Genelec 8320a Review (Powered Monitor)

[ivayvr]

I read this whole thread and the whole GLM thread and I have a basic understanding what the GLM is supposed to do for the quality of the sound. I am debating if I should go with the basic 8020 or should I go with 8320 and GLM combo. The combo is 40% more than the basic version and it is still within the available budget. Either of the two would be used with the REL T Zero and they even don't call it a sub woofer but sub bass. It goes down to 40Hz with the room reinforcement. That is the most I can use in our totally untreated apartment building living room. Available Genelec subwoofers are both too big for the location and too expensive for the intended use. If they had a 6" version with GLM I would probably think about it because of added convenience. The sole use of the system is for enjoying the music, so extreme accuracy is not a real requirement.
I understand that the room treatment would make probably the greatest improvement in a sound quality but my wife does not and that counts!
The main attraction of 8x20 models is the size and a very high rating given for the far field listening for 8320. Would it be reasonable to expect that both models would have a similar far field behavior or it is only the feature of the 8320 because of DSP?
If I understand correctly GLM would mostly take care of the 80-200Hz band since it would not affect the sub woofer at all and I would have to integrate it by ear. Should I expect an audible improvement in that configuration? Can the microphone from GLM kit be used with REW or I would still need the UMIK 1 if I use the REW to get a better picture of how to adjust the sub? Is the distance from the GLM to PC critical for initial measurement? I do have a laptop but it is far inferior to m y desktop.
I understand that I am asking too many questions but even answering only one or two would be greatly appreciated and would help me make a decision what is the better solution for the given circumstances.

 

[YSC]

I read this whole thread and the whole GLM thread and I have a basic understanding what the GLM is supposed to do for the quality of the sound. I am debating if I should go with the basic 8020 or should I go with 8320 and GLM combo. The combo is 40% more than the basic version and it is still within the available budget. Either of the two would be used with the REL T Zero and they even don't call it a sub woofer but sub bass. It goes down to 40Hz with the room reinforcement. That is the most I can use in our totally untreated apartment building living room. Available Genelec subwoofers are both too big for the location and too expensive for the intended use. If they had a 6" version with GLM I would probably think about it because of added convenience. The sole use of the system is for enjoying the music, so extreme accuracy is not a real requirement.
I understand that the room treatment would make probably the greatest improvement in a sound quality but my wife does not and that counts!
The main attraction of 8x20 models is the size and a very high rating given for the far field listening for 8320. Would it be reasonable to expect that both models would have a similar far field behavior or it is only the feature of the 8320 because of DSP?
If I understand correctly GLM would mostly take care of the 80-200Hz band since it would not affect the sub woofer at all and I would have to integrate it by ear. Should I expect an audible improvement in that configuration? Can the microphone from GLM kit be used with REW or I would still need the UMIK 1 if I use the REW to get a better picture of how to adjust the sub? Is the distance from the GLM to PC critical for initial measurement? I do have a laptop but it is far inferior to m y desktop.
I understand that I am asking too many questions but even answering only one or two would be greatly appreciated and would help me make a decision what is the better solution for the given circumstances.

If you are going with rew anyway with a small sub I would say go buy 8020, as tuning with equalizer APO is a must for tiny apartment FR management anyway. Save that money for automatic calibration of GLM which is fool proof but not perfect.
For sub I know it’s wider and taller but still similarly small, do you want to try the genelec 7040A? I can’t imagine a room smaller than mine but I managed to put a 7040A under my desk with 8030C, tuning with rew gives me extension to around 27hz in room before it drops like a rock

 

[Xyrium]

I have the 8030s, and a pair of cheap Martin Logan subs. I integrate them by using the dip switches on the 8030s for high pass or low cutoff actually, and the low pass on the sub. Then I further eq with my dac. The sound is very listenable, and the 8030c has performed well beyond my expectations in such a configuration.

I like what YSC suggested as well.. and would echo that small spaces are definitely going to need eq beyond what any automated aoftware is going to do anyway. Imvho, that is. Either way, you're making a good choice.

 

[ivayvr]

VYC, thank you for your suggestions! The room is not that tiny, it is ~ 3.5 X 4.5 meters (12X15ft) but the only space where the sub can go would not allow for the the minimum distance from the port to the wall (7.5cm /3"). I had a NHT Super 8 (8" front facing sealed) sub and it was too much for that space and by moving to a smaller sub there was a noticeable improvement of SQ because the bass was not overpowering.
When I asked about REW, I was just thinking about getting the picture how bad the sound really is and trying some very basic fixes. To be able to do anything meaningful, I would have to buy Roon or some other EQ and that would be above the available budget. I am using Bluesound Node 2i as a pre amp and it has a very basic bass management. I used to have MiniDSP HD24 with Dirac Live but was really not too comfortable using it and designing the filters. After keeping it idle for almost a year, I sold it without ever trying it.
The imperfect but automated solution makes GLM very attractive.

 

[ivayvr]

Xyrium, thank you very much for your opinion. What is the DAC you are using to fine tune your subs? What are the controls available? It sounds interesting since I have digital out of my Bluesound Node and it may be something to think about.

 

[YSC]

VYC, thank you for your suggestions! The room is not that tiny, it is ~ 3.5 X 4.5 meters (12X15ft) but the only space where the sub can go would not allow for the the minimum distance from the port to the wall (7.5cm /3"). I had a NHT Super 8 (8" front facing sealed) sub and it was too much for that space and by moving to a smaller sub there was a noticeable improvement of SQ because the bass was not overpowering.
When I asked about REW, I was just thinking about getting the picture how bad the sound really is and trying some very basic fixes. To be able to do anything meaningful, I would have to buy Roon or some other EQ and that would be above the available budget. I am using Bluesound Node 2i as a pre amp and it has a very basic bass management. I used to have MiniDSP HD24 with Dirac Live but was really not too comfortable using it and designing the filters. After keeping it idle for almost a year, I sold it without ever trying it.
The imperfect but automated solution makes GLM very attractive.

Just as a side note, the port of the genelec 7040A is side firing so you only need minimal distance from the wall to keep it useful. And the high pass is really useful to pairing with 80x0.

For REW i actually used it as full range correction and for free


These are before and after using REW to do some automatic filter and use equalizer APO in windows for correction. Note I only dealt with the frequencies below 400hz for bass management. And after automatic eq filter I re measure and decide to boost the bass nulls to fill it yet kept distortion below 5% in bass. Only extra spending is the umik 1

 

[ivayvr]

YSC,first of all, I apologize for the miss spelling of your user name!
I just measured the size of the spot where the sub sits and it is 380 mm wide (sub is 350mm) and 420 mm deep, so I could move the element housing the TV for 20-30 mm and be close to what Genelec recommends as a minimum space requirements.
On the REW side, do I need to have a PC as a part of the system? I assume the answer is yes since all corrections have to be stored somewhere to influence the sound reproduction and there is no space for the PC in the living room. That brings the GLM in place since all the settings are stored in the speakers and the smart sub. Unfortunately, very much out of my price range.

 

[YSC]

YSC,first of all, I apologize for the miss spelling of your user name!
I just measured the size of the spot where the sub sits and it is 380 mm wide (sub is 350mm) and 420 mm deep, so I could move the element housing the TV for 20-30 mm and be close to what Genelec recommends as a minimum space requirements.
On the REW side, do I need to have a PC as a part of the system? I assume the answer is yes since all corrections have to be stored somewhere to influence the sound reproduction and there is no space for the PC in the living room. That brings the GLM in place since all the settings are stored in the speakers and the smart sub. Unfortunately, very much out of my price range.

nvm, the name is just a web code, as long as we understand it's me then it's fine

for REW yes you need a PC as a source to do that. but another option is to use REW to measure, then use the dip switches of genelec presets to do some kind of basic tackling of problems. I forgot to tell you that the pre EQ one looks pretty neat and following the target curve because before any EQ I have been using REW only with the various dip switches, what I did was:

1) set sensitivity of the 7040A to be 2db higher to create the bass boost, place it right on the wall to gain some boundary boost, and use the -4db switch to tame the 30hz peak, the 8030Cs I use on desktop as computer speaker, so I used the desktop switch to tame the desk reflection, bass roll off and bass tilt to max to compensate.

so if you get a PC as source, REW can make it more perfect, but with bass being the most tricky part of any room, I would say having something to control the bass profile would be a better option. Be it dip swittches in Genelec, some sort of PC EQ, or a dac/streamer with multi band PEQ

 

[ivayvr]

OK that is a big difference if you can tune it by dip switches and that is making it sounds like more realistic plan. I could use my very dated lap top for the measurements. That should definitely give much more accurate results than my very outdated ears. Thank you again!

 

[YSC]

OK that is a big difference if you can tune it by dip switches and that is making it sounds like more realistic plan. I could use my very dated lap top for the measurements. That should definitely give much more accurate results than my very outdated ears. Thank you again!

yea, I choses the Genelec sub despite other great options from say SVS is mainly due to their well built presets, of course quite far from perfect, but for common reflection problems it tackles very well IMO, say in a sub they have not only the phase, but profile to counter the effect of putting it near to one wall or a corner.

May I ask what is your source? say a RME ADI dac could have a very useful PEQ

 

[ivayvr]

It is the Bluesound Node 2i and it is my third Bluesound and the sound is very, very decent, has a great connectivity and extremely useful and flexible app. After reading number of great reviews about Schit Modi (the basic one $99.00) I tried it with it, did not hear any difference and sold it. It may be more of assessment of my ears rater than the DACs involved.
I took a quick look on RME ADI dac and it looks nice but way above my pay grade. If I had that kind of money I would probably get a set of SAM monitors and a sub +GLM and be done with it. As I am getting older, I am lacking the passion for tweaking the sound I had some 50 years ago. That and financials are the prime reasons I am looking for simple but reasonable solutions.

 

[YSC]

It is the Bluesound Node 2i and it is my third Bluesound and the sound is very, very decent, has a great connectivity and extremely useful and flexible app. After reading number of great reviews about Schit Modi (the basic one $99.00) I tried it with it, did not hear any difference and sold it. It may be more of assessment of my ears rater than the DACs involved.
I took a quick look on RME ADI dac and it looks nice but way above my pay grade. If I had that kind of money I would probably get a set of SAM monitors and a sub +GLM and be done with it. As I am getting older, I am lacking the passion for tweaking the sound I had some 50 years ago. That and financials are the prime reasons I am looking for simple but reasonable solutions.

If so I would suggest just get the Genelec analogue ones and use the built in dip switches to deal with the obvious problem, ime it did the job very well

 

[ivayvr]

That is what am leaning toward. My only real concern is if the 8020 have the same or similar far field characteristics as 8320. Most tests have the rating for a near field listening and 8320 is the one of a few having a far field rating and very high at that.

 

[YSC]

That is what am leaning toward. My only real concern is if the 8020 have the same or similar far field characteristics as 8320. Most tests have the rating for a near field listening and 8320 is the one of a few having a far field rating and very high at that.

They are basically the same design with DSP in the 8320 only, I would say in default setting they should be very close to identical. but if you are listening far field, maybe stretch up a bit and get the 8030C will be a better option as 4" woofer will have a hard time keeping up in medium to far field IMO.

 

[ivayvr]

In my setting "far field" may be only a figure of speech since the distance is about 2.5 meters and 8030 may be a bit too big aesthetically. Most of the time I am listening at a very moderate levels.

 

[captainspork]

Hello. I'm considering buying either the 8030C or the 8320A to replace the monitors in my current PC audio setup which is Topping D10B -> Singxer SA-1 -> JBL LSR310S -> JBL LSR305, and had two questions:

1. At a similar price, would you favor the larger driver of the 8030C or the room EQ feature of the 8320A?
2. Should the size of the driver be dictated by the size of the room, or the listening distance? I'm at a close listening distance, but am in a fairly spacious finished basement.

Thanks for any input!

 

[YSC]

Hello. I'm considering buying either the 8030C or the 8320A to replace the monitors in my current PC audio setup which is Topping D10B -> Singxer SA-1 -> JBL LSR310S -> JBL LSR305, and had two questions:

1. At a similar price, would you favor the larger driver of the 8030C or the room EQ feature of the 8320A?
2. Should the size of the driver be dictated by the size of the room, or the listening distance? I'm at a close listening distance, but am in a fairly spacious finished basement.

Thanks for any input!

I would say it depends if you would use REW to optimize yourself, if you already have the gear to do REW and use PEQ capable dac/Equalizer APO, then the bigger driver 8030C should be better, if not the 8320A could be simpler to use. don't forget the cost of GLM kit to be considered also.

 

[GD Fan]

Hello. I'm considering buying either the 8030C or the 8320A to replace the monitors in my current PC audio setup which is Topping D10B -> Singxer SA-1 -> JBL LSR310S -> JBL LSR305, and had two questions:

1. At a similar price, would you favor the larger driver of the 8030C or the room EQ feature of the 8320A?
2. Should the size of the driver be dictated by the size of the room, or the listening distance? I'm at a close listening distance, but am in a fairly spacious finished basement.

Thanks for any input!

If you're listening fairly near field (especially in a decent sized space) I would definitely recommend the 8030 over the 8320. I bought the 8320 and GLM made useful but small adjustments, leaving me wishing I'd gone for the bigger speaker with a little more bass.

Either way, you will enjoy!

 

[Peluvius]

Hello. I'm considering buying either the 8030C or the 8320A to replace the monitors in my current PC audio setup which is Topping D10B -> Singxer SA-1 -> JBL LSR310S -> JBL LSR305, and had two questions:

1. At a similar price, would you favor the larger driver of the 8030C or the room EQ feature of the 8320A?
2. Should the size of the driver be dictated by the size of the room, or the listening distance? I'm at a close listening distance, but am in a fairly spacious finished basement.

Thanks for any input!

8030C, the driver makes a difference I found nearfield and further out. You can implement room EQ later or through REW/PC. I think the sub integration is more critical with either option, maybe a solution for that would be worthwhile.

 

[Habbe]

Hello. I'm considering buying either the 8030C or the 8320A to replace the monitors in my current PC audio setup which is Topping D10B -> Singxer SA-1 -> JBL LSR310S -> JBL LSR305, and had two questions:

1. At a similar price, would you favor the larger driver of the 8030C or the room EQ feature of the 8320A?
2. Should the size of the driver be dictated by the size of the room, or the listening distance? I'm at a close listening distance, but am in a fairly spacious finished basement.

Thanks for any input!

I used to have 8030B as my PC monitors and currently have 8320.

• At small listening distances (around 75cm) the 8320 is working better as the separate driver responses sum properly. I think this results to better stereo image and more accurate imaging or reverbs, spaces etc.
• 8030B had clearly more bass output and I miss that
• The bass management of 8320 still has a big effect
• The lack of digital inputs on 8320 bothers me

Based on the above, I think 8331 would be the best possible option for PC use.