The Gene­lec 8361A studio moni­tor is the company’s flags­hip product – this is how we made it

Clear goals and perse­ve­rance lay the foun­da­tions for high-quality opera­tions. The Iisalmi-based spea­ker manu­fac­tu­rer Gene­lec has had a clear mission ever since the company was establis­hed in 1978.

“We want to make the world’s best audio solu­tions for profes­sio­nals. This is why the company exists,” says CEO Siamäk Naghian.

The company’s story began in 1976 when two post­gra­duate acous­tics students, Ilpo Marti­kai­nen and Topi Parta­nen, heard that the Finnish Broadcas­ting Company Yle needed active spea­kers to moni­tor sound quality in its newly built broadcas­ting house.

A proto­type spea­ker was comple­ted only a couple of weeks later, and Yle was inte­res­ted. The principle behind an active spea­ker is that each frequency range has its own ampli­fier and all of the elect­ro­nics are built into the speaker.

Gene­lec spea­kers aim to repro­duce sound as faith­fully as possible without adding or remo­ving anyt­hing. The company’s first active spea­ker model, the S30, was intro­duced in 1978.

“Gene­lec has been making long-lasting products from the outset. The best thing in terms of sustai­nable deve­lop­ment is that a spea­ker made 46 years ago is still in use and serviceable,” says Naghian.

In this video, Genelec’s emplo­yees and CEO talk about the compa­ny’s culture.

MEANINGFUL WORK

Quality is the sum of many factors, and forms the basis of Genelec’s corpo­rate culture. You need good leaders­hip, skil­led emplo­yees, and conti­nuous and syste­ma­tic deve­lop­ment and steering.

“Exper­tise and well­being of the emlo­yees are basic requi­re­ments for quality. Things are in good shape when we feel that we’re doing meaning­ful work while also having the oppor­tu­nity to deve­lop and move forward,” says Naghian.

Genelec’s first decade was a struggle for exis­tence. The turning point came in 1989, when the 1035A was demon­stra­ted in London and became the bench­mark for studio moni­tors. This model was desc­ri­bed as having the loudest sound and least distor­tion of any spea­ker on the market.

Exper­tise and well­being of the emlo­yees are basic requi­re­ments for quality.

Over the years, Gene­lec has intro­duced spea­kers with new tech­nical featu­res, designs and mate­rials that have chan­ged the industry. Roun­ded shapes, die-cast alumi­nium housings and calibra­tion tech­no­logy that auto­ma­tically adjusts to the acous­tic envi­ron­ment are just some examples of Genelec’s  Research and Development.

Even today, all Gene­lec spea­kers are deve­lo­ped and manu­fac­tu­red at the company’s Iisalmi factory on the shores of Lake Poro­vesi in Upper Savonia.

“We see manu­fac­ture and product deve­lop­ment as one. Which is why we’ve never consi­de­red making our products anyw­here else,” says Naghian.

ALL PRODUCTS TESTED

Gene­lec manu­fac­tu­res its own circuit boards and other key compo­nents to ensure that quality requi­re­ments are met.

“Elect­ro­nics manu­fac­tu­ring is impor­tant to us. Each spea­ker has at least one circuit board,” says Piia-Riitta Berg­man, Chief Opera­tio­nal Officer.

All of Genelec’s self-manu­fac­tu­red compo­nents and finis­hed spea­kers are tested.

“The basic process is the same regard­less of the model. Each product is tested indi­vi­dually before being sent to the custo­mer,” says Bergman.

We encou­rage people to voice their ideas, so that we can work on them together.

Gene­lec has a broad range of models. Sales volu­mes vary, and new models are relea­sed on a regu­lar basis. Its busi­ness revol­ves around life­long lear­ning and multiple skills.

“It’s great that we have so many people who are able to do a variety of produc­tion tasks,” says Bergman.

At Gene­lec, it is stan­dard prac­tice to give every­one the oppor­tu­nity to learn and deve­lop. Good ideas are reques­ted – and also implemented.

“We seek sugges­ted impro­ve­ments from both teams and indi­vi­duals. We encou­rage people to voice their ideas, so that we can work on them toget­her,” says Bergman.

RESPONSIBILITY AND MOTIVATION

Vesa Pelko­nen, the chief shop steward for produc­tion person­nel, says that emplo­yees are genui­nely invol­ved in design and deve­lop­ment at Genelec.

“Almost all propo­sals have gone through, as long as they’ve been justi­fied. We’ve had no problems with our emplo­yer. Conver­sa­tions take place in good faith,” says Pelkonen.

Long-term emplo­y­ment is one of Genelec’s guaran­tees of high quality. Expe­rience helps when accu­racy is requi­red. And accu­racy is also reflec­ted in people’s wallets.

“The quality of a deli­very affects our pay. It also moti­va­tes us to focus on quality,” says Pelkonen.

We’ve had no problems with our emplo­yer. Conver­sa­tions take place in good faith.

At Gene­lec, the assembly of large spea­kers in particu­lar is usually in the hands of just one person –  all the way down to chec­king and packa­ging the speaker.

“I’ll make a spea­ker from start to finish, and I’ll also be the last one to check it. It’s my respon­si­bi­lity,” says Pelko­nen, who works in assembly.

GENELEC 8361A

The largest studio moni­tor in The Ones range
Die-cast, powder-coated alumi­nium housing
Ampli­fiers: 700W bass, 150W midrange, 150W treble
Frequency response: 30 Hz – 43 kHz
Maxi­mum sound pres­sure level: 118 decibels
Dimen­sions: 593 x 357 x 347 mm
Weight: 31.9 kg
Price: about EUR 5,000

This is how we made it

1 ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN ARTO LÄMSÄ moni­tors the machine that assembles compo­nents such as circuits, coils, resis­tors and capaci­tors during the manu­fac­ture of prin­ted circuit boards. The machine will detect when a compo­nent is misa­lig­ned or rever­sed, and the assembly will then have to be manually correc­ted. After assembly, the circuit boards are placed into a reflow oven to solder the compo­nents into place. The inter­nal tempe­ra­ture of the circuit boards is kept at a steady 22 degrees Celsius with a mois­ture percen­tage of 40 per cent to ensure correctly solde­red joints.

“It’s plea­sant in here during the winter in particu­lar, when it’s dry outside. Your skin gets to absorb some mois­ture indoors,” says Lämsä.

Having multiple skills brings some variety to the job.

“I also do manual assembly and solde­ring. It keeps you sharp and stops your mind from rusting.”

Lämsä has been working at Gene­lec for 18 years. His work has chan­ged a lot during that time.

“We used to clam­ber up the shel­ves and do all sorts of stuff. But occu­pa­tio­nal safety is in good shape these days. It’s a miracle that nothing bad happe­ned back then,” says Lämsä.

2 PRODUCTION SPECIALIST MIRVA HOLOPAINEN manually assembles compo­nents onto prin­ted circuit boards. Through-hole compo­nents are moun­ted onto the circuit board from below in a wave solde­ring machine. Before the spea­kers are assembled, all of the comple­ted circuit boards are visually inspec­ted and tested to make sure they work.

Holo­pai­nen has been at Gene­lec for 23 years, during which time she’s worked in circuit board manu­fac­ture, assembly and the café.

Holo­pai­nen has been a produc­tion specia­list since 2021. Her current job desc­rip­tion inclu­des not only circuit board manu­fac­ture but also work study and onboar­ding new recruits. Work study invol­ves carrying out a variety of time and obser­va­tio­nal studies and deve­lo­ping working methods.

“Gene­lec is an excel­lent emplo­yer. Our work is varied and inte­res­ting, and we also have the chance to advance our careers on the basis of our own inte­rests,” says Holopainen.

High-quality spea­kers are the result of teamwork.

“Producing high-quality spea­kers for our custo­mers gives us a sense of profes­sio­nal pride. Satis­fied custo­mers are close to our hearts,” says Holopainen.

3 ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN TIIA KOMULAINEN makes spea­ker compo­nents that are tested before the spea­kers are assembled.

Komu­lai­nen has been working at Gene­lec for three years and has enjo­yed the variety in her job.

“This is a really great place to work. My work is quite varied, as we manu­fac­ture a variety of diffe­rent models,” says Komulainen.

Emplo­yees also have a say in both their own work and how the unit opera­tes. Research and deve­lop­ment adds to the interest.

“Every­one is fami­liar with all of the models. We get to have a say in what we do. Every­body has their own favou­rite models,” says Komulainen.

4 LOGISTICS TECHNICIAN VEIJO TOSSAVAINEN gathers orde­red compo­nents from the inven­tory and places them onto the cart for assembly. In order to mini­mise the poten­tial for error, only the compo­nents speci­fied in the order will be placed on the cart. Tossa­vai­nen has been working at Gene­lec for 24 years.

5 ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN JANNE HAKALA places the two halves of the speaker’s die-cast and powder-coated alumi­nium housing into the plas­tic frame in which assembly takes place. The circuit boards, spea­ker compo­nents and other compo­nents are screwed into place. A barcode label is prin­ted for the spea­ker, and the barco­des on the spea­ker compo­nents are read so that both the compo­nents and manu­fac­tu­ring process can be traced later on. Finally, Hakala screws the two halves of the spea­ker housing toget­her and uses a leak test device to test its tight­ness. This type of spea­ker is built from start to finish by one person.

“I’ve always been inte­res­ted in acous­tics and spea­kers. It’s great when you also get to do your hobby at work,” says Hakala.

Hakala, who has been with Gene­lec for four years, says that he has mainly focused on assembly tasks. Variety comes in the form of diffe­rent spea­ker models.

Hakala also has Gene­lec spea­kers at home.

“They let you hear the sound as the musicians and film­ma­kers would have wanted it,” says Hakala.

It’s rewar­ding to make products that are recog­ni­sed for their high quality all across the world.

“We make these spea­kers with pride. It even crea­tes a little bit of pres­sure, when you know that the quality of your products has to be the abso­lute best,” Hakala says.

6 The finis­hed spea­kers are loaded onto a cart and sent to a cham­ber whose acous­tics are desig­ned for final testing. The tests will be carried out by the same person who assembled the spea­ker. Initial tests ensure elect­rical safety. The software then calibra­tes the spea­ker to the desi­red values. The tester makes sure that no air is leaking from the seams, by both feel and liste­ning. Finally, an audio sweep across the entire frequency range is played through the spea­ker, while the tester conducts a by-ear audio test to make sure that nothing extra is being added to the sound.

“The sound is faith­fully repro­duced. Our spea­kers don’t colour the play­back,” says Janne Hakala.

All testers must pass a trai­ning course in which they learn to detect a variety of faulty sounds.

“During the trai­ning, people listen to bad spea­kers and iden­tify what’s wrong with them,” says Hakala.

7 The same tech­nician who assembled and tested the spea­ker will also pack the finis­hed product. The suction cups on the lifting appa­ra­tus stick to the sides of the spea­ker, so that even a product weig­hing more than 30 kilos slips easily into the card­board box – along with a manual. Finally, the package is stapled closed. When the order is complete, a logis­tics emplo­yee collects the products and deli­vers them to the customer.

“There’s nothing we can’t talk about”

Gene­lec was also tested by the inter­na­tio­nal financial crisis in 2008. CEO Siamäk Naghian says that good things also came out of the crisis.

Code­ter­mi­na­tion nego­tia­tions were held within the company as a result of the econo­mic down­turn, but this also opened the door for conti­nuous and active colla­bo­ra­tion invol­ving everyone.

“We’re impro­ving our opera­tions toget­her and have redisco­ve­red the key role of code­ter­mi­na­tion nego­tia­tions. And in my job, they’re at least as impor­tant as the mana­ge­ment team,” Naghian says.

The company will grow, but I think the most impor­tant thing is to preserve our iden­tity and philosophy.

Chief shop steward Vesa Pelko­nen says that conti­nuous coope­ra­tion and open­ness create a culture of trust. The compa­ny’s inter­nal matters are discus­sed toget­her – with trust and confidence.

“Every other Monday morning, we have a brie­fing at which our emplo­yer keeps us infor­med about current issues. Nothing is kept secret,” says Pelkonen.

A FORERUNNER IN THE FUTURE TOO

Open­ness helps to ensure that issues don’t spread as rumours and nothing comes as a surprise. This enables the company to adapt to chan­ging situations.

“Every­one is kept up to date. There’s nothing we can’t talk about,” says Naghian.

The future looks bright at Gene­lec. This second-gene­ra­tion family busi­ness conti­nues to be a fore­run­ner in its industry.

“The company will grow, but I think the most impor­tant thing is to preserve our iden­tity and philo­sophy. It’s beau­ti­ful,” says Naghian.

GENELEC OY

ESTABLISHED 1978
DOMICILE Iisalmi
MANUFACTURES Audio systems for audio profes­sio­nals, instal­la­tions and home listeners
PERSONNEL About 210 (Group 270) of which about 100 work in production
OWNERSHIP Juho, Maria and Mikko Marti­kai­nen, Topi Parta­nen and Ritva Leinonen.
NET SALES EUR 38.4 million, Group about EUR 50 million (2023)

Read the article in Finnish: Gene­lec 8361A studio­mo­ni­tori on yrityk­sen lippu­lai­va­tuote – näin sen teimme