendations to go more on the +6 side. Also I don't like WiiM 1 volt or 500 mV output selection.
As far as I can hers, I don't have so much noise, thanks to the good SINAD of the WiiM but prefer to asking if I'm wrong with numbers:
WiiM Ultra has 2 volts RCA output so this gives around 8 dBu at 0 dBFS, coupled by the 106 dB @ 0 dBu this give a theoretical 114 dB SPL at 1 m
Currently listening at about 70 dB SPL at 2 m, around 75 at 1, this menans if I'm correct that I use -40 dBFS in my WiiM volume.
According to WiiM specs of 121 dB SNR this let me -80 dB noise floor. Is this correct and - 80 acceptable in terms of normal listening? (I didn't account noise added from speakers)
Currently using a WiiM Ultra as a source and for my personal taste I prefer by defalut - 6 dBu sensitivity unless recommendations to go more on the +6 side. Also I don't like WiiM 1 volt or 500 mV output selection.
As far as I can hers, I don't have so much noise, thanks to the good SINAD of the WiiM but prefer to asking if I'm wrong with numbers:
WiiM Ultra has 2 volts RCA output so this gives around 8 dBu at 0 dBFS, coupled by the 106 dB @ 0 dBu this give a theoretical 114 dB SPL at 1 m
Currently listening at about 70 dB SPL at 2 m, around 75 at 1, this menans if I'm correct that I use -40 dBFS in my WiiM volume.
According to WiiM specs of 121 dB SNR this let me -80 dB noise floor. Is this correct and - 80 acceptable in terms of normal listening? (I didn't account noise added from speakers)
Another question which I know has been discussed extensively here, but looking for thoughts.
I am finally building up my living room the way we want. This will include updated stereo, a 2.2 system. Purpose here is mostly stereo. I listen quiet - really in my office 70dB average is fine for me. I just want that nice crisp sound in my living room, where I actually spend more of my relaxing time.
Office system: 8030c at 1m
Living room: NAD integrated amp KEF q100
New living room will be either:
8030c + 2 sb1000 + wiim or minidsp room correction
Q100 + 2 sb1000 + wiim (plan would be to eventually upgrade to some other, better passives)
I sit 9 feet from the tv and speakers. Room overall is 15x15 or so. Plenty of soft furniture. Nice rug. Not allowed to move the couch any closer.
I am familiar with the Genelec distance rating. When actually reading the graph, it indicates that at my distance the room would have strong effects. Why would this be different though for the Genelec vs any other 5ish inch woofer? Would the proposed system with digital crossover to subs change the distance recommendation in any way? Is this a square peg round hole with the Genelec?
I am finally building up my living room the way we want. This will include updated stereo, a 2.2 system. Purpose here is mostly stereo. I listen quiet - really in my office 70dB average is fine for me. I just want that nice crisp sound in my living room, where I actually spend more of my relaxing time.
Office system: 8030c at 1m
Living room: NAD integrated amp KEF q100
New living room will be either:
8030c + 2 sb1000 + wiim or minidsp room correction
Q100 + 2 sb1000 + wiim (plan would be to eventually upgrade to some other, better passives)
I sit 9 feet from the tv and speakers. Room overall is 15x15 or so. Plenty of soft furniture. Nice rug. Not allowed to move the couch any closer.
I am familiar with the Genelec distance rating. When actually reading the graph, it indicates that at my distance the room would have strong effects. Why would this be different though for the Genelec vs any other 5ish inch woofer? Would the proposed system with digital crossover to subs change the distance recommendation in any way? Is this a square peg round hole with the Genelec?
It is not different from any other bookshelf speaker. Distance ratings in the pro world are about volume capability at a given distance. Another qualification for nearfield is that the sound from the speaker drivers(woofer, midrange, tweeter) are combined at a short distance usually 1 meter.
The further away you sit the more room influence the sound will have. This is true regardless of the speaker. People make it sound like if you use a nearfield speaker in the mid-field it will reach a certain distance and the sound will turn to garbage and become nasty, distorted and unbearable to listen. Simply not true.
Sound disperses based on physics. A speaker's design can change how it interacts with a room depending on the dispersion characteristics of that speaker. There are many examples of near and mid field speakers with narrow and wide dispersion. So a given type of dispersion doesn't determine if it is a near, mid or far field speaker.
The further away you sit the more room influence the sound will have. This is true regardless of the speaker. People make it sound like if you use a nearfield speaker in the mid-field it will reach a certain distance and the sound will turn to garbage and become nasty, distorted and unbearable to listen. Simply not true.
Sound disperses based on physics. A speaker's design can change how it interacts with a room depending on the dispersion characteristics of that speaker. There are many examples of near and mid field speakers with narrow and wide dispersion. So a given type of dispersion doesn't determine if it is a near, mid or far field speaker.
Miguelón
Major Contributor
I suggest to go with G Threes B to a home listening, have better sensitivity and is slightly more ‘crispy’ than 8030C (measurements are the same but the electronic is better adapted and you have RCA connectors plus XLR balanced)
Proper subwoofer integration and room correction are crucial in such a setup. Hence, I would probably opt for a minidsp Flex & UMIK-1. This would allow you to integrate the subwoofers properly with REW and MSO and choose a crossover around 80-100 Hz with a steep 24/db or 48/db slope. Moreover, if you don't want to rely on manual room correction, the minidsp Flex gives you the option to buy the Dirac license.
Whether you choose the 8030c / G Threes or the Q100s will probably make less of a difference in perceived sound quality, once you have proper sub integration and room correction. The 8030c are textbook perfect, but the Q100 seem to be quite decent too with a preference score of 8.2 (with sub & eq). FWIW, I recently compared my 8030c to nearly 20-year-old KEF 3001 eggs in a similar setup (untreated room, 2.5m / 8.2ft listening distance, proper sub integration + room correction), and I could hear only a marginal difference at best.
Overall, I would probably choose the 8030c or G Threes and a minidsp Flex. With proper sub integration and room correction, this would give you a killer system for reasonable SPL levels. It would be clean without external amps and might offer somewhat superior sound compared to the Q100s. Finally, as Miguelón pointed out, G Threes may have some advantages over the 8030c in a living room setup (RCA instead of XLR connectors and a light that can be turned off).
Last edited:
TheZebraKilledDarwin
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What do you mean by "crisp"?
Do you mean to hear the cymbals, brightness and sheen clearly?
Or do you mean the kind of intimacy you may know from movie theatres, plosives in konsonants, or the warm cracklings of vinyl, or the warm crackling and foley in old movies, and the intimacy on the dancefloor, being close to the speakers?
I mean the Genelecs sound good and I want to have good sound everywhere in the house.
Thanks
This is what I thought when I first started planning the project, but I’ve been concerned based on some general comments about the 8030c not having enough for a 9’ listening distance.
I’ll check on the differences between WiiM and MiniDSP. I thought the WiiM seemed nice because it does have some room correction capabilities, and it also offers what seems to be a critical feature, a digital crossover
If you cross over to the subs at roughly 100 Hz with a steep slope, I guess a pair of 8030c should be fine for 85+ db listening levels at 9 ft. Genelec indicates that a pair of similar 8330 delivers up to 102 db short-term and 97 db long-term from 100 Hz - 3 kHz at 3m (~9 ft) in a 75 m3 room (see the figure below, which you probably already know). Hence, even if your room is bigger, you should probably be fine as long as you don't listen at ear-damaging levels. I did not explicitly test the SPL capabilities of the 8030c at 2.5 m / 8.2 ft, but they got louder than I would ever listen in my apartment, and I never saw the protection indicator flashing up. YMMV, though.
With the minidsp, you can set PEQs and delays for each of the four channels individually. I suppose this is crucial if you want to properly integrate the two subs (and use MSO). Not sure whether the WiiM offers such flexibility. Moreover, with a minidsp, you get the option to upgrade to Dirac later.
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Miguelón
Major Contributor
As I see, there are two main lines of opinions regarding equalization. Perhaps is not the topic of this thread, bit I find interesting as I’m not experienced with advanced EQ.
That’s it, what is preferable, a total free software that allows to manual correction or pay to a system that use algorithms?
Is there an objective comparison or a matter of preferences?
Frankly, I don't know, but I guess that, if you are experienced and know what you are doing (not me), you probably get better results if you do sub integration and room correction manually.
On my desktop, I have a pair of 8030c and an Arendal 1961 1s subwoofer together with a minidsp Flex. After watching a few youtube videos and experimenting a little, I was able to do the sub integration and room correction manually via REW. It was quite fun to learn, and it sounds sublime.
In the living room, I have a set of KEF HTS-3001 egg speakers and a SVS SB-1000 sub integrated and room-corrected via a Denon 3800 avr. I first tried the automatic Audyssey XT32, which comes with the avr, and also bought the 20$ iPad app to set the target curve and turn off Audyssey's midrange compensation. Results were ok but not great. Then, I switched to the much superior and open-source A1 Neuron from OCA. Results are fantastic.
Hence, I would say, with a minidsp, UMIK-1, and REW, I am able to achieve better results than with Audyssey XT32, despite my limited experience. On the other hand, A1 Neuron from OCA is on a different level, and sounds at least as good as the best I could do manually.
I have no experience with the semi-automatic Dirac, which is available for both the minidsp (only without bass control, needed to automatically integrate multiple subs) and the Denon 3800 (with or without bass control). Based on what I read, I suppose Dirac might perform similarly to A1 Neuron from OCA.
Miguelón
Major Contributor
I find the learning process as part of the fun, for the small corrections I had to do in my 2.0 system it was interesting to see on graphics how FQ changed with displacement of speakers, desktop vs floor stand, dominance of room with distsnce… also I tweaked some dB of room mode correction given from target curve as my taste after some days or weeks.
Probably the GLM will be more accurate in mid range but I suppose that I can learn also how to change things on the transition zone without making a catastrophe
Thanks for the thoughtful response.If you cross over to the subs at roughly 100 Hz with a steep slope, I guess a pair of 8030c should be fine for 85+ db listening levels at 9 ft. Genelec indicates that a pair of similar 8330 delivers up to 102 db short-term and 97 db long-term from 100 Hz - 3 kHz at 3m (~9 ft) in a 75 m3 room (see the figure below, which you probably already know). Hence, even if your room is bigger, you should probably be fine as long as you don't listen at ear-damaging levels. I did not explicitly test the SPL capabilities of the 8030c at 2.5 m / 8.2 ft, but they got louder than I would ever listen in my apartment, and I never saw the protection indicator flashing up. YMMV, though.
With the minidsp, you can set PEQs and delays for each of the four channels individually. I suppose this is crucial if you want to properly integrate the two subs (and use MSO). Not sure whether the WiiM offers such flexibility. Moreover, with a minidsp, you get the option to upgrade to Dirac later.
I already have 8030c, probably not able to change to another one at this point.
Right now i use a simple atom stack with unbalanced output to my 8030c. I have a simple RCA to XLR cable. I see that the minidsp can do balanced or unbalanced analog output. So, say I get balanced for the 8030c, and get proper cables. This is a good thing. However, Is the balanced output to unbalanced input on an sb1000 or similar woofer problematic at all in terms of volume matching or otherwise?
Miguelón
Major Contributor
Just go down 6 dB on 8030 C. Bal to unbal will be half voltage on the sb1000 side, 6 dBu lower.
No problem at all. I have a minidsp Flex with balanced outputs and use a Y-splitter to go from balanced TRS to unbalanced RCA and, then, connect the Arendal 1961 1s sub with a 5m / 16.5 ft RCA cable. I covered the second, not used RCA-connector of the Y-splitter with insulating tape. Works like a charm (also with the SB-1000, I now use in the living room).
Here is the exact Y-splitter I use: https://www.thomannmusic.com/pro_snake_tpy_2003_jcc.htm
Miguelón
Major Contributor
Why using a Y-splitter instead regular TRS to RCA cable?
At the time I bought the setup, I was not sure what options exist and, after a quick search, thought that the Y-splitter would work, although it's admittedly not the most elegant solution ;-) If such TRS to RCA cables exist, even better.
Miguelón
Major Contributor
No. They don’t, I corrected my post, hot and cold signal from balanced output will cancel out. The splitter is ok, only one active channel of balanced signal is transmitted to the RCA input
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