Genelec introduces Smart Active Monitor desktop speakers

News
By
Published

Despite having all the pro credibility it needs, Genelec's new Smart Active Monitor is tailor-made for the home.

8430A isn't the snappiest name for a product and neither, let's face it, is Smart Active Monitor. SAM is much friendlier handle, and it indicates just how accomplished Finnish pro-audio stalwart Genelec is getting at having its cake and eating it.

In terms of its broad specification, SAM is a thoroughly thought-out pro tool. It's an active-over-IP design with a claimed frequency range of 45Hz to 23kHz. It's fitted with AutoCal acoustic room measurement. Inputs begin and end with an analogue XLR socket.

And yet. Dimensions of 30x19x18cm (hwd) are desktop-friendly. A 13cm mid/bass driver with 19mm metal dome tweeter above is equally domestically acceptable, as it 50 watts of power to each driver. And Genelec is showing SAM not as part of its little ISE 2016 studio but as the entirety of a desktop system. Just add a computer.

Latest Videos From

Admittedly, at €800 per speaker (excluding VAT) SAM isn't exactly the most easy-going in terms of price. But just wait a while. As soon as SAM becomes available in the rather sudden new range of colours the G-series is being shown in, we'll know for sure.

See all our ISE 2016 news

Simon Lucas

Simon Lucas is a technology journalist, with a strong emphasis on the audio/video side of consumer electronics and home entertainment, and has been since 2003. He worked for more than 14 years at What Hi-Fi?, the last six of which were spent as the editor of the magazine and website. Since then he's written for Wired, The Guardian, TechRadar, Stuff, GQ and many more besides. 

In the course of his career he's developed a pretty deep understanding of the way both the publishing and the electronics industries function, as well as the sort of intimate knowledge of audio products (both specific and general) that can make people very wary of him at parties.