Genesis 5.3, G5 Owners Manual And Set-up Manual

absolute fidelity™

Owners Manual and Set-up Guide:

Genesis 5.3 Loudspeaker

Contents

SET-UP GUIDE 3

UNPACKING 3
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED 3
ROOM PLACEMENT 5
POWER CONNECTIONS 6
SOURCE INPUT CONNECTIONS 7
THE ACOUSTIC PLATFORM 8
CONTROLS 8

TUNING THE SYSTEM 9

ADJUSTING THE BASS GAIN 10
LOW PASS FILTER 11
IMAGING AND SOUNDSTAGE 12
SOUNDSTAGE HEIGHT 13
TUNING INTO THE ROOM 13

HOME THEATER AND MULTI-CHANNEL MUSIC 14

LFE INPUT 15
LFE GAIN 15
LFE OUTPUT 16

THE REFINEMENT STAGE 16

ROOM TREATMENT 18
MASTERING THE REFINEMENTS OF THE SYSTEM 19

THE TECHNOLOGY 20

T

HE GENESIS RIBBON TWEETER 20

TITANIUM MIDRANGE 20
MID-BASS COUPLERS 21

HE SERVO-BASS ADVANTAGE 21

T
ALUMINIUM-CONE WOOFERS 22
500

WATT CLASS D SERVO AMPLIFIER 23

HE ACOUSTIC SUSPENSION 23

T
S

PECIFICATIONS 25

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A Message from Genesis

Congratulations! You are now the owner of one of the finest
loudspeaker systems in the world. Based on technologies developed
and evolved ov er the pa st fou r decade s, the Ge nesis 5 ve r 3 is a
small 4-ft tall floor-standing loudspeaker, and yet it delivers some of
the dynamics, imaging and soundstage of our largest 7-foot tall 1½
ton refere nce Gene sis 1 pro duct.

The G5 loudspeaker system was created for the music lover living in
smaller environments. It is designed to reproduce music (and film) at
live listening levels with virtually no restrictions on dynamic range,
frequency response, or imaging capabilities. This is what we mean

by

absolute fidelity™, the ability to reproduce the musical event

faithfully, as was inte nded by th e perf ormer, or the fil m-make r.
Standing 46 inches tall, and only 11 inches (13 ¼” including base)

wide, the Gene sis 5 i s a di minu tive gia nt. B y m ean s o f an act iv e
servo-feedback bass system, response down to 18Hz is achieved,
and the full range and impact of a symphony orchestra or a rock
band can be reproduced.

With adjustable tweeter, midrange, and bass controls, the G5 can be
tuned into any room. Th e adj ustabl e acoust ic plat form susp ensi on
system also allows the G5 to be ideally sited on all types of flooring –
from the typi cal joist -susp ended car pet-c overed floor boards in the
USA, to un even te rrac ot ta t iles in an I tal ian vill a, and fl agst ones in an
English castle.

Please read this Owners Manual and Set-up Guide to get the
maximum enjoyment out of your purchase. Also, if you have access
to the Internet, please check back at our website often. The address
is www.genesisloud spea kers.c om

. We will put the latest updates,

tips and tricks, and support for our owners on our website.

Please write the serial number and purch ase detai l s o f your
Genesis 5.3 here for future reference.

Bought at: ____________ ___ ___ _______ Date: __________

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Set-up Guide

Now that you have your new Genesis 5 loudspeaker system, we
realize th at y ou c an’ t wait to hoo k it up and star t p lay ing! Ho weve r,
please re ad t his set up g uid e ( even if y our de aler is sett ing it u p f or
you!) before you proceed.

Unpacking

Your loudspeakers will come to you in two large shipping cartons
and a smaller box containing the acoustic suspension. The G5’s
weigh over 145lbs (66kgs) each, so we suggest a minimum of two
strong people to move the speakers around. We will not be held
liable for damage (to either the speakers or your backs!) during
unpacking and setting up if you ignore this basic advice.

Please collapse and store your packaging material in case you need
to ship the speakers later. You WILL need all your packaging
material to transport your speakers safely.

Some Assembly Required

The new G5’s come with a unique acoustic suspension, and this will
need to be attached to the bottom of the loudspeaker. Your dealer
should be responsible for assembling this. However, should you be
attempting this yourself, we recommend that you get a friend to help.
The speaker is large and heavy, and it will require at least two strong
pairs of hand s and two st rong ba cks to mov e it arou nd.

First, identify the parts of the acoustic suspension – there will be two
suspension frames, eight neoprene vibration absorbers, eight spikes
and the as soci ated bo lts and w as her s. N ext, mov e t he s pea ker
close to where you will be placing them before assembling the
suspension. (Please see the next section on Room Placement.) A
145 lb loudspeaker with spiked feet will be very difficult to move!

Once you get the speakers close to
where they will be placed, remove the
two foam pieces from the top and
bottom of the shipping cartons, and
lay them down on the floor beside the
speakers. Then, carefully lay the
speakers on their sides on top of the
shipping foa m pieces . If the sh ippi ng
tape (see picture) is still on the

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speaker, do n ot rem ove i t a t th is poi nt i n ti me. Th e ta pe p rot ects t he
finish on the sp eaker s and you sh ould re move it only afte r you have
completed se tting up the suspen sion syst em.

Locate the screw holes on each corner of
the bottom of the speak er, and sc rew th e
vibration abso rber s in . Th ese sho uld only
be finger-tight. Do not force or over
tighten. There will be four vibration
absorbers – one for each corner of the
loudspeaker.

Next, you w ill a tta ch t he susp ensi on
frame to the vibration absorbers. The
suspension frame comes as a mirror­image pair. It does no t matter wh ich one
is on the left an d which o ne is on th e
right.

However, wha t is impor tant is to ident ify the top and bot tom, an d the
front and back of the frame. Look at the holes at each corner of the
frame. The to p and bott om of the f rame is di ffere nt as ill ustra ted in
the two pictur es bel ow. Th ere is a re cess fo r the wash er and bolt-

This side faces up

This side faces down

head on the bottom face of the suspension frame.
There is also a circular hole in the middle of the frame that is always

oriented tow ards t he front of the loud speake r.

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Use the included bolts and washers to attach the frame to the
suspension. Align the mounting holes in the suspension frame to the
vibration ab sorbe rs mounte d on the ca bine t, and screw the bolts i n
one at a time. Finger-tighten all four before using an allen (hex)
wrench to tighten the bolts.

The spikes attach from the top of the frame. A washer and a lock nut
is supplied to secure the spike at the bottom. However, before you
put the spikes in, you may want to first position the speakers as a
145lb speaker with spiked feet is going to be very difficult to move.

Now, lift the speaker up on its feet and remove the shipping tape that
protects the finish of the loudspeaker during transport.

Room Placement

A good starting positio n fo r y our G5 is abou t 20% the way into t he
room as me asur ed from the front wall (the wall y ou look at as y ou
are seated listening to the speakers), six feet (~2m) apart, and firing
straight ahead with no toe-in. You will want to sit ten to twelve feet
(3m – 4m) away from the speakers, and have at least 24inches
(60cm) from the back of the speaker to the wall.

Typical room placement: Place speakers about 20% of the

way into the room and 10 to 12 feet from the listeners

6’ to 8’

10’ to 12’

20% 80%

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If you are in a smaller room, try to have at least 24 inches (60 cm) of
space from the back of the speaker to the front wall. You may have
to sit closer to the back wall, or sit closer to the speakers, but try to
keep at least 24 inches o f spac e behind the spea kers.

Start with the speakers six feet apart, and not toed-in. You will want
to sit at least 10 feet (3 metres) away from the speakers for proper
integration of the drivers. We will experiment with moving the
speakers around, and toeing them in later.

Power Connection s

There are two conn ectio n s yo u wil l need
to make to the G5. First, the power cord
for the built-in amplifier will need to be
plugged into a power socket. A 10-foot
power cord is included with your speakers
for this purpose. We do not recommend
using an extension cord for the G5 due to
the high pow er dem ands of th e 500 W
amplifier. How ev er, if yo u MU ST use an
extension cord, use an extremely heavy
duty one. The amplifier can draw up to 10
amps at 115v, hence make sure that the
extension co rd is ad equa tely ra ted.

Before you plug the power cord in, please
make sure t hat the vol tag e se lect or i s se t
to the proper voltage. Japan and North
America will re qui re the 115v se tting.
Most European countries and other Asian
countries wil l requi re 230v. The fuse is a
5amp 250v slow blo w irr ega rdl ess of
voltage us ed.

There is an on/off switch for the power
amplifier. This switch should alw ays be
left on. We recommend that you plug the
G5 into an unswitched outlet, or a

switched outl et th at can alw ays be l eft ON.
The built-in amplifier has an auto-sensing circuit that will put the

amplifier into muted stand-by when there is no music being played

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for around 25 minutes. It will immediately switch the amplifier on if
there is a s ig nal sens ed.

Hence, leave the amplifier on unless you will not be using the
system for an extended period of time (like a month-long vacation).
When you return, the system may sometimes encounter what we
call a cold-start problem. After the amplifier has been turned off for
an extended period of time, it may squeal when first turned on.

Leave the amp squealing for 15 seconds (it won’t hurt the
loudspeaker). Then turn it off. Wait another 15 seconds, and turn it
on again. If it stops squealing, well and good. If not, leave squealing
for a bit longer this time (an additional 15 seconds), and turn it off.
Repeat until the loudspeaker stops squealing. It should take no more
than two to three times before the amplifier warms up and stops
squealing.

Source Input Conne ctions

Connect the speaker-level output of your power amplifier to the High
Level Input binding posts using a high-quality loudspeaker cable.
Make sure that you have the correct polarity connected for both
speakers – the plus or positive (red) terminal on the G5 should be
connected to the plus , posit ive, or red termi nal o n your po wer
amplifier.

The Bass Input selector switch should be in the up or high-level
position – pointing to the inputs being used. This is the
recommended hook-up, both sonically and for convenience.

Nevertheless, if you know that your power amplifier may be
deficient in the bass, or does not have a response flat down to
18Hz (such as some Single-ended Triode amplifiers), you may
wish to connect the bass section of the G5 directly to your
preamplifier instead.

If you use the low-level inputs for the servo-bass of the G5, you
will need to check for the phase correctness of your power
amplifier. If your power amplifier inverts phase, you will need to
invert the high-level inputs when the bass section of the G5 is
driven by the p ream plifie r.

If you do this, use a good quality balanced interconnect cable to
connect the balanced output of your preamplifier to the preamp

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level input XLR connector, or the single-ended output of your
preamplifier to the preamp level input RCA connector on the back
plate of the G5.

While using this connection, switch the Bass Input Selector to the
down/line-level position. This will bypass the high-level input from
the servo amp, and the bass input is taken directly from the low­level inputs.

Do NOT connect both the XLR and RCA inputs at the same time.
If you are planning to use long runs (over 10 feet or 3m) of

interconnect to connect the line-level inputs of your G5 to your
preamplifier, we recommend that you use a balanced connection.

The Acoustic Platfo rm

The G5 sits on a susp ension
system designed to allow the
loudspeaker to perform at its
optimum. It consists of three
elements – neoprene vibration­absorbing de-couplers, a tuned
skeletal frame, and stainless steel
spikes. The sy stem ho lds the
loudspeake r fi rmly , a nd y et isol ates
it from the floor on which it sits.

frame, and use your fingers to screw the spikes down to raise the
speaker off the floor so that it only rests on the spikes and no part of
the frame touc hes the fl oor. L ock nuts are prov ided to secure the
spikes. These are threaded on to the spikes from the bottom.

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After you have positioned the
speakers, in sert the sup plie d spikes
from the top of the suspension

Controls

There are a total of five control knobs
in two rows on the back pla te of the
Genesis 5 loudspeaker.

The upper left knob on the back
plate marked “Tweeter” is a volume
control for the front tweeter. Turning

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this control clockwise will increase the level of t he fro nt tw eeter.
Use this control if you ne ed a bit mor e treb le or to increase the
apparent space of the soundstage. Start with this control at the
12 o'clock position. There is about a one dB range for this
control. The 12 o’clock straight up position is nominal for all
controls.

The upper right knob marked “Midrange”is used to adjust the
level of the midrange. Again, start this at the 12 o’clock position.
Turning the control anti-clockwise (or counter-clockwise) will
make the midrange sound more laid-back, and turning it
clockwise will make the midrange more forward. There is about a
one-and-a-half dB range for this c ontrol .

The knob on the middle of the lower
row of knobs marked “Bass Gain”
controls the volume of the built-in bass
servo amplifier. Begin with this control
at 6 (the 12 o’clock position). Adjusting
the gain higher will make the
loudspeaker sound “fuller” and more
bass-heavy.

The knob on the middle right marked “Low Pass” controls how
high the woofer will play. At the extreme low of 71Hz, the woofer
will play up to 71Hz, and then begin rolling off, or reducing its
volume, above this frequency. The recommended beginning
position for this control is 90Hz. Adjusting the crossover point up
will make the G5 sound warmer and fuller in the mid-bass.

The knob on the left marked “LFE Gain” is used for home theatre
applications, so ignore it for the time being.

T uning the system

Two channel stereo music is the best way to begin your setup
procedure. We suggest that multi-channel and video sources be
used only after you have setup the system to properly reproduce
music. The room in which the G5 is placed would probably be the
greatest infl uenc e on the so und of th e loudspea ker.

Since we do not live in anechoic chambers, at Genesis, we do not
design our loudspeakers to work perfectly in a perfectly damped

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room. The amount of hard/soft and absorbent/reflecting surfaces will
affect the sound of the speakers tremendously.

A room with solid concrete or brick walls, floors and ceiling will have
much more bass than if the walls were made of plasterboard, with a
suspended fl oor and fal se cei ling. An ov er-stu ffed le ather sofa will
absorb diff erent frequenci es to differ ent exte nts fro m a light fa bric­covered a rmc hai r. S o, y ou may ev en find tha t yo u w ill w an t t o r e­tune your system when you change the furnishings in the room.

We suggest that you start your tuning with a single vocal with simple
instrumen tal ac compan iment becaus e the soun d of the hu man voice
is mo re ea si ly re co gn i za bl e t ha n m any instruments and is the least
complex sound to deal with. A male voice, or a low female voice is
the easiest to start working with.

Adjusting the Bass Gain

Leave the low pass filter alone for the moment, as it should remain
se t at approximately 9 0 Hz. T his con tr ol will be ad d res se d lat e r.

Turn the gain control of the woofer amplifier up or down until the
voice sounds correct. Whatever controls you use, turn them up and
down only a little at a time. It is easy to turn it up or down too much.
However, the 12 o’clock position is only the starting point. Different
room construction and size will greatly influence the setting of the
bass gain.

If your room has “lossy” walls instead of solid brick or concrete walls,
you may find that the bass settings may need to be higher. If you
have a sealed room with no bass loss, the bass gain may be set as
low as 2 or 3.

Concentrate on the mid-bass regions (as opposed to the very low
bass in your re cordi ng) to ac hiev e a natur al blen d. The v oice an d the
music accomp animent shoul d sound as if it were cut from on e cloth,
not separate.

If the voice sounds “thin” or does not have enough “chest” to its
sound, tu rn t he w oof ers am plifi er’ s gain up till i t d oes. If y ou fi nd that
turning the volume up creates too much low bass and makes the
speakers sound boomy, you will then need to work on the low pass
filter.

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Low Pass filter

This control will lower the upper-frequency cut-off point of the
woofer. It does not affect the lower-frequency cut-off point of the mid­bass couplers.

Turning the low pass filter up to a higher number will extend the
upper bass regions at the crossover point between the woofers and
the mid-bas s couple rs witho ut affe cting th e low bass lev el. Some
rooms may require you to set the low pass filter up to 130Hz, while
others will require you to lower it down to 80Hz.

Do not be afraid to increase this control to give the sound more body
or to make the balance “warmer”. There is a balance between the
setting of the bass gai n control and the lo w-pas s contr ol. The tr ick is
to find this balance.

A general rule of the thumb is to turn the low-pass filter as far
clockwise of th e 12 o’c lock ma rk as the bass gain contr ol is anti ­clockwise of the 12 o’c lock mark. For exa mple, if the bass gain is at
10 o’clock, the low-pass should be at 2 o’clock. If the bass gain is at
1 o’clock, the low pass should be at 11 o’clock.

Next, set the woof ers usin g m ore tha n ju st a voic e. S el ect s ome
music that you know to hav e good de ep bass . Set the g ain on the
woofers for a natural and powerful bass sound. Use a symphonic
piece of music if you can, or use a natural bass instrument for your
guide. Try to make it sound real. You may have to return to the vocal
to make sure you have not gone too far in one direction or the other.

At this point, if there is not enough mid bass, turn the low pass
number to a high er posi tion or, alte rnat ely, posi tion th e main
speakers closer together in order to achieve better mid bass
coupling between the main speakers. If it sounds too “fat” turn the
low pass control down or adjust the volume.

Small rooms have more bass gain, hence the smaller the room, the
higher the low-pass frequency to use, and the lower the bass gain
level. The larger the room, the lower the low-pass frequency to use,
and the higher the bass gain. The two knobs are turned in opposite
directions – w hat y o u wan t t o ac hi eve is b alan ce.

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Imaging and Sound stage

If your vocal selection i s a we ll- rec ord ed audi ophile CD or LP, the
performer should appear to come from behind the loudspeakers and
be at the appropriate height and size for a person. If it is not, there
are seve ral remedies t hat will address this.

If the vocal appears to be larger than life, you should first check the
system volume . Is it a v olum e th at would be app r op ri at e fo r
someone actually singing in your room? If there is too much
volume the artist will appear too big and the opposite is true
for too little volume.

If the volume is set correctly and the image is still too big, place
the speakers closer together and listen again. Place the speakers
no less than 5 feet apart. If the image is still too big, toe the
speakers in by a slight amount.

Conversely, if the im a ge is too sm all , mov e the spe ake r s apa r t.
The speakers shoul d be no mo re than nine feet apart. Rep ea t
this process till you have it right. If th e v oice is too low in height,
turn the midrange control up (turni ng the knob clockwise ) a n d t h e
image of the v oic e will mov e u pwa rd sl igh tly. H owev er, this will al so
at the same time make the speakers sound more forward.

If you have the speakers 20% of the way into the room, and you are
not getting enough front to back depth (the singer not appearing
behind the speaker enough) pull the speakers away from the front
wall a little bit at a time. If you do not have them pulled far enough
away, you may not have enough front to back depth. However,
slightly more than 1/3 of th e way i nt o the ro o m is ab ou t as fa r as
you want to go. Pulling them half-way into the middle of the room
is unlikely to help (and probably incur the wrath of your spouse).

Find the best compromise for your room, your tastes and your space
requirements. If you are not getting proper focus on the voice, you
may angle the left and right speaker up to about 15 to 20 degrees
(toe-in) towards your listening position until you have a properly
defined center image.

If the speakers are too far apart you will lose the side image and if
they are too close together you will have too small a center stage. If
the speakers ar e far apa rt and toed-in si gnifi cantly, you will fin d that
you will only have a small sweet spot in which to sit and enjoy your

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music. When these speakers are properly set up, you will have a
sweet spot wide enough for you and your partner. When you sway
side to side whil e enjoyi ng the m usic, th e image an d tonali ty of the
system should not waver.

The spikes on the acoustic suspension give you an additional control
over the heig ht of the soundst age. Ti lting th e front of the
loudspeake r up and d own will af fect th e height o f the sou ndstage
depending on the furnishings and wall coverings in your listening
room. In some rooms with hard walls, tilting the front of the speaker
up will lower the soundstage. In other rooms, it will raise the
soundstage . Ex pe rimen t!

When properly set up v ery little s ound should appear to come
directly from the speaker, instead, the so u nd s t ag e should extend
far beyond the left and right edge of the loudspeakers and they
should have tremendous front to back depth. When the recording is
close miked (when the instrument or performer is very close to the
recording microphone) the music may appear to come directly
from the loudspeaker. This i s n or ma l. Ty pi ca l ly , h ow ev er , t he s ou nd
should appear to be detached from the loudspeakers.

A simple ru le of t hum b to fol low is that focus wi ll be achi ev ed by
placing the speakers closer together or farther apart, and front to
back depth can be adjusted by the distance from the rear wall.
Further, as the system “breaks in”, the depth and width of the
soundstage will inc rease and so will the “smooth ness ” of the soun d.

Soundstage Height

A unique feature of the acoustic suspension is the ability to alter the
height and shape of the soundstage. If the soundstage is deemed to
be too low , in cre ase the height of t he s pikes at th e BA CK of t he
loudspeaker. If the height of the soundstage is too high, increase the
height at the FRONT of the speaker.

Do not extend the spikes all the way to the end, as long as no part of
the acoustic suspensi on touc hes a har d floor , make the s pikes as
low as possible.

Tuning into the room

There are no absolute rules concerning the speaker/room
coupling, so do not be afraid to experiment with speaker

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placement for best results. Positioning the speakers within the
room will significantly affect the quality of the bass.

This is because of standing waves caused by bass modes in the
room. Hence, you should experiment with asymmetric positioning
in the room. Do not have your speakers the same distance from
the side and front walls – try putting them closer to the left or the
right wall. If the speakers are equidistance from side and front wall,
you may find strange suck-outs at some frequencies.

In some problematic rooms a resonance may develop at one or
two frequencies that is unnatural to th e music. B y mov ing t he
speakers closer to the front/side wall or farther

wall, the resonance may be reduced at the listener’s position.
The amount of hard and soft surfaces in your room will also affect

the tonal balance of your loudspeakers. For example, with lots of
very hard surfaces such as marble or granite floors, large picture
windows, and concrete walls, you may find that the room is very
bright and you will have to turn the tweeter control down
significantly.

from the front/side

On the other hand, large sofas and arm-chairs tend to absorb
frequencies in the lower mid-range and mid-bass. When your
room is full of furniture, you may find that you have to turn down
the tweeter, midrange, and bass gain.

Ultimately, an enjoyable and musical system is all about balance.
You have a number of controls at hand with which to adjust the
bass response, the low-pass filter frequency and woofer volume.
You can also move the speakers closer together for better
speaker-to-speaker mid-bass coupling, or further apart for less.

You can tilt the tonality of the speaker towards bright or dry with
the tweeter control, and forward or laid-back with the midrange
control.

Home Theater and Multi-Channel Music

While the Genesis 5.3 was designed with the audiophile in mind, its
performance and features make it ideal for Home Theater as well.
The G5 is truly a full frequency loudspeaker that satisfies the
requirement for THX™, Dolby Digital and DTS cinema

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reproducti on. Ho weve r t he c ombi nati o n of th e low f reque ncy
capability and a unique set of controls and connections on the G5
provide Home Theater users benefits beyond other loudspeakers on
the market.

In essence, the G5 has a servo-controlled subwoofer already
included in each speaker. This capability allows the G5 to
reproduce the low frequency effects (LFE) signal available on all
modern movie decode rs. An addi tion al bene fit of us ing this feat ure
is that the LFE will come from two (or more) locations in your room
versus using a single subwoofer for LFE. Utilizing this capability
dramatically reduces room bass mode and bass node problems.
This results in smoother bass integration in the room, and a huge
system impact capability.

LFE Input

The Low Frequency Effects (LFE) input allows the G5 to be used in
addition to, or in place of, a separate sub-woofer. The LFE input
blends the low frequency effects signal from the home theatre
processor into the woofer section of the speakers.

The LFE input bypasses the internal crossover, and hence uses the
home theatre processor’s crossover. Since the G5 is able to play
down to 18Hz, th e bass sec tion can also be us ed as you r Home
Theater System’s LFE sub-woofer if you do not have one – even if
you are using a completely different set of loudspeakers for your
home theatre system!

On the home theatre processor, set the speakers to “LARGE” and
sub-woofe r to “YE S” even if yo u do not hav e a se parat e sub-wo ofer.
Then, take the sub-woofer line-level output from the processor, and
plug it into the “LFE IN” connector on the G5.

If you are planning to use long runs (more than 10 feet) of
interconnects to connect the line-level LFE inputs of your G5 to
your processor, we suggest that you use the balanced XLR inputs.

For runs of interconnect less than 10 feet (3 metres), a single­ended interconnect can be used.

LFE Gain

The G5 has a knob th at cont rols LFE GAIN separately fro m the BASS
GAIN. This allows you to have the G5’s plugged both into your

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audiophile stereo system as well as your home theatre system at the
same time without conflicts. The usual way to control the level of the
LFE output is to set the L FE gain to 6 – the twelv e o’cl ock posi tion –
and then use the home theatre processors level control to dial in the
level. However, having the LFE gain control allows you to tune the
LFE if your two sy stems hav e compl etely differ ent ga in struc ture.

LFE Output

Along with the L FE input , the G5 ha s a unique capabi lity of LF E
output. This is a true powered buffered balanced output, and hence,
can convert a single-ended input signal into a true balanced output.
This buffered output can be use d to daisy chain th e LFE sign al to
other LFE inputs including other G5 speakers and separate
subwoofers.

Thus, it is possible to channel the LFE signal from your home
theatre proc esso r to one sp eaker , and the n from tha t speake r to
another, and to another, and to another!

Distributing the bass is also helpful for reproduction of multi-channel
music becaus e you get inc redibl e articu lation and deta il in the b ass
all around th e room.

The Refinement stage

After following the rough setup guide above, you may not be
completely sat isfie d wi th the results. We share with y ou here some
of our observations in setting up these l ou d s p ea ke r s .

One rule of t humb y ou s h ould alway s k eep in m ind . M ake one
change at a t ime! Do no t, for i ns tanc e, c han ge p osi tion of the
speakers and make an adjustment to the tweeter, midrange, and
bass all at once. Make each of these changes separately and note
the difference - by listening - with each adjustment, then make the
next change.

A common problem we find with many set-ups is a tendency to
separate the speakers to o far fr om each other an d toe the m in too
much. This gives an unnaturally wide soundstage between the two
speakers, and creates problems beyond the unnatural width of the
center st age. It also re sult s in a v ery n arrow sw eet spo t th at i s r eally
only suitable for one per son wi th his he ad clamp ed still .

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The key problem is a lack of soundstage information beyond the left
and right sides of the speakers, a nd also a loss of foc us b etw een th e
speakers.

If you find that the sound is not spacious enough or y ou are not
getting enough front to back depth, pull the speaker away from the
front wall. This is typically preferable to separating the two speakers
too far and will almost always give you better depth and soundstage
information. A word of caution, however, if you move the speakers
too far from the front wall you may lose focus.

Yet anot her pro ble m i s a l ac k o f mid bass ener gy. In order f or the
appropriate amount of mid bass energy to be present, the s peakers
should be close enough together to achieve proper "coupling" of the
midrange driver and the mid-bass couplers . C oupling is desirable in
the lower frequencies from the mid-b ass on down. This simply
means that the left and right drivers "work together" as opposed to
working separately.

If you find there isn't enough deep bass, your f irst remedy is the
volume control on the woofer amplifier. This has several limitations.
First, tur ned up to o high, you may ge t some dis torti on on very low
frequencies or you may overdrive the amplifier.

Secondly, you may make the mid bass produced by the top of the
woofer out of proportion with the mid bass produced by the bottom
of the mid-bass coupler. This would tend to sound "boomy" in the
mid bass regions.

Another good rule of thumb is to first set the volume control of the
woofer fo r p rope r midbass rather than low bass. The theory is that if
the midbass is correct, then the low bass should be very clos e to
correct. If the midbass is proper and the low bass is still not right,
here are some other suggestions.

A good balance between proper low bass extension and a deep and
spacious soundstage needs to be established to optimize your
speaker's performance.

In order to achieve what the speaker is capable of we suggest you
focus your efforts on a proper balance of soundstage elements that
includes information beyond the left and right sides of the sp eakers,

front to back depth well behind the speaker, excellent focus of

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instruments and voices with proper vertical information and mid bass
fill.

A Genesis loudspeaker system correctly set up, can and should
provide a soundstage that “melts the walls of your room” and with
pinpoint focus. The speakers disappear completely on a recording
that has such quality.

Room Treatment

No room is perfect. To optimize your sonic presentation it may be
helpful add so me minima l acoust ic trea tment to your room. Her e are
some guidelines:

1. Front walls. This loudspeaker is a dipole and therefore there

is sound coming fro m both the front and the back of the
speaker. How the front wall is treated or not treated is
important. Generally speaking, the Genesis loudspeakers
prefer a live fron t wall to a de ad fro nt wall.

By these terms we mean the amount of reflection of sound. A
typical wall of glass or, brick, cement or drywall material is a
reflect iv e surface. A heavily curtained or sound absorbent

wall would be considered a "dead wall" or a non-reflective
wall. A normal thin curtain across a window causes only a
small amount of absorption. Hence, a curtained glass window
would just be about perfect.

2. Sidewalls. Because the speake r is a dipol e it is less sen sitiv e

to the sidewalls. However, as a rule of thumb, it is a good
idea to keep the sp eaker as far away from the sidewalls as is
practical. With this in mind, it may be helpful to add some
damping material o r diffu ser pan els to the point of first
reflection. This is a point on the sidewalls between the listener
and the lo uds peak er. It is where the sound fro m the
loudspeaker first hits the sidewall, then bounces to the
listener. This reflection is undesirable because it is sli ghtly
delayed from the original sound and “smears” pinpoint
imaging. This point on the sidewall can be easily determined
with the help of a second person and a mirror.

Sitting in your listening position have an assistant hold a
mirror up on the sidewa ll . Move the mirror until you can see
the tweeter. This is the point of first reflection. A diffuser (see

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your dealer ), an abs orptiv e mate rial or ev en a piece of
furniture (a rack of CDs or LPs is ideal) can help break up this
point of fi rst refl ecti on.

3. Rear wall. In many cases it will be unnecessary to do

anything with the wall behind your listening position unless
you are sitting very close to the rear wall. You may want to
experiment with diffusers or absorbers behind you for best
sound. Abso rpt ion behin d t he l iste ner is usual ly b e n e f ic i a l .

Mastering the Refinements of the system

Fine tuning an audio sys tem is an art tha t will ta ke time and
patience. It can be one of the more rewarding learning experiences
you will have i n the purs uit of mu sic and it s e nj o y m e n t .

Keep at it and remember to enjoy your music as you work on
perfecting your set-up. Use as wide a range of music and
performances as you can get a hold of in your set-up . The better you r
set-up, the better badly-recorded music will sound. If your syste m only
sounds great on a very small num ber of “refere nce recordi ngs”, then
you will be restricte d to enjoyin g a narrow range o f music.

One of the best pieces of advice we can offer is that you take
advantage o f the ear 's abili ty to id entify simil arities and diff erenc es in
sound. This ability is useful in fine tuning your system because if
every recording you listen to has a similarity of sound (too much or
too little of a certain frequency for instance) then you can be fairly
certain that you have yet to perfect your set-up.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at Genesis. Our
website is the first place that you can look to for more information,
but you are welcome to either send us an email, or just give us a
call!

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The Technology

The Genesis Ribbon Tw eeter

Reviewers in the Au diophi le pres s have of ten re mark ed that the
Genesis circular ribbon tweeter is the world’s best. It is a one inch
circular p la nar ri bbon desi gn c raf te d f rom a n ex t remely thin
membrane o f K apt on w ith a p hoto -et ched alum ini um “v oice coil ” t hat
is a mere 0.0005 inch thick. The entire radiating structure has less
mass than the air in front of it! That is why it will reproduce accurately
frequencies beyond 36k Hz.

The result of this design is a driver that has a rapid and uniform
response to hig h freque ncies, and has th e spee d of the be st
ribbon/ele ctrosta tic de signs wi thout t he high dis torti on and po or
dispersion that is typically associated with them.

The G5 use two of these tw eete rs per ch annel. One fro nt-fi ring, a nd
the other wir ed to the crossov er out of phase to the fro nt tweet er and
firing to the rear, creating a dipole. Dipoles radiate the same sound
from both fro nt and re ar out of phas e in “pus h/pull ” fashio n. Thus ,
the sound waves from the front and back of the speakers cancel out
as they radiate from the sides of the speakers; which means that
there is minimum radiation of sound to the sidewalls of the room.

The net result is that the G5 generate far fewer detail-robbing room
reflection s from the sidewall s than ot her typ es of loudsp eaker s. With
fewer spuri ous re flecti ons to confus e you r heari ng, the progr am
source emerges more clearly. Imaging is deeper, yet more focused.

Titanium Midrang e

We sometimes say that the midrange is a window into the mind of a
composer or a singer. And indeed, the midrange is where the
“magic” is in a well-recorded musical event.

The G5 us es a Gen esis -de si gned pr opr ieta ry 4 .5i nc h ti tani um c one d
midrange to cover this critical frequency spectrum. Machined out of
one of the lightest and stiffest materials known, this low mass cone
driver is one of the best midrange transducers ever made with nearly
instantaneous transient response, enabling the G5 to sound lifelike
and effortless.

The driver is housed in an enclosure that is open to the back. Thus,
the midrange operates as a dipole too.

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Mid-Bass Couplers

In order to create a “sound bridge” between the midrange and the
bass section, the G5 inc orpo rates tw o 6.5i nch metal co ne mi d-bass
couplers. On e fron t and one r ear fir ing, again wo rkin g as a dipol e.

Made of aluminum, this metal cone is extremely light and stiff. The
driver is hen ce capab le of hand ling th e huge dy namic range
demands of live music while maintaining extremely low coloration
and excellent transient response.

The Servo-bass Adv antage

Very few loudspeakers use servo drive, either because most
designers thin k that it is too diff icult to design, too expe nsive, or
because of the extraordinary demands a servo system makes on
the amplifier and the transducer.

The concept of the Genesis servo bass system is an easy one to
understan d: I t e mploy s, an a ccel ero mete r a s a sens or, t o co nsta ntly
monitor the movement of the woofer cone and instantaneously
compares it to the input signal. This comparison circuit identifies any
deviation from the input and instantaneously applies a corrective
signal to compensate, thus practically eliminating the inherent
distortion of the woofer!

As an example, when you have a high-impact, low-bass signal that
starts and st ops sudd enly (f or exam ple a tymp ani), the ine rtia of th e
woofer con e m akes it slow t o st art mov ing , and th en a fte r it i s
moving, the moment um of th e cone ma kes it c ontin ue movin g even
after the signal has stopped.

The sonic result is overhang, bloat, lack of tautness and definition,
and a blurring of dynamic impact. With the servo system, the circuit
senses that the woofer is not moving as fast as it should, and it
instantaneously applies much more current to make it move faster.

When the signal stops, it detects that the woofer will continue to
move when it shouldn’t and applies a counter-signal to stop the
woofer faster and more effectively than an open loop woofer could
possibly respond.

Thus, the servo-drive reduces distortion and improves transient
response by making the woofer seem ma ssles s. Typi cal no n-serv o
woofer systems have distortion levels that exceed 10% at even

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moderate leve ls. The Genesis servo ba ss syst em redu ces this
distortion to below one percent at almost any output level. It also
drives the woofer to constant acceleration, which makes its
frequency response totally flat!!

The servo system is a more proactive approach to controlling a
loudspeaker than high-damping factor and high current in the normal
amplifier. Howev er, this al so mean s that th e woofe r, the cabl es
attaching the woofer t o the ampl ifier, an d the powe r ampli fier ha s to
be designed as an integrated system. Thus, the Genesis 5 is
designed with a built-in 500W servo amplifier for the bass section.

Aluminium-cone Wo ofers

The transducer used in a servo system must be strong enough to
withstand the high current approach of the servo, and yet delicate
and light enough to react extremely quickly. The G5 features three
8-inch aluminium cone long-throw woofers per channel.

While the servo system is able to ensure that the driver works
linearly as a perfect piston, it is unable to correct for distortion
caused by cone wobble, bending, and break-up. Hence, the drivers
were designed to minimize these non-linear distortions, allowing the
servo system to most eff ectiv ely elim inate t he linear di stort ions.

The woofers are a uniquely designed metal cone driver made for the
Genesis serv o system . Made of a cone of s olid alumin ium, th e
suspension and voice-coil have been maximized for long distortion­free excurs ion so as to increa se dyna mic range . Our al uminiu m
cones are a magnitude stiffer than any plastic or paper cone on the
market, and virtually eliminate the problems caused by cone bending
and break-up.

The lowest break-up mode (where there can be any chance of
distortion at all) is at 6,000Hz – far above the 16Hz to 120Hz
frequency range at which these drivers operate. Therefore, the
driver is a perf ect pist on wit hin the frequenc ies us ed. Thus, low cone
break-up distortion is inherent in the driver designed for the G5.

Unlike the mid-bass couplers, midrange and the tweeters, which
operate in dipole, the three woofers in the G5 operate in phase as
an omni-p ole. Al l th ree woo fer s wo rk i n phas e t o c ont rol the ai r mas s
of the listening room. This means that the surface area of the three

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cones and the loudspeaker enclosure all work in unison to produce
bass output that descends evenly to below your hearing limits.

500 watt Class D Servo Ampl ifier

While the advantages of metal cones include extreme stiffness
resulting in very low distortion and break-up, one problem is that of
greater mass. To over come this, Genesis had to build an
amplification system of great wattage, and high damping factor. The
servo system also place s ext raordin ary dem ands on the ampl ifier
because the system uses enormous amounts of current to make the
woofer follow the input signal. Combined with the metal cones, this
means that the amplifier used must deliver extraordinarily large
amounts of clean power.

In the Genes is 5 , t he bu ilt -in ampl ifie r wa s sp ecif ically de sign ed and
tuned for low frequencies in order to produce “floorshakingly
musical” bas s to powe r the se rvo wo ofers.

One side benefit of this powered woofer system is that almost any
sized amplifier can be used to drive the Genesis 5. No longer must
one choose between having an amplifier with enough power to drive
the woofers, and a smaller amplifier having better spatial and tonal
character s. N ever thel es s, w e ge ner ally rec o mmend 60 wat ts as a
minimum.

The Acoustic Suspension

The suspension for the speaker comprises three elements:

1) The neoprene vibration absorbers are tuned to isolate and
decouple the loudspeaker cabinet for optimal bass response
no matter what surface the loudspeaker sits on.

If the lou dsp eake rs s ound ext rem ely har d and re lent ing, AN D
you have them on extre mely ha rd floo rs (s olid gra nite, etc) , a
set of softer vibration absorbers may be substituted (please
contact us if you need these). If a very resonant floor (such as
if the speakers were to be used on a wooden stage), the
softer absorbers may also be used for further decoupling to
ensure that floor-borne vibrations are not transmitted up into
the loudspeake r.

2) The skeletal frame acts as a tuned absorber. Made of a
sandwich of B altic birch ply wit h a const rained vi bratio n

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absorbent material, no two parts of the frame will resonate at
the same frequencies. This ensures that all midrange
frequencies are “dumped” below the base of the cabinet so
that floor-borne vibrations do not affect the imaging and
soundstage of the l ouds pea ker.

3) The spikes rigid ly couple the susp ension system to the floo r.
If you have hardwood floors and do not want to make holes in
the wood, use a copper penny (instead of expensive “spike
cups”) un der the spi ke .

A pin-point suspension system is designed to pass all
frequencies. Using a spike cup under the spike will defeat this
system. A copper penny gets deformed – the spike making
an indentation where it meets the penny, and a little “nipple”
on the other side. This still performs the same function as a
pin-point suspension system, but at the same time protects
your hardwood floor.

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Specifications

! Dimensions: H 46” x W 13 ¼” x D 23 ¼”
! Weight: 145 lbs (66kg) per side
! Frequency Response: 18Hz to 36kHz, +/- 3dB
! Controls: Low-pass, bass gain, LFE gain

Rear Tweeter (+/- 1 dB)
Midrange (+/- 1.5 dB)

! Inputs: Speaker Level

Line Level (RCA & XLR)
LFE Line Level (RCA & XLR)

! Outputs: LFE Buffered Daisy Chain (RCA &

XLR)

! Nominal Impedance : 4 ohms (speak ers )
! Sensitivity: 90 dB 1 watt 1 meter
! Power Rating: 500 watts each
! Finish: High Gloss Blac k

High Gloss Ti tani um
High Gloss Arctic Silver

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