Maybe I'm wrong looking at the measurements though. From what I've gathered, wider, smooth off axis response and bass extension boost a speakers preference score. Not SPL, newness, or being used in a studio (PMC and ATC come to mind.)
I don't think it's a settled conclusion that wider beam width is always preferred, though.
I am also someone who really enjoys (often prefers) the soundstage experience from wide beam speakers in the appropriate context. But as an owner of both wide (Salon2's) and medium (8351B's) beam speakers, I find that both styles have some very meaningful strengths over the other if you listen to a diverse variety of music. If you told me I had to choose just a single pair to keep, while this would be a very difficult decision with no definitive answer, I would probably choose the 8351B precisely because its beam width is
medium and
not extremely wide (or narrow). The beam width of the 8351B is a really excellent middle ground IMO, and makes it probably the most versatile of any speaker I've heard when used across a diverse range of genres and listeners.
The Salon2's particularly wide beam (at least below 10khz) is better for orchestras and 'real' instruments and voices where I want it to sound like the performance has been transported into my room, but the 8351B's medium beam width is better for rock, electronic, and other 'amplified' style music that you don't necessarily want surrounding you but rather coming from a focused/energetic 'front' stage feeling. On the other extreme end of the spectrum, I don't much like narrower beams (e.g. I had JBL SRX835Ps for a while indoors, and even the KEF R3 I think is too narrow for my taste) because they are too specialized,
but they do sound amazing for certain kinds of music (e.g. EDM) that suits this style.
So if anything, my most unbiased impression I can give you would be that the Genelec 8351B's beam width is nearly perfect for the widest range of music styles/genres, and also tends to be the most likely to really impress when demoing to people (probably because most people tend not to listen to the niche of 'audiophile style music' for which the Salon2
really shines, like live recordings of orchestras and real instruments and voices).