Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

[richard12511]

I think it's a polarizing "you either love it or hate it" situation. I personally love the way they look -- much more interesting and beautiful than boring wooden boxes. I'd say probably >80% of people who see them comment on liking their appearance, and the remaining 20% say nothing (probably hate them)

Agreed. I really like the look of the Ones.

 

[sweetchaos]

 

[bigjacko]

Thank you Amir for the measurement, this is one great speaker. I am wondering how they have acheived that impulse response with ported design. Did they use phase eq to eq the port output? I also would like to see the indivisual driver contribution and see what the port noise looks like. That mid range has so low disotortion that is nearly impossible to get, the waveguide probably helps a bit on that too. The size is also crazy huge, don't know if everyone can accept that, but luckily people dont care height too much if they don't place something on the top.

 

[Marc v E]

= 1000 W

My own active speakers are rated 500+ 100+100=700. Apparently that is the kind of power needed for clean bass, midrange and treble respectively?

 

[Sancus]

I think it's a polarizing "you either love it or hate it" situation. I personally love the way they look -- much more interesting and beautiful than boring wooden boxes. I'd say probably >80% of people who see them comment on liking their appearance, and the remaining 20% say nothing (probably hate them)

Funnily enough, before I bought my 8351Bs, I polled a variety of friends of all genders. As you say, some people did hate them, about 15%, but most people thought they looked pretty good and would work well in a modern/scandinavian style living room.

Was it a recent higher resolution in graphs or something? the mid range unevenness (I know it's really small, but hey, it's pixel peeping equivalent here) seems even higher than the 8030 and 8050?

Note that this review confirms the previous consensus based on Genelec's own measurements, which is that the 8361A is a bit less perfect than the 8351B in terms of response. Could be that is just the price of increasing the size of this speaker design substantially from its previous maximum, as the 8351A was the original largest One. For that price, you get a bit lower frequency directivity control and of course the much higher output without a sub.

 

[Doodski]

In Aus, due to currency and the "Australia tax"... a pair of these is $16K. Direct conversion should be $13.7K, alas.



JSmith

With the savings you could vacation in Canada, buy them and return home duty free!

 

[Rottmannash]

Amazing results. If only, if only, if only... it didn’t look like


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I have to agree-they are so ugly but I suppose when one closes one's eyes and listens it's all bliss and beauty. How much do they weight each?

 

[Doodski]

I have to agree-they are so ugly but I suppose when one closes one's eyes and listens it's all bliss and beauty. How much do they weight each?

Lol.. erm.

 

[preload]

Funnily enough, before I bought my 8351Bs, I polled a variety of friends of all genders. As you say, some people did hate them, about 15%, but most people thought they looked pretty good and would work well in a modern/scandinavian style living room.

I agree I think they would work well in an Ikea living room, particularly the white ones.

Note that this review confirms the previous consensus based on Genelec's own measurements, which is that the 8361A is a bit less perfectthan the 8351B in terms of response. Could be that is just the price of increasing the size of this speaker design substantially from its previous maximum, as the 8351A was the original largest One. For that price, you get a bit lower frequency directivity control and of course the much higher output without a sub.

What about the measurements would you say are not as good as the 8351b?

 

[dshreter]

The idea clearly from Portal. These are quite the achievement, especially for the relatively compact size. It’s a real sign of innovation that they’ve developed a design unique in the industry and achieved the best performer vs optimizing one of the highly established speaker configurations.

 

[richard12511]

Damn. These look awesome! 118dB spl dynamic capability is above that of most floorstanders. Perhaps this is the review @Pearljam5000 's been waiting for .

 

[Doodski]

The idea clearly from Portal. These are quite the achievement, especially for the relatively compact size. It’s a real sign of innovation that they’ve developed a design unique in the industry and achieved the best performer vs optimizing one of the highly established speaker configurations.

Yes, they really are different. Those oval woofers, the front baffle separating the woofer baffle from the tweeter baffle, active, huge power output. Just all around rebel speakers.

 

[Billy Budapest]

So where is the soccer, ahem, football Pink Panther?

 

[Doodski]

So where is the soccer, ahem, football Pink Panther?

It's on top of the speaker.

 

[Ron Texas]

Time for everyone else to fall on their swords.

 

[Sancus]

What about the measurements would you say are not as good as the 8351b?

It's pretty much just the on-axis response. If you look closely at 200hz-3000hz, you can see the 8361A's variations cover about 1dB more than the 8351B. Maybe even 2dB if you include the 200hz dip and 300hz peak, which basically doesn't exist on the 8351B.

Keep in mind this is absolutely pixel-hunting on-paper-only silliness. There is margin-of-error to consider, I doubt this would be audible in most cases, and the biggest "flaw" is below the frequency where room EQ will be used anyways.

Also, if you believe in waterfalls, there are more resonances on that graph. But I don't think only-waterfall-visible resonances mean anything either.

 

[LMDA1]

Very nice stuFF! Available in 3 colors. In Canada $5350.00 each and in the USA $4995 each. The Canadian price is surprisingly low compared to the USA price. This is picture intensive! So many features and capabilities...
Gray finish.
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Black finish.
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Wait, there’s a subwoofer option ?! Interest piqued.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

I wonder if there is any difference between the 8361A and the 8351B if you use subs. I have the 8351B with subs and can't say I notice any SPL limits.

 

[Doodski]

Wait, there’s a subwoofer option ?! Interest piqued.

I can only imagine what that sounds like. It's going to be nice if they are anything like the 8361A.

 

[dshreter]

I can only imagine what that sounds like.

This is obvious, it sounds exactly like the recording