Help interpreting measurements for the Genelec G2 / 8020D (compared to 8030C)

[Decaf]

Hello,

Newbie here. I’m in the market for a studio monitor upgrade to go with my new subwoofer (Kali WS 6.2), for electronic music production.

I’ve found the information on this site unbelievably useful, especially Amir’s reviews. While Amir has not reviewed the 8020D, there are measurements posted of the genelec G2 (which I’m told is acoustically the same - please correct me if I’m wrong). https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nelec-g2-8020-measurements.18076/#post-588399

The graphs unfortunately don’t mean a whole lot to me, so I was wondering if someone experienced might be able to draw some comparisons to the data from the 8030C in Amir’s review? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/genelec-8030c-studio-monitor-review.14795/

I’m sure many others are wondering how these monitors compare. For me, the price and size of the 8020Ds make them seem preferable. However, if the 8030C is another step up in terms of sonic performance (ignoring the bass extension, given I’m using a subwoofer), I may have to stretch my budget.

 

[staticV3]

8030C and 8020D have identical tweeters and tweeter Amps, ergo identical distortion and headroom above ~200Hz.

If used full-range, the 8030C's larger woofer would allow for higher SPL and deeper bass, but with them high-passed and bass handled by a sub, that advantage mostly goes away.

One clear advantage I see is a flatter frequency response out of the box, from the 8030C:


If I had to guess, maybe the 8030C has more sophisticated DSP correction built-in?

Edit:
Tomorrow I can digitize Genelec's graphs and post some proper comparison graphs.

 

[Decaf]

Thank for your reply - I see what you mean looking at those graphs side-by-side now. As far as I'm aware I don't think either have DSP correction built in. I look forward to seeing your comparison graphs! I was wondering if comparing data from 2 different testing environments may be unfair, so seeing genelec's own data compared visually would be amazing.

 

[Rednaxela]

If I had to guess, maybe the 8030C has more sophisticated DSP correction built-in?

It doesn’t have DSP.

 

[Miguelón]

I have both at home, as StaticV3 said the amps are the same but they sound quite different. I ignore why, not only the 4 inch driver is not as good in bass region but also the smaller box may have some impact on the frequency curve?

Without a sub I can’t tell if they are equivalent, but I advice you to get the 8030C for 100€ more per unit and have a well measured monitor.

One thing I learned (and I continue to learn a lot of things which may seem obvious to people more expert than me) but is important, is that all Genelec monitors expect to have a 1Vrms input: I was long time disturbed by irritating highs in piano music (transients when notes attacks are strong), and wandering what happened till I red Genelec FAQ section…

Set your output to a max of 1Vrms or 1,4 V pp, or if you have an analogue attenuator and a multimeter ensure that you’re sending the correct max voltage.