2017: Highlights of a Spectacular Year
As years go, 2017 has been a truly spectacular one for Genelec. So as December draws to a close, come and join us in looking back at some of this year’s highlights.
We started with a flurry of prestigious industry awards for our SAM products, with the 8351, 8430, and 8340 models being recognised by organisations as diverse as the TEC Awards in the USA to Finland’s own Fennia Prize. This set the scene for May’s launch of The Ones three-way point source monitors at London’s iconic Metropolis Studios - a range of monitors that instantly re-wrote the rulebook on nearfield monitoring, and which spent the rest of 2017 stunning listeners all over the world.
Picture: Genelec R&D Director Dr. Aki Mäkivirta receiving the Fennia Prize
In the summer - in recognition of the huge importance of the Japanese market - Genelec Japan opened its doors, operating alongside our own well established daughter companies in the US and China. At the same time we also announced The Ones Summer Challenge contest, which generated a host of brilliantly creative entries from audio enthusiasts demonstrating to us just what a difference The Ones would make to their lives.
Picture: Genelec Japan team
After the successful launch of GLM 3 calibration software and the 7380 subwoofer at Amsterdam’s IBC show, we were honoured that Helsinki’s Avita AudioVisual Expo presented our recently departed founder, longtime CEO and Chairman Ilpo Martikainen with a posthumous Audiovisual Award for his lifetime’s work in the industry.
Picture: The Ones and 7380 on display at the IBC Show
Appropriately, 2017 ended much as it began, with a host of award nominations - this time for the newly launched Ones series. While we’ll need to wait until 2018 for the results of many of these to be announced, Music Tech Magazine have already revealed that The Ones have won both Best Monitor and Best Hardware Product in their highly respected 2017 Gear Of The Year awards.
A sincere ‘Thank You’ to everyone that supported us throughout the year, and we look forward to an even more successful 2018!