I’ve used Genelec 1029A’s since 2001 but last year one of them blew an internal fuse & a replacement fuse immediately, so it needs repairing.
I also have a pair of Adam T7V’s that I got a few years back because I’ve found as my hearing has degraded I’m overcompensating for bass a bit. Since the Genelec packed up these are my main monitors now & whilst they’re OK, I really miss the Genelecs, I’m just so used to them & they’re a good size.
I’ll see if I can track down somewhere in the UK to get it repaired, apparently it tends to be the transformers that go eventually. It did do 20 years of continuous daily use though, I definitely got my moneys worth. I never felt I needed the sub bass unit, it cost more than the pair of 1029s, but I suppose that should be the solution to my bass issue when I get it repaired.
I actually had some issues with neighbors when I lived in an apartment. I tried a few different things, and was quite accommodating, but ended up realizing that my neighbors were just obnoxious on the one side.
I tried going from HR824s to Tapco S5s. I tried smaller sealed pairs instead of rear ports, tried different aiming, tried adding more solid platforms to reduce resonance, etc. I was constantly reducing my general monitoring levels over time, until I could no longer hear things clearly. They just kept complaining. I’d do a lot of mixing on headphones for a while, then just check the mixes during reasonable hours at reasonable volumes (queue Milton picture) but they’d complain if they could even slightly hear it. I could hear them talk more than they could probably hear my monitoring at that point. Humans…
Luckily we moved out shortly after. Obviously not an option for everyone.
The nice thing about living in the midwest is that our towers seem to be mostly concrete instead of the mostly steel Pacific towers that need to be able to bend and flex during earthquakes. At comfortable listening volumes, my wife can nap in the room next to my studio while I’m listening. An 8" sub would be fun, but might be enough to punch through these walls.
I like using my Teenage Engineering OB-4 for a portable quick and dirty monitoring solution. No need to worry about dragging long cables around and convenient!
Went from entry level Swissonic ASM5 over a pair of Adams which I forgot the name off.
I now have a pair of Neumann KH120 that I use in semi-treated room (realy reflections and bit of bass treatment) through the sonarworks correction system.
Since I got used to this combination I never had a situation again where I found a mix sounding totally different on another system.
The Neumanns are very precise and and acurate. One effect I sometimes have is that I get the impression the sound is leaving the speaker.
For the music I make (and for what I can afford) this is a perfect system.
I thought about buying a sub but did not pull the trigger yet and probably never will.
The Neumanns go down to about 50Hz almost linear. The correction system does the rest.
IMO there is more that you feel than what your hear in the range between 30-50 Hz.
I mixed my bands album (electronica) and gave the master to the label for vinyl production without any complaints. That made me quite confident.
Just my thoughts
Funny coincidence, I’m trying to decide between those exact 3 monitors, as they seem like some of the most compact nice monitors that would fit on my desk. They’d be my first monitors (I’d played on a small PA, Roland KC-300, I recently gave to my daughter), and I’d like to be able first to listen out loud to my synths, and second, be able to do some amateur/beginner mixing (longtime musician but beginner since 2022 to synths and production, in an untreated smallish space, prefer quiet listening).
I saw you’ve written up your GoAux experience on gearspace, and thanks for that, it’s one of the only reviews on the web. And I like the connectivity options and am attracted to the ARC on the GoAux 4 but otherwise I feel like it’s a blind tossup between the GoAux 4 and iLoud micro, and then I wonder (as I’ve seen others doing on a thread about it) about the MTMs as a splurge.
Would you have any advice or quick comparison thoughts about the KRK GoAux 4s vs the iLoud Micros? Is there a noticeable difference in low frequency response between them? Does ARC vault the GoAux’s above and beyond the Micros?
I use a pair of ESI nEar 05 monitors I bought in 2004. They are still going strong, which I think is an incredible endorsement/advertisement for a piece of gear. They don’t make them anymore (there is a new version) and I guess they’re hard to find used for a reason- whoever bought them is still probably using them. That’s 14 years of reliability- I can’t really say whether this is a long time as far as monitors go but I’ve seen friends go through a few pairs of monitors made by other companies during that time span.
I have a clear opinion on this: I would prefer the GoAux 4 any day. Mainly because of the awesome connectivity and because they produce nearly no background noise. The KRKs are still new, and I had bought the iLouds MTM and Micro some time before. Honestly, today I would probably even buy the GoAux instead of the MTMs. The MTMs sound better, no doubt, but the GoAux are sufficient for my needs.
I briefly described the sound difference between the iLoud Micro and the GoAux 4 at GS - as good as I could, because English is not my native language.
The ARC calibration of the GoAux I have only briefly tested for function, but I don’t need it (yet).
I really don’t want to start a new thread for such a stupid question but I would appreciate some advice to decide which monitors to get, I’m pretty much settled on the Focal Alpha Evo 65 but I still can’t shake the thought that I might be better with the 8" version Evo 80.
Is 8" enough without a sub? also it seems to me that 8" I can use in lower volumes then 6.5", is that the case?
and if we’re talking about 8" then maybe I should get the HS8?
HS8 seems like made their way in lots of studios and there’s plenty of voice that they are delivering the goods, going low enough to use without sub etc etc.
but the focals are newer, have several advantages (at least to me they seem like advantages):
class D amps and auto shutdown feature - less power consuption = good for the environment
front port - I put everything on one desk which is close to the wall so front port might be better choice
on paper the 65 is almost goes as low as the HS8 which should be enough so no reason getting huge speakers?
I was looking on Genelec 8030C as well but they are much more expensive and they don’t go low as the other candidates, seems that I’d have to get a sub for them as well which I’m currently trying to avoid.
so basically I’m trying to decide between Evo 65 (and maaaybe a sub in the future) vs Evo 80 vs HS8.
Ported speakers should be no closer to the wall than the diameter of the port - and in most spaces, that is going to be the optimal distance for them.
The further you pull speakers out from the wall, the more you will have to deal with phase cancellation causing problems in the low-end response.
You can always EQ out the boundary gain (most monitors will have switches for it) but you can’t fix phase cancellation with EQ.
Well there’s a matter of distortion and loudness.
A larger driver will have an easier time with those low frequencies, even if it’s possible to push a smaller driver to reproduce them (usually via higher excursion drivers, or a more limited volume output)
I’d say there’s more to speakers than just the specs, and I’ve never heard a pair of Genelecs that I didn’t like.
The high-end tends to be detailed, but not harsh/fatiguing, and the imaging/soundstaging is very impressive (though coaxial drivers will always be best at this).
I also prefer the aesthetics/build compared to a lot of other monitors.
But the 8030C may not be the right choice if you absolutely need that low-end.
all of the speakers I’m looking at have pretty much same specs for loudness, so I figure maybe 6.5" will distort earlier but I don’t really need loudness, I’m really looking for medium listening levels for the sake of my ears anyway and I’m not fully sure that in medium levels 8" would be better. plus the 8" are much larger.
I mean, I would really want to hear it when I need it, if I’m trying mix something I want to hear some bass… it doesn’t have to be loud but I wanna hear some response… it’s not like I’m building a studio or something but I still wanna be able to do some mixing that translates, especially the low end because I suck at it badly.
they do have huge advantages in terms of size, made in finland, probably better build quality then the rest, and if I were doing it professionally I’d probably go for them + sub without flinching, but at the moment I’m not sure that’s the right choice…
Well it looks like the Focal A65 Evo review better than the Yamaha HS7 over there, so I’d be leaning in that direction.
But I’m seeing quite a few complaints about their upper-midrange reproduction from them too - though I’m not sure where that leaves you, as I don’t have any recommendations for anything better in this sort of range (these may still be the best option).
Need some advice from community about my situation…
One of my adam audio A8X recently died and I tried contacted Adam support for months without success unfortunately. I wonder if i should get another one second hand or if I should radically change my pair of monitor.
Is it fine to get a second one to match up with the one remaining? Would they fit together since they don’t share the same period of activity?
Or is it best to get a new pair and sell my remaining one?
Getting a second used one would be much more cheaper of course but I’m concerned about how they would sound together…
I understand your point of having a spare monitor. However only one is not that useful, unless you like mixing in mono and I have a spare paire of KRK for djing I could use but not for mixing or producing.
That is a bit much sub. Hehehe.
. Mainly for ergonomic reasons. I can’t work properly if the speakers aren’t in front of me.
)
and I have a spare paire of KRK for djing I could use but not for mixing or producing.