Genelec 8330

I'm an avid Genelec user and I have never thought the 8xxxx series to be bright. The older 1031's can be for sure. But even then the built in tilt filter was enough to tame that.

Focals IMO can be very bright.


That said, I love Genelecs. Hope you enjoy them! SAM is great too only gets better all the time.

I currently mix on 8351a's at work and have 8240b's at home with a sub.

New mastering room is getting 8351b's with W371s.

Didn't seem that way in my room. I had no complaints until the Genelecs came. None the less, the Shapes did really well open the last album.

The SAM is worth its weight in gold*. You can tune up the sound for your room and your preferences. I set mine slightly dark on purpose, to offset the mistake that I gravitate towards too dark mixes. Try the "both speakers use the same correction", some vouch that it keeps the stereo image more coherent since both speakers are EQd the same. You can set up and fine tune different sets of corrections (duplicate group) and flip back and forth them, then decide which set you want to keep and store that into the speakers, and disconnect the GLM box. Then it's standalone. I use 1032C with 7360 sub for music stuff and have the 8330 for living room TV, both benefit from the dsp.


*How much does a software weigh?

Thanks. I will let you know what happens.

Nope no consoling thoughts, I'm going to be the "elitist" here because monitors and treatment are the one place you don't wanna cheep out. If you've got any decent comps / mic's sell them and get some better monitors. The sets you're talking about are umm.. Not all that great.

Someone mentioned the 8351's which are nearly $4K a speaker, they do sound amazing but they're also damn expensive.. The reason I bang on about the Dyn LYD-48's is they're the only "cheap" monitor that I've come across (out of 30 pairs) that had any semblance of frequency balance, decent phantom centre, clarity and enough range combined to be useful. I've heard better for sure but it's a good starting point unless you despise your credit card.

In the lower end it's generally just a smorgasbord of compromise, cheap coax's usually have the sound stage / clarity but not the accuracy. Cheap 2 / 3 ways are generally just unintelligible mush beaten by a set of 90's hi-fi speakers. It might sound a bit dramatic but once I'd got into the likes of Event Opals, PSI, ATC, Geithain etc. I wouldn't go near a low end "studio monitor" again. This is coming from someone who'd happily use an ART pre-amp and a $400.00 ISK mic irrelevant of whether or not I have better. 

I mean, I would not call the 8330's "meh" monitors. Tons and tons of people out there mixing full time on them or similar Genelecs with great success. That said, jumping up in size would make for a better investment. Like to an 8340 or 8350. Plus adding a sub.

But, if the shoe doesn't fit then find a better one. At some point with something like monitors(or headphones) it pays to just stick with them and learn them. I can't even imagine going through 30 sets of monitors. That's a huge waste of time and money IMO. Especially for lower end monitors.


I will say your probably the first person I've seen call Genelecs too "warm" haha I dont' have a ton of experience with Dynaudio's but have had them next to Genelecs and did not like them compared to the Genelecs. Was a long time ago though.


Either way, selling both to get into a higher end/bigger monitor is not a bad idea. But think you'll need to jump up into the 8341 price tag area to really make it worth it. Certainly I'd be looking for something with 6-8'' drivers not 3-5'' ones.

You're mixing up two people's posts (I'm not the OP) and making a lot of assumptions here. Originally I bought some Focal CMS 65's, didn't like the Focal's so I replaced them with some Sonodyne's which I also didn't like. My studio was mid renovation at that point so I had time to go out and listen to as many pairs as possible, order demo units or loaners so I only actually bought 2 sets. After that exercise IMO it's a waste of time and money not to audition a vast array and figure out what works for you.. After all it's a small blip in the 5, 10, 15+ years someone will probably keep them, constantly swapping every couple of years is again IMO a waste of time / money. Also who said they were all cheap? Some that I demo'd cost $15K.. (You probably meant the OP there but it's hard to tell).

I could care less about what's "popular" because end of the day they need to work for me in my studio. The A7X's are / were "popular" but I've never liked them, the Genelec 80XX's were the de facto metal mixing standard and initially I could never get those to translate properly. Yes I "learned" to adjust to their flaws but I'd rather have something I don't constantly fight against.

That being said Dynaudio and Genelec have come a long way over the years, there's a recessed mid stigma with Dyn's but the current LYD crop I've encounters has none of that. Also the Genelec 83XX series aren't the same overly flattering yet muddy sounding attempts as their older versions.. I like the 83XX's with GLM but within their range there's a lot of differences and personally I wouldn't use the 8330's as mains, they're too bass shy for a start. Yes one can get a sub but I do tend to avoid if possible..

Anyway throughout my travels this is what I've personally learned.. I'm not fond of 2-way speakers, they seem to lack the imaging and / or spacial depth of a decent 3-way or coax. I've never heard the ATC SCM20A's or Amphion's for example so I can't state this universally, some maybe awesome but I tend to go a certain direction. Next I prefer a balance between natural and clinical, flat and / or "lively", meaning the Geithains, LYD 48's and a few others didn't sound alien compared to various other sources (like my Beyer Headphones, car stereo, Hi-Fi etc.) so if it works on those it tended to work on a vast array of audio equipment.

Finally this all personal and if the op wasn't frittering I wouldn't say anything.. 

The older larger Dynaudio’s were a bit down in the mids, but they had that Esotar mid dome that seams to have almost disappeared from the pro line. From what I remember of the standard OEM version part of why it always seamed down a dB or 2 is because it was, it had some interesting peaks around where it was comfortable to cross to the Esotar tweeter or those obnoxious little peaks would take your head off. The Automotive version was bright has hell on axis but It was big enough it was always mounted off axis.

Monitors are so personal, the only thing that matters, is that they work for you.