The Titanium Dome

[garylkoh]

Dear Gary,

Should I change the genesis V tweeter to dome tweeter or not?

Thank you very much

Yong Han

If you change the Genesis V tweeter, you should change it to my latest ring-ribbon. I would not change it to a dome tweeter.

Also, the titanium dome midrange is still available. We are running low though.

 

[Sky]

Dear Gary,

Can I buy dome midrange from you? And how much it will cost? I can buy two of them.

thank you

Yong Han

 

[Sky]

Dear Gary,
How much does it cost latest ring-ribbon? I would like to buy two also.

thank you

Yong Han

 

[Sky]

Dear Gary,
By the way, is the dome midrange original? I mean the speaker made from Europe?

thank you

Yong Han

 

[garylkoh]

Yong Han, to purchase, please drop my customer support team a note:

Support | Genesis Advanced Technologies | United States

Genesis service & support - helping you getting the most out of your Genesis speaker and amplifier systems.

genesisloudspeakers.com

The dome midrange is an original Genesis. I had it made to specifications I found from the old Genesis Technologies. I don't know of any Genesis drivers made in Europe.

 

[maxwerks]

Hello Gary ,
I am a proud owner of the original Genesis v s , have always been one of my favorite speakers . My only issue with them have been the enormous Servo Amp , cables and so on ...Is there anyway to simply / streamline or enclose the bass amp modules to the actual speakers ? Or have you ever considered a Class D amp revision/ upgrade to the original Vs ? I know the latter models had that but somehow I have always favor the sound of the originals . I know it is far fetched question but I thought I ill ask anyway .. Regards, Max

 

[garylkoh]

Hello Gary ,
I am a proud owner of the original Genesis v s , have always been one of my favorite speakers . My only issue with them have been the enormous Servo Amp , cables and so on ...Is there anyway to simply / streamline or enclose the bass amp modules to the actual speakers ? Or have you ever considered a Class D amp revision/ upgrade to the original Vs ? I know the latter models had that but somehow I have always favor the sound of the originals . I know it is far fetched question but I thought I ill ask anyway .. Regards, Max

Hi Max,
The Maestro put the amps in the speakers, but to do that, I had to increase the height of the cabinet by nearly a foot. There isn't enough space in the Gen V cabinet to put the enormous transformer and electronics needed. When Arnie went from the G-V to the G500, he had to eliminate one woofer to put the electronics in. It was always a compromise as 3 woofers weren't balanced. Hence, the Maestro went back to 4 woofers, but much taller.

 

[carolkoh]

Dear GaryIkoh,

Can I still buy the Titanium Dome?

Thank you very much
Yong Han

​

​

Hello Sky, Yes, the Titanium Dome mid-range is still available. *Edit* Gary tells me you are already in contact.

 

[carolkoh]

Dear Gary,

Should I change the genesis V tweeter to dome tweeter or not?

Thank you very much

Yong Han

Hi there, the genesis V tweeters can be upgraded. We don't have a "dome" tweeter, but our new tweeter - that Gary designed has better dispersion and the frequency range is extended from 36kHz to 40kHz.

 

[garylkoh]

Unfortunately, nearly 10 years after we started this thread, the Titanium Dome Midrange is no longer available. As I noted in the OP, the maker of this dome closed down 15 years ago, and tooling for the dome was lost.

So, sorry..... keep those "pesky nephews" and their errant elbows away from your precious domes.

 

[morricab]

When Genesis Technologies was founded in 1991, one of the objectives was to bring the high-end down to a more affordable level. Thus, the company founded by the designer of the IRS V started with smaller speakers, and only the tweeter was a ribbon design. The midrange was a 4-inch dome made of solid titanium - this actually turned out to be much more expensive than expected. It also beamed at midrange frequencies.

It was explained to me by a physicist why a dome (and also a convex panel) would beam. It sounds totally counter-intuitive because you would expect a light-bulb that is a dome to spread out the light more. I don't remember all the math, but he showed me that a dome would beam at any frequency that had a wavelength longer than twice the diameter of the dome whereas as a guideline a cone would beam at a frequency that had a wavelength longer than the diameter of the cone. This means that a dome midrange of any given size could only be used up to a frequency that was about half that of the equivalent cone midrange or inverted dome.

Nevertheless, the dome did sound good. It was used on quite a number of loudspeakers from 1991 to 1993. They were the Imaging Module series: IM8200, IM8200F, IM8300 and IM8300F. These were the "black dustbin" series utilizing round cabinets and a slightly sloping front. It was also used in the "high-end" line. Two of them were used in each Genesis III ($6,000 per pair when they were launched in 1993). I never got a real good answer why two midranges were used in the G-III. Later, in 1995, the dome midrange was also featured in the Genesis V.

The problem with this driver was that sticking out like that, they were prone to damage ('My wife was vacuuming near the speakers and she jabbed it with her elbow."; "The pesky nephew came running and smacked nose first into my speaker.") and a large number got dented over the years. We manufactured a big batch of this driver 10 years ago when we re-started production, so that we could support owners of these early speakers.

The tooling was lost when the supplier closed down 5 years ago. Given that it's now nearly 20 years since the speakers using this midrange was last built, and the slowing number of requests in the first 5 years for this driver, we expect that our supply should continue to last us for the next 5 years at least. Then, unfortunately it will be no more.

View attachment 4155

Hi Gary, I had both Genesis IIIs and Genesis VI and found that this midrange was amazingly transparent. However, I don't think it was pure Ti, it had a coating on it of silicone carbide (something very hard akin to diamond), I think, that made it much harder and pushed the breakup further up the spectrum. The Genesis VI was a very good speaker...the III less so...the bass was way too heavy.

 

[garylkoh]

Hi Gary, I had both Genesis IIIs and Genesis VI and found that this midrange was amazingly transparent. However, I don't think it was pure Ti, it had a coating on it of silicone carbide (something very hard akin to diamond), I think, that made it much harder and pushed the breakup further up the spectrum. The Genesis VI was a very good speaker...the III less so...the bass was way too heavy.

Hi Morricab,

Yes - the midrange does sound very good. As far as I can remember (it's been over 15 years), it is not coated, but hard anodized. And yes, that pushes the breakup frequency higher. The Genesis III did not have servo-bass, but used the servo-woofer. Hence, heavy, slow bass compared to the Genesis V.

 

[morricab]

Hi Morricab,

Yes - the midrange does sound very good. As far as I can remember (it's been over 15 years), it is not coated, but hard anodized. And yes, that pushes the breakup frequency higher. The Genesis III did not have servo-bass, but used the servo-woofer. Hence, heavy, slow bass compared to the Genesis V.

Hi Gary
How do you anodize with SiC? Anodizing is aluminum oxide I thought

 

[garylkoh]

Hi Gary
How do you anodize with SiC? Anodizing is aluminum oxide I thought

No, anodizing does not coat it with SiC. Anodizing is an electrolytic process. It can be done with titanium (although you most commonly hear it with aluminum). The process both hardens the couple of surface layers of molecules, and oxidizes.

Here's what Google search "I'm Feeling Lucky" got me:

What is Titanium Anodizing? | How to Color Anodize Titanium

Titanium color anodizing makes titanium parts easy to identify by color, and is used on implantable medical devices such as bone screws.

www.besttechnologyinc.com

 

[morricab]

No, anodizing does not coat it with SiC. Anodizing is an electrolytic process. It can be done with titanium (although you most commonly hear it with aluminum). The process both hardens the couple of surface layers of molecules, and oxidizes.

Here's what Google search "I'm Feeling Lucky" got me:

What is Titanium Anodizing? | How to Color Anodize Titanium

Titanium color anodizing makes titanium parts easy to identify by color, and is used on implantable medical devices such as bone screws.

www.besttechnologyinc.com

Yes, that’s my point . Genesis literature clearly states they bonded SiC to the Ti. You can see this as well by the way light diffracted off the surface sometimes making a “spray” of colors.