Its time to write something. I still remember when a mini meet was arranged at Pandam Audio for the first time, I was unwilling to travel all the way to the showroom. These were fairly exotic stuff for me. I said in a post that I would spend my free time demoing amps and speakers for a basic setup rather than spoil myself by listening to scarily expensive studio stuff. Thats when an FM asked why they cannot be considered, if my objective is to setup a decent system, that the smallest of the monitors is still good and fairly affordable. I was still in passive mode that time.
The second meet was a revelation. Thanks to the organizer for familiarizing me with the Genelecs. I could not believe how such a quality sound can come from these tiny boxes that too with lot of other electronics stuffed into it. The fact that the sound quality and signature remains same across the series and only the loudness and LF extension varies was something difficult to comprehend. But it was evident that day. Talking about big things demoed in the meet, the coffin sized sub has enough power to break your rib bones in case you inhaled more air. The way Clifford explained that day, the engineering behind these metal boxes took the audience to a new horizon of knowledge. Coming to the DSP series, a 15-min long calculation on a modern day PC shows how complex the acoustic calibration would be.
Today, listening to the Genelec 8030as at home is nothing short of exciting. While enjoying the music itself, concentrating on the vocals, analyzing the layering of instruments and realizing the big soundstage and the darkness behind was all running simultaneously in the mind when the Genelecs sing. The full bodied sound is crisp and fast and it doesnt miss a bit or byte of sound above 55 hz. I could hear all nuances in the music of my favourite tracks and some instruments never noticed before, sprang to life. The sound is so detailed and agile that you can hear the fingers smearing on the tablas membrane. The purity of the vocals and its focus at the centre helps in visualizing the singer at a good distance from the musicians. The crunchiness of the snares and crispness of the brass instruments makes the eyes to shrink without hurting the ears. People who heard music on it insisted me twice or thrice to ascertain if the sub was on. I had to pull the power plug to prove it isnt. To that extent the monitors dig deep, at the same time keeping it tight and fast paced too. Even at low volumes, the bass maintains its texture.
Though there is definitely a sweet spot that helps in stereographic imaging, the frequency response across all bands is pretty uniform at off axis areas of the room. Surprisingly even when I put my head behind the speakers, they still sound as if they are in front. Are they musical? Well, this question is often directed to people having or buying monitors. My counter question to them is, if they are playing music, why it wouldnt be? May be there are reasons I am not aware of. But I guess its more about perception. If someone is used to coloration, then this may appear little dry though I havent met anyone commenting so yet. At the same time, play a poorly recorded track or an MP3 less than 320 kbps, then the ears start to strain; as they not only make the compression and other deficiencies of the source evident, they amplify them as well.
For me, the pain of hunting for options, matching various components, changing cables, struggling hard to know which frequency is subdued or which is in excess and how to neutralize them by again upgrading the components and spending all savings on it, seems to have been put to rest by these actives, atleast for now. Of course, the quality of transport and the DAC would be always troubling till they are upgraded to match the performance of the montiors.
For the size, these monitors are really loud and they dont distort at high volumes either as long as it is fed with clean music. For a bday party at home, I had purposefully set up the puny 8020bs which made the first of the guests to walk in chuckle at it. Then as expected, the heads started to turn as the decibels were raised. They started looking into all corners of space searching for speakers. That was priceless.
The thought of using these for HT itself gave goosebumps to me. And luckily the deal in which the used speakers were bought, had more than a few pieces. Wired to the Emotiva UMC200, the 8030a for the fronts and 8020b's for the surrounds have created that perfect little theatre I dreamt of. I could see the 8020Bs feeling insulted for placing them as surrounds- because along with a fast sub, they are enough to make a great stereo setup. Well, it is this single active speaker doing the duty of centre channel, I believe has actually brought the theatre to home. It sounds simply big and the vocals are amazingly clear that you even the breathe of the artists are heard. The resolution is maintained even at most dynamic and demanding scenes. All speakers together effortlessly does the job of slamming me to the back of my seat. Active Theatre. Nice to call it that way.
As said earlier, good things in life come with their own stake of problems. Thats the Sub (in HT) and the DAC (in stereo) for me. Going to be expensive if they have to justify the quality of these monitors. I am pretty sure that for stereo, I would not need a sub at all. How many instruments go below 55 hz is the question. The painful wait for the DAC upgrade has begun long back.
Ever since the Genelecs came home, I do not know why, I have spent a lot more time simply gazing at them rather than listening to.
The second meet was a revelation. Thanks to the organizer for familiarizing me with the Genelecs. I could not believe how such a quality sound can come from these tiny boxes that too with lot of other electronics stuffed into it. The fact that the sound quality and signature remains same across the series and only the loudness and LF extension varies was something difficult to comprehend. But it was evident that day. Talking about big things demoed in the meet, the coffin sized sub has enough power to break your rib bones in case you inhaled more air. The way Clifford explained that day, the engineering behind these metal boxes took the audience to a new horizon of knowledge. Coming to the DSP series, a 15-min long calculation on a modern day PC shows how complex the acoustic calibration would be.
Today, listening to the Genelec 8030as at home is nothing short of exciting. While enjoying the music itself, concentrating on the vocals, analyzing the layering of instruments and realizing the big soundstage and the darkness behind was all running simultaneously in the mind when the Genelecs sing. The full bodied sound is crisp and fast and it doesnt miss a bit or byte of sound above 55 hz. I could hear all nuances in the music of my favourite tracks and some instruments never noticed before, sprang to life. The sound is so detailed and agile that you can hear the fingers smearing on the tablas membrane. The purity of the vocals and its focus at the centre helps in visualizing the singer at a good distance from the musicians. The crunchiness of the snares and crispness of the brass instruments makes the eyes to shrink without hurting the ears. People who heard music on it insisted me twice or thrice to ascertain if the sub was on. I had to pull the power plug to prove it isnt. To that extent the monitors dig deep, at the same time keeping it tight and fast paced too. Even at low volumes, the bass maintains its texture.
Though there is definitely a sweet spot that helps in stereographic imaging, the frequency response across all bands is pretty uniform at off axis areas of the room. Surprisingly even when I put my head behind the speakers, they still sound as if they are in front. Are they musical? Well, this question is often directed to people having or buying monitors. My counter question to them is, if they are playing music, why it wouldnt be? May be there are reasons I am not aware of. But I guess its more about perception. If someone is used to coloration, then this may appear little dry though I havent met anyone commenting so yet. At the same time, play a poorly recorded track or an MP3 less than 320 kbps, then the ears start to strain; as they not only make the compression and other deficiencies of the source evident, they amplify them as well.
For me, the pain of hunting for options, matching various components, changing cables, struggling hard to know which frequency is subdued or which is in excess and how to neutralize them by again upgrading the components and spending all savings on it, seems to have been put to rest by these actives, atleast for now. Of course, the quality of transport and the DAC would be always troubling till they are upgraded to match the performance of the montiors.
For the size, these monitors are really loud and they dont distort at high volumes either as long as it is fed with clean music. For a bday party at home, I had purposefully set up the puny 8020bs which made the first of the guests to walk in chuckle at it. Then as expected, the heads started to turn as the decibels were raised. They started looking into all corners of space searching for speakers. That was priceless.
The thought of using these for HT itself gave goosebumps to me. And luckily the deal in which the used speakers were bought, had more than a few pieces. Wired to the Emotiva UMC200, the 8030a for the fronts and 8020b's for the surrounds have created that perfect little theatre I dreamt of. I could see the 8020Bs feeling insulted for placing them as surrounds- because along with a fast sub, they are enough to make a great stereo setup. Well, it is this single active speaker doing the duty of centre channel, I believe has actually brought the theatre to home. It sounds simply big and the vocals are amazingly clear that you even the breathe of the artists are heard. The resolution is maintained even at most dynamic and demanding scenes. All speakers together effortlessly does the job of slamming me to the back of my seat. Active Theatre. Nice to call it that way.
As said earlier, good things in life come with their own stake of problems. Thats the Sub (in HT) and the DAC (in stereo) for me. Going to be expensive if they have to justify the quality of these monitors. I am pretty sure that for stereo, I would not need a sub at all. How many instruments go below 55 hz is the question. The painful wait for the DAC upgrade has begun long back.
Ever since the Genelecs came home, I do not know why, I have spent a lot more time simply gazing at them rather than listening to.
Sorry for spoiling you further Thad. BTW be extra cautious while handling cash as you are making counting errors. 
This is 
. I urge interested FMs to look forward to the M series- looks promising and are 30 percent cheaper (non-metal case and Class D amp). 
