I've always had a soft spot for "small" nearfield monitors, perhaps because I got started in the world of recording and mixing with a pair of Tannoy Reveal Actives. And the truth is that once you get to know monitors of this kind well, listening through them tells you a lot about how your material will sound on an average home system. Not for nothing, you'll hardly find stereo systems with 8" or larger woofers in the average Spanish home, and, on the other hand, typical "home theater" systems, however much sub-bass they have, are designed more to enhance the effects on DVDs than for optimal music listening. This doesn't mean we have to give up everything we need to make a good mix (definition, detail, linearity, image consistency…), because the speakers must be well designed and built; what we can do without, however, is extended low-frequency response and very high SPL levels. In any case, these speakers are aimed commercially at project studios, preferably backed up by a subwoofer, or as alternative monitors to a larger pair, with the intention in both cases of having a full-range monitoring system.

8000 Series
The monitors we are testing today, the Genelec 8040A, belong to this category and are part of the 8000 Series. This series, made up of the 8030A, 8040A and 8050A, was introduced by Genelec at AES Berlin in May 2004, intended to replace the renowned 1029A, 1030A and 1031A respectively.

Genelec is a prestigious Finnish company, founded in 1978, which prides itself on being the leader in the self-powered studio monitor sector and which has a large following, probably due to the personality of its sound, known as the "Genelec Sound." On the outside, the differences between the 8000 Series and the 1000 Series are obvious. The design, the work of designer Harri Koskinen, is based on MDE (Minimum Diffraction Enclosure) technology, in which a cabinet with rounded edges and a curved front and sides reduces sound diffraction at the enclosure and improves both frequency and power response, as well as imaging.

Another advance incorporated in the 8000 Series is the DCW, or Directivity Control Waveguide, which determines the shape of the tweeter mounting (a small recess) and improves sound directivity, resulting in a flatter frequency response from the monitor, especially at the listening position.

Aluminum was chosen for the construction of the cabinet because it maximizes internal volume (improving low-frequency efficiency) while minimizing size, since the enclosure can have thinner walls while retaining the necessary rigidity. At the same time, the shape reduces internal resonances with the walls, and since aluminum is a good thermal conductor, the heat generated by the amplifiers and drivers can be dissipated more easily.

Improvements have also been made to the reflex port, with the inclusion of a long tube that improves airflow, thereby extending the woofer's low-frequency response. The tube opens to the outside through a wide mouth with a geometry designed to minimize port noise and improve bass articulation. The drivers are also of a new design and, according to Genelec, have lower distortion.

To finish describing the improvements, I should mention that all 8000 Series speakers include a rubber stand called the Iso-Pod, or Isolation Positioner/Decoupler, which on the one hand lets you tilt the monitor so the acoustic axis points precisely at the listening position and, on the other, isolates it from vibrations that might reach it through the surface it rests on.

A look at the speakers
For the tests, the importer (AUPROSA) sent us a pair of 8040AWs. The W refers to the white finish, while P is the designation for the black version (call me old-fashioned, but white, although very "cool," reminds me of kitchen appliances…).
The 8040A has a 6.5" woofer and a 0.75" metal dome tweeter, both magnetically shielded. Each driver has its own 90 W amplifier. Frequency response runs from 48 Hz to 20 kHz (+/- 2 dB), and they deliver an SPL (Sound Pressure Level) of 105 dB, with peaks of up to 115 dB measured at 1 m. Both drivers are protected by a metal grille, and the active crossover is set at 3 kHz.

These monitors have no handles, which, combined with their weight (8.6 kg), their rounded shape and their rather slippery surface, means that the most comfortable and safe way to handle one is by gripping it by the reflex port and supporting it from underneath.

On the rear panel, in addition to the reflex port mentioned above, we find the power inlet, a main power switch and the signal connection, exclusively balanced XLR, although an unbalanced signal can be used as long as pins 1 and 3 are tied together. Next to these are all the controls for adapting the monitors to the acoustic environment in which they are used. First, there is a control that, with the help of a small screwdriver, lets you adjust input sensitivity. For tonal control there are 4 groups of DIP switches: the classic bass and treble adjustments (bass tilt and treble tilt), the bass roll-off and a control called Desktop Low Frequency, designed to minimize the effect on the bass of the reflections produced by the mixing console when the monitors are placed on it or on stands very close to it. This is a 4 dB cut around 160 Hz.

The bass tilt control offers three levels of attenuation below 800 Hz (-2, -4 and -6 dB) to compensate for the bass boost that occurs when speakers are placed near the room's walls (and even more so in the corners). The treble tilt allows a correction of +2, -2 or -4 dB above 5 kHz to adjust any excess or lack of brightness that may result from interaction with the room.

Finally, the bass roll-off attenuates the output energy in the region near the cutoff frequency by -2, -4 or -6 dB, which helps us integrate a possible subwoofer into our system more effectively. In this regard, it is worth noting that Genelec recommends the 7060A for these speakers in a stereo setup, and the 7070A for a multichannel system.

Put to the test
I must confess that I approached these tests with a certain apprehension. Let me explain. A few months ago I took part as an observer in the tests this publication carried out on the big brother of the 8000 Series, the 8050A. The truth is that we expected a lot from those monitors, because as an evolution of the 1031A, they should have sounded magnificent. However, we found ourselves with speakers that performed rather clumsily. Despite the hours we had them running and the adjustments we made with the tonal controls, we couldn't get them to sound as good as we had expected. It was, so to speak, a minor disappointment. This time, however, the opposite happened: the surprise was positive, and a big one.

I connected the speakers to the system without any prior adjustment, selected rather complex program material (a mix of acoustic and electric instruments with lots of dynamics) and pressed play… Simply impressive. Living up to my name, I had to see it to believe that a sound with as much bass extension as what came out could come from these "small" speakers. On top of that, the sound was clear, defined and detailed, as monitoring that guides you toward the right mix should be. The stereo image was superb, and the window within which you could move without leaving the sweet spot was remarkably wide (especially horizontally). I only made a small -2 dB tweak with the bass tilt control, and I could immediately have started mixing as if I were a regular user. They really held up more than decently in comparison with the main monitoring system (from a higher range).

Conclusions

All in all, I came to two conclusions. The first is that the 8000 Series is not just a cosmetic facelift. The 8040A, with all the technological improvements it incorporates, sounds as good as or better than its predecessors, reaches lower in frequency and has a remarkable ability to adapt to the room in which it is used. It is therefore a highly recommendable monitor, both for those who want a smaller second pair of speakers and for those who, for reasons of budget or room size, want to use it as their main monitoring (with or without a subwoofer). The second conclusion is that, by Cartesian logic, the 8050A units that were tested in my presence and gave a rather mediocre result must have been defective. Their level of acceptance in the market and the results of this test would back that up.