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Genelec G Two vs 8020D

the_watcher

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Aug 9, 2022
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Hi,

I am thinking of buying either Genelec G Two or 8020D, for home use in my living room. The speakers will mostly be used for movies and background music.
From what I can read there is nothing separating G Two from 8020D except for RCA vs XLR input - or so I thought.
It seems that 8020D has a Treble Tilt -2dB switch on the back which G Two don't have.

I am sensitive to sibilance and/or a too hot treble and was thinking the -2dB option is maybe a good option to have?

I will be buying an SMSL DAC (SU-6/D-6) or TOPPING DAC (D3 Pro+) to go along with the speakers.
All three options have Bluetooth.

Does that mean I can stream Spotify from my phone to the DAC via Bluetooth?
 

jae

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I guess it depends on location/availability but see very little point in buying Genelecs unless you are buying 8341 or greater, under that price point you might want to look into Neuman KH 80 or 120 instead.
 

Pearljam5000

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I guess it depends on location/availability but see very little point in buying Genelecs unless you are buying 8341 or greater, under that price point you might want to look into Neuman KH 80 or 120 instead.
So all Genelecs are not good except 8341 and up?
 

jae

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So all Genelecs are not good except 8341 and up?
I wouldn't say they aren't "good"... but it's just that you are paying the "Genelec tax" for their name being on the product, imo. And there are products that perform better technically for the price. After the Genelec one's and their 10-series and a few other performers like 8030C etc the value proposition (or if you look at it another way, the justification for the "luxury price" to match the "luxury specs") drops off hard, especially when you're only getting a two-way. For example, the KH 80 goes nearly as low as the G2 but is better in most regards, and as far as I know it is around the same price or even also cheaper (maybe the caveat is the SPL limitation here, might wanna check specs, especially if no sub). As far as I'm concerned something like KH 80/120 or Genelec 8030C (Sierra-LX/KEF R3/Polk R200 if passive) + a sub or two with proper integration, or maybe Buchardt A500 alone is probably the best you can do for yourself on a "budget" (~$1-4k USD for a pair depending on config/subs) without getting into flagship Neumann, Genelec, D&D etc. prices which START at 8k++ for a pair w/ no sub. Basically you need to increase budget by at least 200-400% of any of these cheaper configurations to see any noticeable improvement at all.
 

AwesomeSauce2015

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So all Genelecs are not good except 8341 and up?
I think his point is that the Neuman monitors represent a better value than genelec, except for in their fancy 3 way coaxial monitors.
The 8331 is down significantly on power compared to the 8341, and the prices (at least in the USA) are not too far apart.

I think everyone here can agree that genelecs are usually pretty good, but are definitely expensive.
Edit

Does that mean I can stream Spotify from my phone to the DAC via Bluetooth?
If you want to stream in good quality from Spotify to a speaker system, you really should look into a streaming preamp. Instead of your phone doing the download from spotify and using bluetooth to send the signal to the speakers, you instead have the preamp directly streaming in max quality.
For example, the Yamaha musiccast amps can stream from spotify in 44khz 16bit (CD Quality), whereas any phone or PC maxes out at a 320kb/s stream, which is far less than CD.

I'd recommend getting whatever speakers you like, and then something like this to use as the DAC / Preamp:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022WXC50DS/Yamaha-WXC-50.html?tp=75886

It should have tone controls available, and it also has digital outputs if you want to use a fancy DAC.
But most importantly, it connects to your network, which means it is far more stable than a bluetooth device, and that it can stream stuff directly rather than using your phone.
 
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