Genelec's unusual looking new co-axial 8351 monitors employ a three-way co-axial design to improve imaging. Its striking appearance is on account of its apparent lack of a woofer. Don't be fooled though — dual woofers are indeed present but concealed beneath a waveguide that takes up virtually the whole face of the monitor.
The 8351 is capable of delivering 110dB of output at one meter, thanks to 150W and 120W Class-D amps for the woofer and mid-range drivers respectively and a 90W Class-A/B amp for the tweeter. It also boasts a frequency response of 32 Hz to 40 kHz (-6 dB), and which is flat (± 1.5 dB) between 38 Hz and 21 kHz.
It also uses Genelec's SAM (Smart Active Monitoring) technology for time-aligning multiple speakers and adapting the speakers frequency response to the room.
More information from Genelec follows.
Press Release: Genelec (booth 1611, Demo Room 301A), the leader in active monitoring technology for over 35 years, offers the revolutionary new 8351 Acoustically Coaxial three-way Smart Active Monitor™ system, developed in response to the need for increasing audio perfection in acoustically challenging production environments. Offering unique size and technological innovations, the 8351 breaks new ground in electro-acoustic engineering, as the mechanical, acoustical and signal-processing designs are linked closely together. The result is a system that is completely unique in the professional monitoring industry and represents a bold step forward for the active monitoring pioneer.
The 8351 borrows its size attribute from Genelec’s acclaimed 8050. With dimensions of 17.75" x 11.25 " x 11", the 8351 has a particularly compact footprint for a three-way monitor. The center of the 8351’s enclosure features the Minimum Diffraction Co-axial midrange/tweeter driver evolved from the 8260. This breakthrough in coaxial driver design provides extremely accurate imaging and improved sound quality, with crystal clear accuracy, both on and off-axis, vertically as well as horizontally. Aesthetically striking is the absence of any visible woofers which are concealed beneath the Maximised Directivity Controlled Waveguide (MaxDCW™). The lips on the perimeter of the waveguide are the acoustic openings for the proprietary Genelec-designed Acoustically Concealed Woofers (ACW™).
It’s this arrangement; the Co-axial midrange / tweeter in combination with the dual woofer design which, together, form a three-way acoustically coaxial system with an extremely large waveguide (MaxDCW) across the entire front. The 8351 is perfectly at home in either the vertical or horizontal orientation, with closely similar directivity characteristics as users move off-axis. The extremely smooth frequency response and dispersion pattern lead to outstanding clarity and definition of the audio signal.
The 8351 is capable of delivering 110 dB at 1 meter through a combination of efficient Genelec-designed Class D amplifiers for the woofer bass (150 W) and midrange (120 W) drivers, while a discrete-components (90 W) Genelec-designed Class A/B amplifier applies power to the tweeter. The 8351 has a system frequency response of 32 Hz to 40 kHz (-6 dB), ± 1.5 dB (38 Hz to 21 kHz) with very low distortion.
Genelec knows that smaller environments can cause significant problems with regards to the room performance, but SAM™ (Smart Active Monitoring) technology takes all that can be good about a monitor by itself and integrates it further into the listening environment. SAM technology creates a computer controlled, flexible network of monitors and makes them as a fully aligned system with regards to level, timing and room response equalization – all done automatically – as well as being configurable by the end user. Like all active monitors in the Genelec SAM range, the 8351 is capable of automatically adapting to acoustical environments to offer an indispensable tool for sound professionals in broadcasting, post production, music studios and remote recording environments.
Every sub-system in the 8351 – electronics, amplifier circuitry, drivers and mechanical assembly – is designed by Genelec’s R & D team and built entirely in-house at the Genelec factory in Iisalmi, Finland, to ensure utmost accuracy and reliability. The 8351 is a remarkable achievement in electro-acoustic design by a group of engineers who remain committed day after day to delivering performance-based solutions for the professional audio market.
