Genelec 8351B Review (Studio Monitor)

[Sancus]

in the US only producer, raw and white finishes are available.

you could paint a raw finish unit, but you would either have to be very _very_ careful, or take them apart first.

a vinyl wrap might be an interesting idea though

Genelec does do 120 RAL colors for their installation speakers and they do others by special request at a significant upcharge. They did a blue limited edition 8341A last year so they definitely CAN paint them different colors.

Mine are mystic black and I bought them in the US, is that the same as producer?

Black is commonly available, it's just a special order. Producer is the standard greyish finish.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

Is that true? I thought Salon 2 MSRP was $22K. 8351B($8K) + W371A($18K) is 26K. I bet the average Salon 2 buyer spends more than $4K on DAC and amps, let alone DSP. I'm sure it is less if you consider dealer discounts but well with the Salon 2 on the way out and the W371A brand new, that's not surprising.

Last year before price changes and the USD tanking, you could get the 8351B+W371A for just under $20K USD in Canada.

Not Salon2, but I was quoted 20-30% off list price shipping included for some Performa3/PerformaBe speakers. The towers are a lot cheaper if you pick up. Didn't even negotiate just asked for price. None of the Genelec dealers in US were willing to come down on price. Maybe they are a lot lower sales volume.

 

[mkawa]

Not Salon2, but I was quoted 20-30% off list price shipping included for some Performa3/PerformaBe speakers. The towers are a lot cheaper if you pick up. Didn't even negotiate just asked for price. None of the Genelec dealers in US were willing to come down on price. Maybe they are a lot lower sales volume.

as i mentioned elsewhere in the thread, they literally can't. SAM products have to be sold for RRP

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Badass!

Thanks for the review @amirm and thanks to the gloved one himself, @Spocko for sending them in.

Guess he really did "Stop the FOMO!"

 

[direstraitsfan98]

It looks like Amir updated the review with correct price of $3995. Sweetwater actually lists a msrp of $4,595 but I guess they are perpetually on sale for $600 off for a price of $3,995 each. No doubt a further discount can be acquired if you ask as well.

 

[MediumRare]

Genelec has created a superb acoustic tool in this speaker, and it’s a great instrument for the professional. Personally, I just can’t imagine spending 10k on these for my living room. I don’t find them aesthetically pleasing at all. For that sort on money they would need to look the part as well, but beauty is in the eye right?

My very picky wife was looking over my shoulder and said, "what are those, they look really cool!" So, go figure.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

as i mentioned elsewhere in the thread, they literally can't. SAM products have to be sold for RRP

The dealer (Vintage King) mentioned that they used to throw in accessories to sweaten the deal, but Genelec cut distribution after finding out. I thought it was bullshit, but apparently it's not illegal for manufacturer to do this.

 

[mkawa]

nope, very legal. you can't require a dealer to sell for MSRP but you can stop doing business with a dealer for any reason, including not selling for MSRP.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Genelec does do 120 RAL colors for their installation speakers and they do others by special request at a significant upcharge. They did a blue limited edition 8341A last year so they definitely CAN paint them different colors.



Black is commonly available, it's just a special order. Producer is the standard greyish finish.

 

[Sancus]

as i mentioned elsewhere in the thread, they literally can't. SAM products have to be sold for RRP

I don't know if that's a US-only policy, but I can say Canadian and European dealers at least will definitely cut deals. However, they won't be 20-30% off, that's for sure, unless perhaps you are doing a very large installation. Maybe 10-15%. Multiple people have confirmed US retailers seem unable/unwilling to offer any discounts, though, it's true.

 

[kimmosto]

This is a powered speaker…

So what? They have been using IIR XOs with very steep slopes so I would expect severe energy smoothing if phase linearisation stage is not enabled or not possible to switch on by user via GLM.

 

[Pearljam5000]

 

[Sancus]

So what? They have been using IIR XOs with very steep slopes so I would expect severe energy smoothing if phase linearisation stage is not enabled or not possible to switch on by user via GLM.

Phase linearisation to low frequencies requires massive additions of latency which are unacceptable in too many studio use cases. And audibility of such things are highly questionable. That said, you can read S&R reviews for time domain stuff including phase. The 8361A and 8351B are probably the same on these measurements. In any case, they are pretty typical for studio monitors and in fact more linear than the KH420.

Personally I don't think Amir should bother with these measurements.

Some images

Lol I really, really don't like that color but... it is cool to see them in non-standard colors.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Funny you should mention the JTR - I'll be matching my Genelec 9.1.6 system to the Captivator 4000ULF

JIC there's someone who doesn't know.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

View attachment 130132

So they come in Rustoleum?

 

[Pearljam5000]

So they come in Rustoleum?

Lol
That's bronze

 

[kimmosto]

Phase linearisation to low frequencies requires massive additions of latency which are unacceptable in too many studio use cases. And audibility of such things are highly questionable.

Target is minimum phase so the lowest linearisation is at the lowest crossover range. Not necessarily bad latency problem with 320 Hz XO though steep slopes extend phase corruption quite low. Also "audibility" is kinda wrong term for energy smoothing, because it's not timbre issue. This might be the reason why investigators don't have agreement.

Personally I don't think Amir should bother with these measurements.

Personally I would prefer wider perspective. Spinorama is very important of course, but I would not ignore almost everything else. Perfect directivity is not able specify/rule sound quality. As already mentioned, speaker with almost perfect spinorama could be one of the most boring, weak and scattered. Neutral in a bad way.

 

[soundwave76]

Side note: why do 61s seem so rare?

They are just too big and look awkward imo compared to for example 8351

 

[soundwave76]

This is tailor made by a local cabinet maker/furniuture carpenter. This is made with special real stone veneer.

P.S. Funny, I always receive questions about the cabinet and not the speakers.

What about the art on the wall? I like that one. What is that?

 

[daftcombo]

I think the premium is for controlled directivity and its superlative dispersion characteristics, both vertical and horizontal - quite rare for any speaker. If you don't need such well controlled directivity, you can save a lot of money for similar neutrality elsewhere.

In which use case don't you need controlled directivity?