Genelec DSP SE Monitor Review
Can Genelec’s new DSP SE monitoring system turn the real world into an ideal world? Huw Price finds out.
Price: £611.00
Manufacturer: Genelec
Website: http://www.genelec.com
DSP SE
Manufacturer Genelec
Price 8130A £611 each, SE7261A £1,880,
GLM SE £353
Contact Source Distribution 020 8962 5080
Web www.genelec.com
Until recently, it was a cold and brutal fact that throwing money into monitoring systems was no guarantee of curing any sonic problems you might be experiencing in your studio. In fact, doing so could even make things worse. Room treatment can be a hit-and-miss affair and DIY equalisation is a subjective can of worms. But by the late 1980s, specialists armed with omni measurement microphones and a clunky computer could assess and ‘correct’ the performance of big studio monitors.
The ideas behind Genelec’s latest and most affordable DSP system aren’t entirely new, then, but much of the technology certainly is – and, best of all, you can use it yourself. In fact, it’s designed specifically for ‘small environments’. Along with the 10-inch SE7261A DSP subwoofer and 8130A digital input active monitors (which can be set up in stereo or surround configurations) the package includes Genelec’s AutoCal automated self-calibration algorithm running with GLM SE software for Windows XP. A Mac version is apparently on its way.
This exclusively digital system accepts any AES/EBU signal, but a 1U Genelec AD9200A converter is available that outputs AES3 format with 24-bit word length at 192kHz sample rate. The software control of the SE7261A DSP subwoofer provides network connections to the host computer and supplies signal to the 8130A speakers.
Although the manual appears daunting, the actual setup procedure is straightforward. The package includes an omni microphone whose measured frequency response is embedded in the software. So, once the serial number of the mic is entered, the system can compensate for the mic before it compensates for the room.
Staying neutral
Nearfield monitors are a fairly recent innovation; most big studios used to be equipped with only a pair of wall-mounted ‘big’ monitors and a couple of tiny Auratones. Auratones just sounded like Auratones, but in ‘pro’ studios the frequency response of the main monitors was supposed to be nominally flat.
The debate between those who advocate flat and neutral monitoring and those who prefer speakers that are more representative of ‘real-world’ scenarios has never been clear-cut. How else can you account for NS10s? These started out as ‘hi-fi’ speakers, but engineers soon decided that if they could make their mixes sound good through those, they’d sound good through anything. That involved engineers ‘learning’ their idiosyncrasies and a certain amount of guesswork was always involved.
Members of the ‘Flat Monitor Society’ might argue that any speaker system with frequency response, phase and technical issues prevents you from really hearing what you’re doing. What’s more, why should you need to double-guess what your mixes might sound like on other systems? If you can be confident you’ve got it right, then the punters can take their own chances with ghetto blasters, mp3 players, grotty headphones or even exotic hi-fis.
Clearly, all high-quality monitor manufacturers aim for a flat frequency response, but perfection in an anechoic chamber becomes almost irrelevant in the real world of project studios. This is why systems such as Genelec’s offer practical solutions for the problems encountered by modern audio professionals. After all, achieving a flat response using EQ and acoustic treatment alone isn’t always practical, affordable or even feasible.
Time domain
While we would still advocate checking your mixes on a variety of speakers, the Genelec DSP SE system provides a huge advantage by saving you time and making things easier. In small environments, the bass end invariably presents problems. Some notes will boom, while others will almost disappear. These kinds of problems makes getting the bottom end of a track balanced and tight one of the trickiest things to achieve when mixing. Just when you think that kick drum and Fender Precision are really gelling, something as simple as a chord change can suddenly suck out all of a track’s weight or turn it into a sonic swamp.
With the Genelec system, we have never found it easier to get drums and bass working together. We could immediately identify the problem frequencies and address the issues. What’s more, we were able to do it without resorting to excessive amounts of compression.
Detail resolution was pretty spectacular – in a ruthless sort of way. Some might accuse Genelec’s metal-dome tweeters of sounding a bit on the hard side, but that depends on the source and the signal chain. Let’s put it this way: the reason why many engineers still prefer vintage-style valve mics to modern solid-state condensers will become immediately apparent. We were also impressed by the way the subwoofer integrated seamlessly with the overall system.
Listening to your previous work can be both a pleasurable and painful experience. Mistakes will probably jump out at you, but you’re just as likely to discover that some of your recordings are a lot better than you ever imagined. The double bass in a jazz trio CD we made a while back had always seemed a touch boomy through our monitors. Through the Genelecs it sounded huge but controlled, and we could hear far more finger attack and fretboard noise, all of which contributed to a greater sense of realism.
Imaging is very well defined, both left/right and front/back, so individual instruments appear very solid without seeming detached from the mix. Like some of the other high-end monitoring systems we’ve reviewed, this Genelec system pulls off a disappearing trick: you soon become aware that you’ve stopped listening to the speakers and you’re just listening to the music. So we can’t say that this system sounds good because it doesn’t really have a ‘sound’, which, all things considered, is probably the ultimate accolade.
WHY BUY
Totally transparent
Simple to operate
Zero noise floor
Speeds up workflow
WALK ON BY
Currently PC-only
VERDICT
A thoroughly professional monitoring system that will remove much of the guesswork from mixing in any studio.
★★★★★★★★★ (9/10)
SEE ALSO
Monitor Reviews
Choosing & Using Monitors
Score: 9
This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 65
Filed under
Home,
Genelec Monitors,
Hardware,
Reviews,
Studio Monitors
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