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Genelec 8361A Review (Powered Monitor)

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 6 0.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 4 0.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 28 4.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 638 94.4%

  • Total voters
    676

Sancus

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Violin directivity. A lot of the HF radiates upward from the soundboard, and a common technique in classical music is to use overhead mics.
That's actually a very good point that I had completely forgotten about. The 2L recordings I love never have the harsh strings problem, and I recall Morten Lindberg describing their process towards the end of this video where he specifically addresses it. They perform "EQ" during the recording by moving the players around, and to avoid the shrill strings problem they'll adjust the microphone angle to eliminate it.

I do still think if you're doing close-miked multitracks, then the mixer can and should adjust the tonality of any track if it's harsh. But maybe I should put more of it down to recording techniques and less on the poor audio engineers :)

this interview with Tony Faulkner
I watched this. Interesting interview and he described a lot of different techniques. But overall seems to advocate a hybrid approach because he does point out that he'll close mike when necessary just prefers to avoid it. And that makes sense to me. I do totally agree it's easier to get any acoustic recording right that way. It's just that I think you can produce good recordings either way, because it's not like every close miked recording sounds bad or anything. His comments about surround were kind of all over the place, some good points and a few misconceptions I think. But I can certainly give credit to anyone who says they love surround! And this was 10 years ago.
 
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dshreter

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A decca tree or the like sounds much more realistic. But it doesn’t meet the audiophile requirements of “hearing details I had never heard before in a passage”, having the “triangle ring so cleanly that the hairs on my neck stood up…. never before had such a simple instrument sounded so scintillating and sublime”, or “creating a holographic sound stage as though the maestro was set back 2.5 ft from my speakers and 1 ft to the right of center.”
 

turnip_up

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We do, he linked some of it further back. And yes, it was from Toole himself as I understand it.

That is one of the main reasons I ask. Just a few pages ago Toole himself touched on the topic, and seemed to suggest almost the complete opposite. That speakers have perhaps assumed the position of the least influential variables in the equation, because of the homogenisation of design goals and improvements in technology since those tests were originally done.

I'm by no means an expert on it, which is one of the reasons for the question. I assume we haven't lost our innate ability to judge sound quality based on resonances. We also don't hear speakers in the same bubble they get measured. My bubble certainly isn't perfect acoustically, but it isn't terrible either. At some point speakers meet acoustic resonances for all of us. Is that point of meeting only ever defined by the frequency response of a speaker rather than something like speaker directionality?
 

Pearljam5000

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I absolutely prefer them. If you are thinking of forking out money, I would definitely get both pairs into your room and give them a spin.
Interesting especially when taking into account that the S360 cost less
Have you also heard the 1237A?
 
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Ardrazzt

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I absolutely prefer them. If you are thinking of forking out money, I would definitely get both pairs into your room and give them a spin.
I better begin to save up then... ;)
Thanks
 

Pearljam5000

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I better begin to save up then... ;)
Thanks
ad4ca36332bf3073e1da83278a3ab87a.jpg

They look great in white
 

hege

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S360 really needs a sub if you want to hear down to 30hz (it's almost 20dB down already there). The missing 5-10hz does matter IMO. ;)
 

turnip_up

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S360 really needs a sub if you want to hear down to 30hz (it's almost 20dB down already there). The missing 5-10hz does matter IMO. ;)

Sure, I don't doubt that there are many people out there keen to spend a $1000 extra dollars to triple the required LF power and triple the LF distortion to gain an additional 4 piano keys worth of bass extension.
 

RobL

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In this thread, HairyEars reported that he preferred the mdf genelecs over the aluminum versions. He felt there were audible “resonances” that he found objectionable. The watefall plot of the 8361 does in fact show several resonances:

7F7E8727-9A71-40E0-B03E-4EBED03A1435.png


Do you think any of these resonances are what he was referring to?

Edit: prett strong resonances at 3k, 6k, and 12k….the bridge on the violin is shaped to emphasize 3k (a singers formant). Maybe this is related to @waldo2 ’s issue?
 
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turnip_up

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Interesting especially when taking into account that the S360 cost less
Have you also heard the 1237A?
Never used the 1237As, though would love to. They are hard to come across here.

The cost is one thing, but they are also two completely different designs. A 3-way with coaxial MF/HF and dual rectangular LF drivers in an aluminium enclosure, and a 10" LF and 2" compression driver in a wooden box. They really couldn't be anymore different. The specs are quite comparable between the two, but they sound very different to me... presumably because of the differences in design. There is just something right about the S360A when it is throwing sounds at me from mid to far field distances.
 

Yorkshire Mouth

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In his review Amir mentions these being used in a 5.1 set up, but having 5 of these expensive models is probably unnecessary.

So, which other Genelecs are as good/‘sound the same’ as these, but are cheaper because they don’t go as low?
 

Eetu

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In his review Amir mentions these being used in a 5.1 set up, but having 5 of these expensive models is probably unnecessary.

So, which other Genelecs are as good/‘sound the same’ as these, but are cheaper because they don’t go as low?
Check out Amir's review of the 8351B and 8341A. More details/specs here https://www.genelec.com/theones
 

anmpr1

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Violin directivity. A lot of the HF radiates upward from the soundboard, and a common technique in classical music is to use overhead mics.
I'm not recording instruments for a living, but as a listener I'm not sitting on top of the violin, either. Wouldn't a recording sound more natural with the microphones capturing the sound as the listener might be seated in order to hear it?

That said, when I attended concerts (at least in the seats I could afford) I never heard pinpoint imaging, front to back depth, space between the instruments and so forth. Pace and timing depended upon how fast the conductor ran the score, and how well the players kept up with each other. There was never plankton in the hall.

One side point: with mono recordings I find that one speaker, placed along a wall, tends to spread out the sound. One loudspeaker is fine for monophonic, however the addition of the second stereo loudspeaker tends to reinforce bass, since you have twice as much LF energy going into the room. I'm not advocating 'back to mono', but I get as much enjoyment out of the old stuff, maybe more, as I do the newer.
 

Pearljam5000

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Never used the 1237As, though would love to. They are hard to come across here.

The cost is one thing, but they are also two completely different designs. A 3-way with coaxial MF/HF and dual rectangular LF drivers in an aluminium enclosure, and a 10" LF and 2" compression driver in a wooden box. They really couldn't be anymore different. The specs are quite comparable between the two, but they sound very different to me... presumably because of the differences in design. There is just something right about the S360A when it is throwing sounds at me from mid to far field distances.
@amirm really needs to review the S360
It's somewhat of the black sheep of the Genelec family
 

DJBonoBobo

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Sancus

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The 8351 is not that much cheaper... I wonder if one could get away with 8340 (which are substantially below even 8341) for surrounds. Center is less obvious...

If you're not using the surrounds for multi-channel music I'd say dropping down to the 2-ways is a no brainer. Even if you are, it's still going to be pretty good. However, I would definitely not downgrade the center. The center is the primary speaker for multi-channel content. And having front speakers with differing directivity has shown poor results in multi-channel studies. Not to mention horizontally-rotated Ones are ideal in terms of space for center duty.
 

Kvalsvoll

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https://tidal.com/browse/album/195710509 Track 3 (String Quartet No.15 in D Minor, K. 421: III. Menuetto - Trio. )
https://tidal.com/browse/track/42687812 Track 1 ("Air" from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major)
Great sound. I like it. Both.

The first track - trio ensemble in my room, with slightly increased size and reverb, intimate compared to a concert hall, dry compared to a church. Violin is crisp and clear, but not too bright, always pleasant. This is with flat measured fr, in Room2. Nice at low volume, nicer at normal-loud, which for this recording and music I choose to be -10dB on the master.

What is good here is that there is a presentation of instruments and soundstage that does not collapse when I move around - even outside the L or R speaker. Not all recordings are like that.
 
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