As the title states, why did Genelec choose to use a sealed subwoofer section with the 8381A speaker? What is a scientific analysis of this design choice?
I see the 8381A as the natural next step from the W371A, but obviously it is not "just" a scaled up version. It seems clear that Genelec is making different design choices with the W371A, and I'm trying to learn from those choices as I work on my own design.
It is interesting to me that Genelec are making the "ultimate" full range studio monitor, but it falls just a bit short of the consumer and home theater audio ideal of 20hz to 20khz. Certainly the 8381A has enough headroom to achieve flat response to 20hz, but that is not how they measured it.
That's a long winded way of asking why Genelec chose to go sealed on the subwoofer section and sacrifice a little low end extension, when they are already known to produce excellent ported subwoofers that extend below 20hz?
If possible, I'd like to discuss this question from the perspective of an engineer that is making these decisions.
(I'm asking because I have a speaker design project following the speaker layout of the W371A/ 8381A speakers. I'm currently using a ported subwoofer like the W371A. But with the introduction of the sealed subs on the 8381A, I'm wondering why Genelec chose not to use ported subs, and should I also switch to a sealed design? I've seen many discussions about sealed vs ported, and mostly they just say that ported can sound just as good as sealed, and if sealed was better, you probably couldn't hear the difference because of room issues. But then Genelec chooses a sealed subwoofer when they are good at ported subs....)
I see the 8381A as the natural next step from the W371A, but obviously it is not "just" a scaled up version. It seems clear that Genelec is making different design choices with the W371A, and I'm trying to learn from those choices as I work on my own design.
It is interesting to me that Genelec are making the "ultimate" full range studio monitor, but it falls just a bit short of the consumer and home theater audio ideal of 20hz to 20khz. Certainly the 8381A has enough headroom to achieve flat response to 20hz, but that is not how they measured it.
If possible, I'd like to discuss this question from the perspective of an engineer that is making these decisions.
(I'm asking because I have a speaker design project following the speaker layout of the W371A/ 8381A speakers. I'm currently using a ported subwoofer like the W371A.
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