The importance of monitoring in a recording studio (professional or "home") is essential when the goal is to produce quality work. I'm surely not saying anything new. In the absence of a "standard monitor" (the market is full of solutions, each more varied than the last), the proliferation of models allows everyone to adapt to their "acoustic" needs with their perfect monitor.
Some will want a punchy sound that's well balanced in the midrange for precise control of the most electric guitars; others a better low-frequency response when electronic music has to dominate. For more supple vocals there will be suitable models, and so on for every case. Every studio, its own monitor. But that doesn't mean we should downplay the monitor, since it's the key element in many sonic decisions. Its fidelity must be absolute, and it's one of the few electronic and acoustic elements we must trust blindly.
When we talk about monitors, the name Genelec comes to many people's minds. And when we talk about Genelec, we're talking about active monitors. This brand, popular for its design successes in studio monitors (who doesn't know the 1039A monitors, for example), is also known for its self-bi-amplified systems, that is, building a two-way monitor with dual amplification (one per way/driver) that only requires an unamplified signal input. Besides saving a lot of space, setting up and getting an active monitor going is much easier, since all the electronic components are chosen and tuned to a particular configuration. Genelec has been one of those labels that has achieved one of the best synergies between its electronics, cabinet construction and choice of drivers, offering compact, efficient and, most importantly, reliable monitors.
The 8000 series
"Innovate or die". I suppose that faced with this pressing reality, the manufacturer recently introduced the new 8000 series, based on its highly successful principles but with more than obvious changes. The aim, of course, is to evolve its "standard" to offer more than we were used to.
The first significant change is obvious: the enclosure. Accustomed as we were to its wooden boxes, with simple lines (attractive, in my view) and clean finishes, this new series uses aluminum, curves and dark colors as its main aesthetic element. Not a single straight line, not a single right angle. Of course, this isn't gratuitous, nor merely a matter of looks. Eliminating edges reduces some diffraction, which improves sound propagation by avoiding some basic construction-related distortion. The tweeter takes advantage of one of the brand's advances: the DCW (Directivity Control Waveguide), which controls not only the frequency response of the upper spectrum of the sound wave, but also the driver's efficiency and even the stereo image.
Another obvious "improvement" is the bass-reflex port. Used to those two front slots flanking the tweeter, when you see one of these new Genelec cabinets you might even say: "there's no bass reflex". The truth is there is, although the port is discreetly hidden at the back of the cabinet, well camouflaged by taking advantage of the amalgam of curves that will characterize the 8000s. But where we were used to "linear" ports, this time we find a curved tube running downward into the internal low-frequency enclosure. The aim is the same as with all ports of this caliber: to extend the frequency response and make an additional bass reinforcement system unnecessary.
These two obvious changes don't take anything away from the cabinets' meaning or usefulness. In fact, those of us used to Genelec cabinets feel at home with this new 8000 series, since it inherits the whole adjustment and configuration system of the previous series and their connection versatility, including the much-desired balanced XLR input.
The cabinet's considerable weight allows it to act as a mass block for better dispersion of low frequencies, although it comes with a rubber base (also rounded) that makes it easy to place on a desktop.
What it claims to offer
Nothing Genelec does is gratuitous. Or so it seems from its products. I've already mentioned that its new look isn't just a "modern" facelift. The manufacturer justifies it by the reduced cabinet diffraction. The sturdiness of the aluminum, the new bass port and the use of low-distortion low-frequency drivers are not to be underestimated either.
The model tested is the 8050, the “top of the line” in the current series, with two amplification channels of 120 and 150 W capable of reaching up to 120 dB of sound pressure (brutal). Briefly going over the series, there's also the 8040, with 90 W and 115 dB SPL, and the more compact 8030A (the “rounded” version of the well-known 1029, 1030 and 1031), also two-way but with less power and fewer features.
Let's focus on our guests, the formidable and well-equipped 8050s. Two-way, with an amplification channel for each. Signal input via balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA. Input sensitivity adjustment and several frequency cuts and EQ settings already typical of the brand's older (though by no means dismissible) models.
I installed them at Bucbonera recording studios in Caldes de Montbuí, with the help of their engineer Tomás Robisco. Positioning and placement suited to "nearfield" listening. And the goal, as simple as evaluating their performance as studio monitors.
Having their own power amps doesn't just mean better performance. In fact, it's assumed (and of this I am sure) that the manufacturer has matched the amplification to the characteristics of each driver and, just as importantly, to the crossover filter. One of Genelec's achievements is a perfect design of this crossover filter, as we noticed for example in its new HT (Home Theater) series, designed for the consumer market, where it was impossible to perceive any problem at the crossover frequency. Achieving perfectly flat frequency response is quite difficult, especially at the point where there's a mandatory crossover. The slopes of each way must allow the sound to be reconstructed without any perceptible addition or loss of frequencies. Depending on the order of the filters applied, this zone is more or less spread out along the frequency axis, causing more or fewer problems.
We connected the Genelec pair to a preamp output of a ProTools system. Thanks to being able to use two monitoring systems, we kept another pair the studio's sound engineer is more familiar with, which served only as a reference point (he uses Dynaudio cabinets).
Leaving each cabinet at its factory settings (that is, without any EQ curves) and with the sensitivity adjusted with a sound level meter in hand, the first impression is of obvious compression in the low frequencies and poorly defined highs. Time to use the cabinet's configuration options, resulting in a -4 dB reduction in both presence and bass roll-off, and in the treble area +2 dB of presence but a slight reduction in the curve. This gave them a bit more dynamics, but the lows remained somewhat blurry and the highs lacked the precision needed for a surgical stereo image. Another obvious problem was a greater presence of sounds between 300 and 400 Hz. This makes the final perception of the audio much more nasal.
Up to that point the music used was melodic pop and the odd acoustic piece. Where the Genelecs found one of their closest allies was with electronic music. With more precise control of the low end, our guests also deliver a punchy impact. The top end, which in this style of music tends to be overly bright, blends very well with the ever-present mids of most electronic "instruments".
Conclusion
When we thought the listening room might be responsible for these results, we decided to try other setups (we've tested the JBLs in this same space), which allowed us to verify that we had absolute control of the room. The "modern" Genelecs, with their aluminum chassis and seductive shapes, don't win you over with the cohesion between the different frequencies they reproduce (that tonal precision between highs and lows, with mids in their proper proportion), but rather through the engineer's need to work comfortably with an enclosure that tends to compress the signal and slightly blur the soundstage.
As a self-powered system, it gives its owner the possibility of a cleaner, faster and simpler installation. The amount of energy its amplification system delivers to the drivers is more than enough even for the deafest engineer.
* Price: €1,350.20 (each) 8050A test bench
* Other models available: 8030A: retail price €470.20 (each) and 8040A: retail price €770.20 (each)
