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8361A’s - First Impressions

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RobL

RobL

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Are you still satisfied with them?
Definitely. :)
They will be my last speaker purchase. With these I have taken away any doubt about my speakers being a liability in my system. Subs aren’t something my wife will tolerate in this room (she’s been understanding enough allow me to place the 61’s in there lol). I don’t feel I’m missing anything without them (subs) anyway. I listen to rock, singer/songwriter and jazz mostly and these speaker give an immensely satisfying presentation. GLM cleans up the bass for me and it sounds excellent.
They’re expensive (to me anyway) but I have no regrets and I don’t know what else I could buy for the same money that would get as much use and give me as much enjoyment!
 

MKR

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Definitely. :)
They will be my last speaker purchase. With these I have taken away any doubt about my speakers being a liability in my system. Subs aren’t something my wife will tolerate in this room (she’s been understanding enough allow me to place the 61’s in there lol). I don’t feel I’m missing anything without them (subs) anyway. I listen to rock, singer/songwriter and jazz mostly and these speaker give an immensely satisfying presentation. GLM cleans up the bass for me and it sounds excellent.
They’re expensive (to me anyway) but I have no regrets and I don’t know what else I could buy for the same money that would get as much use and give me as much enjoyment!
Great that you have found your end game :)

What other speakers did you audition before finally deciding on the 8361s? Any that came close to the 8361 performance?

Also, what is your listening distance?

Thanks
 

Trell

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A waste of money, and harder to place around the desk.
This dude seems happy.

1672158000462.png
 

Hmast

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They ARE sounding exactly the same. This dude is using a 7380 for the bass part. The coax unit is the same.
 
OP
RobL

RobL

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Great that you have found your end game :)

What other speakers did you audition before finally deciding on the 8361s? Any that came close to the 8361 performance?

Also, what is your listening distance?

Thanks
I had Paradigm monitor 9’s, JBL LSR6328P’s + matching sub, Polk LSIM705’s with sub, JBL 705P’s with SVS Micro, Genelec 1032A’s…the passives were driven by McIntosh SS gear and I actually had a Chinese tube integrated amp at one point.
Depending on what you consider close I’d say most stuff I’ve had got me pretty decent sound. None of it gave me the feeling that there wasn’t something missing though.
I don’t have the high end speaker exposure of someone like goskers, but I’ve reached a similar conclusion to him.
 

outfaced

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is just me wondering what are the tubes for ...
It seems the 8361 are his gaming speakers :D

otherwise with 8351B in room 4*3m i have to EQ the bass down a few dB. Also dont see any need to go bigger with 8361.
But ... i auditioned all ones in the genelec center. For me 8341 sounded smaller and more boxy if not used near field. With 8351 and 8361 i got the same feeling for a wall of sound and not sound coming from a point in space. I think this has to do with the bigger surface of the baffle. In general they really sounded 99% identical in small room and on moderate levels.
Bigger boxes gives some more depth to bass. Not just lower f3. More the feeling of deeper space. But in my case 8361 are too big and too expensive only to get this.
 

Trell

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is just me wondering what are the tubes for ...
It seems the 8361 are his gaming speakers :D

otherwise with 8351B in room 4*3m i have to EQ the bass down a few dB. Also dont see any need to go bigger with 8361.
But ... i auditioned all ones in the genelec center. For me 8341 sounded smaller and more boxy if not used near field. With 8351 and 8361 i got the same feeling for a wall of sound and not sound coming from a point in space. I think this has to do with the bigger surface of the baffle. In general they really sounded 99% identical in small room and on moderate levels.
Bigger boxes gives some more depth to bass. Not just lower f3. More the feeling of deeper space. But in my case 8361 are too big and too expensive only to get this.

Sometimes I dream about having the 8361 in a surround setup but that would be quite expensive for me, sad to say.
 

MrSoul4470

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There's no way they sound exactly the same
Why not? Because one is much more expensive than the other?
Also Neumann KH 120 / 310 sound the same to my ears if you don't push them too hard and the KH 310 costs three times as much as the KH 120.

I don't need a lot of power to reach high SPL in nearfield and I don't need the few extra Hertz in the bass range as they might even do harm in my living room. The 8361 would be nothing but a waste of money in my case.
 

Hmast

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It's quite simple:

Measurements on the 8351B are a tidy bit better than measurments of the 8361B.
Coaxial unit (medium + treble) is identical.
8361A's larger wave guide may allow a better imaging when listening in midfield context but nearfields measurements show identical dispersion.
8351B shows fewer resonances.

Really, in a small room there is no point in paying 2000 EUR more for 8361A, instead those 2000 EUR should be used for a GLM subwoofer and allow a batter bass than 8361A alone. The other benefit is 8351B will be easier to place in the room and the sub can be moved away to get the best placement in the room to avoid dips before EQing.

When the time comes to move to a bigger room, it's still a better idea to use 8351Bs with sub(s) instead of 8361As alone.

8361A is the best choice for people unable to use subs. Otherwise it sounds like a waste of money.
 

bodhi

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Bigger boxes gives some more depth to bass. Not just lower f3. More the feeling of deeper space.

I noticed (or at least imagined) the same going from 8330 with sub to 8350. But why is this? I cannot explain it from measurements. Could it just be placebo?
 
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