Hi All!
New to the group, thank you for the add! I have spent years on AVS, researching, buying gear, building rooms and moving on to the next. It's a great source, but like others, some things get pushed and for whatever reason other brands get no traction. I have had speakers from Dynaudio, B&W, JTR, Focal, Revel, JBL and others. I've also gotten to audition Wisdom, Wilson, Triad, Meridian and countless others. I like the idea very much of having an accurate speaker that renders the same experience the sound engineer set out to create. Of course there may be some seasoning to taste, but all in all accurate is the goal. I will use these for 90% for movie playback and maybe 10% watching sporting events or blu ray concert etc. I am now in the process of building a new dedicated home theater room in my new(to me) home. The room is going to be fully isolated (room within a room, triple dw and green glue, independent hvac system, etc.) and used as a 100% dedicated space. I will have an adjacent room for any two channel casual listening. The space is decent sized, 21x27.5x10.5 acoustically, and will have two rows of seating (the second row looks to be planned at about 18" higher than the first).
So with the background out of the way, the Genelec brand has always intrigued me, as have the great reviews of them. I also am a big fan of active speaker systems. I actually have an appointment this coming Friday in Mass to audition some of the products. I'm quite sure they will have insight and offer opinions on what units fit the application, but I'm also interested in thoughts here from experienced users. I love to watch at ref levels, but also watch with my four children half the time and lower sound level quality is just as important as reference levels. I've had some very high output systems and do like an LCR setup that can "attack" and has real weight to it. Not to be cliche, but I like a speaker that sounds "big" throughout the volume range. The scale of the sound, independent of the volume is something I've always enjoyed. The LCR will be placed behind the screen, the surrounds and atmos behind fabric stretch. I am planning this as a 9.x.6 system at the moment. I've taken a look at the 8361, but have concerns with the visceral attack and ability to hit hard enough in the lets say 80-300hz range. (I'll hear them Friday though). For reference, the front row will be about 15ft from the LCR and the back at 22ft. I have also looked at the 1237, 1238, 1234a for that matter. I know they are much more expensive, but I'd rather invest in the best LCR (that fits my needs) up front. Of course if that kind of fire power isn't needed to accomplish my goals in this setting I'd happily save some $$. The other concern I have is surrounding the depth of cabinets for the surrounds and atmos speakers. I don't want to give up more floor space than I need to, but I also don't want those channels to be lacking. The rear port on many of the designs also kills the on or in wall abilities largely. The 8351 look to be a great fit for atmos, as I can turn them on there side and mount them angled to the main LP without taking up much depth. With regard to surrounds, the 1238df seems to be the shallowest, not rear ported choice. It seems excessive for surrounds, but again isn't that much more money than the 8361 fits better with the room layout.
Sorry to go on and on, I just wanted to be sure to give all the info I could. I'm really interested to get everyone's thoughts on some of these units and their application for me. Thanks!
New to the group, thank you for the add! I have spent years on AVS, researching, buying gear, building rooms and moving on to the next. It's a great source, but like others, some things get pushed and for whatever reason other brands get no traction. I have had speakers from Dynaudio, B&W, JTR, Focal, Revel, JBL and others. I've also gotten to audition Wisdom, Wilson, Triad, Meridian and countless others. I like the idea very much of having an accurate speaker that renders the same experience the sound engineer set out to create. Of course there may be some seasoning to taste, but all in all accurate is the goal. I will use these for 90% for movie playback and maybe 10% watching sporting events or blu ray concert etc. I am now in the process of building a new dedicated home theater room in my new(to me) home. The room is going to be fully isolated (room within a room, triple dw and green glue, independent hvac system, etc.) and used as a 100% dedicated space. I will have an adjacent room for any two channel casual listening. The space is decent sized, 21x27.5x10.5 acoustically, and will have two rows of seating (the second row looks to be planned at about 18" higher than the first).
So with the background out of the way, the Genelec brand has always intrigued me, as have the great reviews of them. I also am a big fan of active speaker systems. I actually have an appointment this coming Friday in Mass to audition some of the products. I'm quite sure they will have insight and offer opinions on what units fit the application, but I'm also interested in thoughts here from experienced users. I love to watch at ref levels, but also watch with my four children half the time and lower sound level quality is just as important as reference levels. I've had some very high output systems and do like an LCR setup that can "attack" and has real weight to it. Not to be cliche, but I like a speaker that sounds "big" throughout the volume range. The scale of the sound, independent of the volume is something I've always enjoyed. The LCR will be placed behind the screen, the surrounds and atmos behind fabric stretch. I am planning this as a 9.x.6 system at the moment. I've taken a look at the 8361, but have concerns with the visceral attack and ability to hit hard enough in the lets say 80-300hz range. (I'll hear them Friday though). For reference, the front row will be about 15ft from the LCR and the back at 22ft. I have also looked at the 1237, 1238, 1234a for that matter. I know they are much more expensive, but I'd rather invest in the best LCR (that fits my needs) up front. Of course if that kind of fire power isn't needed to accomplish my goals in this setting I'd happily save some $$. The other concern I have is surrounding the depth of cabinets for the surrounds and atmos speakers. I don't want to give up more floor space than I need to, but I also don't want those channels to be lacking. The rear port on many of the designs also kills the on or in wall abilities largely. The 8351 look to be a great fit for atmos, as I can turn them on there side and mount them angled to the main LP without taking up much depth. With regard to surrounds, the 1238df seems to be the shallowest, not rear ported choice. It seems excessive for surrounds, but again isn't that much more money than the 8361 fits better with the room layout.
Sorry to go on and on, I just wanted to be sure to give all the info I could. I'm really interested to get everyone's thoughts on some of these units and their application for me. Thanks!