Genelec 8341A SAM™ Studio Monitor Review

[Halbknapp]

Definitely get the 7360a for your music and volume, even a 7370a. I think that's more important and worth money than the 8351b upgrade.

I second that. I have the 8341 in a 22m2 room and with a 7360 sub. I can easily max out the sub but not the speakers. Without sub the speakers have to be positioned perfectly for bass which may not be the perfect space for mid and high frequency. The sub placed on floor and wall is much easier to achieve.

 

[G|force]

Definitely get the 7360a for your music and volume, even a 7370a. I think that's more important and worth money than the 8351b upgrade.

I agree though I don't have any 73xx sub(s) with my 8341A.

Please keep in mind that while the coax unit, woofers and cabinet in 8351B is larger than the 8341A, the amplifiers are identical. It has been shown in teardown photos of 8341A that the amplifier board has 8351B printed on it.

 

[Pete James]

I agree though I don't have any 73xx sub(s) with my 8341A.

Please keep in mind that while the coax unit, woofers and cabinet in 8351B is larger than the 8341A, the amplifiers are identical. It has been shown in teardown photos of 8341A that the amplifier board has 8351B printed on it.

That's a bit of an odd one - I wonder what effect this has in reality.

 

[Pete James]

I second that. I have the 8341 in a 22m2 room and with a 7360 sub. I can easily max out the sub but not the speakers. Without sub the speakers have to be positioned perfectly for bass which may not be the perfect space for mid and high frequency. The sub placed on floor and wall is much easier to achieve.

Interesting. Seems like you don't get much SPL or woofer size for your money with Genelec. What leads to you maxing it out in normal usage (or is that just when you're testing it) - I'd assume you'd keep the sub within a few db of the level of your monitors for a balanced or slightly bass heavy sound?

Are Genelec subs really worth it for their room / speaker integration and having a matching system - they're crazy expensive for the cone size you get when you can get:

£1,770.00 for a Genelec 10 inch compared with:

Focal sub 12 for £2000 (13 inch)
Dynaudio 18S £1250 (Dual 9.5 inch)
Neumann 750 for £1200 (10 Inch)
Kali Audio WS-12 V2 for £770 (12 inch)


I guess the 8 inch 7350 isn't really even worth considering then (maybe if you got 2?)

 

[Mort]

The subs are expensive. But nothing else integrates with GLM, and the GLM subwoofer management is very very good.

My single 7380a sub gets a better response in room than my 2x 15" rythmik with minidsp.

 

[Halbknapp]

That's a bit of an odd one - I wonder what effect this has in reality.

Having the same Amps means nothing specific, the smaller woofers of the 8341 will just give less spl and bass with the same power. The dsp program is what makes it fit again.

 

[G|force]

That's a bit of an odd one - I wonder what effect this has in reality.

I believe since the 8351B was the first model created in the Ones series with dual woofers, they didn't bother with making new silk screens for 8341 even though the amplifier power requirements are the same.

The firmware is where they differ of course, and 8331 and 8361 have their own unique amplifier boards.

 

[Pete James]

The subs are expensive. But nothing else integrates with GLM, and the GLM subwoofer management is very very good.

My single 7380a sub gets a better response in room than my 2x 15" rythmik with minidsp.

That's very impressive but 4k - I'm not sure I want to spend that much but maybe. It doubles the budget. I wonder whether i'd regret a 7360 or 7370. Do you have the 8341 or 51? Would the 7370 not be too big / complete overkill for the 8341 / 51?

 

[LTig]

That's very impressive but 4k - I'm not sure I want to spend that much but maybe. It doubles the budget. I wonder whether i'd regret a 7360 or 7370. Do you have the 8341 or 51? Would the 7370 not be too big / complete overkill for the 8341 / 51?

See this post, about a 2.1 system.

 

[Halbknapp]

That's very impressive but 4k - I'm not sure I want to spend that much but maybe. It doubles the budget. I wonder whether i'd regret a 7360 or 7370. Do you have the 8341 or 51? Would the 7370 not be too big / complete overkill for the 8341 / 51?

I have 8341 and 1x 7360. I can max out the 7360 in my 22m2 room but the 8341 have quite some headroom left. It's really loud at that point and only for testing very short term. But if you like to play even louder, have a bigger room or less good position for the sub you may need the 7370 to keep up with the 8341. Particularly the bigger subs will play very deep or very loud bass a bit better.
As I understand you have a smaller room but may play louder short term. I still think 7360 may be enough for you even if that means you may max out the 7360 at times.

 

[Pete James]

Does anyone have any compression data for the 8341 either using subs or not? Or just SPL figures before it becomes apparent in the sound. I might get the 8351 but saving £2000 would be nice

 

[anphex]

Please help me read these. What were the dbSPL levels here?

 

[thulle]

Please help me read these. What were the dbSPL levels here?

The fundamental line in the top graph indicate they are the 96dB measurement.

 

[Mort]

I just bought a pair of new 8341a in white to replace a pair of 8330a's.
I'd been looking for used for a while and none showed up.
Very excited.

 

[G|force]

I just bought a pair of new 8341a in white to replace a pair of 8330a's.
I'd been looking for used for a while and none showed up.
Very excited.

I'll be very interested in your listening impression compared to 8351B @ 80-85dB.

 

[Mort]

I'll be very interested in your listening impression compared to 8351B @ 80-85dB.

Straight up or with a sub?

 

[G|force]

Straight up or with a sub?

You will listen both with and without so...

 

[G|force]

It might also be interesting to hear what they sound like back to back with the racetracks muted to take the cabinet size out of the equation and only emphasize the larger and smaller MF/HF assemblies since both 8341 and 8351 have the same amplifiers but different DSP tuning.. Or maybe it's pointless? *shrug*

 

[Mort]

You will listen both with and without so...

True - although briefly as I am selling the 8351b. I'll see what I can do but I have some baselines I can use from tests.

It might also be interesting to hear what they sound like back to back with the racetracks muted to take the cabinet size out of the equation and only emphasize the larger and smaller MF/HF assemblies since both 8341 and 8351 have the same amplifiers but different DSP tuning.. Or maybe it's pointless? *shrug*

Ha, I may leave this one off the list. I know there was a teardown that showed the 8351b imprint on an 8341a. Does that imply they have exactly the same amplifiers? They certainly don't go equally loudly.

 

[G|force]

That teardown and the published power spec is what I'm basing the comment on.
The larger drivers and cabinet and thus different DSP tuning is what I assume accounts for the loudness difference. All assumptions.