Genelec, based in Finland, has been around since the late 1970s as a manufacturer of active loudspeakers for professional-grade recording studios, broadcast, and movie production. They’ve upheld their reputation for decades, thanks to how well-designed their products are, and the 8010A is no exception.
There are plenty of budget monitors out there to pick from, although most of them come with serious drawbacks. The Rokits are too bass-heavy, the Yamahas are too piercing, the list goes on. The Adam Audio T5V? Well, they have some drawbacks too, but on a purely objective level, these monitors perform far better than a handful of their other budget counterparts.
Back in the 1980s, Yamaha came out with the NS-10. These monitors sounded absolutely horrible, but it was that exact reason that Yamaha found great success through their release. The short of it all was that they were harsh, brittle, but extremely accurate at showing sore spots and weaknesses in any mix.
Yamaha’s newer line of monitors, the HS5, are often compared to the NS-10, and for the most part, that comparison is fairly accurate.
JBL has been well-trusted as a leading audio equipment manufacturer ever since its inception in 1946. Behind the entirety of its portfolio is a dedication to science and research which lies at the heart of each of JBL’s products.
The 305P Mk2 do a good job at carrying this legacy on, and I personally think they’re one of the better options available for budget studio monitors.
The KRK Rokits are kind of like Boss DS-1 pedals in that you can find them absolutely everywhere. You can find them in the smallest of lo-fi bedroom setups, you can find them in pawn shops, in your uncle’s closet, and in professional studios, side by side with monitors that are far more expensive.
Engineers have come to know and trust KRK Rokits over the years for their consistent sound quality, and the new generation, the G4, is no exception.
If you are setting up your first home studio, you might be thinking, what are monitor speakers? If that’s the case, don’t worry, you are not alone.
In most ways, monitor speakers can look just like regular speakers, which adds to the confusion.