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Genelec S360 Review (Studio Monitor)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 1.6%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 9 2.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 111 35.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 184 59.5%

  • Total voters
    309

abdo123

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Given these are priced the same as the 8351B... what would you say is the better speaker for home use at a distance of 4m?

After some googling looks like average output of 106dB is around what these speakers are capable of. Do you have an idea of what is the volume you typically listen to?

Genelec-8350A5.jpg


The S360A looks like it's pulling around 110dB, but has more oomph in the higher octaves.

360-MAX-580x434.jpg
 

changer

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changer

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If it can be reasonably presumed that the bass/mid driver is PHL 3411 (or a variant OEM-ed for Genelec based on it), any pointers as to what is used for the HF?


The designer of the S360 told us, it is not the PHL 3411: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/neumann-kh150.33454/post-1174932 He however did not tell what was changed. Cosmetically, a magnet shield was added, the spring loaded terminals removed, the color of the spider is a brighter yellow. But we do not no anything about the T/S of the woofer.



Not this one. It is made of MDF (32 mm front) as per fairaudio.de test.

This is for the baffle only, not the walls.
 
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Ra1zel

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so that's 100dB at 4 meters. More than anyone should possibly need.
Treshold of hearing at 30hz is in the range of 70dB so 100dB at 30hz will perceptually be only as loud as 1000hz at 40dB.
 

hege

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Treshold of hearing at 30hz is in the range of 70dB so 100dB at 30hz will perceptually be only as loud as 1000hz at 40dB.
8351B would fart long before reaching 100dB at 30hz, the provided specs are for 100hz-3khz. And one is better off looking at the long term value which is 103dB@1m for that.
 

abdo123

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8351B would fart long before reaching 100dB at 30hz, the provided specs are for 100hz-3khz. And one is better off looking at the long term value which is 103dB@1m for that.
The S360A is already -20dB at 30Hz, neither of these speakers are meant to be play that low.
 

F1308

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Treshold of hearing at 30hz is in the range of 70dB so 100dB at 30hz will perceptually be only as loud as 1000hz at 40dB.
It is clear enough: we need a thread where the experts make us understand everything about what can be heard.
Great DACs, great amplifiers, great loudspeakers, but then we are to place all that in a room, usually small rooms (which is anything shorter than 11 meters in length) and...what we get ?
It all started, for me, when I heard how cheerfully they commented about the error customers made by trying to place a 17 Hz capable loudspeaker in a 3x3 room.
Please, open that thread ..
 

Ra1zel

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8351B would fart long before reaching 100dB at 30hz, the provided specs are for 100hz-3khz. And one is better off looking at the long term value which is 103dB@1m for that.
Exactly, without subs its not really possible to get real visceral bass from small monitors.
 

hege

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The S360A is already -20dB at 30Hz, neither of these speakers are meant to be play that low.
Assuming no sub, atleast 8351B has a chance to play flat down to 30hz in a suitable room. S360 is cut too high to begin with for my tastes. But it did sound quite sweet otherwise.
 

changer

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It is clear enough: we need a thread where the experts make us understand everything about what can be heard.
Indeed. This would help to not further derail this Genelec S360 review thread and is highly appreciated.
 

Blockader

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The S360A is already -20dB at 30Hz, neither of these speakers are meant to be play that low.
S360 Genelec Official's S360 video. I recommend you guys to watch it first. I'm just amazed how many people have opinions here without having any knowledge about the things they talk about.

first Genelec R&D chief explains the underlying reasons of why they designed S360. The reasons are:

-The demand for high SPL speakers in immersive monitoring/ surround sound production which are also small in size.
-For immersive monitoring(9.1/7.2/9.2 etc) a considerable distance to the listener is necessary.

as a result they designed a compact monitoring speaker that can deliver sufficient dynamic range over 10 meters distances. (105db average sound production).

This is the only speaker Amir measured that can handle 106db upper treble peaks so far. S360's bass performance is irrelevant because S360 was designed to be paired with a gigantic subwoofer that can match its max upper treble max SPL. That is Genelec 7382A. Yes, they are a complete package.

None of the speakers in The Ones series are full range speakers. Even 8361 is *only*(despite its size) flat down to 36hz. The last octave (18-36hz) of information won't be as loud as 8361's midbass no matter what room gain you get in your room. (considering on how human hearing works, sub bass has to be even louder than the midbass to be equally audible!) 8361's require a very beefy subwoofer that can match their SPL in mids and upper treble too. Just like S360 does. In other words, both speakers are upper treble limited in max SPL output. And S360 is about 6-10db louder. (almost twice volume)

In short, this is one of the best speakers out there to build an immersive speaker setup in a huge room. S360s are great tools for 7.2 or higher channel movie production. Genelec Engineers know what they are doing, and this is almost as good as such speaker can get.
 
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Blockader

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Why can the KH420 go much lower than S360?
View attachment 222649View attachment 222650
In order to keep the drivers within a 1/4 wavelength at crossover frequencies, woofers of 83x1 series are in elliptic shape. Multiple drivers within 1/4 wavelength distances to each other behave like a true point source. This is a limiting factor for low end extension and bass max SPL of The Ones series. That being said, above 40hz, Genelec 8361's have incredibly high max SPL. Obviously they are designed to be used with one or multiple subwoofers. This is how 8351's driver looks like:

7CEAA6D8-94E0-4BC0-A5A2-124C2D12F53E.jpeg
 
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changer

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S360 and KH420 both have PHL (based) 10" drivers. I doubt the 1/4 wavelength interpretation of why Genelec used oval woofers in Ones speakers. They are woofers, crossed low, wavelength long, driver position not a problem. To have a symmetric wavefront build up by the use of two slots, and still having a somewhat compact package I find much more likely. But what is the use of such speculations other than entertainment? Lets keep on topic.

Why can the KH420 go much lower than S360?
KH420 uses a dedicated woofer, S360 a mid-woofer. It's so clear, I wonder why you have to ask at all.
 

Xyrium

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gave it a fair rating due to it's cost and the directivity error which is more severe than even the 8030C at reasonable volume. I know it's SPL focused but then for Genelec I do hope for absolute perfection
Agreed, especially at the price, and geez, the size!

Love Gennies, though I was hoping they'd finally deal with that 1.5-2k aberration by now. It seems endemic in their designs.
 

fluid

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@fluid, can you help me decipher the XO from step response? Seems like the tweeter is inverted, does look as if the XO is based on higher order slopes, and is the woofer is playing ahead of the tweeter?
I don't think the tweeter is inverted, I think it is the phase EQ that has been used that causes the initial dip down in the step. You see the same thing in the Kii three step response (but not as severe) when their phase equalization is engaged. When it is off, it is clear the tweeter has positive polarity.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/kii-audio-three-loudspeaker-measurements

An inverted tweeter would mean a 2nd or 3rd order crossover which just does not match with the rest of the measurements, which look like 8th order filters to me. The "eyes" seen in the vertical response are very narrow and in Genelec's own GLL data the DI bump at crossover is quite narrow, more so than in Amir's. Downloading the free EASE Viewer lets you view the GLL files and the balloon data is quite interesting.

Genelec_S360_DI.png
 
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