Recording - March 2018 - 40

REVISITED
Remembering what an enjoyable time I
had with the 8351, I was excited to get
to spend some quality time with the new
8341. As a smaller box, the 8341 works
great in smaller editing suites, smaller project
studios, and rooms where the 8351 is just
too large and powerful.
After setting them up and auditioning
my favorite reference mixes of jazz, hip
hop, classic rock, and more, I was again
reminded of the clarity and dimension
that characterized the 8351. Even
listening to mixes I have heard over and
over for years, I was surprised to hear

The 8331-the smallest One

Listening to the 8331 was a fascinating
experience, since I'd never had a chance to
properly audition any of The Ones before.
I did some initial listening with all of the
DIP switches set flat and no GLM calibration, and noticed that even under those
conditions there was tremendous detail and
clarity in the speakers. Nothing can hide
from these monitors; I was picking out tiny
details in my reference mixes that can go
unnoticed in some other speakers, an experience that paralleled Paul's with the larger
models.
I was surprised at how solid the bass was
in such a small speaker; the dual-woofer
design really does emulate the response of
a considerably larger driver, and bass was
plentiful, clean, and very detailed, especially
in the extreme near field (about 1 meter
from ears to speakers). Vocals and lead
instruments tended to "float" above the
overall sonic picture, and the highs were
tightly etched and clearly defined but not
shrill. My initial impression was almost of
listening to three different speakers at once;
the bass, mids/lead sounds, and highs all
seemed to occupy different sonic strata in
the soundstage.
This was where the GLM system came
in handy. I set it up, a process that took only
about five minutes, and ran the software a
couple of times at different mic positions.
The results were instantaneous-suddenly
there was a smoothness and beautiful gluing
together of the sound presented in the
monitors, with the obtrusive gaps in the
40

RECORDING March 2018

details and a 3D depth I hadn't noticed
before. In mixes of my own, I noticed
elements that I probably would have
handled differently had I mixed them on
the 8341. The soundstage of the 8341
is amazing-combined with the hallmark
top end and depth, it adds up to a
sonic presentation that seems to define
The Ones!
The biggest difference between the
8341 and its big brother the 8351 is
just sheer power of volume and lowend fullness. The 8341 is great in
smaller spaces or when working at
moderate volumes up close; in those
applications, the low end is punchy

soundstage completely gone. It didn't take
long to make a believer out of me!
Once this was done, I discovered that the
8331s really shone at lower SPLs, providing
a balanced listening experience even when run
quietly. They're definitely not monitors you'll
crank up under normal circumstances.
That was all that was needed for my
usual listening room at the Recording offices,
but when I took the 8331As to another
room, a local home studio, there was a bit
more involved. GLM's analysis roughly
confirmed my own experiences in the test
room, which has a couple of rather nasty
bass nodes at around 80 Hz and 160 Hz
at the usual listening position. While moving
the measurement mic from side to side by
a foot or so did show variances in those
nodes by anywhere from 1 to 3 dB, there
wasn't a spot where they went away completely. Time to rethink the bass trapping...
At the high end, GLM confirmed my
suspicion that the engineer who'd treated the room had gotten a little carried
away with the high-frequency absorption as well; the room response showed
a smooth rolloff starting at about 10
kHz, down nearly 9 dB at 20 kHz.
Time to take down or redistribute some
of the panels, methinks!
My overall impression of the 8331 was
humbling. Even as small as they are, these
are microscopically detailed and revealing
monitors; nothing gets by them. If you're
working in a really small space and need to
produce world-class results, you want these
monitors.-MM

and you can hear every bass detail.
However, they do not "crank" low end,
and they won't rumble a room like the
8351 will-nor did I expect them to.
I would guess that they'd pair nicely
with Genelec's SAM-ready subwoofers,
if that is your need, and I think these
would be a great speaker to use in
multichannel audio setups.
Rather than just use GLM in my
well-treated studio, where the adjustments were minimal with just a gentle 5
dB cleanup of the lows, I took the 8341
and GLM system home and ran it in
my small, odd-shaped casual listening
room, slanted ceilings and all. As
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2018
