Genelec S360 Review (Studio Monitor)

[Sancus]

the slope is way less extreme when you measure maximum peak level instead of average, just because the higher frequency peaks are shorter and won't create high average level. Here's a peak content of a fairly typical rock song (uploaded again without the sloping tilt). There's maybe 10dB difference between 58Hz which is fundamental frequency of a kick drum and 15kHz which is probably cymbals and snare content

Fair enough, though 10dB is still quite a big difference.

Also, @ernestcarl makes a good point. The limiting values that show up are from a sweep, which is far longer than transients. So it's a bad representation of what will happen with peaks.

The log sweep might activate the limiter pretty early, but with actual music with those peaks it might not. Maybe try recording RTA from the MLP and compare the peak curves at med and very high volume levels if there is any compression.

That's a good point, that particular limiting is for thermals I believe, so a sweep is going to do very abnormal things to it.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Putting aside all the measurements
Genelecs have their own "house sound" and so does Neumann
Side by side they sound very different .

 

[dfuller]

Putting aside all the measurements
Genelecs have their own "house sound" and so does Neumann
Side by side they sound very different .

Not really, it's more a result of excellent yet slightly different designs. Genelecs trend a bit wider and therefore a bit brighter in room where Neumann trend a bit narrower.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Not really, it's more a result of excellent yet slightly different designs. Genelecs trend a bit wider and therefore a bit brighter in room where Neumann trend a bit narrower.

Probably
But still my brain hears completely different things .
Also another member felt a little veiled sound from the Neumanns.
It's hard to explain
But if feels like there's another level of clarity on the Genelecs .

 

[dfuller]

Probably
But still my brain hears completely different things .
Also another member felt a little veiled sound from the Neumanns.
It's hard to explain
But if feels like there's another level of clarity on the Genelecs .

Yes. They're brighter in room.

 

[holdingpants01]

Yes. They're brighter in room.

That's one of the factors, I'm guessing he's talking about me as it was my personal experience and we talked about it, but I went from KH310 to 8351B so there was also difference between non-coaxial and coaxial, analog vs digital connection, smaller vs bigger amps, different room correction software etc. all of this is making in room sound different between them, even if they synthetically measure somewhat similar. Overall I'm happy with my choice and I feel it was an upgrade all aboard, but I still think all Neumann monitors are bargains in their own price and size categories and it's hard for me to recommend something else, even if I'm heavily invested in Genelec system

 

[holdingpants01]

Fair enough, though 10dB is still quite a big difference.

I don't want to further derail the thread, but considering we're talking about studio monitors, not home audio, all of this statistic distribution of frequencies in finished material is irrelevant. When working with raw material all bets are off, monitors have to be able to accurately reproduce extremely peaky signal for a long time, like when working on a single track which consist of only high frequency content, or when playing back modular synthesisers which can generate wild stuff, or just to playback something non compressed or limited in a room full of people etc.
On the other hand, for recreational use most of the limitations of smaller speakers like KH150 could also be not relevant, depending on desired volume, material, background noise, accepted level of distortion etc.

 

[changer]

On the other hand, for recreational use most of the limitations of smaller speakers like KH150 could also be not relevant, depending on desired volume, material, background noise, accepted level of distortion etc.

The question is if this message will ever reach the ears of the performance and specs focused crowd that gathered around a specs machine, the Klippel NFS.

Do you know the video game magazines where people who occasionally play a game after work get presented the latest reference GPU? And they will buy it, cause when they eventually play a game or two, this must be the experience, guaranteed by the specs of their machines, which are, after all, the main source of their enjoyment.

 

[Sancus]

I don't want to further derail the thread, but considering we're talking about studio monitors, not home audio, all of this statistic distribution of frequencies in finished material is irrelevant. When working with raw material all bets are off, monitors have to be able to accurately reproduce extremely peaky signal for a long time, like when working on a single track which consist of only high frequency content, or when playing back modular synthesisers which can generate wild stuff, or just to playback something non compressed or limited in a room full of people etc.
On the other hand, for recreational use most of the limitations of smaller speakers like KH150 could also be not relevant, depending on desired volume, material, background noise, accepted level of distortion etc.

We can just agree to disagree, I don't see any practical limit here and I still think the tweeter limiter is never going to turn on in any of that use, certainly not at the design distances for these things.

If it is, it would be easy to notice in any case due to the LED change.

 

[changer]

(...) just like they did with 8030c were there was a special made driver by tymphany ( as you could see in the russian teardown video )

Can you share the link of the teardown video? I could not find it via google. Thanks.

 

[mkt]

Seems like the ideal application and what they were designed for.

Genelec monitors help Norwegian post-production house meet Dolby Atmos standards - Genelec.com

Top Oslo post facility chooses Genelec 7.1.4 solution.

www.genelec.com

 

[RobL]

Interesting that Genelec puts these into their “Main Monitor” category.

Main Monitors - Genelec.com

Genelec Main Monitors deliver precision reference performance even at high SPLs and long listening distances. And with the power of our GLM calibration software, each one will adapt to your acoustic environment, producing mixes that translate perfectly.

www.genelec.com

 

[Curvature]

Interesting that Genelec puts these into their “Main Monitor” category.

Main Monitors - Genelec.com

Genelec Main Monitors deliver precision reference performance even at high SPLs and long listening distances. And with the power of our GLM calibration software, each one will adapt to your acoustic environment, producing mixes that translate perfectly.

www.genelec.com

Mini-mains, I've heard them called.

 

[Pearljam5000]

Mini-mains, I've heard them called.

There's already a MiniMain

 

[Pearljam5000]

Interesting that Genelec puts these into their “Main Monitor” category.

Main Monitors - Genelec.com

Genelec Main Monitors deliver precision reference performance even at high SPLs and long listening distances. And with the power of our GLM calibration software, each one will adapt to your acoustic environment, producing mixes that translate perfectly.

www.genelec.com

And the 8361 is not in that category
Somewhat weird

 

[Curvature]

And the 8361 is not in that category
Somewhat weird

It is arbitrary given their SPL capabilities: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-loud-genelec-vs-neumann.47820/

Marketing thing.

There's already a MiniMainView attachment 334057

I was really glad one of the other models was measured. Huge reputation, huge price.

 

[Rahan]

I like the idea of not being limited by the spl ability of a speaker. Even if it's rare, to crank the volume up and up and still enjoying the sound is important to me. I wish more compression monitors will follow.

 

[thewas]

And the 8361 is not in that category
Somewhat weird

It seems the border of defining main monitoring for Genelec is 3 m listening distance and the 8361 is a tad below and S360 a tad above it:

Source: https://www.genelec.com/correct-monitors

 

[HairyEars]

??? posting a random image doesn't really help your point at all. The Genelec main monitors don't do anything magic, they're just really really big 3-ways. The directivity is significantly worse than the S360 based on Genelec's own measurements and the LF directivity is also worse than the W371A.

So yes, play super loud IS all they do compared to the more advanced, smaller Genelec speakers. That doesn't make them useless, if you have a commercial theater sized room they make a lot of sense. But they aren't doing anything technologically interesting, IMO.

Maybe so, but the Genelec mains still sound fantastic. Those Genelec engineers of yore knew exactly how to get things right.
To my hears--and I'm not alone in this--the "Ones" sound just mah; choked, metallic with an unpleasant resonance from the slitted woofers.
Sure, the directivity and frequency response charts are superior to the mains, but it merely reinforces the notion that those two measures don't tell the entire story when it comes to loudspeakers--or at least to me.

Actually, I'm not sure why people obsess over the charts so much on this site--other than much to admire intellectual entertainment--as most people here listen to their gear in untreated, sub-optimal rooms, which likely renders all that fantastic technology into a mediocre experience at best.

One last note regarding the mains: size does matter, and experiencing them in well-treated room is a pure joy.

 

[dasdoing]

It seems the border of defining main monitoring for Genelec is 3 m listening distance and the 8361 is a tad below and S360 a tad above it:

Source: https://www.genelec.com/correct-monitors

that's the critical distance which is mostly defined by the room size they assume at the right side of the table.