Genelec Home Theater System Design And Installation Manual

Residential and Home Theater Loudspeaker Systems

Design and Installation Guide

Residential and Home Theater Speaker Systems

Design and Installation Guide

Version 5

Genelec Document BBAG007b

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1. Products and Technology 1

1.1 Some Genelec History 1

1.2 Active Loudspeaker Technology 1

1.3 Directivity Control Waveguide™ 2

1.4 Home Theater Product Range 2

1.4.1 Products Overview 2

1.4.2 Enclosure Colours and Finishes 5

2. Planning the Installation of Genelec Products 6

2.1 Terms used in this Guide 7

2.2 Room Size Speciﬁcation 7

2.3 Listening Distance 7

2.4 Front Loudspeakers - A Model for Every Requirement 7

2.5 Center Channel Loudspeakers 7

2.5.1 Center Loudspeaker Design 7

2.5.2 Center Loudspeaker Enclosure Location 8

2.5.3 Center Loudspeaker Enclosure Orientation 8

2.6 Surround Loudspeakers - Dipoles vs. Direct Radiators 9

2.7 Subwoofers - Loud and Low 9

2.8 System Building - How to Mix and Match 10

2.9 How Room Acoustics Can Affect Model Selection 10

2.10 Selecting the Right Model 12

2.11 Electronics Panel Controls - Features and Functions 12

2.12 Audio Cables and Wiring 13

2.12.1 Electrical Requirements 13

2.12.2 Cable Requirements 14

2.12.3 Signal Cable Lengths 14

2.12.4 Remote Control Cables 15

2.12.5 Wiring the Cables 15

2.13 Operating Voltage and Power Requirements 17

2.14 Protection Circuits 17

2.15 Troubleshooting 17

3. Practical Installation Considerations 18

3.1 Main Loudspeaker Positioning 18

3.1.1 Angles 18

3.1.2 Distance 18

3.1.3 Height 18

3.2 Subwoofer Positioning 19

3.3 Bass Management 20

3.4 Cabinet Mounting 21

3.4.1 Main Loudspeakers 21

3.4.2 Subwoofers 21

3.5 Home Theater Front ‘Wall’ 21

3.6 Installing Remote Ampliﬁers 22

3.7 Acoustically ‘Transparent’ Screens 23

3.8 The In-Wall Loudspeaker Systems Installation 24

3.8.1 General Installation 24

3.8.2 Installing the AIW26 In-Wall Loudspeaker Enclosure 25

3.8.3 Installing the AIW25 and AIC25 Loudspeaker Enclosures 25

4. The Room Response Controls 26

4.1 Boundary Loading Effect 26

4.2 ‘Tuning’ the Home Theater 26

4.2.1 Subwoofer Phase 26

4.2.2 Using the Room Response Controls 27

4.2.3 Balancing the System 28

4.3 Other Processor/Decoder Settings 29

4.4 Genelec In-room Measurements and Calibration 29

5. Room Construction and Acoustics 30

5.1 Treating the Room for Good Acoustical Performance 30

5.1.1 Low Frequency Treatment 30

5.1.2 Mid and High Frequency Treatment 32

5.2 Room Modes, Reﬂections and Wall Behind the Loudspeaker Cancellations 33

5.3 Home Theater Performance - The Right Combination of Products 33

6. Production and Quality Standards 34

6.1 Genelec Manufacturing Process 34

6.2 Safety Consideration 34

6.3 Guarantee and Maintenance 34

6.4 ISO 9001 Standards 34

6.5 Product Awards 34

6.6 Further Advice and Information 35

1. Products and Technology

This guide has been created to help in the speciﬁcation and installation of Genelec Residential and Home Theater Speaker Systems. Many questions arise from customers’ perspective and installers’ experience and it is hoped that this guide will give a better sense of direction and an improved Genelec Home Theater experience.

1.1 Some Genelec History

Genelec has a world-wide reputation of designing and manufacturing the ﬁnest active monitors for the professional audio market. Since its founding in 1978, Genelec has supplied the most discriminating broadcast and recording organizations around the world with active audio monitors capable of meeting their highest requirements. Meeting those expectations has not been easy. The tremendous amount of research and development activity that is the key of Genelec’s success in professional audio also beneﬁts the Residential and Home Theater products. The goal remains the same – to design a tightly integrated audio system to provide an accurate and reliable service.

1.2 Active Loudspeaker Technology

The concept of an active loudspeaker is simple;

• Remove the passive crossover components from the traditional loudspeaker design, which are placed after the single ampliﬁer on each channel.

• Design a custom electronic crossover, which is placed before the integrated ampliﬁers.

• Use as many ampliﬁers as there are drivers.

See Figure 1 for a block diagram of passive vs. active design. Active design ensures that each driver (woofer, midrange and tweeter) has its own band-passed ampliﬁer to which it is directly coupled and matched. This concept greatly reduces distortion, improves dynamic headroom and frequency linearity and increases the system total sound pressure level.

ACTIVE SYSTEM PASSIVE SYSTEM

Figure 1. - Active crossover BEFORE ampliﬁer vs. Passive crossover AFTER ampliﬁer

It also allows the manufacturer to implement elaborated circuitry that protects the system from misuse therefore increases reliability:

- Input Protection ensures that no signals above the acceptable input range enter and damage the active electronics.

- Driver Protection allows for the maximum power output from the system while ensuring that the drivers cannot be damaged by over driving the system.

- Thermal Protection shuts down the ampliﬁers if the acceptable operating temperature for the electronics is exceeded. When the temperature drops sufﬁciently the system resets itself.

The Genelec active loudspeakers also feature proprietary Room Response Controls (see Section 4) which help optimise the loudspeaker’s tonal characteristics once they are installed in a home theater. Note that the ampliﬁer can be located away from the enclosure but the loudspeaker/ampliﬁer system is still an active system because everything is designed to work together.

1.3 Directivity Control Waveguide

In 1983 Genelec designed a loudspeaker system that was radically unique in shape and acoustical properties. The entirely smooth and curved enclosure provided no sound coloration of the drivers and excellent control of the sound dispersion into the room. This was the birth of the revolutionary Directivity Control Waveguide™ (DCW™) technology. Today the DCW™ is a waveguide in which is mounted the high frequency (in three-way loudspeakers, midrange and high frequency) driver that controls the angle of dispersion.

The aim of the DCW™ is to match the frequency response and directivity of the drivers in the loudspeaker leading to a great improvement on the performance of a direct radiating multi-way loudspeaker. The result is an excellent match of the overall frequency response on and off axis. This control of the directivity reduces incoming reﬂected sound at the listening position, thereby minimizing room coloration and improving the entire sound stage imaging. The DCW™ technology allows for extremely high audio consistency between very different Home Theater installations.

The DCW™ technology also improves the drive unit sensitivity even up to +6 dB, and therefore increases the maximum sound pressure level as well as decreases the drivers’ distortion.

1.4 Home Theater Product Range

1.4.1 Products Overview

6020A

The 6020A is a very compact two-way bi-ampliﬁed system. It has a 4” woofer and a ¾” metal dome tweeter housed in a robust aluminium enclosure. Each driver has a directly coupled 20 W ampliﬁer. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 65 m3 (2,300 ft3) and listening distances up to

2.4 m (8 ft).

HT205

The HT205 is a compact two-way bi-ampliﬁed system. It has a 5” woofer and a ¾” metal dome tweeter housed in a robust aluminium cabinet. Each driver has a directly coupled 40 W ampliﬁer. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 75 m3 (2,600 ft3) and listening distances up to 3.0 m (10 ft).

HT206B

The HT206B is a slightly larger bi-ampliﬁed system using a 6.5” woofer with an 80 W ampliﬁer and a ¾” dome tweeter with a 50 W ampliﬁer. The HT206B is recommended for room volumes up to 85 m3 (3,000 ft3) and listening distances up to 3.7 m (12 ft).

HT208B

The HT208B enclosure houses an 8” woofer and a 1” dome tweeter. Each driver is directly coupled to an individual 120 W ampliﬁer. The HT208B is recommended for room volumes up to 115 m3 (4,000 ft3) and listening distances up to 4.9 m (16 ft).

HT210B

The Genelec HT210B is a very capable two-way bi-ampliﬁed system. It has a 10” woofer powered by a 180 W ampliﬁer and a 1” dome tweeter directly coupled to another 120 W ampliﬁer. The HT210B is recommended for room volumes up to 140 m3 (5,000 ft3) and listening distances up to 5.5 m (18 ft).

HT312A

The Genelec HT312A tri-ampliﬁed system is ideal for applications behind perforated screens and can be run as full range loudspeaker. This 12” threeway system has a 180 W ampliﬁer on the LF driver, 120 W on the proprietary Genelec 5” midrange driver and another 120 W on the 1” dome tweeter. All drivers are magnetically shielded. It is recommended for room volumes up to 175 m3 (6,200 ft3) and listening distances up to 6.5 m (21 ft).

HT315A / HT320AC

The HT315A / HT320AC models are substantial loudspeaker packages incorporating 400 W of ampliﬁcation for the LF, 120 W for the MF and 120 W for the HF. Practically identical in performance, the HT315 is a traditional three-way design with a 15” bass driver and an integrated ampliﬁer unit, whereas the HT320AC is packaged in a slimmer enclosure with dual 10” bass drivers and a separate ampliﬁer unit in a rack mount chassis, making it suitable for applications where space is limited. These loudspeakers are usually ﬂush mounted into a wall for an improved low frequency efﬁciency and a smoother midrange. All drivers are magnetically shielded in both models. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 250 m3 (8,800 ft3) and listening distances up to 7.6 m (25 ft).

AOW312

The Genelec AOW312 On-Wall tri-ampliﬁed system is ideal for applications behind perforated screens and can be run as full range loudspeaker. Architecturally it offers minimum intrusion into designed spaces due to its shallow enclosure. This 12” three-way system has a 180 W ampliﬁer on the LF driver, 120 W on the proprietary Genelec 5” midrange driver and another 120 W on the 1” dome tweeter. All drivers are magnetically shielded. It is recommended for room volumes up to 175 m3 (6,200 ft3) and listening distances up to 6.5 m (21 ft).

HT324A / HT324AC

The HT324A is a dual 12” active loudspeaker incorporating 1.27 kW of ampliﬁcation per system (400 W + 400 W + 350 W + 120 W). Systems of this size and greater should be referred to Genelec for additional consultation. The ‘C’ in HT324AC stands for Center but this loudspeaker can also be used vertically mounted in other locations where space is at a premium. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 370 m3 (13,000 ft3) and listening distances up to 8.5 m (28 ft).

HT330A

The Genelec HT330A features dual 15” bass drivers, a 5” midrange driver and a 1” metal dome tweeter that are powered respectively by 400 W + 400 W + 350 W + 120 W of ampliﬁcation per system. Installation of this size should be referred to Genelec for additional consultation and installation planning. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 500 m3 (17,600 ft3) and listening distances up to 10 m (33 ft).

1036A

The 1036A comes with 3.1 kW of ampliﬁcation per loudspeaker enclosure! Dual 18” bass drivers are powered by 2 x 1100 W ampliﬁers, the two 5” midrange drivers by a 600 W ampliﬁer and the 1” compression driver by a 300 W ampliﬁer. A Home Theater project using such a large system presents structural challenges that require planning and support in the construction phase, so contact your distributor for advice. This type of system is recommended for room volumes up to 850 m3 (30,000 ft3) and listening distances up to 15.5 m (50 ft).

AIW25 In-Wall

The AIW25 is Genelec’s smallest In-wall loudspeaker consisting of a two-way loudspeaker enclosure and a matched remote ampliﬁer module RAM2. The 5” woofer and the ¾” dome tweeter drivers are each connected to separate RAM2 ampliﬁer module that can be rack mounted with its dedicated optional 4U high RAM2-405 Rack mount adapter, or placed on a shelf or into a cabinet. Any 4-core loudspeaker wire is then run to the loudspeaker enclosure. The AIW25 can be used in demanding applications: as main L-C-R array of a Home Theater system, for critical Stereo listening or rear/side channels of a medium sized, high quality Home Theater. The loudspeaker ﬁts into a standard 2 x 4” wall structure.

AIW26 In-Wall

The AIW26 is Genelec’s answer for the need to hide powerful side and rear loudspeakers. The AIW26 comes as a complete ported enclosure ﬁtting into a standard 2 x 4” wall structure. The 6.5” woofer and the ¾” dome tweeter drivers are each connected to separate 120 W ampliﬁers housed in the RAM1 ampliﬁer module. This external unit can be placed in a rack with the source equipment, placed on a shelf or hidden away near the loudspeaker enclosure. Any 4-core loudspeaker wire is then run to the loudspeaker enclosure. The 4U high RAM1401 is an optional rack mount kit for the RAM1 ampliﬁer module that can house up to three RAM1 ampliﬁer modules.

AIC25 In-Ceiling

The AIC25 In-Ceiling loudspeaker consisting of a two-way loudspeaker enclosure and a matched remote ampliﬁer module RAM2. The 5” woofer and the ¾” dome tweeter drivers are each connected to separate RAM2 ampliﬁer module that can be rack mounted with its dedicated optional 4U high RAM2-405 Rack mount adapter, or placed on a shelf or into a cabinet. Any 4-core loudspeaker wire (the cable length deﬁnes the required thickness) is then run to the loudspeaker enclosure. The enclosure requires only 158 mm (6 7/32”) of free depth inside the ceiling structure and can easily be retroﬁtted into existing constructions.

6040A

The 6040A is a radically different product from Genelec with an emphasis on design, form and acoustic performance. The 6040A can be utilized in either a stereo system or high-tech multichannel conﬁgurations. This stylish enclosure, inspired by designer Harri Koskinen from Finland, is made entirely from elegant die-cast aluminium and will ﬁt into any modern environment. The 7” woofer and the ¾” dome tweeter drivers are each connected to separate 120 W ampliﬁers housed in the loudspeaker’s base.

5050A Subwoofer

The Genelec 5050A Active Home Theater subwoofer is a powerful and very compact loudspeaker featuring one magnetically shielded active 8” driver mounted on the front side and two 8” passive radiators, one on each side of the enclosure. A 70 Watt power ampliﬁer is integrated into the subwoofer which has a frequency response from 25 Hz - 120 Hz and delivers a maximum SPL output of 104 dB with extremely low distortion levels.

HTS3B & HTS4B Subwoofers

Genelec’s Active Home Theater subwoofers, the HTS3B and HTS4B, deliver tight and powerful bass down to 18 Hz. Both subwoofers share the same design layout with one magnetically shielded active loudspeaker driver and two passive radiators. The HTS3B has a 10” driver and passive radiators powered by a 200 W ampliﬁer, whereas the HTS4B has 12” drivers and a 400 W ampliﬁer. Both the HTS3B and HTS4B have a frequency response from 18 Hz to 120 Hz and the maximum SPL output is 113 dB and 117 dB respectively.

HTS6 Subwoofer

The HTS6 is designed to support Genelec’s three way loudspeakers in medium sized or large Home Theater Systems. It features a 19 - 120 Hz frequency response, four magnetically shielded 12” drivers, a total of 1000 W of ampliﬁer power delivering a maximum SPL of 129 dB.

DI8A Active Balancer

The DI8A Active Balancer converts 8 unbalanced line signals to balanced line signals thereby reducing their susceptibility to electronic interference. Most processors available today have unbalanced RCA outputs and all of the Genelec Home Theater Systems have XLR balanced line inputs so the DI8A is an excellent way to ensure noise free transmission of the signal. Gain adjustment switches allow the gain of each channel to be increased by +6 dB if the output level of the processor is insufﬁcient for the loudspeaker input. Channel 8 also features dual outputs.

1.4.2 Enclosure Colours and Finishes

Different enclosure ﬁnishes are available depending on the product type: The die-cast aluminium enclosure of the 6020A is only available in black, the HT205 is available in white, silver, grey and black ﬁnishes. The HT206B, HT208B and HT210B wooden enclosures are only available in black ﬁnish. The 6040A is available in silver ﬁnish. The AIW25 and AIW26 In-Wall and the AIC25 In-Ceiling loudspeakers can be spray painted to match any colour scheme. All three-way active Home Theater loudspeakers are available in black ﬁnish only as the enclosures are normally hidden. The 5050A, HTS3B and HTS4B subwoofers are available in dark grey mat ﬁnish, while the HTS6 subwoofer has a durable painted black ﬁnish.

2 Planning The Installation of Genelec Products

The room size and the listening/viewing distance are the two criteria that drive any successful surround sound environment. Because Genelec designs and manufacturers many different sized models, there is a loudspeaker available to ﬁt into any sized environment.

2.1 Terms used in this Guide

There are two terms used in this guide that should be deﬁned before reading any further:

Loudspeaker - The physical device that makes the sound in the listening room (in this case, ampliﬁer, crossover, enclosure and drivers).

Channel - The signal fed into the loudspeaker as decoded by the surround sound processor.

In 5.1 discrete surround sound systems there are ﬁve full bandwidth main channels (Left, Center, Right, Rear Left and Rear Right) and a band limited channel (LFE). There is an important distinction here; for example, the center channel is the signal that represents the sound that should be reproduced by the center loudspeaker. Another more complicated example is that the LFE channel is often called the ‘subwoofer channel’. This is only true in the movie industry where a subwoofer is connected directly to a LFE channel and bass management is not used. In Home Theater, the subwoofer is used to reproduce some, or all, of the LFE channel and, if bass management is used, some of the main channels too. The signal that feeds the subwoofer is then often called the ‘subwoofer channel’. Other surround sound systems have more channels, which are explained later.

2.2 Room Size Speciﬁcation

Probably the ﬁrst known factor when designing a new Home Theater is the space where the Home Theater will be. Product selection is based upon the cubic volume of the listening environment. If it is an irregular shaped room, it is best to use the larger set of dimensions, that is, to play on the safe side.

See Section 2.10 Selecting the Right Model for a chart to select the correct loudspeaker model for a given room volume.

2.3 Listening Distance

One of the ﬁrst decisions that should be made is what is the size of the video image and how far is the screen from the center of the seating area? This will affect which Genelec models are selected. All Genelec models (except subwoofers) feature the DCWTM (Directivity Control WaveguideTM) technology. The DCWTM is used to control the dispersion pattern of the tweeter driver (and the midrange driver in three-way systems) in both the horizontal and vertical axis. Moving to larger models in the Genelec product line increases the possible distance from the loudspeaker to the listening area as the dispersion characteristics are optimized for longer listening distances.

See Section 2.10 Selecting the Right Model for a chart to select the correct loudspeaker model for a given listening distance.

2.4 Front Loudspeakers - A Model for Every Requirement

The Genelec Active Home Theater range is a little different than the offering of conventional hi-ﬁ loudspeaker manufacturers. The Genelec range is application speciﬁc. In other words, if your room is a certain size, the listening distance is a certain length or a particular SPL is required in the listening area, then there is a model in the product line to satisfy most needs. The Genelec range has a consistent design philosophy from the 6020A all the way up to the 1036A. This is clear from the outside but is also true of the parts that cannot be seen. Modern design methods give modularity beneﬁts that enable efﬁcient manufacturing techniques to be used in production. This ensures that all the products have a consistent performance straight out of the box and are reliable in use.

2.5 Center Channel Loudspeakers

There are three main factors to consider when choosing and using center loudspeakers:

2.5.1 Center Loudspeaker Design

Conventional two-way ‘center’ loudspeaker designs are inherently compromised in the power response (the total radiated energy into the room). The driver spacing leads to horizontal off-axis cancellations around the high-pass crossover in the horizontal direction. In addition, the use of three drivers positioned in a line narrows the directivity in the plane of the drivers, i.e. horizontally. This severely compromises the sound quality for people sitting to the left and right of the center of the room, i.e. off-axis.

Given these two-way center loudspeaker design compromises and the recommendations from Dolby, DTS and others that, in an ideal surround sound system, the front loudspeakers are all the same for good timbre matching, the best choice for a center loudspeaker is another loudspeaker that it is the same as that used for the left and right loudspeakers. For example, the best match for an HT208B is another HT208B!

In three-way designs, the bass/midrange driver crossover frequency is much lower so the above acoustical problems are far less signiﬁcant as the DCWTM can be rotated so that the horizontal directivity is maintained in the midrange/treble driver crossover region.

Figure 2. - Mounting the center loudspeaker above an unperforated projection screen

2.5.2 Center Loudspeaker Enclosure Location

Ideally, the center loudspeaker enclosure should be mounted at the same height as the picture so that the sound comes from the same place as the picture, however this is not always possible as demonstrated in the following two cases:

Perforated projection screens

The loudspeaker enclosure can be mounted in the center of the picture but there is a compromise to the frequency response - see Graph 1 in Section 3.7 Acoustically ‘Transparent’ Screens. Some perforated projection screens are acoustically more transparent than others, however, this should be weighed against corresponding compromises in the picture quality.

Large CRT’s, rear projecting displays and unperforated projection screens

The loudspeaker enclosure should be placed ABOVE the screen. This will reduce the effects of the ﬂoor reﬂection as the reﬂection distance and angle are both increased. Doing this will cause the ceiling reﬂection to become signiﬁcant but this can be easily treated by adding some thin (5 cm / 2” rock wool) damping material to the ceiling - see Figure 2. The loudspeaker enclosure should never be placed behind an unperforated projection screen - See Section 3.7 Acoustically ‘Transparent’ Screens.

2.5.3 Center Loudspeaker Enclosure Orientation

In the case of Genelec’s larger three-way center channel systems, the bass/mid crossover frequency is much lower so the horizontal off-axis cancellations do not occur here. There will however be a cancellation at the mid/treble driver crossover but this can be overcome by orienting the DCWTM vertically so that the crossover cancellation is then in the vertical direction, i.e. not audible due to the ﬁxed listening height.

Two-way systems should normally be positioned vertically to avoid audible off-axis cancellations at the crossover frequency. When positioned in this way, the crossover cancellation will be in the vertical direction (not a problem as the listening height is ﬁxed) and the horizontal listening window will be wide and clean of abnormalities. However, if there is limited space, for example, when large CRT or unperforated projection screens are used, then the loudspeaker enclosure can be placed horizontally but with this known compromise. See Section 2.10 Selecting the Right Model for a table on which center loudspeaker to select for a given room volume and listening distance.

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Genelec Home Theater System Design And Installation Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual