Natick, MA (October 27, 2015)—WBUR in Boston, MA, among the most high-profile NPR affiliates nationwide, recently acquired a pair of 8351A SAM Smart Active Monitors from Genelec.
Installed in the station’s Studio 3, the 8351As have joined the Genelec 1031A monitors in WBUR’s three other studios.
“What we have now is a full-range, three-way speaker in the same amount of space as a typical near-field monitor,” says Michael LeClair, chief engineer for WBUR, responsible for all the technical aspects of radio transmission and audio production facilities. “In a radio studio, you don’t have a ton of space, but now with the 8351A, we can hear the way you would in a larger studio with bigger monitors. We’re hearing low frequencies like we’ve never heard them before. Certainly for music, but even in the voices of the announcers.”
That, says LeClair, who was voted Public Radio Engineer of the Year in 2012 by the Association of Public Radio Engineers, is a game-changer. “It had been hard to tell exactly what the real low end was like on typical near-field monitors, so you tended to pull back on it a bit. But the first time we turned the 8351As on, the image was exact, immediately. It gives you the confidence you want in a mix.”
Genelec
www.genelecusa.com
