Review: Speakers that provide a natural listening experience

[garylkoh]

Another review - this time of the Genesis 5.3 loudspeaker by Ernie Fisher for Canadian magazine The Inner Ear. Here's what he said:

"... the G5.3's can dig up harmonics where they count and in doing so, do not add to or subtract from the information."

"... ability to handle the softest and loudest musical passages in an effortless, natural manner."

"Large orchestral music presented a wide variety of challenges for the G5.3's, but the Genesis handled the material with such ease that it was difficult not to believe that I was sitting in a concert hall."

Read the rest of the review here:
http://www.innerearmag.com/reviews/speakers/Genesis_5dot3.shtml

His conclusion was that "the G5.3's belong to the rare breed of loudspeakers that utilize modern design and technology to provide a natural listening experience without emphasizing the sound system." That kinda summarizes nicely my own design goals. You should be listening to the music, not the gear.

Cheers!
Gary

 

[Bruce B]

Congrats! It's a good read.

Thanks.

 

[Steve Williams]

Nice review Gary

Congrats

 

[RogerD]

Looks like technology and value to me, now that's impressive.

 

[RBFC]

Congratulations, Gary! Well-deserved for someone who truly cares about music.

Lee

 

[garylkoh]

Thanks, guys!!

When I met Ernie, he seemed to me someone who genuinely loves music too, and that was why I loaned him the speakers for review despite The Inner Ear not having as much traffic as many of the other websites.
See Ernie's commentary here: http://www.innerearmag.com/commentary/About_InnerEarMag.shtml

 

[microstrip]

Interesting review - we see the reviewer really enjoyed the speaker. But I was puzzled with the insistence on the 30 minute warm-up of the tweeters - usually a signal of not enough burn-in of speakers. I have owned some speakers using Dynaudio Esotar tweeters that had this feature, but happily after some long months of burn-in it disappeared.
BTW, what is the bass crossover frequency?

 

[fas42]

But I was puzzled with the insistence on the 30 minute warm-up of the tweeters - usually a signal of not enough burn-in of speakers. I have owned some speakers using Dynaudio Esotar tweeters that had this feature, but happily after some long months of burn-in it disappeared.

As people have commented, very good "tone" to the review! I agree, this is an interesting comment, to me a sign the system is working to a higher level: the drivers have to be brought up to a correct average working temperature, as all the effective suspension components need to reach a relatively stable working equilibrium. It's equivalent really to capacitors needing stabilisation time.

It's particularly interesting that the same needs appear to occur for very high quality drivers, as do for cheap and almost nasty stuff, as in my HT system ...

Frank

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Another review - this time of the Genesis 5.3 loudspeaker by Ernie Fisher for Canadian magazine The Inner Ear.

Hmmmm. They sure look familiar to me: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/184/index.html

 

[mullard88]

Congratulations Gary!!

 

[garylkoh]

Hmmmm. They sure look familiar to me: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/184/index.html

Good catch! You were far, far more comprehensive in that review.

JA reviewed G5.2 seven years later: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/206gen/index.html

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

I must say that I had forgotten how good the Genesis 500 was in all my discussions of speakers ... Better late than never It is GOOD.. NO it was excellent ... One of those strange secrets in High End ... Agreat product that is simply taken for granted and ultimately forgotten ..It seems that their owners don't resell them .. Just keep them go around listen to other guys systems, politely then go home fire their G500 and simply , smile .. a satisfied almost vindictive smile ...

Seems the G 5.3 is even better ...

Congrats Garry! Keeps the great work .. Your passion for the hobby shows in your products as well as in your posts ..

 

[garylkoh]

Thanks, Frantz.

You're probably right that the Genesis is one of those strange secrets. Some 15% of my business is keeping 15, 20 year old Genesis speakers running. You put it very succinctly here....

. Just keep them go around listen to other guys systems, politely then go home fire their G500 and simply , smile .. a satisfied almost vindictive smile ...

Or the way one of my customers put it - when you have the best at home, there's no need to show off (he owns 15 year-old Genesis-II).

It's quite a challenge to keep these things running when parts, even transistors, have gone obsolete, and material that is too expensive or even impossible to make these days.

One example - in the G500 that Kal reviewed, the surface of the aluminum cone woofers is lacquered like a violin. The lacquer is used to reduce resonance. Unfortunately, the application of that lacquer uses carcinogenic chemicals, and we can no longer do it. Now, we control the break-up modes of the woofer with concentric ribs on the aluminum cone, but it sounds different. So, there are customers who won't change out the brown woofer for the new woofer even though by all specifications and measurements, the new woofer is superior.

I tried looking for a replacement, but anything that absorbs vibrations made the music sound dull. Various formulations of lacquer sound best, but we couldn't get it to stay on the aluminum surface.