Hello,
I wonder if anyone here might be able to help with this strange problem I am having with my Genelec 8030a's
I'm sorry for the long read but here we go:
Myself and my co producer both use this model of genelecs (only difference is his are the white coloured ones) and our studio has our two workstations set up on different sides of the studio.
We have noticed a rather annoying difference in the sound quality ; with my black ones sounding muddy , particularly in the low end and the high end almost sounds uncontrolled if that makes sense! Transients seem to be much less predictable and harsh.
Naturally we did some tests.
First thing was to put my monitors in his side of the room as we needed to eliminate problems with our room.
We set up one of my Genetics directly beside one of his - both receiving signal from his UAD Apollo (essential left and right channel)
Using the same cables and stands, and dip switch settings, we fired up a mono source down and A,B'd the speakers. We tried this for each speaker and in each test the black ones again didn't sound correct. (My definition of "correct" is based on how our white genelecs sound btw! )
The Black ones low end is boomy losing clarity on the bass and the white ones high end sounds tighter and less harsh.
Just to underline this, we did the same thing again with the white ones on the other side of the room - same thing applied. :(
We used the white Genelecs for a number of months doing final mixes so we both assumed that we were just used to the way they sound on that side of the room so our mixes were translating much better on other systems. When we started mixing with the black ones on the other side of the room we often had difficulty getting mixes to translate (looking back too, we had a hard time just getting mixes sounding tight) so we put it down to the white ones being in the sweet spot for the room.
However we are having to do more work on the black ones and this sound quality issue is starting to become a problem .
So down to the questions:
- Does any one know any other tests that we can do that might help narrow down our problem?
- Is there such a thing as a genelec engineer in London that can check them out for faults?
- (slight paranoia question) Another producer in our studios borrowed the black genelevs last year and they were getting signal direct from a powered DI box (he said to change his un balanced outs on his soundcard to balanced xlrs to lower the noise floor) I noticed he had phantom power switched on his inputs by mistake and he pressed them off and it popped my genelecs like a mofo. Could this realistically cause damage relevant to what I'm describing, albeit vaguely?
- is it possible for such difference between different batches of same model of genelecs to sound different?
Appreciate this is a long and boring post but any help would much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!
