The disappearance of the traditional amplifier

Kirkus, can you elaborate on your opinion of the current Genelec's?

I happen to use the small 8020's (with a sub) in my video editing system, but often listen to music through them in the nearfield.

While nothing like the performance I get with my tube based audio system
I found them to be better than my previous very high quality passive mini monitors, I felt due to the Genelec's sculpted cabinet and waveguide tweeter.

I don't think that Genelec makes a bad speaker . . . it's just that as far as I can tell, the way they (and their knock-offs) implement the waveguide around a direct-radiating driver does not make really make it a constant-directivity system. Rather, it seems to simply to reduce the effects of the cabinet edge diffraction on the directivity. These are my rather informal observations based on hearing them in a decent handfull of studio control rooms, and measuring their response in two.

And while their idiosyncracies aren't really all that different from most direct-radiating studio monitors, Genelec specifically touts these features as making their monitors less sensitive to control-room acoustics and speaker placement, which I don't think holds up in practice. They also freely recommend most of their two-way nearfields and three-way mid-fields for horizontal configurations, which severely compromises the performance of virtually all speakers of this type. The result is that it's quite common to see Genelecs in a studio that give a very poor rendition of what the mix sounds like anywhere else.

I will concede that I do have some fairly strong opinions about both the environment and methodology of studio recording, and I feel that a true constant-directivity monitor (like the old JBL 4435) soffit-mounted in a competently-designed control room is the most neutral, consistent representation of what's actually on the master tape. Having a pair of good nearfields (NOT NS-10s) is a nice second perspective.

For a small home studio, relying solely on nearfields is frequently the only option, and the Genelecs aren't a bad choice . . . though I would personally prefer a pair of Meyers or ATCs. The main advice I would offer is to orient the monitors vertically, and keep your monitoring SPL as low as you're comfortable with. Also, pay close attention to your impressions when you take your mix to other systems, and adjust the monitor placement to get consistency between what you observe both inside and outside your studio.

Kirkus, you and I have similar ideas about monitors in studios. I use the High Emotion Audio S7- clearly the most revealing and neutral monitor to come along in a long time.

Regarding field coils, while the prior art was indeed integrated into cabinetry to reduce the power supply costs, modern FC systems usually have a regulated supply of their own. There are high excursion units now, beryllium-dome compression drivers and the like that simply did not exist 60 years ago. My understanding was the industry abandoned the art for the less expensive (and lessor performing) permanent magnet systems.

The reason I brought this up is that field coils are a rising star in high end audio right now and are an example of how having a closed system of amp and speaker will limit the ability of the end user to upgrade the system. If you recall the old powered Acoustats, the issue is similar- if you want a speaker that can play louder, or one that is **actually** full range (plays bass), or so on and so on, you have to change both the amp and speaker at the same time to get there.

Integrated systems have their place, especially when space is limited, but by definition they will never be state-of-the-art.

Atmasphere, I asked this question over at AA and I'd be interested to hear your opinion:

I'm curious who believes that a FC motor is inherently superior to even the best AlNiCo magnets, and who, conversely, believes that there is no such inherent superiority, and the only advantage of the field coil is the ability to tune parameters with the coil voltage/current.

Hi Paulfolbrecht, I for one believe the FC technology to be generally superior, but like all other things in this sport, a lot relies on execution. So its dangerous to make generalizations on that account.

FWIW though, you can't really 'tune' the parameters once the motor is designed- if you have that ability, it means that the gap isn't saturated, and if the gap isn't saturated, the motor will not be performing very well, field coil or no.