Genelec 7060B too much or too little

[Mihai]

I have a 5.1 system(4 x beolab 17 + 1 beolab 10 (center) + 1 Beolab 11 connected to a Marantz 5010. I'm going to buy ceiling speakers as well but I'm very dissappointed by the sub for both music and movies so I'm looking for something better.
From Bang Olufsen, Beolab 19 is the only choice but due the Beolab 11 fiasco and as the sub doesn't need to be made(AFAIK) by the same brand I've decided to get the best I can for my room from a 3rd party.

Room dimenssions:
4.70m (rear to front) x 4.57m width x 2.50m height(aprox 55 cubic meters)
More than half of the left wall is glass.
Budget: 3K EUR max
Must be active/powered

I did some research and so far Genelec 7060B looks like a good candidate(low distorsion, accurate, within the budged). However I'm wondering if it's a good fit for my room and speakers in terms of power. I also noticed that it has 5 XLR inputs but my receiver has only RCA so I'm thinking to buy an RCA to XLR adaptor and connect only the subs preouts of the receiver to the sub and leave the other speakers connected to the RCA preouts. Any idea if this works or if it's a bad idea? Would you recommend a different sub/solution?


Thanks in advance,
Mihai

 

[shadyJ]

If I remember right, the Genelec 700s use the peerless drivers. There is no way I would pay that much for that sub. Get the SVS subs if they are available in your area, they are using the same kind of driver, and cost much less.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Genelec makes really good sub's but they are expensive. As your room isn't huge I would take a look on 2x http://www.bkelec.com/hifi/sub_woofers/xxls400df.htm or 2x http://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/monolith-df_Plus.htm with your budget. Why 2? You will get more even bass in your room, I'm sure that even one could do just fine in your room but with 2 you get more even bass all around the room.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

If I remember right, the Genelec 700s use the peerless drivers. There is no way I would pay that much for that sub. Get the SVS subs if they are available in your area, they are using the same kind of driver, and cost much less.

In European market SVS is a bit high on price, but yes, all of their sub models are available in Europe.

 

[Mihai]

Genelec say its 7060B features various technologies(i.e. room response compensation, Intelligent Signal Sensing, Optimized Amplifiers)[0]. Is that all BS? I'm glad I've posted this before to make the purchase... it seems I was getting rid of one bad quality sub just to get its brother. I really appreciate your advice!

Now from the subs you recommended it seems SVS subs are available in my area. Is there any you would recommend? I would choose the Cylinder range (i.e. PC13-Ultra) because it seems to blend a bit easier with the furniture(though I would prefer it on white as all the furniture is white). How good / bad is it for my room compared with the others or the top SVS which seems to be SVS PB13-ULTRA? As of price here SVS PC13-Ultra is just a bit more expensive(about $200 more) than Genelec 7060B so I hope it's worth it.

I'm not sure if I can get 2 subwoofers because most of the left side wall is actually a big glass window/door to the balcony so it might not look good. At best I could get 4 subs (one on each corner but there are other issues (i.e. cabling as the subs don't seem to be wireless, pre-outs of my marants < I have only two sub preouts> )

 

[Mihai]

Btw Bkelec seems to have peerless drivers too. Not that I know much about this kind of drivers but it was mentioned as a point against Genelec

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Genelec say its 7060B features various technologies(i.e. room response compensation, Intelligent Signal Sensing, Optimized Amplifiers)[0]. Is that all BS? I'm glad I've posted this before to make the purchase... it seems I was getting rid of one bad quality sub just to get its brother. I really appreciate your advice!

Now from the subs you recommended it seems SVS subs are available in my area. Is there any you would recommend? I would choose the Cylinder range (i.e. PC13-Ultra) because it seems to blend a bit easier with the furniture(though I would prefer it on white as all the furniture is white). How good / bad is it for my room compared with the others or the top SVS which seems to be SVS PB13-ULTRA? As of price here SVS PC13-Ultra is just a bit more expensive(about $200 more) than Genelec 7060B so I hope it's worth it.

I'm not sure if I can get 2 subwoofers because most of the left side wall is actually a big glass window/door to the balcony so it might not look good. At best I could get 4 subs (one on each corner but there are other issues (i.e. cabling as the subs don't seem to be wireless, pre-outs of my marants < I have only two sub preouts> )

Some receivers have room response compensation for sub as well (SR6010/7010 for example) or you can use other products for that if you wish, but that is not necessary how ever. Most of companies try to market their products with many kinds of things. Genelec makes really good speakers and subs, but they are expensive when you compare them to competitors.

I see that SVS sub prices have gone up AGAIN for european market, that is a shame really. I myself was about to buy SVS SB13-Ultra but they raised the prices and I went with BK XXLS400 instead for less than half the price! My room is similar size to your and has huge windows on one side as well, I use curtains on windows when watching movies to help with reflections. So I'm pretty sure that XXLS400 or Monolith+ would do really nice job in your room as well. I'm only using about 1/4th of the power from my XXLS400 and it produces powerful and accurate bass in my room, have nothing to complain about that sub at all. Love it with both music and movies, sometimes it still surprises me while watching movies how well it performs. You may think that BK subs are cheap and can't compete with more expensive subs, you are fooled by the price as these guys can sell their subs for cheaper as they sell directly. If they used retailers their subs would cost a lot more. I myself went with XXLS400 for accuracy over the low extension and more power of Monolith+.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Btw Bkelec seems to have peerless drivers too. Not that I know much about this kind of drivers but it was mentioned as a point against Genelec

Only thing against the driver in Genelec was that there are other companies that sell subs with same element for cheaper and with more powerful amps. Nothing wrong with the driver itself.

 

[its phillip]

http://www.xtz.se/product/sub-3x12

 

[Mihai]

Some receivers have room response compensation for sub as well (SR6010/7010 for example) or you can use other products for that if you wish, but that is not necessary how ever. Most of companies try to market their products with many kinds of things. Genelec makes really good speakers and subs, but they are expensive when you compare them to competitors.

I see that SVS sub prices have gone up AGAIN for european market, that is a shame really. I myself was about to buy SVS SB13-Ultra but they raised the prices and I went with BK XXLS400 instead for less than half the price! My room is similar size to your and has huge windows on one side as well, I use curtains on windows when watching movies to help with reflections. So I'm pretty sure that XXLS400 or Monolith+ would do really nice job in your room as well. I'm only using about 1/4th of the power from my XXLS400 and it produces powerful and accurate bass in my room, have nothing to complain about that sub at all. Love it with both music and movies, sometimes it still surprises me while watching movies how well it performs. You may think that BK subs are cheap and can't compete with more expensive subs, you are fooled by the price as these guys can sell their subs for cheaper as they sell directly. If they used retailers their subs would cost a lot more. I myself went with XXLS400 for accuracy over the low extension and more power of Monolith+.

I totally agree that you should use the best tool for the job(i.e room calibration etc) so perhaps it's better to use a separate tool that might help the other speakers as well and yeah I guss i was fooled by the price difference. It's said that usually you get what you pay for but seems it's not the case. At least it wasn't with beolab 11.
So to sum it up, is SVS is still better compared with Genelec(considering the price as well)? . BKXXLS400 is about half the price of Genelec and and nice looking too. The white gloss model is very appealing to me.
Do I miss anything if I get this BKXXLS and not Genelec or SVS (leaving the room compensation feature aside)?
BK is also down firing and I'm a bit concerned about the reponse time and the neighbours below me. Do you think that's a problem? The floor is laminated.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I totally agree that you should use the best tool for the job(i.e room calibration etc) so perhaps it's better to use a separate tool that might help the other speakers as well and yeah I guss i was fooled by the price difference. It's said that usually you get what you pay for but seems it's not the case. At least it wasn't with beolab 11.
So to sum it up, is SVS is still better compared with Genelec(considering the price as well)? . BKXXLS400 is about half the price of Genelec and and nice looking too. The white gloss model is very appealing to me.
Do I miss anything if I get this BKXXLS and not Genelec or SVS (leaving the room compensation feature aside)?
BK is also down firing and I'm a bit concerned about the reponse time and the neighbours below me. Do you think that's a problem? The floor is laminated.

Yes SVS offers better value for money spent vs Genelec. In size of your room I would say you wont miss anything with BK XXLS400 or Monolith+ unless you want to go really really deep, then you should look for SVS SB13 ultra or PB13 ultra. But as I see you live in apartment that might not be best thing to do if you dont want to annoy neighbors too much and said BK models do go deep as well, Monolith+ even deeper than XXLS400. I myself live in apartment with laminate floor and have the down firing XXLS400 and I haven't got any complaints. Both BK models are available as front firing as well if you like it better. I myself have made "sub dude" platform for my sub and towers to isolate vibrations directly from speakers to floor.

 

[Mihai]

http://www.xtz.se/product/sub-3x12

XTZ looks quite impresive but I think iit s too big for my room isn't it? The size itself also seems to be an issue. The only way I could put that in my room is sideways (i.e below the center speaker) in a cabinet but I think that not recommended, right?

 

[tyhjaarpa]

XTZ looks quite impresive but I think iit s too big for my room isn't it? The size itself also seems to be an issue. The only way I could put that in my room is sideways (i.e below the center speaker) in a cabinet but I think that not recommended, right?

I would never recommend putting sub on cabinet in first place.

 

[Mihai]

I would never recommend putting sub on cabinet in first place.

I was almost sure you will say that. However concerning the cabinet does it applies if I take off the back of the cabinet too? Basically the cabinet would wrap only the sides of the sub. Sorry if this sounds stupid but I'm wondering if there is any décor solution for this monster.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I was almost sure you will say that. However concerning the cabinet does it applies if I take off the back of the cabinet too? Basically the cabinet would wrap only the sides of the sub. Sorry if this sounds stupid but I'm wondering if there is any a décor solution for this monster.

When putting a sub in cabinet you will most likely get some unwanted vibrations that can produce sounds that don't belong there. Don't know if there is any reasons not to put that 3x12 sideways tho. XTZ also offer sub 1x12 that is smaller in size.

 

[Mihai]

When putting a sub in cabinet you will most likely get some unwanted vibrations that can produce sounds that don't belong there. Don't know if there is any reasons not to put that 3x12 sideways tho. XTZ also offer sub 1x12 that is smaller in size.

1x12 looks reasonable. I'm wondering how it compares with BK. Currently I'm leaning towards BK for the looks but I don't know about the quality. XTZ seems to use a different class of amps too.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

1x12 looks reasonable. I'm wondering how it compares with BK. Currently I'm leaning towards BK for the looks but I don't know about the quality. XTZ seems to use a different class of amps too.

I think they both use Peerless drivers so they should perform pretty close to each other. Of course they have different amps and different cabinet designs so there will be some differences. But I would assume they are not too different from each other performance wise. I have to say that for me as well BK got look points and down firing got points for BK as well as it makes the placement easier. Down firing element is also "protected" from pets and children as they cant see the element.

 

[theJman]

I think they both use Peerless drivers so they should perform pretty close to each other.

BK uses off the shelf Peerless drivers while in the XTZ Cinema series they're custom (made by a company called Intersource Audio, who is also associated to Claridy).