Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

[nerdoldnerdith]

OK, I should have posted something precise. So, for once and for all, here are the precise Genelec woofer sizes. I've calculated this from this photo in the 8351B disassembly thread because it seemed the most direct overhead perspective. Note that these may be off if the woofers are not exactly the same proportions, so the other Ones could be a bit different.

Also, as far as I know, woofer size is typically(though there is no real standard?) measured by the outer frame, not by the end of the surround or the cone size itself. Since the Genelec woofers are not attached to an outer baffle with this type of frame, these sizes are probably underestimates. Correct me if I'm wrong, one of you real speaker designers out there

In all honesty, I do think it is best to go by measured capability, NOT by vague size metric that doesn't include excursion or power. And the 8361A matches up well with the KH420 according to S&R's testing, so that's the real result.

All these caveats done, here you go. All measurements except the last column in metric, not dirty imperialist measures

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P.S. Here is the spreadsheet, feel free to correct if I've messed anything up.
P.P.S Also this shows pretty well why the 8331A is absolutely not worthwhile unless you MUST fit a One into a tiny space.

So basically the 8361A has the equivalent of dual 8's, the 8351B dual 6.5's, the 8341A dual 5.25's, and the 8331A dual 4's. That sounds about right and lines up with their SPL limits.

 

[dfuller]

What class D amps does these high end Genelecs use? In house or a chip?

If it's like the 8351 (which I assume it is, just up-powered), it's a discrete class D design based on an Infineon (I think?) driver chip. It's much more likely at these higher output powers to see discrete designs because very few IC amps can do it, and it's easier to just parallel multiple output transistors.

 

[FrantzM]

Speechless..
Question to Genelec? Can they be painted?

The mix may not be bad, the realism of Violin and Horns and other instruments may have been euphoricly altered or muted with some other speakers.
I mean in real life these things can sound a bit harsh and really get loud. The Genelecs may just convey this.
In any case maybe you don't quite dig 'em.
Be interesing to hear from you after you mess with the speakers a bit.
I have never heard the 8361a's and I'd love to.
I expect they sound great and may even be contenders for a no brainer purchase.
I also expect they work very, very well for content creation.
That said I can not assume they will be my favorite speakers for my personal playback based on measuring them alone.
Yes, I am sure I will at least like them. Not sure about love, for that I would have to use them for awhile.
After so many tests and speakers and comparing with the results and comments here I am convinced now that measurements currently only get one so far.
Yes DSP is awesome and I use it. It has limitations as well.
At some point the speaker has to convery a sense of realism and a sense of energy and get me excited to listen to track after track of music and many speakers do not do this for me while a few do. I have yet to correlate this directly with the measurements. Even some well measuring stuff has had just no life at all and some lesser measuring stuff has had so much of that something-something. I have had to listen.
The circle of confusion is an impossible crux. Does one want to remaster and rerecord? Or use track by track DSP? I also think it is disingenuous to assume that is the issue. We can never know the artists intention including that some artists intentionally go for a low fi sound. Or that some recording, mastering engineers overruled the artist. Or think about scale, analogy with film - should a film shot for replay in theater ever be considered justly conveyed on even an 80" tv? What about a made for tv show now on a projector? Do we all need M2's? It is impossible to equalize all of this.
In the end I want speakers I personally love to listen to music on reguardless of anything else.
Anyway, I wish the Genelcs were available to borrow. I'd love to play with them. They are out of my current budget. (Of course I could sell al my other gear and then buy them)

Hi
+ 1 on the underlined part.
I have lived with live instruments in my house. Pianos ( upright and Grand), Violins ( several, Cellos ( several)... What you hear on record is often far from what you hear at concert and again it depends on the seat and venue... Violins for example have much more treble energy than heard in most audio systems. The "massed strings" sweetness that many audiophiles talk about is a construct of rolled off systems or of recordings.

Back to the 8361... Endgame speakers? You bet. These are capable of 118 dB !!! at 1 meter... per speaker! Flat from 30 to 20KHz, Textbook directivity, low distortion. Yeah, Endgame, Drop the Mike, Slam-dunk...

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Not needed at all for music playback. For movies, then LFE channel should get its own sub.

So, 23 of these and 3-5 W371s? 15.5.8 ATMOS!

 

[Pearljam5000]

So basically the 8361A has the equivalent of dual 8's, the 8351B dual 6.5's, the 8341A dual 5.25's, and the 8331A dual 4's. That sounds about right and lines up with their SPL limits.

8361A is dual 10 inch, 8351 is dual 8 inch if I'm not mistaken

 

[Robbo99999]

Each speaker has two woofers with each having roughly an Sd of 300 cm^2, which means two 9.5" woofers.

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It's a great piece of creative design and engineering, impressive.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

How much these Genelec gonna suffer in an Earthquake?

 

[ahmedmo1]

I have a weird relationship with Genelecs. I own the 8010 and 8020 and love both speakers but bought a pair of 8250s and found them difficult to deal with. The highs were so fatiguing- toe out, dip switches, room EQ- none of it helped.

 

[Koeitje]

Yes DSP is awesome and I use it. It has limitations as well.

This so much, especially for speakers with poor directivity design (like the B&W's often used in classical mastering). But for speakers with very good directivity like this Genelec they can do wonders.

 

[a|F]

Wow I may sell everything and get these. Thanks for the review Amir. Bravo.

 

[phoenixsong]

Extension almost down to 30Hz with low distortion lmao, this thing is an absolute beast

 

[martijn86]

How much these Genelec gonna suffer in an Earthquake?

I think your floor will suffer a dent.

 

[Robbo99999]

This is my first post here. I currently have a pair of 8361s set up in my listening room for an in home demo. I have owned and heard many excellent speakers over the years. I have a different perspective from many members here in that I have a soft spot for bbc inspired speakers as well as quad es. I listen mostly to classical music. I agree that 8361s have a remarkable amount of clean, excellent, well integrated bass. astounding really for a speaker of their size. They can play much louder than I would ever care to listen. They certainly appear to have no distortion and to be exceptionally clear at all volumes. The detail presented is amazing. I really can hear things on recordings that I had missed before. I have no doubt that they are everything Amir says and that their designers wanted. Nevertheless, my experience is that the speakers are poorly suited for classical or other acoustic music. I think that strings sound harsh and piano brittle. Depsite the excellent measurements and clear virtues of the speaker, the e string on a violin is artificial sounding to me, harsh, unpleasant and cold. I find myself dreading the high notes. The beauty of live acoustical music is just not conveyed by these speakers In my room. The speakers are incredibly impressive, but do not companionable.

Now, all of this is without equalization. I have a GLS system arriving today, and it may improve things. I understand that I am posting a contrary view here. I do not doubt that these speakers are surely all they are intended to be for non-acoustic music, but they produce a sound, at least without eq, that is little like real acoustic instruments. I also understand that most here will take me to be an out of touch subjectivist ignoring the objective measurements. I do not intend to be anti-scientific or disrespectful in any way, but merely to report my short experience experience listening to the speakers. I hope that eq will fix the problems, for the many virturpes of the speakers are obvious, but I would not call them musical speakers, at least for classical music. Do others here who listen to classical music disagree?

This is my experience as well.

As a classical musician, I can say this: there are an incredible amount of poor recordings out there of otherwise world class performances.

Perhaps a good argument for trying out a Linear Tone Control from 20Hz - 20,000Hz:
Three High Shelf Filters of Q0.5 at 63Hz / 632Hz / 6324Hz. Just set the gain (dB) of each to the same value, change each by 0.2dB increments to fine tune the tonality - "Circle of Confusion" beater! I have to say though that I don't change it from track to track or albumn to albumn, but I have used those filters to finetune tonality as part of a permanent EQ (I don't have Genelecs).

 

[Pearljam5000]

I'm not really into classical and it's a video after all but it still sounds good to me

 

[voodooless]

How much these Genelec gonna suffer in an Earthquake?

I guess you could use them as a counterweight to counteract the shaking

 

[anphex]

Extension almost down to 30Hz with low distortion lmao, this thing is an absolute beast

Place them in a small room and close to a wall and you get 20Hz with a little EQ.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

8361A is dual 10 inch, 8351 is dual 8 inch if I'm not mistaken

The drivers in the 8361A are oblong and like 10.5"x5.5". Their effective radiating area is similar to that of 8" drivers. So you can think of the 8361A as having two conventional 8" drivers.

 

[thefsb]

The graphs validate a number of interesting things.

• There exists a widely understood model of what good speaker performance measurements look like
• Klippel's technology
• Amir's methods and practice

It really looks like Genelec engineered the device to produce curves that we ASR fans will immediately recognize as good. Of course the did not do that but the fact that it seems that way confirms a lot of intricate shared understanding and technology.

 

[Pdxwayne]

Hmm, Amir really like the $4K headphones. Now $10K speaker pair.....

So, in these cases

$ = happiness

 

[abdo123]

Place them in a small room and close to a wall and you get 20Hz with a little EQ.

Are you sure?