Genelec 8030C Studio Monitor Review

[aikofan]

I see... I've seen local US prices around 125$ and then this, so it had to be something strange... sorry

I thought it was a US based shop, but it's just displaying EU prices in $, a bit misleading.

Don't be sorry, you were just trying to be helpful.

 

[OldUI11]

Do it, they are awesome. Went through the same reasoning, I spend 10+ hours on my desk a day why not get something good.

Basically the same for me. I added the 7050 subwoofer. There are of course better sub options, but this was very easy with the built in high-pass filter. I have a pair of tall bookshelves that the speakers sit on top of. Happily that puts them at the right height for listening. I use a tall desk so I can stand or sit in a taller chair. I hadn't intended for this to become my main system, but now I listen to it most of the time.

 

[Lilith]

I just set up my new 8030c pair on my desktop system, put on some Dead Can Dance, and was blown away. They sound way way better than the KEF Q150 that they’re replacing. The Q150 sounded really tubby in my small home office and the the highs were harsh. The Genelecs sound so much clearer and more refined, with deeper and cleaner lows with no bloated tubbiness and sparkling highs. I was able to crank up the volume much louder than I could with the Q150, which become too harsh and piercing at high volumes.

I’m so happy with my purchase. Also, I realized that it didn’t make sense for me to have a budget system in my home office and my main system in the living room, because I actually spend way more time listening to my budget system than I do my main living room system. So now, I can spend all day listening to my wonderfully clean and accurate Gelenecs while working, and enjoy just as good sound as my Magnepan living room system.

In addition, I think the Genelecs look better in person than they do in photos. The paint job sure beats the vinyl wrap on the Q150. I just wish they sat more firmly on my IsoAcoustic stands, rather than just resting on the corners (with the rubber Genelec stands removed of course). I need to figure out a better way to couple them to the stands, which were designed for flat rather than rounded bottoms. The included rubber stands are too low, but they allow the Genelec to sit more firmly on the desk than my IsoAcoustics, which raise the tweeter height closer to ear level. Those L-shaped Genelec table stands sure look nice, but I refuse to pay $250 for a pair.

Towards the Within is a great album with an even greater sound

 

[aikofan]

Towards the Within is a great album with an even greater sound

Musically, my favorites are their early albums from the 80s. However, for sound quality/equipment audition purposes, the later albums, including Toward the Within and especially Spiritchaser and In Concert, are the best. I wish more “pop” music acts paid such attention to sound quality and mastering.

 

[adg]

My willpower is weakening and I might have to cave in and shell out $250 for those stands. I'll be lucky to make that much selling my Q150 speakers. I wish I could buy the stands in the US for 80 €.

aikofan - You can see pictures of my 8030's on the official Genelec/K&M stands: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/post-750849

I have since moved to using the original Iso-pods the speakers came with in conjunction with some Genelec 8030-408 Stand Mounting Plates that are screwed to some Gator Frameworks Clamp-On Studio Monitor Stands. I had to drill some holes in the high quality but pricey mounting plates, and into the Frameworks stands. That Frankenstein project was mainly due to my obsession with trying to optimize by desk and free up as much space as possible.

That said, I find the 8030s attractive and timeless to begin with, and I don't think you can get much better stands than the 8000-323B. The official stands are expensive, but if you like the aesthetic and functionality of them, I encourage you to pull the trigger.

 

[xaviescacs]

Here are pictures of my 8030Cs on the 8000-323B stands I received yesterday. I still have some desk optimization and cleanup to do. Because I'm using these stands on top of a riser, the speakers might actually be about two inches two tall. The stands can only I'd estimate the tweeters are about two inches higher than my ears.

View attachment 124790View attachment 124791

Edit: Now that the 8030s are 11 inches off of my desk, does anyone think I can turn off the "Desktop 160Hz" attenuation dip switch? I'll do some new measurements with REW, but I won't be able to do that for a few days.

I have the same set up, the same Logitech gear I mean, the speakers not yet....

 

[aikofan]

aikofan - You can see pictures of my 8030's on the official Genelec/K&M stands: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/post-750849

I have since moved to using the original Iso-pods the speakers came with in conjunction with some Genelec 8030-408 Stand Mounting Plates that are screwed to some Gator Frameworks Clamp-On Studio Monitor Stands. I had to drill some holes in the high quality but pricey mounting plates, and into the Frameworks stands. That Frankenstein project was mainly due to my obsession with trying to optimize by desk and free up as much space as possible.

That said, I find the 8030s attractive and timeless to begin with, and I don't think you can get much better stands than the 8000-323B. The official stands are expensive, but if you like the aesthetic and functionality of them, I encourage you to pull the trigger.

Looks nice, too bad you had to change them out, but I can see you wanted to free up more desk space. I actually just received my 8000-323B stands today. I did a double take when I saw how big and heavy the shipping box on my doorstep was. The stands are serious hunks of steel and feel almost as heavy as the monitors themselves. They make my IsoAcoustics stands seem like Lincoln Log toys. Now I can better understand why they’re so expensive, but I still wish they were about half the price.

 

[mightycicadalord]

If ya'll think genelec hardware is expensive, take a trip over to Neumann land

You'll be spending more for just the brackets lol.

 

[aikofan]

I just finished setting up the 8030c on my new Genelec stands (I posted a photo in this other thread). It's a huge improvement over the precarious IsoAcoustic stands I was using. However, I wish the Genelec stands didn't use that dreaded wingnut/swivel joint system for angle adjustments that I've always hated in mic stand booms. Over time, those things get weaker and looser and eventually can never be fully tightened. I wish they had used some other kind of locking system.

Also, when I used the switch on a Tripp Lite surge protector, I would get a small, distorted click on power on and a louder bassy pop on power off. I thought maybe if I upgraded to a more expensive Isobar surge protector, the switch would be better and I would have less noise, but the noise was the same. So I guess I'm going to have to reach around back and turn off each individual monitor before I turn off the surge protector when I shut down every night. Kind of a hassle, so I'm wondering if maybe the popping noise does no damage at all.

 

[mightycicadalord]

Interesting, I use 8030c on 6 outlet isobar from tripplite and there is no power on or power off sounds made by the speaker.

 

[aikofan]

Interesting, I use 8030c on 6 outlet isobar from tripplite and there is no power on or power off sounds made by the speaker.

The 6-outlet Isobar is the exact surge protector I was using. Actually, the power on sound from the surge protector is pretty much the same as the sound the Genelecs make when I turn them on with the button in back, kind of a scratchy blip. However, when I use the button to turn them off, it’s silent, but turning off the switch from the surge protector causes a louder thump. I wonder why my experience is different from yours.

 

[kenshone]

Just a word of warning -- if you're used to HiFi amplifiers e.g. putting your ears up to tweeters and hearing dead silence, you won't get that with these 8030's. They generate "<5dB" (probably 5dB) at 1m, which is by definition, very audible. If this bothers you, you must be able to setup your 8030's at least 2m away from the listening position, or look for active speakers with better tweeter amplifiers.

 

[Bamboszek]

They generate "<5dB" (probably 5dB) at 1m, which is by definition, very audible.

0 dB SPL threshold is indeed hearing threshold, but for pure tone of 1 kHz. And unless you live in anechoic chamber you'd be very lucky to have 25-30 dB SPL ambient in your room.
BTW Passive speakers and external amplifiers are usually quieter not because of higher quality amplifiers, but because tweeter is usually attenuated at passive crossover.

 

[kenshone]

0 dB SPL threshold is indeed hearing threshold, but for pure tone of 1 kHz. And unless you live in anechoic chamber you'd be very lucky to have 25-30 dB SPL ambient in your room.
BTW Passive speakers and external amplifiers are usually quieter not because of higher quality amplifiers, but because tweeter is usually attenuated at passive crossover.

One of my listening rooms is a relatively quiet room in a suburban neighborhood. There is no special acoustic treatment, and indeed, half the walls are wooden. I clearly hear a hiss from the tweeter at 1m. I don't have golden ears either -- just slightly above average. And this is a common observation online.

Regarding your comment about passive speakers, I don't know what the average person deals with, but I deal with bi-ampable passive speakers, so the signal has a path to the tweeter that does not go through a passive x-over. I just happen to have HiFi amps like the Topping LA90 and Benchmark AHB2 that are designed to not produce any audible background noise. My 8030c's don't meet that standard, and to be fair, perhaps that's not the standard Genelec was targeting.

It may be the case that slightly audible background noise does not matter when actual music/media material is being produced through the speakers, but it still has a psychological effect on perceived quality. When I have my Topping, Benchmark, and NAD amps hooked up to my passives, I can put my ear on the tweeter and it's effectively silent. Such things leave a great impression on the discerning listener.

IMO, 5dB@1m is not suited for near-field use. For people who are annoyed by hiss, I can only recommend 8030's for a 2m+ listening distance.

 

[dfuller]

but I deal with bi-ampable passive speakers, so the signal has a direct path to the tweeter

If it's going through a passive crossover, there is quite a bit of attenuation before the drive unit to match its sensitivity with the woofer.

 

[kenshone]

If it's going through a passive crossover, there is quite a bit of attenuation before the drive unit to match its sensitivity with the woofer.

On bi-ampable passives, the jumper between the lower and upper posts gives a "direct" path for the signal to the tweeter that does not go through the crossover.

Regardless, this is a bit of an irrelevant side topic because active speakers exist with much lower self-generated noise. In fact, Genelec produces at least one: https://www.genelec.com/8331a#section-technical-specifications. So Genelec is clearly capable of producing much quieter speakers, but it's not a metric they're optimizing for.

I think that all speaker manufacturers should make 0dB noise @1m a goal for near-field speakers.

 

[dfuller]

On bi-ampable passives, the jumper between the lower and upper posts gives a "direct" path for the signal to the tweeter that does not go through the crossover.

That isn't true. Speakers with dual binding post inputs still have them both connected to the crossover. It doesn't just bypass the crossover - that would be a recipe for disaster! People would be nuking tweeters left and right.

 

[kenshone]

That isn't true. Speakers with dual binding post inputs still have them both connected to the crossover. It doesn't just bypass the crossover - that would be a recipe for disaster! People would be nuking tweeters left and right.

Fair enough. I don't understand passive speaker anatomy well enough to get into a discussion about this. I do understand that clearly audible hiss on a $1.4K+ pair of speakers may be annoying to some. That's the TLDR of what I came here to say.

 

[Sancus]

If you're looking for monitors with little hiss, you want Neumanns most likely.

I think that all speaker manufacturers should make 0dB noise @1m a goal for near-field speakers.

These have a design purpose, and the people who actually buy most of these(studios) are not obsessing over hiss the way a small segment of audiophiles seem to.

So there's not a whole lot of incentive for manufacturers to bother.

 

[kenshone]

If you're looking for monitors with little hiss, you want Neumanns most likely.

These have a design purpose, and the people who actually buy most of these(studios) are not obsessing over hiss the way a small segment of audiophiles seem to.

So there's not a whole lot of incentive for manufacturers to bother.

I own Neumann KH80s as well, and the hiss is much harder to hear. The sound they produce for the size is amazing as well.

Genelec may or may not have an incentive. I doubt it would add much cost to dramatically reduce the hiss, and there are numerous threads about it online, so their customers do take notice.