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Options for a 5.2 setup

pierre

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I have a 4m x 6m room. I want to add a 5.2 setup, active and good, spl 83 dB at 2m is enough.
I ordered a genelec sets with 3x8341 + 2x8340 + 2 subs 7360. Order is delayed ... not my fault. I have some time to reconsidered.
What are my options?
- D&D and KII are too expensive.
- Focal I already have in another room
- JBL (dealers are crap here, I badly wanted a pair of m2 with 708)
- Dynaudio ? Likely very close to the focal, same concept.
- Kali ?
Budget around 15k$ or lower
 

andreasmaaan

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You’ve ordered some very nice genelecs. This is not to say that they are necessarily better than other alternatives, but perhaps any remaining budget would be best put towards a measurement mic, DSP and/or room treatment.
 

gene_stl

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A friend of mine has 4367s and they sound awesome! I am sure you could find an American JBL dealer that would ship to you.
I an fairly certain the dealer here in St.Louis would.
 
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pierre

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A friend of mine has 4367s and they sound awesome! I am sure you could find an American JBL dealer that would ship to you.
I an fairly certain the dealer here in St.Louis would.
The reason I want a local dealer is due to customs craziness here even with Germany things get stuck and you may have to pay tax multiple times if you need a repair.
The M2 are large and expensive to ship too.
 
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pierre

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You’ve ordered some very nice genelecs. This is not to say that they are necessarily better than other alternatives, but perhaps any remaining budget would be best put towards a measurement mic, DSP and/or room treatment.
Genelec come with dsp included (and mic) which is part of the appeal. Room is reasonably well treated above 120hz with some absorber / diffuser but not mixing studio dead.
 

audiophool

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I'm interested as well. I have Focal Shapes and want to do a 4.1 or 6.1 setup with similar budget. Any reason you went with the 8341 over the 8351?
 
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pierre

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8341 are slightly smaller, slightly cheaper, slightly better measurements. They are powerful enough esp. with subs. Without subs I would have taken the larger one (I have also been dreaming about the 8260 since the are on the market).
 

audiophool

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Interesting. I ended up going with the 8341's due to the better measurements and convenience in mounting for surround sound.

Heard the Genelec 8331/8351, Focal Trio6, ATC SCM20, Dutch 8C, and Kii Three at dealer room. One concern is that the 8331's tapped out a relatively modest volume (light was flashing red). But with your SPL requirements, the 8341 will probably be fine for nearfield.

BTW these are the configurations that they recommend for surround sound: https://www.genelec.com/sites/default/files/immersive_audio_brochure_180806_web_0.pdf
 
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pierre

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I got them (3x8341+2x8349+1x7370).

- I cannot get them to overload at reasonable spl (105 dB sustain with crossover at 65hz)
- the sub is my first one that can shake a house and doesn’t run out of steam
- the auto calibration is working very well (need to compare with audiolense) I want to a/b test between both to see if I can hear a difference
- autocal improved a lot:
- It is easy to get 2.0 2.1 5.0 5.1 etc calibration and switch between them
- you can have a custom target curve (flat for monitoring and whatever you like for listening)
- support of IR is nice

Compared to Focal trio be6 they have less power and quality didn’t improve. The trio have a better money/perf ratio.
I do not hear the supposed difference between perfect monitor (Tool/Harman criteria) and more basic 3 ways. Focal didn’t published measurements, a German magazine publish a set of freq ones so it’s hard to compare them theoretically.

8341 are perfect but so are the trio. In a larger room the trio are winning. The sub is outstanding.
 

audiophool

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Yup. The main advantage of 8341 is compact size, software, ease of mounting, and smooth dispersion for small rooms with poor acoustics. It's a plug and play component for nearfield surround sound. If you don't need those things, then there are probably better options.
 

Sal1950

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