Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

[Arnas]

I have the 8351b's and my experience was similar: the GLM-corrected response, prior to my using the Sound Character Profiler, was too flat - lack of sufficient bass and a bit too bright from (at least in my perception) the upper midrange through the treble.

I was initially surprised and dismayed that the SCP Low Shelf boost is capped at 3dB, because all the target curves I'd seen online seemed to employ a low shelf boost of 4 to 10dB. However, I found that 3dB was sufficient, in fact my boost has been between 2.5 and 2.8dB for the 2+ years I've owned the speakers, and I've never felt the need for any additional bass. I have periodically tweaked the the cutoff frequency within the 100-200Hz range, which I find makes a bit more difference to me perceptually than tweaking the low shelf's amplitude. (Of course the amplitude would make more of a difference if I changed it by 2dB or more - I'm talking about small adjustments here.)

Even with the high shelf, where there appears to be no such limit on attenuation, I'm only about 1.8dB down, whereas a lot of the online target curves appear to be 3-6dB down.

I suppose I could just have abnormal preferences, but as far as I know I like tight, powerful bass like most folks; I'm definitely sensitive to excess treble and find it fatiguing; and while I do lean towards a more "revealing/analytical/clinical" sound as some audiophiles like to term it, I definitely do not like excess "leanness" in the 100-250Hz range.

I have no explanation for why my +2.8dB, -1.8dB low-high shelf curve sounds just dandy while I previously used something like a +6, -3 curve with Dirac and other similarly full-range speakers, but there it is.

Oh, one final note: I've been struck in general at how audible even small changes to the low and high shelf settings can be. I have found, for example, that a shift of the Low Shelf cutoff frequency downward by 20Hz, combined by shifting the High Shelf cutoff frequency upward by 100Hz and changing its amplitude from -1.9dB to -1.7dB produces a subtle but in my experience very clear difference in the overall sound profile.

Of course it could be confirmation bias/placebo, but for what it's worth I don't detect this difference by leaning in and focusing hard aka "critical listening." Rather, I notice it based on an almost physiological response - it's like the sensory impacts of "warmth in the bass" and "presence and bite in the vocals" are rejiggered just a little bit, the balance between them changed slightly. I understand that even such a "gut feeling, I really wasn't actively listening for it" response could still be confirmation bias. My hypothesis, though, is that because shelf filters have such wide bandwidth, small changes in them can have an fairly easily audible effect.

Curious as always to see what others might think about this.

Had same opinion, but i thought my brain might need to adjust to flat sound. 2,3 days passed and i felt nothing lacking anymore.
Later tried to add couple db of bass, but i didnt liked it how it made sound slightly slower and tinny bit less airy.

For me atleast, slightly colored fr is better on 1st impression, but when you give it time, your brain can adjust to flat sound.
For movies i love to add 3db bass though.

 

[Pearljam5000]

How close to the 8361 do you need to sit to completely take the room out of the equation and hear only direct sound?

 

[caught gesture]

How close to the 8361 do you need to sit to completely take the room out of the equation and hear only direct sound?View attachment 470777

Wouldn’t that depend on the size of the room?

 

[amirm]

How close to the 8361 do you need to sit to completely take the room out of the equation and hear only direct sound?View attachment 470777

You would have to wear them like a headphone....

 

[Esprit]

You would have to wear them like a headphone....

 

[thewas]

My baseline for manual EQ is straight from 1kHz up and rising with 1.5dB/octave below 1kHz until 100Hz, then again straight. Meaning, bass below 100Hz is approx. 5dB higher in level. Sounds okay in my specific setup (see signature).

Look at Anselm Goertz "room eq" - he uses the same "target".

I then use bass and treble control to adjust to taste on a track by track basis (only required in extreme cases)

I also use that curve currently on one of my setups.

 

[tmtomh]

I also use that curve currently on one of my setups.

Interesting - so that’s flat, no attenuation, from 1kHz upward? And then a gentle bump from 1kHz downward to 100Hz? Apologies if I’ve misunderstood.

I appreciate learning about other folks’ room curves - I didn’t realize there was such diversity and it’s interesting to get some potential ideas!

 

[markstein]

Exactly.

You can find details, e.g., here:

Start

www.soundandrecording.de

Scroll down to measurements - one of the picture shows the room curve prior and after EQ.

Anselm Goertz uses, as I understand it, approx. 30 single measurements per channel around the listening position, averaging them and then using the averaged curve per channel as baseline for EQ.

I am lazy and use the average from 5-6 measurements per channel with 1/24 octave smoothing which works quite well.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Is it safe to say that the 8361 is the best bookshelf speaker in the world? (relative to price and size)

 

[Kervel]

On another note, my first GLM experience was interesting. I'm admittedly a bass addict, but I found the major lack of low-end after calibrating surprising. I experimented, started with a -12db shelf and settled on -6 db starting at 100hz, which seems like a lot. And honestly I could still be happier with more low end but have been adjusting to the new sound. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Keep in mind that GLM mostly removes peaks <100hertz, but does not try to fill dips. So post-correction you have way less bass than uncorrected; hence the need to up it with a shelf filter.

But on top of that, good bass is definitely addictive

 

[Mort]

Keep in mind that GLM mostly removes peaks <100hertz, but does not try to fill dips. So post-correction you have way less bass than uncorrected; hence the need to up it with a shelf filter.

But on top of that, good bass is definitely addictive

I didn't think that is true anymore with the newer GLM.

 

[dfuller]

Is it safe to say that the 8361 is the best bookshelf speaker in the world? (relative to price and size)

I mean, I don't think any bookshelf would ever support its weight. Real chonker of a speaker.

 

[Arnas]

Is it safe to say that the 8361 is the best bookshelf speaker in the world? (relative to price and size)

Mate, will you buy something? Everytime i see your question i get DeJa Vu

 

[MKR]

Is it safe to say that the 8361 is the best bookshelf speaker in the world? (relative to price and size)

Best for you? Maybe. Best everyone? No

 

[thewas]

Interesting - so that’s flat, no attenuation, from 1kHz upward? And then a gentle bump from 1kHz downward to 100Hz? Apologies if I’ve misunderstood.

I appreciate learning about other folks’ room curves - I didn’t realize there was such diversity and it’s interesting to get some potential ideas!

Yes, around 5 dB drop from 100 to 1000 Hz and then flat, I have been observing and collecting such curves since more than a decade.

 

[darth]

You would have to wear them like a headphone....

 

[Wg916]

The more acoustic treatment panels I add, the better my report card becomes EXCEPT for the operational room response (FR deviation), which has gotten slightly worse. My highs are now a little too hot, but thankfully that’s all adjustable in GLM.

As many others have commented, GLM needs some tweaking to get satisfying bass out of them.

They sound great at 3m/9ft low-passed at 80hz with my dual Klipsch RP-1400sw + Dirac (digital through Bluesound Node). I think I prefer them this way vs running them standalone or double bass.

 

[artishard116]

Wow that’s a mighty peak you’ve got at 40ish hz

 

[mj30250]

I have zero experience with GLM and noticed the comments regarding its low-shelf boost ceiling of +3dB. Does that also apply to Genelec subwoofers aligned with GLM or just to the speakers themselves?

I ask because I'm thinking of auditioning a pair of 8351Bs and a single 7360A. With Neumann's MA-1, I use a +5dB low shelf boost along with targeted filters to build the curve to taste. Is this possible to replicate in some way via GLM?

 

[tmtomh]

I have zero experience with GLM and noticed the comments regarding its low-shelf boost ceiling of +3dB. Does that also apply to Genelec subwoofers aligned with GLM or just to the speakers themselves?

I ask because I'm thinking of auditioning a pair of 8351Bs and a single 7360A. With Neumann's MA-1, I use a +5dB low shelf boost along with targeted filters to build the curve to taste. Is this possible to replicate in some way via GLM?

Others will have to answer about whether or not the +3dB low shelf limit exists when using Genelec subs.

But I do know that even without subs connected, you can exceed that +3dB low shelf bass boost - you just can't do it within the simplified interface of the Sound Character Profiler.

Instead, you have to click on each individual speaker (which is not a big deal if you have a stereo setup) and manually add a low shelf filter at your desired frequency to the pre-existing series of filters that GLM created for the speaker when you did your room measurement and calibration.

To be clear, any individual speaker low-shelf boost you manually create will be additive to any global low-shelf boost you might already have created in Sound Character Profiler.

So if you want to create a +5dB low shelf at, say, 100Hz, you can create a +3dB 100Hz low shelf in Sound Character Profiler, and then go into each speaker and add a +2dB Low Shelf at 100Hz. Or you can set Sound Character Profiler to flat and make the individual-speaker manual Low Shelf filter +5dB instead. It should produce the identical result either way as far as I know.