Genelec monitors are ubiquitous in this industry. Personally I’m a fan of the Finnish manufacturer’s no-nonsense, engineering-led approach but even if you’re not, unless you’re very new to audio you’ll be aware of them. From the highest spec immersive room to the humblest of editing booths, you’re equally likely to see the distinctive rounded enclosures of the 80 series. But while you might know the model number of a particular monitor, do you know what, if anything, those model numbers mean? We try to demystify the, occasionally messy numberings of Genelec monitors.
This article was inspired by a conversation on our recent podcast with Andy Bensley and Eric Horstmann of Genelec in which they joked about the intricacies of the numbering system. I decided to investigate further.
Genelec Model Numbers
Nearly all studio products have a four number code followed by letters offering additional information. For example a particularly popular model is the 8030C, a nearfield 2 way with a 6” bass driver.
Example - 8030C
The first character is the Product Series. For studio products this will be 8, 7, 1 or M. The best known compact monitors belong to the 8 series, the 7 series of subwoofers with their helical construction and the less common M
The second character is the ‘technology platform’ Analogue, Digital or one of three flavours of Smart Active Monitoring, the first and second generations of SAM and the current IP controllable monitor for use with Genelec’s GLM software.
The third character denotes the bass driver size. However this is a code so in the 8030C example the 3 denotes a 5” driver.
The fourth character is the product model, a bit of mystery, this number is typically 0 but in the case of the Ones it is 1 across the range.
The fifth character is the Product Version. Denoted by a letter, when this is a letter other than A you might well recall a previous incarnation being A, or in the case of the 8030C, B. You might also come across C and F denoting Centre and Flat enclosures.
See below to see this information represented in a chart:
There are other characters which might follow these five characters, for example colour finish, the presence of magnetic shielding or in the case of a dash followed by a number, denoting region-specific variations with fixed voltage requirements.
However the confusing part, and the part which was responsible for the amusement on the podcast was the fact that there are models which don’t conform to this format. Notably the bass drivers of the following main monitors: 1237 (12 inch) - 1238 (15 inch) - 1234 (2x 12 inch) - 1236 (2x 18 inch). Confused yet? Well the high SPL S360 is a studio monitor which neatly fall outside this numbering format so while it works most of the time, the confusing this is that there are a few, seemingly random exceptions. However understanding the principle detailed above works most of the time.
For the most common current models the graphic above will help. For information on legacy models can be found here.