So I’ve got a pair of Genelec 8040s on loan from a fellow naut. But at some point I’m gonna have to get my own pair. So I’m wondering:
The 8040s are a bit big for my room. Buts it’s great that their bass goes low enough for techno without needing a sub really. I play them at modest to low volumes mostly, out of respect for my neighbors.
Alternatively, I could get 8030s and an affordable but positively reviewed sub like an Adam Sub7, to use only every now and then, when the time of day allows for it, and for checking the low end of my mix at times.
Just getting the 8040s and using them at low volume is an easier solution. So that results in my question:
Are bigger speakers at lower volumes just as flat/neutral/functional as monitors? Or do they need to reach some kind of volume to really sing?
The frequency response of your ears and brain differ a lot at different volumes. That is much more an issue than the frequence response of the speakers at certain volumes. Bigger speakers have the advantage that the lower frequences translate better and that the distortion is lower as you have more than enough headroom. So you could say the bigger the better, if you can position them correctly, as the listening position (and room acoustics) are also very important factors.
I find Jesco’s findings (Acoustics Insider) on this subject always very useful and clariifying.
Two youtube movies regarding this subject:
Check out his other video’s too, they are very educational!
Yeah that’s a good point, that I forgot to mention. In my setup/table/room I have just enough space to move the 8040 Genelecs about a meter away from my ears, a distance that’s mentioned somewhere for these speakers by Genelec.
I think the problem without a sub is you have 1 driver trying to reproduce a very wide frequency range, which is not (afaik) physically possible.
Like the 8040 has a 6.5" driver, crossover is at 3000hz, so you basically have 1 driver trying to make all the sound from 40hz to 3000hz. If you have a big stonking kick at like 45 - 50hz its going to be harder for that driver to do its thing at the higher frequencies, and like 150hz - 3000hz are pretty important.
The 8040 goes to 40hz at -6dB, personally i think -6dB is fairly quiet a lot so unless ur putting a highpass on everything from like 50hz you’re probably not getting the full picture of whats going on.
I know and like the acousticsinsider guys videos but he is talking very generally, not necessarily for fast, sub-bass heavy music.
Anywho thats my understanding, happy to be corrected.
I think there talking about the bassport on the rear, that the rear of the speaker must be 1 m away from walls or corners
The positioning of the speakers in theorie is that it has to be an equilateral triangle
Where the tree points are the two speakers of course and you the listener
I 've followed their recommendations, put them about 10-15 cm away from the wall and imho they sound awesome and I’m happy to have a setup without subwoover.
The 8040 bass was still quite heavy but they’ve got some dip switches to adjust it.
Finally I’ve used Dirac Live and a measurement mic to get the best sound at my listening position.
No the Genelecs have fairly good infographics/help documents, and I think putting them close to the walls can be fine (depending on your room situation)
Hey, rather late response but had to take a break from non-essential screen time for a while…
Did you come to conclusions in the meantime?
I don’t nearly use the full power of the 8040’s in my little room and I don’t notice negative effects from using them at lower volume. My horrible room acoustics interfere way more. I’ve recently fiddled with it again. Put the monitors closer to me, further from the back wall / sloped ceiling. That makes it far from the ideal equilateral triangle positioning but sound improves.
Also added more bass damping with a cut up old mattress (already had packs of rockwool sono in corners). It helps evening out the sub low a bit more.
Still, in this room, what ever positioning I do there’s going to be a huge dip in the low region at the listening position. Moving the monitors shifts the exact frequency of it. With my current setup the dip is at 40-45Hz. An essential area for thumping techno.
I’ve considered adding a sub for solving that (positioning and level setting independent form moni’s). But before dumping a serious sum on a Genelec sub I realized I could do some fixing with my RME audio interface. I’m now using the internal DSP to add an EQ bump at the lacking frequencies. And now I have my sub frequency dip largely fixed. Works for me, though I didn’t do any acoustics measuring yet. (Of course in the rest of the room the low is super boomy but I only care about the listening position).
This works both when using a DAW computer and hardware only. EQ is applied at the stereo outputs of the RME. In the hardware case I simply run my mixer’s output through the RME so it gets the EQ applied, and I can record the input mix whenever I need to.
No conclusions yet - I’m taking my time to inform myself, before I have the budget for a good pair of speakers.
My current thinking is that it’ll probably only complicate things if I go for a setup with monitors ánd a sub. Better just 8040s and some room treatment (planning to get a couple packs of dense rockwool boards soon).
If I get the opportunity at some point to test 8030s, I will try them first. I think the 8030s are somewhere in the middle between my current speakers and 8040s, so potentially they prove to be just enough for monitoring my bass levels.
I’m interested to see where you land too. I think either will be fine really, the max levels for speakers are before they start to distort, afaik you dont need to be running them at full power for them to be sounding correct.
I look at monitoring/treatment as a work in progress, like I bought some good monitors, then a sub, then treatment over the course of a few years. I might get some more treatment this year or next.
I’m using 6010 monitors in my homestudio and i like them very much. I usually have to listen music at minimal volume so they have been working for that ok. Still I have been drooling over 8040 monitors and would like to buy those. Thinking that those could have fuller sound(low frequency) at minimal volume.
Do i benefit anything from 8040 or should i stick to 6010?
If I were you I’d get the Genelec 5040 sub that matches perfectly with your 6010’s. I had that combo, mainly used in the evening at lower volumes, and can thoroughly recommend.
As you can imagine, the sub really fills out the bottom end, even at low volume, to produce a really pleasing sound from such a compact monitor.
I now have Focal Shape 65 monitors in a smallish bedroom studio and recently bought the Adam T10S sub to see how it would sound. After spending ages moving it around the room I have it sounding as it should now just filling out the bottom octave without being obtrusive.
The most annoying thing about it is that at low (evening) volumes the sub will suddenly turn itself off! I got around that by feeding it from a Scarlett 6i6 mk3 with the s/pdif out going to a Benchmark DAC1 HDR that feeds the Focals directly. This way I have a level control for the sub and can turn it off without affecting the sound from the monitors. It works well.
Anyway, going back to the original point - a sub can be used in a smaller untreated room to compliment your monitors as long as you set it up carefully.
