Genelec W371A + The Ones : My quest for the Grail is over

[changster]

@AdamQ

Does the music throw a soundstage behind the physical location of your speakers/wall, or does it sound like it's coming from the same plane as the wall? Within the soundstage itself, is there much depth? As in, are you able to differentiate front and back locations within the soundstage?

 

[Descartes]

Ordered a pair of W371As today for my theater.

View attachment 215635

I am currently running 8361As for L, C, R, Lrs, Rrs and 8351Bs for Ls, Rs. I intend to reposition the 8351Bs atop the W371As for L, R then move the 8361As to Ls, Rs. According to tech support at Genelec, the W371s will cross at ~200-300 Hz, so there's little reason to prefer the 8361As over the 8351Bs for L/R duty. But if that proves false, I can rearrange.

I intend to relegate the three RS1 subs to LFE only during movie playback. They will remain fallow for music.

Can I come and listen to your system I am seriously considering the same path!

 

[jhenderson0107]

Can I come and listen to your system I am seriously considering the same path!

Of course - any time! If you prepare a Qobuz or Apple Music playlist beforehand, we'll audition using music you know well.

 

[Descartes]

Of course - any time! If you prepare a Qobuz or Apple Music playlist beforehand, we'll audition using music you know well.

Where are you located?

 

[jhenderson0107]

Where are you located?

Sent a PM. W371As are due to arrive 07/11/22. So if you want to hear them also, give me a few days to set up and calibrate after that date.

 

[jhenderson0107]

The W371As are monstrous. Will hookup and calibrate tomorrow.

 

[changster]

The W371As are monstrous. Will hookup and calibrate tomorrow.

Holy cow, congrats!! Do post your subjective impressions as soon as you get a chance!

 

[jhenderson0107]

...post your subjective impressions as soon as you get a chance!

I have been using Linkwitz Orion's in the living room for > 10 years and am building LX521's to replace them now. I doubt the Genelec theater system will ever approach the open, expansive soundstage of the Linkwitz speakers in my environment. Each system/approach has different goals and strengths.

I'll post my impressions after many tweaks over a few weeks.

 

[Doodski]

Holy cow, congrats!! Do post four subjective impressions as soon as you get a chance!

Yes, I am very interested too to read about the slam and kick with great bass guitar notes.

 

[changster]

I have been using Linkwitz Orion's in the living room for > 10 years and am building LX521's to replace them now. I doubt the Genelec theater system will ever approach the open, expansive soundstage of the Linkwitz speakers in my environment. Each system/approach has different goals and strengths.

I'll post my impressions after many tweaks over a few weeks.

Ohhhhh nice, it’s great to hear the opinion from a fellow Linkwitz listener as well. I love my 521.4’s (massive soundstage width and depth, fantastic imaging, etc) but I’m also very curious about the Genelec’s because of the point source mid/tweets and basically active dipole subs. I’m curious about the overall experience.

 

[Pearljam5000]

I have been using Linkwitz Orion's in the living room for > 10 years and am building LX521's to replace them now. I doubt the Genelec theater system will ever approach the open, expansive soundstage of the Linkwitz speakers in my environment. Each system/approach has different goals and strengths.

I'll post my impressions after many tweaks over a few weeks.

A few weeks?

 

[lherrm]

I have been using Linkwitz Orion's in the living room for > 10 years and am building LX521's to replace them now. I doubt the Genelec theater system will ever approach the open, expansive soundstage of the Linkwitz speakers in my environment. Each system/approach has different goals and strengths.

I'll post my impressions after many tweaks over a few weeks.

Eager to read your impressions.

 

[delta76]

Thanks mate. It’s been a long work in progress.
I have the 8361a model sitting on top of the W371a’s

I have to say, probably like a few folks on this forum I though the W371 angular design was an odd choice to sit with the curves of the 83XX series.

I also though that the 8361 might likely be too big and look out of place on top of a W371a. As you can see I have the horizontally orientated on top and I have totally changed my view - I think they look amazing.

Re the sound, I also was finding it hard to imagine how much better the 8361’s could sound but holy hell, paired with the W371a it is like a wall of sound. I cannot overstate how much power and clarity there is coming from this set up. It’s truly divine.

I honestly have been pinching myself every day since they arrived, that I have the good fortune to have this set up at home.

If you ever have the chance to hear this set up be warned, you will feel compelled to do whatever you can to own a set.

noob question: how do you handle the reflection and boominess when it's that close to the corner ?

 

[changster]

noob question: how do you handle the reflection and boominess when it's that close to the corner ?

EQing helps a ton. The system is fully active so it will attenuate the peaks where needed.

 

[jhenderson0107]

Progress report:
I have connected the W371A+8351Bs via AES/EBU to the Trinnov Altitude 16. The L/R channels are positioned approximately 25 degrees azimuth from the MLP, as depicted below. Sightly narrower than ideal but provides ~36" breathing room to the side walls. They 8351Bs are 24" int front of the absorber/diffuser panels.

View from MLP:

View from Right Surround:

View from Left Rear Surround:

I first calibrated the L/R channels via GLM 4.2, prioritizing for Directivity Control. Then I ran the Trinnov calibration wizard for all speakers. Here are some calibration results:

Left:

Right:

Center: (Some nastiness, probably due to the coffee table).

Combined response of 3 RS1 subs: (Already pretty flat due to MSO filters in MiniDSP flex).

I think the calibration can be improved to some degree - I'll keep trying. But these results are on-par with my previous attempts prior to installation of the W371's.

Listening tests - I've cherry-picked some familiar bass-heavy tracks:

Plenty of clean, tactile bass even with an average listening SPL of ~80 dB.

My perception is that the entire soundstage is much taller and slightly wider due to the increased height of the 8351B's atop the W371's. I typically engage the Auro3D upmixer, which produces emphasizes the lush ambience on chamber and instrumental music - my genre of choice. Stuff like these therobo recordings:

I haven't researched whether these were actually recording in a large space, but they certainly convey a sizeable sense of space. I believe that low frequency extension on the surrounds as well as the L/R fronts helps to create a credible surround field.

I'll post additional observations as I continue to tweak the system.

 

[Doodski]

Progress report:
I have connected the W371A+8351Bs via AES/EBU to the Trinnov Altitude 16. The L/R channels are positioned approximately 25 degrees azimuth from the MLP, as depicted below. Sightly narrower than ideal but provides ~36" breathing room to the side walls. They 8351Bs are 24" int front of the absorber/diffuser panels.

View from MLP:
View attachment 218182

View from Right Surround:
View attachment 218189

View from Left Rear Surround:
View attachment 218190

I first calibrated the L/R channels via GLM 4.2, prioritizing for Directivity Control. Then I ran the Trinnov calibration wizard for all speakers. Here are some calibration results:

Left:
View attachment 218184

Right:
View attachment 218185

Center: (Some nastiness, probably due to the coffee table).
View attachment 218187

Combined response of 3 RS1 subs: (Already pretty flat due to MSO filters in MiniDSP flex).
View attachment 218186

I think the calibration can be improved to some degree - I'll keep trying. But these results are on-par with my previous attempts prior to installation of the W371's.

Listening tests - I've cherry-picked some familiar bass-heavy tracks:

View attachment 218191

View attachment 218192

View attachment 218193

Plenty of clean, tactile bass even with an average listening SPL of ~80 dB.

My perception is that the entire soundstage is much taller and slightly wider due to the increased height of the 8351B's atop the W371's. I typically engage the Auro3D upmixer, which produces emphasizes the lush ambience on chamber and instrumental music - my genre of choice. Stuff like these therobo recordings:
View attachment 218194

View attachment 218195
I haven't researched whether these were actually recording in a large space, but they certainly convey a sizeable sense of space. I believe that low frequency extension on the surrounds as well as the L/R fronts helps to create a credible surround field.

I'll post additional observations as I continue to tweak the system.

That looks fantastic! I like how you have a empty space behind the sofa so you don't get reflections really close to your head.

 

[lherrm]

I'll post additional observations as I continue to tweak the system.

Congrats and thanks for your feedback.
Do you have more observations to share ?

 

[Piatnik]

Ordered the 8361 and W371 in January… still waiting ! ETA end of October…

 

[Frank Dernie]

Ordered the 8361 and W371 in January… still waiting ! ETA end of October…

Presumably chip shortage.
My EV has taken14 months since order so far and car complete except for one part which could take many weeks still

Good job I didn’t order the 8351/W371 I was considering as well…

 

[srrxr71]

Ordered the 8361 and W371 in January… still waiting ! ETA end of October…

Is the delay on the 8361? I don’t have first hand information but it seems the W371 ships on days.

Last year I waited 3 months on a pair of 8341s (ordered August 2021). The first 7360 took about 1.5 months (ordered march 2022). The second one shipped in a week (ordered in august 2022).