Genelec 8010 AP

At the smallest end of the Genelec 8000 bi-amplified monitor series is the 8010A. Though relatively light (1.5kg each), the 8010As are solid thanks to the die-cast aluminium enclosure, with metal driver grilles to prevent damage in transit.

Portability is key, with power and input sockets neatly tucked in at the rear. They come with tiltable Iso-Pod rubber stands attached, simultaneously taking care of axis angle and transmission reduction. They feature standard 8000 series mounting sockets for a variety of options, from truss hanging to floor stands.

These are rear ported (bass reflex) enclosures, and just beneath the port is a recess housing five dip switches. Three contour the low-frequency response: -2dB and -4dB bass tilts which combine for -6dB, and Desktop Control which dips -4dB at 200Hz.

A Sensitivity switch pads the input by -10dB to adjust the external volume control range. The ISS disable control switches off the auto-standby mode, which drops power to below 0.5W when no input signal is present.

Big sound

"We were initially taken aback by how large these tiny speakers sound"

The 8010As have a maximum output around 96dB SPL at 1m - a realistic listening distance for this size monitor. We were initially taken aback by how large these tiny speakers sound. Once trimmed to match our main monitors, flicking between them is audibly less dramatic than expected, though they have temporarily replaced a pair of Auratones, so we shouldn't be surprised.

Having become accustomed to them we continue to be impressed by the low-frequency response in particular. Though running out of steam a good octave above their larger neighbours, they still ably translate bass components without over-compensating in the low mids/upper bass.

Being in a well damped room we haven't had to use the bass tilt controls, but the Desktop dip of -4dB at 200Hz helped clear up a muddiness caused by proximity to the mixing desk.

The clarity in the lower end of the frequency spectrum is testament to a quality design that keeps things tight enough to easily identify mix clashes. The solid enclosure combined with a well-balanced woofer (stiffness vs flexibility) provides a fast, punchy response with no overt ring-on.

Balanced and accurate

At the top-end the 8010As possess a smooth characteristic, accurate and free from hyping. As with the low-end, there is less extension than on much larger models, though to a lesser extent, so fine adjustments in the 'air' range are harder to perceive.

"With a monitor of this size we would expect a harshness in the highs and upper-mids that is not in evidence here at all"

With a monitor of this size we would expect a harshness in the highs and upper-mids that is not in evidence here at all, and we have been happily working away without any ear fatigue.

The mid-frequencies are well-balanced and accurate, making mixing and tonal decisions quick and easy. This also helps with depth perception, by which we mean the ability to pick out reverb tails, natural decays and relatively quiet sources behind dominant mix components.

The acoustic design of the enclosure and the wave guiding of the front baffle that covers the whole 8000 series allows excellent off axis response and stereo field accuracy. We've been quite happy leaning across to an EQ to make HF adjustments without losing any reference due to strong phase shifts.

Genelec monitors are not cheap and, considering the quality of design, components and sound, nor should they be. The quality of the 8010A is no exception and easily worth the price. If you are regularly on the move they will make a great investment, combining portability and durability equal to the calibre of sound.

There is enough scope for response adjustment to suit any number of mounting situations, from desktops to stands, and there's plenty of power to use even in large spaces

The Genelec 8010 was a blind test for me. I only remembered the sound of "Genelec" I heard from my last visit to a music store (prior to Corona times), so the overall buy from Thomann was a shot in the dark. I had recently moved to a new place and sold my previous monitors.

As you can already see, I gave it 5 stars. I have owned a different major company's monitors for several years and the Genelec 8010 was a game-changer already within the first few minutes:

-The dynamic range this small speaker has to offer is just ridiculous. Drum / Bass low-ends are felt just as much as if I was wearing a pair of Beyerdynamic with a blasted volume.
-The price for the quality is (personally) more than I could ask for
-The speaker works under a wide variety of genres, as I tested it over time with a bunch of production work.

I bought these monitors almost half a year ago and my opinion stays the same.

The only problem with these monitors is that I didn't buy them earlier. Thank you Genelec! :)

First off these are my first set of studio monitors so this review will be more informative than a comparison. Perhaps someone will find these info useful.
I find them excellent for small studio monitors. Sound is excellent, I got them to get as unaltered sound as possible from recorded music and I can hear much more in the songs I've listened to for 30 years than before. (I don't produce music.)
Info: mine stand literary in the corner on my desk and there is no problem with bass reflections. They are >extremely< directional, as in you really have to sit in the sweet spot, a lean on the chair and the sound changes (wchich for me is great as the back brick wall is literary 30 cm behind my head and I have no problem with back reflections). The bass is good but expect no miracles, the cone diameter is what it is and they don't exactly bend the laws of physics.
I love the auto-power on/off feature, no finnicky switches that make you unwillingly reposition the speaker or stains or wear/tear problems - set them up once and enjoy. Small, look nice, grey so dust is not so visible as on black, come with rubber stands so no additional ugly foam necessary (wife-approved :) ) Heavy and sturdy, built like a tank (metal chassis).

Despite its tiny size, it punches way above its weight in terms of sound quality. Offering clear, balanced audio with an impressive frequency response, the 8010A proves that good things really do come in small (and extremely portable) packages. Whether you're in a cramped home studio, on the road, or even recording in a coffee shop, these little monitors deliver surprisingly rich and accurate sound, making them perfect for mobile setups or anywhere space is tight. The aluminum enclosure gives them a tough, professional feel, and the balanced inputs ensure you're always ready to plug into any audio source. Sure, they won't rattle the windows with low-end bass, but for their size? They’ll definitely make you do a double-take. If you're looking for portability without sacrificing sound quality, the Genelec 8010A might just be your new best friend.

Recently received a pair of these in Yerevan, Armenia. Very pleased.

(IF YOU'RE IN ARMENIA, I described my experience in the second part. In short, reasonably fast via UPS, a bit pain with customs but overall not bad and quite cheap)

Pros:
- Size and portability. I might need to relocate to another country in the future and these two will easily fit into a normal size suitcase along with clothing and other stuff.
- Build quality. Aluminium body and grills on both its twitter and woofer left me completely certain that I would receive them completely intact even being delivered by some of the worst delivery services.
- Overall sound. They are quite flat in frequency response and highly detailed. I compared them to headphones such as Beyerdynamic DT 770 and Sony MDR 7506 and instantly heard more in my mixes even in untreated room although I usually expect such headphones to have more detail than not very expensive studio monitors. And despite shy 74 hertz of functional bass limit they sound much bigger than they look. Especially noticeable if you close your eyes.
Price to performance ratio: 500 euros for a pair of truly high end monitors that overall perform way above budget options and similar to more expensive 8020 or Neumann KH80 is quite satisfying.
- ISS works as charm. I used to have KRK G5 3d gen, and it really required quite a hot signal and about 10-15 seconds for them to come out of sleep but 8010s wake up seemingly instantly.

Cons:
- The lower bass (under 74 hertz) is unfortunately lacking. But I'm pretty sure it can be easily fixed with addition of a subwoofer which might be even a better solution than having monitors with lower bass response. You'll practically get a there way system where 8010s with pride take responsibility from 74 hertz and and a subwoofer 20 to around 120 hertz making it a nice share of function for each speaker without much overlapping.
- Surprisingly narrow sweet spot. You'd expect smaller speakers to produce more spherical waves but it doesn't seem to be the case here. Although, it's not too bad, but you'll hardly hear everything as clearly if you have, say synths on the sides and you move to them out of sweet spot. Not totally impossible to work this way but a lot if details will be lost.
- No volume control. You probably aren't expected to use these with entry level sound cards but I came across an issue with budget cards that their monitor outs may be a bit unbalanced in terms of levels sometimes, so you can't fix it with 8010 by making one monitor a tiny bit louder.
- Just 96 dB of max continuous SPL. Not a huge problem because these are made for home studios and not large productions, so you'll hardly run them louder anyway. But if you want to use them as a daily driver for film audio you better look at something bigger as film sound is calibrated to 85 dB SPL for noise of -20dBFS, and you can't reach the desired 105 dB SPL of digital zero with 8010s.
- No DSP correction. It would be great to have it on board, especially considering 8010s are made to travel with and being used in untreated or little treated room. But with existence of software calibration not a deal breaker.

Additional thoughts on delivery and customer service from Thomann. IF YOU PLAN TO ORDER SOMETHING TO YEREVAN, ARMENIA THIS PORTION IS FOR YOU TO KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.
I was very worried that since I ordered to a country outside EU I might not receive the parcel, so I asked Thomann support a ton of questions even the stupidest ones and they never failed to answer any of them.

The UPS was quite good outside of Armenia, everything was clear and on time. It took about a week for the parcel to reach Armenia and it only costed 50 euros (although, it might be near maximum weight for this price, I also had Zoom F3 in my basket and before removal of it the shipping cost for UPS was 75 euros).

In Armenia on the other hand it was a bit crumbled. First, two days before expected delivery date they called and asked my passport number for customs. I thought that I'd receive the package at home but instead of promised to door delivery I had to call them the day of delivery to be informed that I urgently need to deal with customs otherwise I'd have to pay storage fee, then go to their office to receive documents for clearance with which I had to go to the customs myself (no option of paying duties to a courier in cash or online), so I had to go to the cargo sector of Yerevan's airport (if you're in Yerevan, note that it's 15 minutes away by car from the main building of airport) where on one hand the staff were quite friendly and understanding but on the other they had their servers down, so I had to wait the whole work day at customs and then come the next day again because the servers weren't fixed by the end of first day. I did get a call however the following day that my payment documents were ready and I could come and pay duties and take my package. And that day the package took only about half an hour to receive. Plus, you only pay 15% joint tax/duties of a portion that's more than 200000 drams which in my case, also considering that Thomann prices for Armenia exclude VAT was about 5-6 euros. After all, all the dealing with customs was worth the pain as the whole deal was much cheaper than buying locally especially considering that these monitors can't be found locally.

I was originally thinking about buying something larger from Yamaha in the same price range, but a coworker of mine, recommended these. I wasn't sure if they would pack a decent punch or have enough bass, but I can say for sure, they do, even in the bass department! The sound is quite clear.

These things feel great build-wise, definitely quality. Also very compact, which is one of the reasons I bought them. If you need to travel, then these monitors won't be a big burden on you.

Mixing with them is quite nice. They won't be making the process difficult for you, if you've set them up nicely.

Sound is great irregardless if you use them to practice, compose, listen to music, etc. etc.

The only thing that one might want some more of is bass. I believe there's a matching sub, if one is interested.

Overall couldn't be happier.