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8030 vs 8330 vs other options

hanshans, modified 2 Years ago.

8030 vs 8330 vs other options

Youngling Posts: 0 Join Date: 9/9/21 Recent Posts

Hi!

I’m about to get my first proper monitors after having mostly used cheap crappy speakers and headphones so far. At the moment I’m considering 8030s but I’m also interested in 8330s. Also, would like to hear if there are any obviously better options. Here’s my situation:

  • A non-professional electronic music producer. Some occasional video production works. 
  • Living in an apartment at the moment. My “studio” now is in a small non-symmetric hallway space between other rooms. Concrete walls, wood floor, book shelves on the opposite side from speakers. Very limited space for speaker and at max 10-20cm clearance from the back of speakers to concrete wall. Dimensions of my working space are around 200cm(width) by 230cm(depth). 
  • Looking for a detached house right now, so most likely moving in the near future. After moving, the available space will most likely be somewhat larger, although still not only dedicated to studio use, and I will not be doing very extensive acoustic treating. Most likely going to be a wooden house. 
  • The main use will be as monitors. Might sometimes still move them around and use for movies, gaming etc in living room as well, but probably not that much. 
  • In terms of audio properties, I’d like to have the low frequencies of 8x3x level speakers. Have tried borrowed 8030s at home. They sounded ok, but I feel like some clarity from mids was lacking, maybe due to the non-optimal space that is not acoustically treated. Still their sound would be a big improvement over my current equipment.At one point considerd 8040s for their lows, but I guess those are an overkill at least for my current space.
  • Budget preferably around 1000€ for a pair. If there is very very clear difference in sound and performance, 1500€ might be possible, but it’s going to hurt a bit. A few hundreds more is the definite maximum and will hurt quite a lot, so I would somehow need to really, really justify the investment to myself. 

So in this kind of situation, what would be the recommended way to go, thinking about the cost/quality/futureproof ratio? I do realise that 8330s would offer the versatility for challenging spaces, and they contain newer technology, while 8030s are already quite old. However, the price difference of 8330s with GLM (which I guess would be pretty much a “must” if investing in the 83xx series?) is quite considerable. Is the difference going to be that big in terms of producing accurate and flat/transparent sound? 

I’m not very familiar with audio calibration methods, but I was also wondering whether the cheaper 8030s could be somehow calibrated? Or if I go with 8330, does Genelec/their partners offer the calibration set for rent or so (I’m based in Helsinki, Finland)? The extra price of calibration equipment seems quite high for my budget, if I would only need it a couple of times.

Thanks in advance for any tips and help!