Genelec 8341A SAM™ Studio Monitor Review

[thefsb]

Off topic but was that pic snapped with a cel tel or a devoted camera. Curious about the black levels.

Dunno. Found it on Wikipedia. Thought it might be useful to show the difference between main and near-field monitors.

They are used for different aspects of the sound engineer's work and, iiuc, the near-field monitors aren't expected to be loud.

 

[q3cpma]

Wondering how does it compares with new age speakers like D&D 8C and Kii.

8C leverages a cardioid pattern, which might not reflect in the measurement.

The 8C is not so new age, mostly a combination of already existing stuff. It's basically a less cardioid ME Geithain with lots of woofers and DSP tacked on. The Kii and especially the Grimm are more interesting to me.

 

[tuga]

No worries. You tell me what you want the graph to look like and I can make it so. Santa Clause? No problem. A bunny? No worries. An elephant? Piece of cake....

Piece of cake. Please!

 

[Oukkidoukki]

Yes, let's hope amir gets D&D , kii, maybe amphion and geithain.......geithain might have been the original point source pioneer......Genelec still have advantage with room eq installed over everything else.....these are too expensive for normal people though...but good to have reference....and maybe something consumer friendly someday

 

[edechamps]

I have added the Genelec 8341A to the Loudspeaker Explorer where it can be compared directly with other speakers.

I can't resist posting a few comparison graphs with the previous champion, the Neumann KH 80:

The KH 80 puts up a surprisingly good fight, but loses on directivity control it seems. And of course, in the vertical axis, well…

 

[edechamps]

Roughly -0.5 points for the preference score.
View attachment 51421

0.5 points is not negligible, it adds a lot of error to the score… glad @amirm found and fixed the problem so we can have more accurate scores from now on

By the way @MZKM, where did you get the data? Can I get a zipfile? I want to add it to the Loudspeaker Explorer to compare directly and maybe experiment to see if it's possible to do something about the previous measurements. @amirm?

 

[amirm]

0.5 points is not negligible, it adds a lot of error to the score… glad @amirm found and fixed the problem so we can have more accurate scores from now on

There is more than one difference in that measurement so it is not just the manifestation of this issue.

 

[napilopez]

@amirm thanks for the great review and fixing the ripples! A standout performance from the Genelec! It's hard to imagine things getting much better in the frequency domain properly crossed with a sub. Certainly at this point we've hit a threshold for the circle of confusion. One might prefer a speaker with a different direcitivty properties but that's about all you can change.

I agree with @restorer-john that it's disappointing this error exists in the first place. The ripples were quite consistent in their location among reviews so I feel like it must be possible for Klippel to compute a correction, even if it's not perfect.... Have you informed them of this?

For people concerned about loudness Amir has said before he has quite the tolerance for high SPL levels, while I'm reaching for the volume control at 80dB average... So I wouldn't be concerned in stereo and if you plan to use a sub. In any case, until we find a cheaper speaker that measures this well, Genelec has every right to charge what it does.

 

[thewas]

3 dB, all else being equal

In the lower frequency regions where the signals of L R are usually coherent the addition is theoretically 6dB, in reality the sum in most rooms is somewhere between 4-5dB.

 

[MZKM]

Your pictures doesnt show. Tried a different browser with the same result.

Ah, it shows on my end, it’s cause I copied it instead of uploaded; I’ll fix it when I get home.

 

[MZKM]

0.5 points is not negligible, it adds a lot of error to the score… glad @amirm found and fixed the problem so we can have more accurate scores from now on

By the way @MZKM, where did you get the data? Can I get a zipfile? I want to add it to the Loudspeaker Explorer to compare directly and maybe experiment to see if it's possible to do something about the previous measurements. @amirm?

Amir sent it to me.

 

[Music1969]

So don't go absorbing all reflections as you will get that brighter direct sound.

Would you still recommend absorbing 1st reflections though? With this speaker.

 

[MZKM]

Is it possible to get better?

Their 8351 looks better (all higher priced ones look worse, but get louder).

 

[MZKM]

Would you still recommend absorbing 1st reflections though? With this speaker.

Probably if you don’t have parallel walls and/or have stuff in front of them (e.g., bookcases), or maybe windows.

 

[Count Arthur]

In terms of quality, how do the amplifiers in these, and perhaps some other active speakers, compare to more traditional power amplifiers taking into account the fact that a pair of these contains 6 amplifiers.

Can the performance of the amplifiers be measured without disassembly?

 

[Ilkless]

The polars also indicate directivity control to an unusually-low frequency for the baffle size (500Hz baffle step), courtesy of the slot loading.

 

[617]

The polars also indicate directivity control to an unusually-low frequency for the baffle size (500Hz baffle step), courtesy of the slot loading.

I don't think people realize how crazy it is that such a small speaker controls directivity to such a low frequency. The Gedlee Summa, which uses a 15+" waveguide and 15" woofer, only goes down slightly lower with CD. Of course, it doesn't exactly have the same issues with regard to output.

 

[Doodski]

In terms of quality, how do the amplifiers in these, and perhaps some other active speakers, compare to more traditional power amplifiers taking into account the fact that a pair of these contains 6 amplifiers.

Can the performance of the amplifiers be measured without disassembly?

Testing the amplifiers would require disassembly, most likely void the warranty, could possibly be damaged during testing and then there is the DSP applied to the signal. It's really a complete package not to be separated.

 

[Ilkless]

Max SPL for the 8331 and 8351A (not B) as measured by S&R. 90dB or so at 1m probably when it starts to lose steam on bass-heavy content and clip. Which is not extremely difficult to achieve.

edit: note also the vast improvement in max SPL around 50Hz - says a lot that the much smaller 8331 has significantly higher max SPL in that range than the first-gen 8351. Genelec have really refined the concept.

 

[oldsysop]

The measurements are very good, but I would never buy a self-powered and plastic speaker for $ 5,900

Thanks Amir.