Genelec 8330A Review (Studio Monitor)

[digitalfrost]

Ok, I understand. But does that -1dB from 2500 Hz to 20000Hz come out of nowhere? or is there science behind that?
And to me, it is too little a shelving to be audible

The -1dB number is more or less close to harman target. See for example this post https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-is-your-favorite-house-curve.2382/post-67187

There is discussion where the tilt should start, I put mine at 1khz. The db/oct metric allows you to experiment as you can easily calculate different angles yourself and see what you like. If you wanna test 1.2db/oct or 0.8db/oct go ahead and see how it feels.

 

[daftcombo]

In a normal livingroom without damping panels like in a studio, you gonna have more energy in the treble area compared with a studio.
My experience is subjective - I think the sound gets better in my living-room. The difference is clearly audible, it changes the way the music ”gel” together ( subjectively ) . Real instruments play tones containing frequencies in the whole audible range at the same time, and at that perspective, a change of 1 dB is much . And remember you always play music with two loudspeakers, making the powerresponse difference bigger than if you only use one loudspeaker.

I'm quite sure I couldn't spot the difference in an ABX.
Anyway, from these FR graphs, it seems to me that we could say there is 1dB too much in treble from 2500Hz to 8000Hz than in bass for the 8330:

The -1dB number is more or less close to harman target. See for example this post https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-is-your-favorite-house-curve.2382/post-67187

It is rather around -2.5dB between 2.5kHz and 20kHz from your link. But we discussed at length on this forum that house curves are not a good target.

 

[aac]

In a normal livingroom without damping panels like in a studio, you gonna have more energy in the treble area compared with a studio.

Do you mean in steady-state curves in the room?
I expect it to be the contrary as living room you describe has only HF absorbtion while studio has more uniform absorption. Non-environmental studio is supposed to be almost anechoic on 4 of 6 walls of it and one of the walls is part of speaker (infinite baffle).

 

[NepinMn]

Am I just hearing what I want to hear?

I have had the 8330a speakers for a few months. The room is asymmetric and not treated at all.

I have been very happy with the sound. Like, really really happy. The A/B with GLM calibration on and off is a great experience where the bass gets tight after calibration.

Today, I downloaded and applied the two APO filters that was posted by the kind user on this thread and recalibrated GLM again. The frequency response looks more smooth in GLM than it did before applying these filters. To my ears, they sound better than they have aver sounded.

I'm wondering if objectively it is a better frequency response now or if I am hearing what I want to hear.

I've ordered UMIK1 and once it gets here, I can do objective measurements to see if the improvement is real or perceived. I'll use REW to measure 1. GLM out of the box 2. GLM after applying APO filters.

 

[nocturne]

Am I just hearing what I want to hear?

I have had the 8330a speakers for a few months. The room is asymmetric and not treated at all.

I have been very happy with the sound. Like, really really happy. The A/B with GLM calibration on and off is a great experience where the bass gets tight after calibration.

Today, I downloaded and applied the two APO filters that was posted by the kind user on this thread and recalibrated GLM again. The frequency response looks more smooth in GLM than it did before applying these filters. To my ears, they sound better than they have aver sounded.

I'm wondering if objectively it is a better frequency response now or if I am hearing what I want to hear.

I've ordered UMIK1 and once it gets here, I can do objective measurements to see if the improvement is real or perceived. I'll use REW to measure 1. GLM out of the box 2. GLM after applying APO filters.

The sweep tone that is generated during the calibration process is produced by the monitors themselves, not your computer, so the calibration will unaffected by APO filters.

 

[NepinMn]

The sweep tone that is generated during the calibration process is produced by the monitors themselves, not your computer, so the calibration will unaffected by APO filters.

I should have known that. Thank you for the information. If I were to use REW to create the sweep tone, that'd be produced by my computer, right?

 

[Trell]

I should have known that. Thank you for the information. If I were to use REW to create the sweep tone, that'd be produced by my computer, right?

Yes.

 

[NepinMn]

For those of you listening to 8330a monitors + 7350a, are you using the default crossover frequency of 85hz?

I just received my 7350a and hooked it up today. I have left the crossover at 85hz. I'm wondering if it is worth tinkering with different xo frequencies and on what basis and why I should change the xo frequency. If there is any science behind it or if it is a hunch thing.

I also don't understand why, in GLM, I had to pick one of the two monitors to phase align the sub with. This is the first time I have had a subwoofer, so there is a learning curve.

I had a struggle before I could get the subs to work. GLM calibrated the sub just fine with a new profile that was duplicated from an existing one plus the sub . But no sound was coming from the sub when I was playing music. Eventually, once I stopped "duplicating" my prior profile without a sub and instead created a new one, it worked. Stumped me for a while.

I don't have a depth of experience with high Fidelity audio systems. My prior systems have been below halfway decent. I don't know what's going on, and this is without critical listening, but it seems to me like adding the sub has also made my higher frequencies clearer. Maybe it is a case of conformation bias.

 

[zym1010]

For those of you listening to 8330a monitors + 7350a, are you using the default crossover frequency of 85hz?

I just received my 7350a and hooked it up today. I have left the crossover at 85hz. I'm wondering if it is worth tinkering with different xo frequencies and on what basis and why I should change the xo frequency. If there is any science behind it or if it is a hunch thing.

I also don't understand why, in GLM, I had to pick one of the two monitors to phase align the sub with. This is the first time I have had a subwoofer, so there is a learning curve.

I had a struggle before I could get the subs to work. GLM calibrated the sub just fine with a new profile that was duplicated from an existing one plus the sub . But no sound was coming from the sub when I was playing music. Eventually, once I stopped "duplicating" my prior profile without a sub and instead created a new one, it worked. Stumped me for a while.

I don't have a depth of experience with high Fidelity audio systems. My prior systems have been below halfway decent. I don't know what's going on, and this is without critical listening, but it seems to me like adding the sub has also made my higher frequencies clearer. Maybe it is a case of conformation bias.

For XO frequency, you don’t want it to be too high because high frequency has directivity so that outputting sound of that frequency via a single sub will affect the stereo imaging.

For phase alignment, there is an article on Genelec on this. https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-u...-farthest-away-from-the-subwoofer-or-closest-

 

[NepinMn]

For XO frequency, you don’t want it to be too high because high frequency has directivity so that outputting sound of that frequency via a single sub will affect the stereo imaging.

For phase alignment, there is an article on Genelec on this. https://support.genelec.com/hc/en-u...-farthest-away-from-the-subwoofer-or-closest-

This document is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you so much.

 

[testp]

This document is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you so much.

am i right, you could have 1 genelec digital sub, but analog monitors for glm?

 

[NepinMn]

am i right, you could have 1 genelec digital sub, but analog monitors for glm?

Mine are all digital. Monitors too.

 

[Walter]

am i right, you could have 1 genelec digital sub, but analog monitors for glm?

GLM will only work on SAM-enabled Genelec speakers. You may be thinking of the Neumann KH 750 DSP, which WILL allow equalization of (some? all?) non-DSP enabled Neumann monitors.

 

[Tangband]

Comparison between 8030c and 8330 .

 

[daftcombo]

Comparison between 8030c and 8330 .

View attachment 181234View attachment 181235

8330 just a tiny bit cleaner.

 

[Trell]

8330 just a tiny bit cleaner.

Yeah, the main advantage of the 8330 is the built-in DSP for room EQ along with integration of a Genelec SAM subwoofer. This will in practice trump any difference seen in the measurements.

 

[Tangband]

8330 just a tiny bit cleaner.

Yes, and the difference is probably that the dsp crossover in 8330 has slightly better performance with higher order crossover slopes than the analog active crossover in 8030c . I would also guess that the 8330 has the same tpa 3118 amplifier thats inside the 8030c.

Both of those loudspeakers are very good performers distortion-wise when you think about how small they really are.
The distortion measurements by Amirm are made with only one loudspeaker. With two loudspeakers in a normal listeningroom with some roomgain, you should get about 6-12 dB higher SPL , in the lower frequencies.

Just looking at the measurements, one can get the impression that both loudspeaker models should sound about the same. Thats not true - feeding the 8330 dsp crossover directly with a good digital signal would sound slightly cleaner .

I would say that the price is right for both 8030c and 8330 , regarding sound quality.

 

[Spocko]

Yes, and the difference is probably that the dsp crossover in 8330 has slightly better performance with higher order crossover slopes than the analog active crossover in 8030c . I would also guess that the 8330 has the same tpa 3118 amplifier thats inside the 8030c.

Both of those loudspeakers are very good performers distortion-wise when you think about how small they really are.
The distortion measurements by Amirm are made with only one loudspeaker. With two loudspeakers in a normal listeningroom with some roomgain, you should get about 6-12 dB higher SPL , in the lower frequencies.

Just looking at the measurements, one can get the impression that both loudspeaker models should sound about the same. Thats not true - feeding the 8330 dsp crossover directly with a good digital signal would sound slightly cleaner .

I would say that the price is right for both 8030c and 8330 , regarding sound quality.

Better still, sending the 8330 a crappy analog signal reaps even greater benefits from the GLM DSP thanks to room correction in addition to the active crossover.

 

[daftcombo]

I would say that the price is right for both 8030c and 8330 , regarding sound quality.

I own a pair of 8030C and, for some bass-heavy music, the sound is improved by adding a notch around 70Hz on one of the two speakers, to kill a room mode.

I use EqualizerAPO for that, or a RePhase filter. But you could fo it internally in a GLMed 8330, of course.

 

[OP1M.DR3M]

The larger woofer has resulted in less perfect crossover response. And there is not enough amplification here to do the speaker justice.

Wait, so does the 8330a seem to not have as much headroom as the 8030c for some reason?