So it's a bit egoistic, but the Genesis One is what I sometimes refer to as the Magnificent One. It is our flagship model, but it's roots go way back to the Infinity IRS of 1978. Whenever a music lover encounters the Genesis One for the first time, it is always an experience filled with awe - both at the size of the four 7-foot (2m) tall towers, and at the magnificence of the performance.
When you see such a large loudspeaker, you do expect the rock-band levels of sound, the magnificence of a full orchestra, and how it totally dominates the environment in which it is installed. However, what impresses me most about the Genesis One is that it has the uncanny ability to reproduce the small sounds - the piccolo in the back of the orchestra amid all the bombast, the image of a girl and her guitar, and the chamber music trio with an almost holographic image. It is almost more impressive to play it quietly and small than it is to play it loudly and big.
When the Genesis One was introduced in 1993, it had 26 tweeters (20 facing front, 6 facing rear), a 60-inch midrange, and six 12-inch poly-kevlar aluminum woofers per side. The 6 woofers in each woofer tower was powered by a 1,500W 6-channel servo-controlled amplifier. The owner had to supply his/her own power amplifier for the midrange and tweeters.
Unfortunately, the 60-inch midrange of the G-I was pretty fragile, and they broke pretty easily. Even more unfortunately, the 75-inch midrange of the Genesis 1.1 would not fit into the 60-inch hole of the G-I. The original hole was too wide and too short.
Fixing this was extremely expensive as the entire Corian midrange panel had to be changed with all the drivers and crossover. The original 60-inch midrange was manufactured by the Carver Corporation, and that factory closed down in the mid 1990's. Some owners have substituted a 48-inch midrange, but the performance fell quite a few notches.
Besides the 75-inch midrange, the Genesis 1.1 also introduced the 3000W 6-channel G2000 servo-bass amplifier and stronger solid aluminum cone woofers. In the early days of Genesis Advanced Technologies, we revived the G1.1, albeit with my improved servo-bass cables.
The Genesis 1.2 added another six 12-inch woofers per woofer tower. They were mounted on the back of the woofer tower horizontally opposed in phase. This further reduced the vibration in the woofer towers. Having woofers facing front and back in phase seems odd at first glance. However, we have to realize that the 7-foot tall woofer tower is NOT a line source. As the woofer tower has an upper frequency limit of 110Hz, it is actually a POINT source - yep, a 7-foot tall point source.
To drive the twenty-four 12-inch woofers was a new 10-chassis twelve channel 12,000W Servo Controlled Amplifier (SCAmp).
The Genesis One from 1993 is fully upgrade-able to the current Genesis 1.2. The woofer holes need to be enlarged slightly to accommodate the new, larger woofers. The most difficult part would be drilling the twelve 12-inch holes on the back of the woofer tower to accommodate the additional woofers. While the new woofer tower is just slightly deeper and has less than 10% more volume in each woofer cavity, the servo-controlled system handles the lower volume easily. If the midrange ribbon is still working well, the tweeters can be replaced, as can be the crossover.
The Genesis 1.1 to Genesis 1.2 upgrade is much more straightforward, with crossover, woofer tower, and servo-controlled bass amplifier. Depending on the age of the system, the servo-bass cables may or may not need to be changed.
There is much more details on the difference between the models here: http://genesisloudspeakers.com/downloads/G1.2_Fact_Sheet.pdf
When you see such a large loudspeaker, you do expect the rock-band levels of sound, the magnificence of a full orchestra, and how it totally dominates the environment in which it is installed. However, what impresses me most about the Genesis One is that it has the uncanny ability to reproduce the small sounds - the piccolo in the back of the orchestra amid all the bombast, the image of a girl and her guitar, and the chamber music trio with an almost holographic image. It is almost more impressive to play it quietly and small than it is to play it loudly and big.
When the Genesis One was introduced in 1993, it had 26 tweeters (20 facing front, 6 facing rear), a 60-inch midrange, and six 12-inch poly-kevlar aluminum woofers per side. The 6 woofers in each woofer tower was powered by a 1,500W 6-channel servo-controlled amplifier. The owner had to supply his/her own power amplifier for the midrange and tweeters.
Unfortunately, the 60-inch midrange of the G-I was pretty fragile, and they broke pretty easily. Even more unfortunately, the 75-inch midrange of the Genesis 1.1 would not fit into the 60-inch hole of the G-I. The original hole was too wide and too short.
Fixing this was extremely expensive as the entire Corian midrange panel had to be changed with all the drivers and crossover. The original 60-inch midrange was manufactured by the Carver Corporation, and that factory closed down in the mid 1990's. Some owners have substituted a 48-inch midrange, but the performance fell quite a few notches.
Besides the 75-inch midrange, the Genesis 1.1 also introduced the 3000W 6-channel G2000 servo-bass amplifier and stronger solid aluminum cone woofers. In the early days of Genesis Advanced Technologies, we revived the G1.1, albeit with my improved servo-bass cables.
The Genesis 1.2 added another six 12-inch woofers per woofer tower. They were mounted on the back of the woofer tower horizontally opposed in phase. This further reduced the vibration in the woofer towers. Having woofers facing front and back in phase seems odd at first glance. However, we have to realize that the 7-foot tall woofer tower is NOT a line source. As the woofer tower has an upper frequency limit of 110Hz, it is actually a POINT source - yep, a 7-foot tall point source.
To drive the twenty-four 12-inch woofers was a new 10-chassis twelve channel 12,000W Servo Controlled Amplifier (SCAmp).
The Genesis One from 1993 is fully upgrade-able to the current Genesis 1.2. The woofer holes need to be enlarged slightly to accommodate the new, larger woofers. The most difficult part would be drilling the twelve 12-inch holes on the back of the woofer tower to accommodate the additional woofers. While the new woofer tower is just slightly deeper and has less than 10% more volume in each woofer cavity, the servo-controlled system handles the lower volume easily. If the midrange ribbon is still working well, the tweeters can be replaced, as can be the crossover.
The Genesis 1.1 to Genesis 1.2 upgrade is much more straightforward, with crossover, woofer tower, and servo-controlled bass amplifier. Depending on the age of the system, the servo-bass cables may or may not need to be changed.
There is much more details on the difference between the models here: http://genesisloudspeakers.com/downloads/G1.2_Fact_Sheet.pdf