Genelec 8030C Studio Monitor Review

[Pearljam5000]

I just learn the proper pronunciation for Genelec, or at least I think I did.

Gen-na-lec

If I go around pronouncing it as Ge-ne-lec, that wouldn't be audiophile of me, now would it?

Had I not watch some videos of Genelec and Neumann online, man, that would be embarrassing.

Considering the source of the name I'm actually not sure it's pronounced Gen-na-lec

 

[CleanSound]

View attachment 344319
Considering the source of the name I'm actually not sure it's pronounced Gen-na-lec

That's a neat story how the name came about.

Now, I am afraid to even try to pronounce the brand name, but I saw this video. Some guy from Genelec pronounced it as Gen-na-lec

 

[Shadrach]

Is anyone using this method to position the monitors ?View attachment 344140View attachment 344141View attachment 344142View attachment 344143View attachment 344144

I used a builders lazer level. Same basic idea.

 

[Pearljam5000]

That's a neat story how the name came about.

Now, I am afraid to even try to pronounce the brand name, but I saw this video. Some guy from Genelec pronounced it as Gen-na-lec

Maybe because of the American accent
In this video they say it in a.completely different way

 

[CleanSound]

Maybe because of the American accent
In this video they say it in a.completely different way

I heard they pronounced it as gen as get but replace the t with n; then na-lec.

Since I'm in the US, I guess I will use the US pronounciation.

 

[RobL]

Finnish and english accents:

Genelec pronunciation: How to pronounce Genelec in Finnish, English

Pronunciation guide: Learn how to pronounce Genelec in Finnish, English with native pronunciation. Genelec translation and audio pronunciation

forvo.com

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I am sure both will take your money gladly regardless of how you pronounce their company names. ;-)

 

[pehu63]

I've never heard hiss from my 8030c's in my quiet room at night in the countryside, sitting at arm's length from them, ears at tweeter level. Maybe my 52 year old ears aren't what they were, I don't know, but they clearly don't hiss enough to bother everyone.

Same here, dead silent (but not in the country side). Possibly, some people have issues with the XLR connection, or their other equipment.

More problematic for me was the power connection. When not using proper symmetrical XLR, these 8030's produce quite some humm, unless they have proper earth connection on the mains. I added that to my living room wall outlets, humm gone.

Other thing for me that separates the genelec from Neumann, is the size and looks. The Neumann would not fit my room, too deep.

 

[Leonm771]

我住在一條非常安靜的街道上，看電影時使用 8010。LP 距離揚聲器 2.7 公尺。我把增益開關調到較低的位置，我三十幾歲的聽力仍然很好，聽不到揚聲器的嘶嘶聲。在 1 m 的距離處，我可以安靜地聽到不顯眼的嘶嘶聲，但非常安靜，甚至近距離都不會打擾我。當設定正確的增益時，它們非常安靜，我使用古老的第一代 focusrite 2i2 作為來源。

順便說一句：我最近切開一個戴爾條形音箱並焊接在一個L 型墊上，因為條形音箱發出煩人的嘶嘶聲，我無法在計算機上工作。我對嘶嘶聲非常敏感並且討厭它，但這對我來說沒有問題8010s。

我的距離約為 60-70 厘米，我的 8020d 從來沒有聽到任何嘶嘶聲（靈敏度 -6dBu）。
這說明我的耳朵確實不好？


Translation by Moderator. Please post in English going forward. Thank you.

“I have a distance of about 60-70cm and I never hear any hiss from my 8020d (sensitivity -6dBu). Does this mean my ears are really bad?”

 

[Leonm771]

I live in a very quite street and use the 8010s when I watch movies. LP is 2.7 meters from the speakers. I engaged the gain switch for the lower setting, my hearing in my mid thirties is still very good, I cannot hear the speakers hiss. At 1 m distance, I can hear the unobtrusive hiss silently, but very silently so, and it would not even bother me from closer. They are very silent when set to the correct gain, and I use an ancient 1st gen focusrite 2i2 as source.

BTW: I recently cut open a dell soundbar and soldered in an l-pad because I could not work at my computer with annoying hiss coming from the soundbar.I am very sensitive to hiss and hate it, but it was no problem for me with the 8010s.

me ~60-70cm distance, never hear any hiss from my 8020d (sensitivity -6dBu).
Which mean my ears are actually bad ?

 

[staticV3]

me ~60-70cm distance, never hear any hiss from my 8020d (sensitivity -6dBu).
Which mean my ears are actually bad ?

The 8020D has ≤5dB SPL of self-noise at 1m.
It would be surprising if you could hear that in a normal listening environment.

 

[Anti-Climacus]

Hello to all! Happy owner of a pair of 8030C's myself for the last couple of weeks (I ordered them b-stock from Thomann but they are in perfect condition cosmetically and functionally), they make for a wonderful desktop system as they are, even though the lowest frequencies are lacking a little bit. I generally listen to a lot of electronic music so I am contemplating the addition of a sub down the line, preferably the 7050C so that with a little effort on placement and a little EQ through Peace I can achieve an decent result hopefully.

At around 1 meter distance I can hear no hiss at all even late at night when my room's ambient SPL is around 30-35 db. Only when I put my ear right next to the tweeter I can hear a faint hiss and maybe up to half a meter max.

Unfortunately, I was eating an orange near the right speaker today and some of the drops that go all over the place when you open it managed to go through the grill on the woofer!

Is it possible that it can inflict damage to the woofer since orange juice is mildly acidic? It's just 5-6 drops on the woofer and the rubber surround. Should I open it in order to clean it with a cloth or is it overkill and entails the risk of damaging something during dissasembly? From what material is the 8030C woofer made?

 

[Weeb Labs]

I picked up a single 8030C unit this evening for testing and encountered a few oddities. They appear to exhibit something of a crossover gap, which appears in Amir's data but perhaps not to the same degree.

In-room on-axis measurements always exhibit a significant dip at the crossover.

Here's a measurement at about 20cm on the tweeter axs. I almost suspect that a driver may be wired out of phase.

I suppose it is possible that I have a lemon but I am not entirely convinced. For comparison, here is an 8010A that I picked up yesterday. It was measured in exactly the same position, from the same 80cm distance.

The 8010A is far better bahaved than the 8030C.

 

[YSC]

As such I would recommend you email to genelec support and see if you could get a replacement

 

[Rednaxela]

Did you get them both new?

 

[Anti-Climacus]

I don't think you understand: he is implying that there is an inherent problem with the 8030C at the crossover region and not that his particular sample has a dysfunction.
Amir's measurement does indeed show a dip around 2.500 kHz on-axis as well as in the early reflections and estimated room response graphs, which he corrected by eqing by 2 db at that frequency. This has been discussed extensively here I suppose.

The cause of the dip most likely is not a crossover implementation problem but rather a case of the woofer starting to beam at the upper range of its response, just before it gives way to the tweeter. Even at that it is a minor deviation which likely will be dwarfed by the inherent acoustic anomalies of any given room. But so deep a dip like the one shown above by Weed Labs can't be justified in any case. The question remains, what is the purpose of ambiguous remarks such as these:

I suppose it is possible that I have a lemon but I am not entirely convinced. For comparison, here is an 8010A that I picked up yesterday. It was measured in exactly the same position, from the same 80cm distance.

The 8010A is far better bahaved than the 8030C.

Especially, since @Weeb Labs seems to have vanished from the thread since.

 

[Rednaxela]

I don't think you understand: he is implying that there is an inherent problem with the 8030C at the crossover region and not that his particular sample has a dysfunction.

Well I read it a bit differently. In my view he is wondering if he is looking at a well-documented flaw or something worse that may be limited to only his unit.

They appear to exhibit something of a crossover gap, which appears in Amir's data but perhaps not to the same degree.
[…]
I almost suspect that a driver may be wired out of phase.
[…]
I suppose it is possible that I have a lemon but I am not entirely convinced.

Which made me wonder what it means to ‘pick up a unit for testing’.

 

[Elder]

I picked up a single 8030C unit this evening for testing and encountered a few oddities. They appear to exhibit something of a crossover gap, which appears in Amir's data but perhaps not to the same degree.

I don't currently have a measurement microphone (broke mine like an idiot) but my in room measurements of my 8030c were nothing at all like yours in the crossover region. Pretty sure what you have there is not quite right, and I bet if you sent those measurements to Genelec they would be more than happy to replace.

When I replace my mic I will be sure to post up some measurements to back this up.

 

[Anti-Climacus]

Well I read it a bit differently. In my view he is wondering if he is looking at a well-documented flaw or something worse that may be limited to only his unit.



Which made me wonder what it means to ‘pick up a unit for testing’.

Well, you are right that it can be interpreted both ways, but that is exactly why I used the word "ambiguous" to characterize these statements.

The 8030C is a well documented speaker with plenty of extensive measurements and none of them excibit such a flaw, at least not to that extent. So either the problem lies with the particular unit tested or the measurement method used. I can't think of another explanation.

 

[Weeb Labs]

Well I read it a bit differently. In my view he is wondering if he is looking at a well-documented flaw or something worse that may be limited to only his unit.



Which made me wonder what it means to ‘pick up a unit for testing’.

This is correct. I do not believe there to exist a widespread problem with the 8030C, other than a mild directivity error. Following some experimentation with placement, I was able to mostly eliminate the crossover dip.

The culprit does appear to be the chasm in the side wall reflections, which the 8010A does not exhibit. Absorbing the side reflections seems to eliminate the dip.

With regard to my "testing" remark, this was simply in reference to determining whether they be too large to fit in the desired location.