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Advice needed

jumbosausage, modified 8 Years ago.

Advice needed

Youngling Posts: 3 Join Date: 2/27/15 Recent Posts
Hi Guys, I'm in need of some advice as I'm more than slightly confused as to which Genelec monitors may be suitable for my needs. Firstly let me say I'm not a professional and I don't work in the audio field, I'm purely a music lover and listen to a wide variety of genres. I've recently decided to improve my home office music listening experience and have been looking into some of the monitors on offer and the Genelec range has me intrigued.

However as they're targeted towards more professional studio work etc, are they really suitable for general home audio use? The ones that I've been looking at are the 8320a and 8330a's with the SAM technology, it really does look fantastic. Regarding some of the other models though such as the 8330b and 8340b, now what exactly is the usage difference between the two and which is more suited for general home audio listening? Or am I looking in the completely wrong area and should be focusing on something like the G series for example?

Any advice at all would be much appreciated, I'm a total newbie and really not sure what suits my needs best. If someone could explain the differences between models, as in the target market for each, it would help. The more I've read the more confused I've seemed to get! :?


Thanks In advance

Nick.
1038, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: Advice needed

Jedi Master Posts: 340 Join Date: 4/6/09 Recent Posts
Hi Nick,

I'll try to simplify it as much as possible for you...

The 1st number in the model# is the series, you have mentioned the 8000 series.
The 2nd indicates the type of speaker 0=Analog, 1=Digital, 2=SAM, 3=SAM.... SAM Smart Active Monitoring
The 3rd indicates the size, higher number the bigger the speaker
The 4th, well... all things have just changed with the release of the 8351, so i'm waiting for clarification.

The new 8320's & 30's are suitable for use in all applications, broadcast, studio and home, we sell a lot of SAM monitors in the home.

The main differences between the 8000, G and 4000 series are features and connections, not performance. The 8000 have XLR inputs, the 4000 have pheonix connectors and the G have RCA and the bigger ones have both RCA & XLR.
jumbosausage, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: Advice needed

Youngling Posts: 3 Join Date: 2/27/15 Recent Posts
Thanks for the reply Steve, So if I were to go with say the 8330a how best is it to connect it to the computer? I currently have a Asus Z97 pro motherboard and that uses the Realtek® ALC1150 audio codec. Would I use a XLR/mini audio jack crossover cable or is there some other device that sites in between? Also would the on board sound chip do them a disservice, is it recommended to use a dedicated sound card or even an external DAC?

Thanks.
1038, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: Advice needed

Jedi Master Posts: 340 Join Date: 4/6/09 Recent Posts
There are many options, the other thing to consider is that if you get 8330's you don't need a DAC, you can use a USB to AES/SPDIF converter. GLM 2.0 has the option of providing wireless volume control, so if the computer is your only source the AES/SPDIF converter is a valid choice.

There are many choices of converters, i'm sure a few members will be along shortly to give you feedback on what they are using. In the short term, a 3.5mm -XLR cable would give you music, whilst you evaluate what way to proceed... USB-DAC, USB-AES/SPDIF or simply use your current sound card.

It might be a good idea to tell us what country you are in and what type of audio files you will be playing, eg Redbook, 24/192.... This way members can provide you with more meaningful information. At the office we use a USB to XLR DAC from an Australian company ARX, it only plays redbook which suits us as a demo source as it is only a few hundred dollars, we also use Bricasti's M1 when the need arises..
jumbosausage, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: Advice needed

Youngling Posts: 3 Join Date: 2/27/15 Recent Posts
I'm in the UK and yes the computer will be the only source, well actually I have a FreeNAS box with all my music on and potentially at some point I plan to stream music around the house from it. I'll be getting some kind of network player for the living room, whether or not the Genelecs would get moved I'm not sure at the moment but for the time being they'll be connected directly to the PC. All my music is in FLAC format 16/44.1.


Thanks.