This is a review and detailed measurements of the Genelec 8320a powered "smart" monitor (speaker). It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me for testing and costs US $625 each.
It should come as no shock to anyone that the 8320a looks just like the rest of Genelec line although the small sizes makes it look cute!
As you see we don't have a coaxial design here but rather 2-way with integrated waveguide. The back side is interesting in that there are no mechanical dip switches to adjust anything:
I have the Genelec GLM kit which I will be testing soon to see how it can configure the speaker. For now, I found the balanced analog input to be extremely sensitive. I had to turn down the volume way down both in measurements and listening tests. I am assuming it is defaulting to consumer levels.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1% or so.
Temperature was 68 degrees F.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was as instructed in the manual: at the rim of the woofer.
Genelec 8320a Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
I was impressed by how smooth and controlled the bass response is. Post that we have some tiny wiggles here and there but nothing of note. There is however some crossover directivity error.
Early window frequency response shows good summing although a stepped response:
This partially compensates for the reverse step up in on-axis resulting in less of a step in predicted in-room frequency response:
Near-field measurements show care in how the enclosure resonance comes out of the port to make sure it doesn't interfere much with the on-axis response:
Distortion is well managed at 86 dBSPL but as expected, not so much at 96:
Interesting behavior of the tweeter limiting its response above 10 kHz.
Beamwidth is very well controlled as we could see from the design of the waveguide:
Vertical directivity is typical of 2-way speakers that are not coaxial so keep the tweeter axis pointed at your ear:
Finally, here is the CSD/waterfall showing some resonances:
Genelec 8320a Listening Tests
I always start with my female test tracks but after playing them a thousand times for testing of speakers and headphones, I am darn right sick of them! Yet, when a speaker produces excellent tonality, I can still appreciate them and such was the case with the Genelec 8320a. Track after track was enjoyable with reasonable bass response. Deep bass though as you can imagine was very soft.
Power capability was not bad. Turning up the single speaker up gradually lit up the red clipping indicator but there was no static or crackle as I have heard in other powered speakers. This only happened with tracks that had deep sub-bass. With spectrum above 40 Hz in the music, I had all the volume I needed in near-field listening (3 feet/1 meter). I especially enjoyed the track Hunted from Radical Face thundering away:
I could hear a bit of bloated bass at times which is clearly room modes so look forward to testing the unit with GLM.
Conclusions
While one expects near perfect execution from Genelec, it is still interesting to test their various designs. This little "guy" is cute, takes very little space but produces satisfying sound on the desktop that doesn't scream "I need a subwoofer." It is smooth and has wonderful tonality. And quite capable despite being such a small speaker. Of course you pay for this in its high cost at nearly $1,300 for a pair.
I am happy to put the Genelec 8320a on my recommended list.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
It should come as no shock to anyone that the 8320a looks just like the rest of Genelec line although the small sizes makes it look cute!
As you see we don't have a coaxial design here but rather 2-way with integrated waveguide. The back side is interesting in that there are no mechanical dip switches to adjust anything:
I have the Genelec GLM kit which I will be testing soon to see how it can configure the speaker. For now, I found the balanced analog input to be extremely sensitive. I had to turn down the volume way down both in measurements and listening tests. I am assuming it is defaulting to consumer levels.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than an anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
I performed over 1000 measurement which resulted in error rate of less than 1% or so.
Temperature was 68 degrees F.
Measurements are compliant with latest speaker research into what can predict the speaker preference and is standardized in CEA/CTA-2034 ANSI specifications. Likewise listening tests are performed per research that shows mono listening is much more revealing of differences between speakers than stereo or multichannel.
Reference axis was as instructed in the manual: at the rim of the woofer.
Genelec 8320a Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker is and how it can be used in a room. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
I was impressed by how smooth and controlled the bass response is. Post that we have some tiny wiggles here and there but nothing of note. There is however some crossover directivity error.
Early window frequency response shows good summing although a stepped response:
This partially compensates for the reverse step up in on-axis resulting in less of a step in predicted in-room frequency response:
Near-field measurements show care in how the enclosure resonance comes out of the port to make sure it doesn't interfere much with the on-axis response:
Distortion is well managed at 86 dBSPL but as expected, not so much at 96:
Interesting behavior of the tweeter limiting its response above 10 kHz.
Beamwidth is very well controlled as we could see from the design of the waveguide:
Vertical directivity is typical of 2-way speakers that are not coaxial so keep the tweeter axis pointed at your ear:
Finally, here is the CSD/waterfall showing some resonances:
Genelec 8320a Listening Tests
I always start with my female test tracks but after playing them a thousand times for testing of speakers and headphones, I am darn right sick of them! Yet, when a speaker produces excellent tonality, I can still appreciate them and such was the case with the Genelec 8320a. Track after track was enjoyable with reasonable bass response. Deep bass though as you can imagine was very soft.
Power capability was not bad. Turning up the single speaker up gradually lit up the red clipping indicator but there was no static or crackle as I have heard in other powered speakers. This only happened with tracks that had deep sub-bass. With spectrum above 40 Hz in the music, I had all the volume I needed in near-field listening (3 feet/1 meter). I especially enjoyed the track Hunted from Radical Face thundering away:
I could hear a bit of bloated bass at times which is clearly room modes so look forward to testing the unit with GLM.
Conclusions
While one expects near perfect execution from Genelec, it is still interesting to test their various designs. This little "guy" is cute, takes very little space but produces satisfying sound on the desktop that doesn't scream "I need a subwoofer." It is smooth and has wonderful tonality. And quite capable despite being such a small speaker. Of course you pay for this in its high cost at nearly $1,300 for a pair.
I am happy to put the Genelec 8320a on my recommended list.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/