Transcript
by Ron Skinner
Genelec 8020A Active Monitoring System A
lot of things have changed over the past 10 or 15 years in the recording industry. We have gone from 24-track analog, to 48-track digital, to ADAT and DA-88, to DAW. We’ve seen mixing consoles shrink, and in some cases, disappear altogether. The recording studio has gone from the playground of the rich and famous to the basement of the poor and yet to be discovered. Through all of this change one thing has remained constant and that is the need for a good pair of speakers. When Genelec introduced the 1031A active monitor in 1991 they changed the way professional audio engineers thought about studio speakers. While active monitors had been around for quite some time this was the first time that people really started re-thinking about the need for external amplifiers and passive speakers as the norm. The 1031A revolutionized the audio industry and within a few years actually did away with the industry standard the Yamaha NS-10. The timing of the release of the 1031A couldn’t have been better. It was the beginning of the digital age of recording and people started to hear in a new way. Dynamic range had increased and the noise floor had dropped and people started to take a closer look at nearfield monitoring. In addition to this, recording was moving from the studio to the home and for the first time people could bring a really great pair of speakers along with them wherever they went. From the early 1990s until now Genelec has pretty much dominated the near field speaker market. But much like everything else in the recording business technology changes and once again Genelec is changing with it. A total redesign of the Genelec Active Monitor System came in 2004 with the introduction of the 8000 MDE series of speakers. This new series of speakers saw a revolutionary change in the look and sound of the Genelec speaker. Gone is the square wooden design of the 1000 Series replaced by a sleek optimized die-cast aluminum structure. This new structure is referred to as a Minimum Diffraction Enclosure or MDE. The benefits of the design are obvious. By
eliminating square surfaces you can minimize the diffraction of the sound being transmitted from the speaker. In addition to the new enclosure, Genelec has made several other improvements in design. Improved low frequency drivers that see that distortion levels are greatly reduced. A high performance reflex port design has been added which in laymen’s terms allows for the air movement that is created by reproducing bass frequencies to be ported out of the back of the speaker. And in my opinion the best feature is the inclusion of the isolation positioner/decoupler. Which are basically rubber feet that straddle the bottom of the speaker and effectively eliminate any vibrations that are created by speaker stands or console surfaces in the speaker cabinet. So, now that I have given you the basics of the newly designed 8000 MDE series of Genelec speakers lets get to the ones I was given to try out. The 8020A are the latest addition to the 8000 MDE series and are the smallest speakers that Genelec has ever created. Genelec has taken its new design and have
shrunk it down and in so doing have created one of the best sounding small speakers that I have ever heard. The 8020A delivers a frequency response of 66 Hz to 21 kHz and features a magnetically shielded 4-inch bass driver and a ¾-inch tweeter. The total size of the speaker is a bit smaller than your average home stereo bookshelf speaker but the sound reproduced is much closer to that of a much larger professional studio monitor. I had a chance to put these 8020As up against my all time favourite speaker the Genelec 1031A, and in a word I was impressed. While the 8020s didn’t hold up so great at really high volumes and didn’t produce the kind of bass I usually look for in a speaker, they performed really well in all other areas. In terms of clean pure sound reproduction the 8020s were spectacular. I found the imaging and localization of sounds to be superb, which is what we have all come to expect from Genelec. In terms of frequency response, the high frequency content of the material I listened to was very smooth and a big improvement from the sometimes harsh 1031As. As I mentioned these speakers were a little shy in the bass department but for a 4-inch woofer the bass content that is recreated is far beyond what you might expect. While I am not saying owners of 1031s should exchange their speakers for a set of the 8020s. (A pair of 8050As would be more in line with the 1031A.) What I am saying is that against my current point of reference, which happens to be a pair of 1031s, these little guys performed quite well. If you are looking for a small set of speakers for your DAW setup or if you are confined for space and you still need a set of speakers that can provide professional results then the 8020s are for you. Much like the 1031A has revolutionized the way we listened over the past decade, I am sure the 8000 MDE series from Genelec will do the same for the next decade. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $625 per speaker. For more product information, contact: SF Marketing, 6161 Cypihot, St-Laurent, PQ H4S 1R3 (514) 856-1919, FAX (514) 856-1920,
[email protected], www.sfm.ca.
Ron Skinner is owner of Heading North Mastering in Toronto and can be reached at
[email protected].
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Professional Sound
