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Quick question: Is there ferrofluid (or other coolant) in Genelec 8351B tweeters

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sagos

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Hi everyone,

Just a quick technical curiosity that's been bouncing around my head.

Does anyone happen to know if the coaxial drivers (specifically the tweeter) in the Genelec 8351B use ferrofluid or any other type of liquid cooling?

I recently bought a pair of ex-display units that are about 6 years old, so I'm naturally thinking about long-term maintenance and potential degradation.

I know Genelec designs their monitors to last a lifetime, but since ferrofluid can sometimes dry up or change properties after a decade or so, I was curious about how they handle thermal management in the The Ones series.

Couldn't find a definitive answer in the spec sheets, so I figured someone here might have the inside scoop (or has maybe seen a teardown).

Thanks in advance!
 
Do the industry use ferrofluid anymore? I thought they were surpriced the cons of ferrofluid and stopped using it around year xxxx?

8351b will reduce amp power before the tweeter is overloaded imo.
 
Moti said:
Do the industry use ferrofluid anymore? I thought they were surpriced the cons of ferrofluid and stopped using it around year xxxx?
Click to expand...
They do, ferrofluid has other advantages. It damps the driver better (especially at high excursion) and lowers Fs vs not having it. Formulations have vastly improved and they're much less prone to drying out.

The alternative is doing the double suspension thing a la ATC, who don't use ferrofluid but instead add a second surround on the rear side of the driver. That serves largely the same purpose as ferrofluid other than the cooling.
 
sagos said:
Hi everyone,

Just a quick technical curiosity that's been bouncing around my head.

Does anyone happen to know if the coaxial drivers (specifically the tweeter) in the Genelec 8351B use ferrofluid or any other type of liquid cooling?

I recently bought a pair of ex-display units that are about 6 years old, so I'm naturally thinking about long-term maintenance and potential degradation.

I know Genelec designs their monitors to last a lifetime, but since ferrofluid can sometimes dry up or change properties after a decade or so, I was curious about how they handle thermal management in the The Ones series.

Couldn't find a definitive answer in the spec sheets, so I figured someone here might have the inside scoop (or has maybe seen a teardown).

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

They don’t use fluid cooling as far as I know.
 
dfuller said:
They do, ferrofluid has other advantages. It damps the driver better (especially at high excursion) and lowers Fs vs not having it. Formulations have vastly improved and they're much less prone to drying out.
Click to expand...
Thanks for fact check.
Manufacturers Producing Non-Ferrofluid Tweeters
The following raw driver manufacturers build either their entire current lineup or the vast majority of their high-end models without ferrofluid:
  • SB Acoustics: Their current catalog consists entirely of non-ferrofluid models. [1]
  • Wavecor: The company focuses on air-cooled voice coils for their entire current tweeter lineup. [1]
  • Accuton: Famous for ceramic and diamond domes, they avoid magnetic damping fluids entirely to preserve micro-detail. [1]
  • Eton: Their high-end German-engineered driver lines omit ferrofluid. [1]
  • Bliesma: Specializing in high-performance metal, silk, and beryllium dome tweeters, they design exclusively around air-cooled voice coils. [1]
  • ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company): Known for building their premium soft-dome tweeters entirely in-house. They intentionally omit ferrofluid and utilize a unique double-spider design to mechanically stabilize the voice coil instead. [1]

Manufacturers with Mixed Lineups (By Model or Tier)
Many legendary raw driver and speaker brands split their offerings, reserving non-ferrofluid variants for premium lines:
  • Scan-Speak: The overwhelming majority of their modern catalog (such as the Revelator and Illuminator series) is completely dry, with only a tiny selection of entry-level models utilizing fluid. [1]
  • SEAS: They offer an even mix; their high-end "Excel" lines typically avoid fluid for critical listening, while lower-cost standard models use it for heat dissipation. [1]
  • Morel: Their entry-level Classic/CAT lines use ferrofluid, but all of their upper-tier premium models are fluid-free. []
  • Tannoy: Historically used ferrofluid in lower-end and pro lines featuring "Tulip" waveguide drivers, but omitted fluid entirely in premium "Pepperpot" horn-loaded compression tweeters.
 
Hi,

Genelec reply:

"Thanks a lot for reaching out. Unfortunately, we don't share detailed information about the individual components we use. We do, however, openly publish all relevant specifications. Our speakers are always developed as complete systems, with every component carefully chosen and tuned to work perfectly together."

It is making me sad to be honest, so I will never know if my "every component carefully chosen and tuned to work perfectly together" need to be serviced :-(
 
I don't know if it will make you feel better but Genelec headquarters have a good and long record of repairing any of their model they produced in the past, hope also it will stay this way. I personally don't know of any other loudspeaker manufacturer with that history in support.
 
Yes I have complete confidence with Genelec support, were I don't have full confidence is a twitter that uses "ferrofluid" I have a believe that I will never know if something is off and I may lose all goodness from such product!! without ever knowing...

I sold my ATC SCM25A PRO MK2 for the 8351B and I'm happy as can be, but I really want that non ferrofluid witch I found amazing in the ATC
It's a kind of peace of mind....
 
Some progress with Genelec support,

I wrote:

"So if this detailed information can't be shared can you please give me some advice ?

I recently bought the Genelec 8351B as a pair of ex-display units that are about 6 years old, do I need to service them ?

Please note I don't have any issue with the sound performance, but the only thing I can think of is the "notorious ferrofluid" that can fail after this much years, so please understand why I ask....I really need a answer like "No 8351B don't use ferrofluid" and I can go with it and be safe and sound, this lack of info put me in a position of some uncertainty!!

Any information or advice you can give me would be appreciated.

And got this answer:

"You would clearly see any issues with the coaxial driver during calibration with GLM - whether it would use ferrofluid or not. ;-)

6 years of age is also never critical with any of our speakers at all. Just enjoy your setup!"

Any one can interpret a hint in the answer ? :-)
And off topic about the GLM, I have here in the Studio the "Trinnov Nova" now I think it might be worth checking out the GLM....
 
Utterly bizarre that they won't give you a straight answer. After all, the use or otherwise of ferrofluid is hardy a commercial secret worth protecting.

As a Genelec owner myself, I have always been unhappy that they don't make service manuals available, but this sort of reluctance to answer a simple question would certainly make me question whether to buy any of their more expensive items.

S.
 
This is a very strange thread. Genelec speakers are known to last for 15-20 years or more, their performance can easily be measured with GLM or a third-party tool, and the company stands behind them as well as or better than most other companies. Folks have also posted teardowns of them, including the 8351b.

If they used ferrofluid and if it routinely failed, we’d have seen it and we’d have read reports of drivers needing to be replaced with some regularity.

I don’t delude myself that any of this will make the OP feel any better, but maybe take a step back and ask yourself if it’s worth ruining your enjoyment of these great (and expensive) speakers because the company won’t say the words “there is no ferrofluid.”
 
sagos said:
Some progress with Genelec support,

I wrote:

"So if this detailed information can't be shared can you please give me some advice ?

I recently bought the Genelec 8351B as a pair of ex-display units that are about 6 years old, do I need to service them ?

Please note I don't have any issue with the sound performance, but the only thing I can think of is the "notorious ferrofluid" that can fail after this much years, so please understand why I ask....I really need a answer like "No 8351B don't use ferrofluid" and I can go with it and be safe and sound, this lack of info put me in a position of some uncertainty!!

Any information or advice you can give me would be appreciated.

And got this answer:

"You would clearly see any issues with the coaxial driver during calibration with GLM - whether it would use ferrofluid or not. ;-)

6 years of age is also never critical with any of our speakers at all. Just enjoy your setup!"

Any one can interpret a hint in the answer ? :-)
And off topic about the GLM, I have here in the Studio the "Trinnov Nova" now I think it might be worth checking out the GLM....
Click to expand...
I read a thread here about drying out ferrofluid and decided to check some old Sonus Farber speakers I was using with my TV. I did a very quick midfield MMM measurement in REW and the tweeter response looked terrible (green line). See below. I bought a new tweeter installed it, and it behaved as expected (red line). If you are concerned about your tweeter it will show up as an obvious issues with even the most basic measurements, you don't even need GLM.

old vs new tweeter sonus farber (1) (1).jpg
 
Strange, I've never done business with a company over a speaker repair that they didn't offer a solution or at least a recommendation to visit an authorised repair/dealer. I've worked with Infinity, JBL, VMPS, Wilson, PE, JL Audio, GR, Klipsch, and B&W, just to mention the ones I can remember.

There were a couple of companies that went out of business or discontinued the use of certain parts, but usually they have an answer for any repairs or places to purchase parts.

I knew those sucker were so ugly for a reason. LOL

Regards
 
sagos said:
And got this answer:

"You would clearly see any issues with the coaxial driver during calibration with GLM - whether it would use ferrofluid or not. ;-)

6 years of age is also never critical with any of our speakers at all. Just enjoy your setup!"
Click to expand...

I suspect they won't have an issue with it, but direct letter for letter publication of private conversations is not allowed under most to all legislations.
 
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