New mysterious Genelec monitors

[juliangst]

I attended a Genelec immersive seminar yesterday. A generous and professional hosting in a large convention building. A half-day was dedicated to the theory behind immersive sound; the second half to mixing in object-oriented environment and auditioning tracks in a variety of genre.

It was my first exposure to immersive music, and I was stunned. Yes, there was a novelty effect, but there was more to it. The way the music engulfed me and shifted around was mesmerizing. Immersive may be a niche market for now, but, oh boy, it’s sure worth pursuing.

The loudspeakers were high-end—S360 L/C/R; 8351B field level; 8341A top level; and 7380 x 3. There were a few deficiencies: the hall was huge and not treated; the layout was too spread out for 7.1.4 (IMO); and the subs were placed far from any wall. Still, the sound quality shined through.

Having so many Genelec personal around, I couldn’t restrain myself and picked their brains on quite a few issues. Here are a few tidbits I thought this community would be interested in:

----
Having placed the 371+83x1 and 8381 behind a screen, Genelec asked listeners to pick the best sounding system. Without fail and with ease, all bar none chose the 8381. Apparently, it’s quite a jump.

----
For stereophonic system, the 8381 won’t benefit from a sub, and they recommend against it. In a damped room, the One Mains can go down to 17hz.

----
1236 vs 8381 in distances over 2m: The One has a superior vertical directivity, and that makes a big difference. The active bass management should yield results as good as embedding the mains—or at least in most cases. In some difficult rooms, an embedded 1236 would serve better. And of course, the 1236 boasts higher SPL.

----
One gentleman related to me that they sell a lot of 8361, but the optimal mains to match with the W371 are actually 8351B and 8341A. I’d heard that rumor before.

----
In an immersive setup with multiple subs, depending on the dimensions of the layout, it might be advantageous to assign certain monitors to each sub. Moreover, it may make sense to mount some subs higher up, to better localize them with the tops. I found the notion intriguing.

----
I was hoping Genelec would incorporate an HDMI port on their 9310B and offer a seamless digital path from TV to speakers. That is not to be, as Genelec won’t develop it due to 3rd party restrictions and poor eARC implementation. They feel that Dante is the way to go, since studios are already committed to it. Analog it is for households.

Back to the immersive experience: a 7.1.4 made of 8331 and 7380 might be more enjoyable than the best mains Genelec has to offer in 2.1 setup. Just a thought…

Are 8381 better than 8361+W371+7382 for high SPL bass?

 

[IamJF]

Immersive music with Atmos seems to be the way - it's comming. Will probably take 5-10 more years but the industry is preparing and pushing.

I remember when doing a 5.1 mix with classical music at university. Sounds fine and natural and you wonder why these 3 extra speakers are needed. Until you switch them off ...

 

[Sebastiaan de Vries]

I also wish it had Dante or at least some proprietary format that connects over GLM.

Imagine being able to just daisy chain all your Genelecs to each other and connecting 16 or more channels to your PC with just a single ethernet cable.

No need for multichannel AES Interfaces or the genelec 9301a for bass management; just a single cable.

I am sure Genelec is working on it. One of the first commercially accepted digital monitors 20 years ago, the Dynaudio Airs already had daisy chain RJ45 network connection for data and audio which worked sublime.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Immersive music with Atmos seems to be the way - it's comming. Will probably take 5-10 more years but the industry is preparing and pushing.

I remember when doing a 5.1 mix with classical music at university. Sounds fine and natural and you wonder why these 3 extra speakers are needed. Until you switch them off ...

I haven’t bothered since I have thousands of stereo recordings and about 20 surround albums and it just hasn’t been worth the cost to add so many extra channels particularly since my room doesn’t lend itself to arranging the speakers optimally and even then only for one listener…
I have dabbled with various surround strategies on and off for 50 years and have concluded that there just aren’t enough recordings I want to listen to in the format for me to bother with the expense.

 

[dogmamann]

To me this is plain ugly. Cannot live with it. I don’t care how it sounds.

 

[RobL]

…it’d be great if people would stop thread-crapping here.

 

[Curvature]

I attended a Genelec immersive seminar yesterday. A generous and professional hosting in a large convention building. A half-day was dedicated to the theory behind immersive sound; the second half to mixing in object-oriented environment and auditioning tracks in a variety of genre.

It was my first exposure to immersive music, and I was stunned. Yes, there was a novelty effect, but there was more to it. The way the music engulfed me and shifted around was mesmerizing. Immersive may be a niche market for now, but, oh boy, it’s sure worth pursuing.

The loudspeakers were high-end—S360 L/C/R; 8351B field level; 8341A top level; and 7380 x 3. There were a few deficiencies: the hall was huge and not treated; the layout was too spread out for 7.1.4 (IMO); and the subs were placed far from any wall. Still, the sound quality shined through.

Having so many Genelec personal around, I couldn’t restrain myself and picked their brains on quite a few issues. Here are a few tidbits I thought this community would be interested in:

----
Having placed the 371+83x1 and 8381 behind a screen, Genelec asked listeners to pick the best sounding system. Without fail and with ease, all bar none chose the 8381. Apparently, it’s quite a jump.

----
For stereophonic system, the 8381 won’t benefit from a sub, and they recommend against it. In a damped room, the One Mains can go down to 17hz.

----
1236 vs 8381 in distances over 2m: The One has a superior vertical directivity, and that makes a big difference. The active bass management should yield results as good as embedding the mains—or at least in most cases. In some difficult rooms, an embedded 1236 would serve better. And of course, the 1236 boasts higher SPL.

----
One gentleman related to me that they sell a lot of 8361, but the optimal mains to match with the W371 are actually 8351B and 8341A. I’d heard that rumor before.

----
In an immersive setup with multiple subs, depending on the dimensions of the layout, it might be advantageous to assign certain monitors to each sub. Moreover, it may make sense to mount some subs higher up, to better localize them with the tops. I found the notion intriguing.

----
I was hoping Genelec would incorporate an HDMI port on their 9310B and offer a seamless digital path from TV to speakers. That is not to be, as Genelec won’t develop it due to 3rd party restrictions and poor eARC implementation. They feel that Dante is the way to go, since studios are already committed to it. Analog it is for households.

Back to the immersive experience: a 7.1.4 made of 8331 and 7380 might be more enjoyable than the best mains Genelec has to offer in 2.1 setup. Just a thought…

Do you have comments about the S360?

 

[fpitas]

…it’d be great if people would stop thread-crapping here.

Yeah. Pro equipment has never been pretty. It won't start now, no matter how much we complain.

 

[thecheapseats]

<snip>...Having so many Genelec personal around, I couldn’t restrain myself and picked their brains on quite a few issues. Here are a few tidbits I thought this community would be interested in:...<snip>

----
One gentleman related to me that they sell a lot of 8361, but the optimal mains to match with the W371 are actually 8351B and 8341A. I’d heard that rumor before....

same rumor (or common knowledge) that the 8351b was the sweet spot among other studio owners I speak with regularly... the last time I upgraded nearfields (I swap out near/mids appx. every 10-12 years with a five year offset between them) - the consensus was go with the 8351 pair if you also had midfields in your room...

 

[dogmamann]

…it’d be great if people would stop thread-crapping here.

Think everyone is entitled to say what they feel here. Or is there a “only praise” rule? I like most of the genelecs, their smaller monitors look really good for a “monitor”. This one to my eyes is the Pontiac Aztec of speakers.

 

[fpitas]

Think everyone is entitled to say what they feel here. Or is there a “only praise” rule? I like most of the genelecs, their smaller monitors look really good for a “monitor”. This one to my eyes is the Pontiac Aztec of speakers.

...which is liking saying it doesn't taste good. No one will disagree.

 

[fredoamigo]

Think everyone is entitled to say what they feel here. Or is there a “only praise” rule? I like most of the genelecs, their smaller monitors look really good for a “monitor”. This one to my eyes is the Pontiac Aztec of speakers.

In Europe we don't have this model, so I looked it up; and it's true that it's hard to get uglier, and I find the Genelec much more beautiful.

 

[RobL]

Think everyone is entitled to say what they feel here. Or is there a “only praise” rule? I like most of the genelecs, their smaller monitors look really good for a “monitor”. This one to my eyes is the Pontiac Aztec of speakers.

Which leads me to wonder, if you have no interest in these, no matter how they sound why are you here?

 

[dogmamann]

Which leads me to wonder, if you have no interest in these, no matter how they sound why are you here?

There are numerous threads here which has numerous negative ”impressions” about numerous products. If you want to read only positive things I don’t think a forum is the right place. Instead, watch YouTube videoes of reviewers who will praise good for the money they get from the brands.

 

[RobL]

There are numerous threads here which has numerous negative ”impressions” about numerous products. If you want to read only positive things I don’t think a forum is the right place. Instead, watch YouTube videoes of reviewers who will praise good for the money they get from the brands.

Thanks for the advice! Oh, and please keep posting these informative observations whenever you have the urge! Pun intended.

 

[dogmamann]

Which leads me to wonder, if you have no interest in these, no matter how they sound why are you here?

To see if the sacrifice in looks, was worth the sonic improvement at the end. There are lot of speakers which looks amazing but sonically crap and the opposite. I am curious to see if that weird look really contributed something sonically.

I

 

[fpitas]

To see if the sacrifice in looks, was worth the sonic improvement at the end. There are lot of speakers which looks amazing but sonically crap and the opposite. I am curious to see if that weird look really contributed something sonically.

I

The word "sacrifice" implies the customer, the one who actually buys the speaker, is concerned. I doubt that's true.

 

[aschen]

some boutique company should buy these slather them in fine veneer and resell them at 125K.

They will be adding more value than the typical company offering 125K speakers and the product will be better. Win-Win

They are no better/or worse looking than other high output monitors imho and look suitably industrial

 

[Sokel]

some boutique company should buy these slather them in fine veneer and resell them at 125K.

They will be adding more value than the typical company offering 125K speakers and the product will be better. Win-Win

They are no better/or worse looking than other high output monitors imho and look suitably industrial

Something like Sonus Faber -Genelec?
People would sell their cars to get them!

 

[Pearljam5000]

If you're a true audiophile looks have 0 importance to you and also what your wife thinks of them
It's always possible to convince her to keep them somehow