I’ve used 8330A+7350A with GLM. The setup is good for flat response, for getting an easy to setup room correction, and perfect sub integration with mains, and it is relatively cheap system in total, considering what all you get. I think it is a winner.

However, I ended up selling the setup with preference for bigger monitors with larger drivers and no sub. I’m now using 2x 1032C in my living room which comes with 10" woofers and which I found used in a local audio shop, so not much price difference compared to brand new 8330A pair and 7350A, actually. I decided I wanted two sources of bass in the room to get room modes better under control, as singular sub didn’t seem to work ideally in any location that was practical in my living room. I also tended to pull the subwoofer’s level up by some 3 dB above calibrated level to make the bass sound more natural, as flat response is slightly thin-sounding unless you listen at reference levels where ear’s bass behavior is roughly flat also. I think Genelec’s Sound Character Profiler technology does not apply the frequency response correction curve to the sub, only to the main monitors, and this was annoying because it meant that I couldn’t adjust the response correctly from a single UI, but would have to combine the SCP filters with a manual level adjustment of the sub.

I do not see anything wrong with monitors for casual listening. Genelec speakers are highly accurate, and the DSP is good, and you can adjust the character of your sound output straight into the speakers, like dial in some few dB worth of bass boost, which I like to do. The bass boost, even if it is only a few dB, is a huge deal in making the sound wonderfully warm and powerful. These are flexible monitors that are surprisingly small thanks to the metal enclosure, have wide dispersion angle, low enough harmonic distortion to be essentially perfect if sub is crossed over at around 100 Hz, and you also get basically flat group delay so that all frequencies hit the listener simultaneously. The combination makes for accurate, revealing sound which is really unlike anything I heard before. The only limiting factor in performance is likely to be your room, so budget for panels, you will want them once you see the GRADE reports from GLM.

Get the Genelecs!

I like active speakers, it’s convenient and I don’t really see any downsides as long as you’re not into some fancy tube amp or something along those lines. I’m really pleased with my active Dynaudio floor speakers.

Who wouid you want a sub woofer?

There’s absolutely no need for one in a quality hifi set up.

Spend that money on your system not a needless woofer. You’ll get plenty of bass from your speakers.

Above all. You wiki get balance and better sound.

Right tool for the job at hand. So narrow the choices to items designed for the near-field paradigm. Yes, I’m leaning towards minding the dispersion and desk bounce compensation ends of things.

The cool thing about the LS50 idea is you could move those out into a larger space and have a 2nd system if you decide to change out the desk rig. Those Genelecs wouldn’t be my 1st choice for an ‘out in the room’ rig.

How you value the alternate options for ‘after the desktop setup’ may be the deciding factor. But for sure, give the KEF’s a listen in the near field before buying to ensure any beaminess at close range doesn’t bother you.

I have bookshelves and a sub with my desktop setup. Wouldn’t have it any other way. Separate amp for speakers and headphones too. I’m not mastering audio, trying to have fun.

i would think outside the box a bit, get something that has dsp, volume control and digital output. that way you can hook up anything from passive speakers to active, digital or analog. just add dac and amps as needed.
i have personal experience with minidsp shd studio. but minidsp has a wide range or products.
when you have something like minidsp those are small in size and have many channels, so you get better dsp to integrate subwoofer, you can even run passive subwoofers and make them “active” way better than normal subwoofers. and then you can high pass the main speakers and time delay them to match, and do not buy porterted or passive radiator speakers, sealed has the least drawbacks and the most sound quality.
and you do not need a microphone to do eq or a proprietary software, just REW, tone generator and ears.
win win for this solution.

After doing the route with amp and stuff, I bought Genelec G-one for replacing my computer speakers last year. I still have my custom JH Audio in-ear but don’t use those when at my desktop. I still have the full amp etc 2.1 system for the room too.

But I use the G-one speakers alone for most of my time in front of the computer.

Have considered getting the matching sub or upgraded sub but the little G-one are good enough by themselves.

So I’d go Genelec from the start in your situation.

Personally I would never go back to passive speakers.