Genelec 8341A SAM™ Studio Monitor Review

[auraluxstudio]

I have them at 6-7 feet distance and the limitation for SPL is hearing pain. They are used at similar distance to mix movie and music tracks.

@amirm any idea what SPL you were listening at before the protection kicked in?

This! ^ I can't believe any comment can be made on SPL limitation when only one speaker is being used. LOL

 

[EchoChamber]

I wish they had stock of the white version. :-(

I don’t think there’s ever stock of the non dark gray option… White and black are almost always special orders AFAIK. Worth the wait IMO for home usage. I like the whites a lot…

 

[Sancus]

I don’t think there’s ever stock of the non dark gray option… White and black are almost always special orders AFAIK. Worth the weight IMO for home usage. I like the whites a lot…

Yes. You have to special order 'em and it takes a few months. Worth it though. You don't generally have to pay fully up front, but it depends on the retailer you work with, some charge more of a deposit than others.

 

[hege]

This! ^ I can't believe any comment can be made on SPL limitation when only one speaker is being used. LOL

Of course you can. Second speaker would be +6dB. Same as listening distance difference of 1m-2m. It's just math.

 

[1231rq32r1qw32r]

I wish they had stock of the white version. :-(

Stock isn’t good for anyone right now. I was super lucky to get hooked up directly with the factory - they happened to have a single set left, returned new from a reseller.

 

[1231rq32r1qw32r]

Too bad the discussion got a bit heated, the tip to check presets is quite a good one.

No idea what you mean

 

[D700]

But are you listening to bass heavy music or just Norah Jones type of music?

Just?

 

[1231rq32r1qw32r]

Just?

Ah, Norah Jones… well known for her harsh, high passed sound. Such an avant-garde move.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Just?

Annoying audiophile non dynamic type of music, sorry i chose specifically her but i know she's liked among audiophiles.
I much prefer Fiona Apple and Nirvana

 

[1231rq32r1qw32r]

Annoying audiophile non dynamic type of music, sorry i chose specifically her but i know she's liked among audiophiles.
I much prefer Fiona Apple and Nirvana

I’ve heard the name, but I don’t believe I’ve ever listened to her music. I guess acoustic guitar, folk stuff?

If I want to listen to a good recordings (which is rare, because I don’t really care about production quality over music) I use some of the older jazz recordings. Brubeck, Davis, Coltrane etc. I have some more boutique recordings that are fabulous but I really connect with music, not audio.

 

[D700]

Annoying audiophile non dynamic type of music, sorry i chose specifically her but i know she's liked among audiophiles.
I much prefer Fiona Apple and Nirvana

Non-dynamic? You've got it reversed, dynamics refers to the range between the loudest and softest sounds. I'd wager Norah spans a wider dynamic range than all 3. Nirvana is compressed and loud for sure, Fiona possibly either depending on the album and song, engineer. I listen to all 3...but piano especially, is taxing for a system to reproduce well.

 

[HammerSandwich]

Fiona Apple's music covers a wide range, both in style & dynamic range. re: "...bass heavy music or just...," Not About Love (DR8) will give your subs a serious workout.

Plus, who has described the current state of audiophilia better?

He said, "It's all in your head," and I said, "So's everything," but he didn't get it.

 

[Trell]

Annoying audiophile non dynamic type of music, sorry i chose specifically her but i know she's liked among audiophiles.
I much prefer Fiona Apple and Nirvana

I have some of that type of audiophile music and it is very boring, for the most part.

 

[kthulhutu]

Some questions if you all don't mind.
My pair of 8341s are approximately 60cm from each sidewall (small 10x11 ft room) and 30cm~ from the front wall, and 130cm~ from the listening position. I use them with the 7360A placed offset slightly from the centreline of the room. Surprisingly I have no issues with the bass post room correction in this configuration.

I've been using the speakers in vertical for a while but there are some mid-range nulls due to the side wall (I tried placing 4.6'' GiK bass traps directly behind them, on the back wall, on my desk and under the speaker and none of these positions had any positive effect). However, when I treat the side walls with two bass traps each to alleviate this, the liveliness of the speakers suffer greatly: that is to say they become point-source like and fatiguing to listen to, although the imaging clarity does improve.

So boiling it down:
- Is my side wall distance and/or front wall distance bad? Should I narrow the triangle and listen more nearfield?
- Would placing the monitors in horizontal reduce issues with the sidewall? (I don't have the stand plates on hand so cannot test myself)
- Treating the sidewalls seems out of the question for my subjective listening enjoyment and the front wall corners are already bass trapped. Should I aim for more back wall treatment or look into ceiling treatment?

 

[1231rq32r1qw32r]

Some questions if you all don't mind.
My pair of 8341s are approximately 60cm from each sidewall (small 10x11 ft room) and 30cm~ from the front wall, and 130cm~ from the listening position. I use them with the 7360A placed offset slightly from the centreline of the room. Surprisingly I have no issues with the bass post room correction in this configuration.

I've been using the speakers in vertical for a while but there are some mid-range nulls due to the side wall (I tried placing 4.6'' GiK bass traps directly behind them, on the back wall, on my desk and under the speaker and none of these positions had any positive effect). However, when I treat the side walls with two bass traps each to alleviate this, the liveliness of the speakers suffer greatly: that is to say they become point-source like and fatiguing to listen to, although the imaging clarity does improve.

So boiling it down:
- Is my side wall distance and/or front wall distance bad? Should I narrow the triangle and listen more nearfield?
- Would placing the monitors in horizontal reduce issues with the sidewall? (I don't have the stand plates on hand so cannot test myself)
- Treating the sidewalls seems out of the question for my subjective listening enjoyment and the front wall corners are already bass trapped. Should I aim for more back wall treatment or look into ceiling treatment?

You’ll only get opinions posting this here. If you want facts, try the Genelec forums

 

[stevenswall]

- Would placing the monitors in horizontal reduce issues with the sidewall? (I don't have the stand plates on hand so cannot test myself)

A small amount perhaps, as the dispersion is narrower when placed horizontally.

 

[kthulhutu]

You’ll only get opinions posting this here. If you want facts, try the Genelec forums

People's preferably informed opinions are appreciated anyway, but I'll try Genelec forums later, thanks.

A small amount perhaps, as the dispersion is narrower when placed horizontally.

I'll definitely order the stand plates and give it a go (currently I'm screwing them directly in with the thread hole). I'm also going to give the rug trick a try because I'm on a hard floor.

 

[Sancus]

So boiling it down:
- Is my side wall distance and/or front wall distance bad? Should I narrow the triangle and listen more nearfield?
- Would placing the monitors in horizontal reduce issues with the sidewall? (I don't have the stand plates on hand so cannot test myself)
- Treating the sidewalls seems out of the question for my subjective listening enjoyment and the front wall corners are already bass trapped. Should I aim for more back wall treatment or look into ceiling treatment?

I don't have an opinion on the distances(without looking it up and doing the math, this calculator can be helpful).

Placing the monitors in horizontal theoretically does reduce SBIR because Genelecs have slightly narrower low frequency dispersion in this configuration. However, the one test I saw someone do with measurements indicated almost no difference. I think it depends whether or not one of your problematic frequencies falls specifically into the range that would be helped by this. Even then, it's not going to fix a problem by itself.

As far as adding treatment, tough to say without seeing measurements(REW for RT60, frequency response, spectrogram).

 

[Sparky]

Official Genelec Forums are now archived and no longer support future posts.

 

[Xyrium]

Official Genelec Forums are now archived and no longer support future posts.

Hmm, that's disappointing. I performed a quick peek at it just now, and it appears that they hadn't seen much traffic in the first place.

They are having users direct their questions to the support team. So, perhaps they believe they can handle the volume. I say, give them a shot!