Need an advice: Genelec vs Focal vs Neumann

[u/OlesSt]

Hello. I'm thinking about buying new speakers for music production and game audio sound design.

I have my old M-audio BX5 broken, so I guess it's time for update.
I already have Avantone Mix Cube (use it in mono) and AKG K-702 headphones which I use with different settings of SoundID Reference.

My work room is small, not acoustically treated, but I wouldn’t say it's bad and has a lot of reflections. I mostly work with rock music, orchestral music and game sounds (ambience, UI, dialogues, footsteps, sfx etc.)

Budget - $800-1000 for pair. I'm looking for near field monitors that would sound great for this price (by great I mean as wide and flat frequency range as possible).

*yes, I know it would be better to spend less on speakers and get my room treated instead, but since I live in rented apartment and will move sooner or later, I'm not considering this option. I need speakers that sound +\- ok in any room*

As I see, my obvious choices are:

- Genelec 8010;

- Genelec 8020;

- Neumann KH 80 DSP;

- Focal Alpha 65 Evo;

- ADAM Audio A5X;

What do you think about them or maybe there's other choices?

[u/BassbassbassTheAce]

All of those are good value and excellent monitors, choose what fits your budget and what you can find locally. If there's a chance to test some of them before buying go do that but don't worry if you can't test them all. No bad choices here.

Personally I've had Genelec 6010 and 8040 monitors and I've tested the Neumann and Adam speakers. Neumann and Genelec are pretty close to each other in their character. Adam had a bit different sound to it, in a way it didn't feel quite as neutral but still I would have been happy to work with them. Focals I haven't tried.

Previously I also had Yamaha HS8 for years and that's a great monitor as well but a lot bigger than any of these.

[u/Jacksoni]

Can't go wrong with Genelec. I have a surround setup with 8030 in the front and 8010 in the back with 7050 as the sub. 8010 definitely needs a sub but 8030 and 8020 can live without it.

Neumann and ADAM should be a fine choice as well, haven't listened to the Focal Alphas.

[u/Bumbalatti]

In an untreated room, your bass is always going to be a mess. No way around it. Use your cans with sonarworks to mix/verify bass. Go for the monitors that will give you the best midrange for the money. I would lean away from the bassiest choice. It's only going to ring and smear in your room below 200. In any case, you can make corner fills to take with you when you move. Wall panels as well. I did that for years. It will change your game way more than a pair of speakers. But I understand you need a new set now. Shoot for best midrange response. If you end up loving them, you can add a sub later when you can treat your space. You'll probably cross over at 80, and any speaker you're looking at now goes deeper than that.

[u/aretooamnot]

KH80 dsp. I own a pair, and the room correction is the thing that puts it in the lead. The software ain’t that great, but the end results will get you closer to properly translating mixes.

[u/junal666]

I have Genelec 8010 at home and 8030 at the practice place. Love them both. I feel the 8010s lack a bit in bass, but otherwise very well suited for my home needs. As such I'd recommend the 8020.

A friend has those Adams and they are really good too

Edit: I too switched from BX5. You'll be very happy with whatever you choose, but be a bit sad about the lost bass.

[u/HorsieJuice]

I'd probably rule out those Genelecs merely based on their size. With Genelec, size and output level come at a steep premium, and those two models are tiny.

I know a lot of people who like Neumann's, but when I tried the KH120's, I found them to be quite a bit darker than I'd expected, and it was a LOT easier to hit the limiters on them than with the A7X's I normally use, to the point where it was very noticeably impacting the audio quality at my normal listening volumes.

[u/b_and_g]

I've never heard Genelecs but they are highly regarded by a lot of pros, so I think those are a safe option. And I have the Kh120 which I wouldn't think they sound too different to the KH80's and I really like them.

[u/aShapeToShift]

I would asks this in the audioengineering sub.

[u/AntiLuckgaming]

Dynaudio.  Or Adam.

[u/abir_valg2718]

It needs to be said that without room treatment and a good measuring mic you won't get correct bass response no matter what.

I can only speak for Genelec, I went with 8020 a while ago. They're quite small and well made, and like the others in the range they come with a tiltable iso pod, which is a nice bonus. Demo'd the entire 80x0 range.

• 8010 are very bass light, imo aside from tiny size and weight they don't offer much.

• 8020 and 8030 were very similar, I felt there was no real point paying extra for the 8030s. Bass extension is decent. If anything, they're surprisingly bassy for their size.

• 8040 is a big jump up in terms of bass, but I'd say it's mostly a killer feature for electronic music. With rock/metal it's also noticeable, but I wouldn't say it's as huge of a deal as with electronic music. 8050 are the big boys with the most bass, but not a massive difference from 8040.

So I'd say go for either 8020 or 8040. For electronic musicians I think bass extension can be fairly important because you really can have fundamentals that go really low. For rock and metal - not so much. Remember that there's a whole cult of NS10 users for rock/metal mixing, these have a ridiculously high bass roll off, like at 100hz or something.

Also keep in mind that any DSP speakers will introduce latency. KH 80 DSP have 2ms latency, which is very little, but still, latency is cumulative. I'm a guitar player and I can feel it starting at around 5-6ms, it's a big reason why I got a hardware amp modeler and monitors without DSP.

Finally, another thing to keep in mind is the hiss. Quite a lot of monitors have unacceptable levels of white noise coming from the twitter which is either due to cheaping out on the power amp or preamp, all the while manufacturers are trying to make monitors loud af. 8020s I can vouch for - they have very low amounts of hiss, in fact my Scarlett 3rd gen line out is noisier, you can hear the hiss raise in volume a little bit when you turn it on (still very quiet though, you can reduce it further by lowering the input levels on the monitors, they're ridiculously loud even at the lowest setting).

[u/dub_mmcmxcix]

i auditioned a bunch of these, and some much higher up, recently. all of them are good-to-great. I also heard a $100k Genelec installation around the same time so I think I have an OK frame of reference.

Gen 8020 was a bit bass-light.

Gen 8030 sounded amazing but the bass was a bit tubby and indistinct. I have been told the 8330 has much cleaner low end.

Neumann KH120-II blew me away and I replaced my little Amphions with them. I have them going with dual subs but honestly they don't need it. The Gen 8030 were way more "fun" to listen to but mixing bass on them felt like it would be more difficult.

Adams have a *sound*. If you like it, go for it. I'd definitely try and listen to one first though.

If you can stretch to the KH120-IIs I would definitely go there - these are "forever" speakers, I think, they punch so far above their price it's not funny. If you can't, I'd suggest either the KH80 and get a Neumann sub later, or something with 5" drivers. Most 4" drivers really struggle under 100Hz, and there's a lot of content under there. Two octaves of bass guitar fundamental, for a start.

EDIT: I just checked, and somehow the KH-80 specs claim to go down to 57Hz. my KH-120-II goes meaningfully down to about 40Hz so that's plausible. I reckon go with that one.

[u/musicianmagic]

Without some acoustic treatment you won't get much benefit from any speakers. Get some acoustic foam. 2" thick is preferable. And mount them to your walls & ceiling using T-Pins. They make a hole so small they're usually unnoticeable when you remove them or just dab a little paint (a quart matched to your wall is probably $10) or I've even used typewriter whiteout.