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Genelec 8361A in a distance of 3,5m/11,5ft or something else?

Keksstein

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Hello,

I'm new in this forum but was reading here since long time. Let me introduce myself: My name is Jan, I'm 30 years old and I live in south Germany. I'm an HiFi fan since I'm around 8, my uncle gave me his old speakers from the 80s because the foam around the Bass driver was disintegrating. The speakers were build from a company close to the place where I lived this time, they were kind of popular in south Germany. I replaced the Bass drivers with some I found on the bulky waste, the sound out of this speakers was completely different to all speakers I have heard before. I had so much fun with them, with around 10 years I decided to bring them to this shop and have them repaired. All my savings went in this repair, the people there were kind of excited that such a young person is interested in such things, they made an offer that I can help there after school and get a little money. The constructor of all the speakers was not using any measurement tools, he was deciding by hearing alone if the speaker is good or not. (back then I didn't know it better) I learned to hear small details and how to make decisions for different components in the crossover. When I was around 16, I left this company. The sound of my old speakers wasn't pleasant to me anymore so I was looking for something new, all my savings went in a pair of K+H O300 (predecessor of the Neumann KH310) and really, this was a new level, the sound was like a dream for me. Soundstage was wider than the speakers itself, they had an impressively high resolution and sounded so well balanced compared to what I was knowing before. I enjoyed them many years, 5 years ago I rent a apartment together with my girlfriend (now wife) and was switching completely to headphones because our neighbors are kind of sensitive of noise. House is very old, even the TV can be heard in other apartments.

I guess you already know English is not my native language, I think it will not be an issue. :)

Now to my „problem“:

My wife and I have bought a house, there is a basement room 5,3m x 4,85m x 2,2m (17,38ft x 16,4ft x 7,22ft) which I would like to use as my HiFi/Home cinema Room. Will be used around 40% music, 40% videogames and 20% movies. So surround with Atmos support makes sense here. I decided to spent money one time to have an setup for the next >30 years. (of course, AV-preamp and projector will be changed sometimes, speakers should be „endgame“)

The room will be planed by an acoustic engineer, subwoofers will be arranged in a Double Bass array to get rid of the room resonances. The Speakers only need to reproduce frequency over ~80Hz.

I heard the Genelec 8351A a while ago and this speaker really gave me goosebumps. My first Idea was to use 7x 8361A + 4x 8341A for Atmos. Issue is that the listening distance from the front speakers can be around 3,3-3,5m, (10.8-11.5ft) the 8361A is more of a near range monitor which could have trouble to reach the required SPL on the listening position. (also Genelec recommends it to be used if the listening distance is <3m because of the directivity is optimized to shorter distances) Also there will be a Bafflewall, the 8361A will make it complicated to be integrated. If you have a look in Genelecs immersive solutions guide, the 1238A should be a really good choice for the front. But I really struggle to say if it can compete with the 8361A in terms of audio performance, sounds for me like an downgrade in sound quality to get more SPL. In terms of the directivity plot, the 8361A is much cleaner vertically. Could mean problems with the floor bounce.

For me there a 2 solutions for the 7 channel layer:

7x 8361A
or
3x 1238A (front) & 4x 1238DF (rear)

Setup 2 makes more sense I guess but I have the feeling with the Ones, the sound will be better. Has somebody had the opportunity to hear the Genelec mains against their Ones? How do they compete?

Unfortunately there are some Genelec dealers close to the place where I live, none of them has the bigger monitors in the store for listening.

I'm very curious to hear your opinions!

Best regard,
Jan
 

RobL

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What SPL are you trying to attain? 8361A goes pretty darn loud :)
 
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Keksstein

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Dolby recommends that every channel can go up to 105dB on the listening spot. I will not watch movies this loud but I thing some reserves are not bad to get lower distortion.

It could be unimportant because all the sound under 80Hz will be produced by the subwoofers. I even thought of buying 8351B because there is an in wall mount kit, It could go as loud as the 8361A in my setup. (?)

Best regards,
Jan
 

Dimifoot

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OK, the problem is something like “ I have Haaland and Mbappe that I could use as strikers in my team, who should I go for?”
 

RobL

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That room is the same size as my bedroom…I think 7 x 8361a’s would be able to melt your face in a room that size, especially since you’re adding subs.
458825C2-EBAF-4C15-A6E5-D1FACDCEE3A3.jpeg
 

voodooless

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Looks like there should be no SPL issue even with one or two sizes smaller:


The only thing is that your moving just outside of the direct sound field a bit. Some extra room treatment may fix that.
 

voodooless

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I really doubt you need 7 of them. The center delivers most of the sound, closely followed by the L+R. The rest trails behind. You can easily take smaller speakers for anything but LRC.
 
OP
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Keksstein

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Would make my life just easier with the flush mount kit for the rear to use 8341A.

Do you think the 8361A will produce higher SPL over 80Hz than the 8351B? Power for the tweeter and midrange is the same, only the waveguide is smaller. For those speakers, there is also a flush mount kit available. That would be great for a baffle wall.

Thanks!

Best regards,
Jan
 

voodooless

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Do you think the 8361A will produce higher SPL over 80Hz than the 8351B?
Just look at the link I posted, it shows Maximum SPL for all the speakers at various distances.
 
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Keksstein

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Yes, I have seen the chart, but this is measured with a full range signal. I thought, if I cut the signal under 80-100Hz, perhaps 8361 & 8351 can produce the same SPL. Midrange/tweeter are the same, power to the drivers is the same, bass driver of both speakers should be bored. But I'm not sure if the bigger waveguide helps the 8361.

Best regards,
Jan
 

digitalfrost

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Note that the short-term loudness they state is with a signal from 100hz-3khz and they state "Peak levels are higher" and "this number underestimates headroom by 4dB". So if we compare the values from their chart for 3m distance here:

8341A: 104
8351B: 106
8361A: 111

We can clearly see the 8361A being able to play much louder. Given the price difference, I would not pay for 8351B to only gain 2dB more headroom. If it was me, I would go with 8341A. Erin has a review of the 8331A and he states:

In the room, I was able to push these to 100dB at 3m before the clipping indicator came on and began to mute the output to protect the speaker (per design). Realistically, this speaker will likely not be listened at this distance and likely will be listened to in the 1m to 2m distance. In this case, you would have higher dynamic range capability than I did at the 3m distance.

Going back to Gelenecs chart they state 98dB max for the 8331A, so the 8341A can go 6dB louder than that. For me this is the sweet spot. It also satisfies your 105dB SPL requirement.
 

NTK

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You can also check out Morten Lindberg's Genelec setup, which has a fair bit of similarities with OP's proposed system. Lindberg uses 8351B's for his bed layer and 8341A's for his height layer.
 

Descartes

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Thanks, then the best setup will be 8361A for the Front + Center, rest of the speakers 8341A. If the low ceiling is an issue, 8331A will be also a good choice for Atmos.

Best regards,
Jan
This will be a killer system!
 

HiMu

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Has somebody had the opportunity to hear the Genelec mains against their Ones?
Lucky you, there is a Genelec Experience center in southern Germany. https://www.genelec.com/heilbronn-experience-centre
You can schedule a demo session and get recommendations straight from the source.

Immersive 7.1.4 System:​


3 x S360A (L-C-R)
4 x 8351B (Side/Rear Surround)
4 x 8341A (Height)
2 x 7380A (LFE)

Stereo Systems:​


8361A
8351B
8341A
8331A
W371A


On request: almost the complete range up to 1238A.
 

HairyEars

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The 1238 is a sound upgrade to the 8361.

Many people here are addicted to charts and misjudge the Genelec mains.
For recreation, nothing beats them. The sound is simply luscious. The "Ones" are way less enjoyably.
I you really have to audition them to realize how great they are.
 
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