Genesis speakers ? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Jones]

Anybody ever hear of Genesis 11 stero speakers . They have an add in my paper for 2 for $75. I just wonder if thats a good deal

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Here they are:





They should sound pretty nice. Genesis Physics made some excellent mid-line speakers back in the 80s. The company went out of business in the early 90s. One model, the 44, got a good review in Stereo Review back in 1986, which praised its excellent imaging and very smooth frequency response.

I currently have a pair of the 44s in my system, which is a larger version of the 11 that adds a 10” passive radiator to the 8” woofer, and I can attest to the good imaging and smooth response. Of course, there are better speakers out there – inevitable with time and technology – but the 44s still hold up well. I would expect the 11 would sound similar to the 44, except for the lowest bass. Still, the 11 is supposed to have good response down to 40Hz, which is excellent for a bookshelf speaker.

To answer your question, I think $75 for the pair would be a good price, especially if they are in good condition. Best of all, one of the former employees of the company is in business servicing these speakers, so there’s no problem getting replacement parts – pretty unusual for an out-of-production brand.

You can get more info on the 11 and other Genesis speakers at this link

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Joe-M]

Wayne, I agree, worth every penny. You simply couldn't touch these for $75.00. Try about $800.00 for a new set of contemporary speakers.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Guys, let's talk about specific speaker systems here in the Speakers area and not in Basics. Douglas, the Basics area is for general discussion at the beginner level, not for specific speaker information.

And this Genesis, of course, is not to be confused with the Genesis that manufactures ultra-high-end speaker systems (founded by Arnie Nudell, formerly of Infinity).

 

[Patrick Young]

Wayne,

I also have a set of Genensis speakers. Even older model
1+'s. They still sound great. My Dad bought them new from Sound of Music (the original name for Best Buy) in 1978 or '79. They have the green surrounds of the 70's.

My dad gave them to me a few years ago when the original receiver went bad and he thought it was the speakers.

I bought a receiver at a garage sale and now they are in my garage. :b

After going to the web site you listed I may have to bring them in and buy some more speakers from Human and set it up in my basement for my boys.

I'm sure my wife would love having two systems competing against each other on the weekends.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Nice garage system there, Patrick!

I think one of the things that made the Genesis speakers sound so good was their tweeters. They had huge magnets which allowed for ridiculously low crossover frequencies – all the way down to 11-1200 Hz on some models like the 44! So basically the tweeter was handling nearly half the frequency spectrum. Using such a low crossover frequency kept the divide out of the critical 3-4 kHz range that most manufacturers commonly use.

Unfortunately the downside to the low crossover frequency was that the tweeters would easily fry when the speakers were pushed hard (voice of experience here! :b ), so in later models Genesis moved the crossover point up to 1800 Hz.

By the way, I also have some Human QT-2 speakers (same as the current 61 model) and they sound very nice. Couldn't go wrong with those.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Joe-M]

I have the Genesis 2's, 1+ and V-6's in my surround. They are awe inspiring. They are little known but my oh my I love them.
Like the admin said earlier these are Genesis Physics speakers not the way more expensive Genesis Technologies speakers which actually bought out the trademark when Genesis speakers went out of business. Patrick, I fried a couple of tweeters in the early days when I had them but a lot of that had to do with early equipment with sound levels quite a bit different from one source to another. Those tweeters (at least the version that Huw makes) were ranked the second best tweeter available on one do it your selfer site. These cost around $40 bucks, the best, over a $1000.00! The crossovers are very simple since they designed the drivers to complement each other instead of forcing components together.

 

[Joe-M]

I posted in another area that I had Genesis 1's as my surrounds, I have the 1+'s (I didn't think to make the distinction), they are essentially larger versions of 1's. Tweeter and 8" mid-woofer. The V-6's are the same but with a 6.5" woofer and considerably smaller foot print. These are excellent speakers would be interesting to try them as mains coupled with a good sub, probably would enhance imaging.

 

[Patrick Young]

Joe and Wayne,

Since I was the main user of our home stereo when I was a kid I can tell you I pushed them very hard at times. We had a Onkyo tx-2500 receiver. Can't remember what is was rated for but it did a heck of a job with these speakers.

I have a newer Onkyo in the garage now although it is not as nice as the old one. It still sounds great. I might have to visit Humans place next time I go visit the Inlaws in NH.

Pat

I ahhh fixed the spelling for Onkyo?!!:b

 

[Arthur S]

>>> "they (the tweeters) had huge magnets which allowed for ridiculously low crossover frequencies, all the way down to 1100-1200 Hz on some models like the 44!"

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Arthur,

Sorry for the oversimplification - you’re right of course that there’s more to the Genesis tweeter’s design than a big magnet.

Joe-M sent me this interesting link that talks about Huw Powell’s incarnation of the Genesis tweeter that notes its power handling capabilities (of which I assume requires a large magnet?) and amazing excursion:

http://ldsg.snippets.org/vendors/human.php3

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[kevin tate]

Just purchased a used pair of Genesis Physics Model 11 for the bedroom set. Not much bass due to its bookshelf design, but very clear mids and detailed (not fatiguing at all) high. Overall, very good imaging and sound, but it can use a subwoofer.