Hello everyone,
I will buy new studio monitors and wonder which speakers you have to recommend for trance, progressive house and chillout … My music friends use Genelec 8040 and recommend me 8030C because I live in an apartment and sit with my DAW in a smaller space. Even though I know they are good, they feel old in some way.
New monitors like Adam A7X, Kali Audio LP-6 / LP-8, Focal Alpha 80 & Presonus monitors seem to be popular budget speakers today but I find it difficult to choose. I know that the best thing is to listen to them in a store to be able to decide which ones suit me.
But I want to ask you anyway, which ones do you use and is there a clear and distinct base in the one you use and what do you think of the Genelecs 8030C compared to other populare brands on the market today in the same price range?
Kind regards,
/Max
Maybe @Protoculture could tell you more about the Genelecs and what model he’s using, but despite being older monitors out there, you can’t go wrong with the Genelecs IMO, they have proven to be very good monitors.
I’m a Focal user with a pair of Solo6be but started with a pair of Presonus Eris E5 that I’m still using, they still do the job, the main difference with the Focals being that they can’t reproduce the same low end.
All the other models you’ve listed in your post are good ones too TBH, now my advice would be to consider the budget and not investing a huge amount of money in a first pair of monitors unless you’re room has got some acoustic treatment.
I’m not talking about a full treated studio, but just a few absorber panels, bass trap and diffuser can already cost quite a lot ( you can go the DUY way of course ) : my point is that your room is what you gonna hear in the end, you can have the most accurate and expensive monitors out there but if you place them in a bathroom, it’s gonna sound like a bathroom, you get the idea.
So study your room, take the dimensions, make a drawing on paper showing windows, doors and take that with you to the shop and try to find an audio tech guy that knows he’s job and who’s not only a “seller” 
Save on the price of your first pair of monitors and put some money in acoustic treatment, complete your monitoring setup with a reliable pair of headphones such as the Sennheiser HD650.
Then Room acoustic correction software ( but only the ones with measurements mic solution like SoundID Reference or ARC ) can be a final addition, they can help to “polish” the room acoustic, but they don’t replace acoustic treatment.
I’m not really a fan of the 8030C personally… they’re just a tad on the small side. That said, my 8040a’s are almost 20 years old now and I still absolutely love them. You can run them at lower levels with no issues too. My feeling is just, considering how long mine have lasted me, it’s not a waste of money to go with the 40’s, although the 30C’s you may find yourself needing to upgrade at somne point.
I’ve heard amazing things about Kali Audio… I nearly pulled the trigger on a pair on IN8’s the other day as a second set of monitiors as they are 3 ways and should technically go a little lower than my Gennies. Unfortunately there isn’t anyone that stocks them locally here so I haven’t had a chnace to properly test them out, but I am very intersted in them.
Lastly, speakers are kind of a personal thing… I can tell you what has worked for me, but you should go listen to as many monitors as you can first. If you have a dealer that will loan you a few pairs for a day to test in your room, that is even better. Chances are the cheaper monitors they won’t do that for, but if you are dropping big bucks on speakers you should absolutely ask if they’ll do a demo in your own listening environment for you.
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