kerochan Posted January 20, 2019 Posted January 20, 2019 I am using Genelec 8040 monitors, with 6.5" speakers, I have been offered an amazing deal on Focal Twin 6 Be monitors, these have 2 x 6.5", is there a benefit to having double speakers? Any advice welcome!
fisherking Posted January 20, 2019 Posted January 20, 2019 it's not about the number of speakers at all; it's about the monitor design, functionality. the twin 6 Be's are amazing (i don't have them, but a collab uses them); hear them if you can, or google for reviews. the genelecs are no slouches either, but i'd grab the focals (if it were me). google some reviews!
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 it's not about the number of speakers at all; it's about the monitor design, functionality. the twin 6 Be's are amazing (i don't have them, but a collab uses them); hear them if you can, or google for reviews. the genelecs are no slouches either, but i'd grab the focals (if it were me). google some reviews! Thanks fisherking, I have decided to stick with the Genelecs after all, I have had them 2 years and am I used to them, and Genelecs customer service is amazing. If I get different monitors I am gonna stick with Genelec.
David Nahmani Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 You're comparing a $4,000 pair of a speaker to a $2,000 pair of speaker. It's not necessarily always true but in this case it is, the $4,000 pair is the better choice. The Focal is a MUCH better speaker than the Genelec.
fisherking Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 You're comparing a $4,000 pair of a speaker to a $2,000 pair of speaker. It's not necessarily always true but in this case it is, the $4,000 pair is the better choice. The Focal is a MUCH better speaker than the Genelec. what david said...
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 Really? strange that out of all the studios I have been to I have never seen Focals! but 99% of them have Genelecs!
fisherking Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 genelecs are great monitors, no one's saying they're not. and everyone has an opinion about these things (makes life interesting). still, a $4000 pair of speakers from an exceptional company should outperform a $2000 pair of speakers by a (different) exceptional company. seems logical... either way, if you're happy (& comfortable) with your monitors, that's what matters most.
Ploki Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 (edited) Really? strange that out of all the studios I have been to I have never seen Focals! but 99% of them have Genelecs! You kidding? Twin 6 Be is practically a legendary speaker by now. I haven't seen a Genelecs lately in a studio, academic/classical/broadcast studios aside. Seen plenty Neumanns, high end adams, Dynaudios, Yamahas, fewer Focals. But depends entirely on which studio you visit. When you get to 2000$+ class, it's really hard to screw up, just a matter of personal preference. I personally don't like Genelecs. They're great speakers, I can work with them, but I just don't like how they sound. Twin 6's outperform the 8040 as far as my experience is concerned. 8040 seem more akin to Solo 6. We have a quadro setup with 8040 and a woofer at the uni. I keep my Focals vertical tho, imo they sound better than horizontal. edit: as far as benefit of dual speakers go: yes there is. especially if you have two pairs as different as the Genelecs and Focals are. One might reveal things the other conceal. Focals for example can be extremely revealing on reverbs, stereo image and high end. Genelecs (and Neumanns) however have a more critical midrange. Those two (traditional vs more modern) designs in my opinion overlap pretty well. If I can ever justify getting a dream speaker setup it will be like this: Main pair Focal SM9 + Dynaudio 9S (pair) 2ndary pair: Neumann KH310 Edited January 21, 2019 by Ploki
David Nahmani Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 Really? strange that out of all the studios I have been to I have never seen Focals! but 99% of them have Genelecs! If that's how you choose your speakers, then get yourself a pair of overpriced Yamaha NS10m, one of the most ubiquitous speaker monitors across all music studios in the world. Just know that it's a terrible monitor!
Ploki Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 Really? strange that out of all the studios I have been to I have never seen Focals! but 99% of them have Genelecs! If that's how you choose your speakers, then get yourself a pair of overpriced Yamaha NS10m, one of the most ubiquitous speaker monitors across all music studios in the world. Just know that it's a terrible monitor! :D god i hate them so much
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 genelecs are great monitors, no one's saying they're not. and everyone has an opinion about these things (makes life interesting). still, a $4000 pair of speakers from an exceptional company should outperform a $2000 pair of speakers by a (different) exceptional company. seems logical... either way, if you're happy (& comfortable) with your monitors, that's what matters most. Thanks Fisherking, I would like to hear the Focals at some point anyways!
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 Really? strange that out of all the studios I have been to I have never seen Focals! but 99% of them have Genelecs! If that's how you choose your speakers, then get yourself a pair of overpriced Yamaha NS10m, one of the most ubiquitous speaker monitors across all music studios in the world. Just know that it's a terrible monitor! Ha, fair comment David!
fisherking Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 david, what tissue paper would work best with the NS10m's? i don't want to use the 'wrong' brand, as i'm looking for a 'pro' sound....
David Nahmani Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 david, what tissue paper would work best with the NS10m's? i don't want to use the 'wrong' brand, as i'm looking for a 'pro' sound.... I suppose the kind you roll into a ball and insert into your ear canal when you're out of ear plugs.
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 Just a quick one, bringing back up the Focals again, I have heard of a few people who have had problems with them, things going wrong with the electrics, then having to send them away to get fixed and taking forever to return, anyone have problems like this?
Ploki Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 I had mine for ... oof. I don't know. 5 years? Maybe more. And I bought them used already. No issues whatsoever
fisherking Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 david, what tissue paper would work best with the NS10m's? i don't want to use the 'wrong' brand, as i'm looking for a 'pro' sound.... I suppose the kind you roll into a ball and insert into your ear canal when you're out of ear plugs. thanks! i love good tech solutions...
fisherking Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 Just a quick one, bringing back up the Focals again, I have heard of a few people who have had problems with them, things going wrong with the electrics, then having to send them away to get fixed and taking forever to return, anyone have problems like this? i had a pair of cms40s, loved them. no issues. it's always like this: someone has an issue with: genelecs, focals, macbook pro, toyota, samsung, etc etc, posts about it; determines that, if they have a problem, everyone must have the same problem. so boring! there isn't a tech toy, car, moisturizer... product of any kind that doesn't have good and bad reviews. the fun part: we can decide for ourselves what we want. perhaps, if something has a LOT of hate in reviews, it's worth avoiding. but focals (since that's the subject here), are mostly revered, well-reviewed.
kerochan Posted January 21, 2019 Author Posted January 21, 2019 I had mine for ... oof. I don't know. 5 years? Maybe more.And I bought them used already. No issues whatsoever ah, thats good to know Ploki. thank you
David Nahmani Posted January 21, 2019 Posted January 21, 2019 Kerochan, ultimately there are no magical speakers, none are transparent or flat, all of them have flaws, and whatever you end up settling on, you'll have to learn its flaws so that you can use them effectively. My issue with pretty much all Genelec monitors have an exaggerated emphasis in the treble, which is almost harsh. Personally, every mix I've made on Genelecs, wether that was in my smaller Genelecs in my home studio or up to the HUGE soffit mounted Genelecs in a studio I was working at ended up sounding dull because I overcompensated. In that studio I was working at we ended up getting a graphic EQ in the signal chain to tone down the treble before going into the Genelecs, and still it was so challenging to create mixes that would translate, that I'd spend 97.5% of the time on the NS10m's and the remaining 2.5% of the time on the huge Genelecs (mostly when the clients were in the studio, to impress them with the huge speakers). I haven't had that problem with my Focal Solo 6 Be, and have been happy ever since I've switched. I would rather you spend the next 10 years trying to learn a speaker monitor I know can be learned, than one that I personally think is faulty.
kerochan Posted January 22, 2019 Author Posted January 22, 2019 Kerochan, ultimately there are no magical speakers, none are transparent or flat, all of them have flaws, and whatever you end up settling on, you'll have to learn its flaws so that you can use them effectively. My issue with pretty much all Genelec monitors have an exaggerated emphasis in the treble, which is almost harsh. Personally, every mix I've made on Genelecs, wether that was in my smaller Genelecs in my home studio or up to the HUGE soffit mounted Genelecs in a studio I was working at ended up sounding dull because I overcompensated. In that studio I was working at we ended up getting a graphic EQ in the signal chain to tone down the treble before going into the Genelecs, and still it was so challenging to create mixes that would translate, that I'd spend 97.5% of the time on the NS10m's and the remaining 2.5% of the time on the huge Genelecs (mostly when the clients were in the studio, to impress them with the huge speakers). I haven't had that problem with my Focal Solo 6 Be, and have been happy ever since I've switched. I would rather you spend the next 10 years trying to learn a speaker monitor I know can be learned, than one that I personally think is faulty. Thank you for taking the time to write this David, I really do appreciate it. Will think on everything.
kerochan Posted January 23, 2019 Author Posted January 23, 2019 does anyone know of these? Focal Shape Twin monitors? they are a really good price, £200 cheaper per pair than the Focal 6 Be solos! is there a reason for this?
Ploki Posted January 23, 2019 Posted January 23, 2019 They don't have the Focal legendary radioactive Beryllium tweeter, and the crazy light/stiff W sandwich cone, and they have slightly weaker amplifiers. More amp power usually means less distortion at higher SPLs and more control over speaker driver movement. They're also 2x5", as opposed to Solos 1x6.5". I think they replaced the CMS line (which was good!), an interesting aspect is that they're not ported but have a passive radiator instead. I haven't heard them yet unfortunately, but I heard very good things about them.
kerochan Posted January 23, 2019 Author Posted January 23, 2019 They don't have the Focal legendary radioactive Beryllium tweeter, and the crazy light/stiff W sandwich cone, and they have slightly weaker amplifiers. More amp power usually means less distortion at higher SPLs and more control over speaker driver movement. They're also 2x5", as opposed to Solos 1x6.5". I think they replaced the CMS line (which was good!), an interesting aspect is that they're not ported but have a passive radiator instead. I haven't heard them yet unfortunately, but I heard very good things about them. Thank you for that Ploki, I have also read great things about them!
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