Genesis & Gary at the Hong Kong Show 2018

[carolkoh]

Gary's in Hong Kong setting up for the big show that starts tomorrow. August 10, 2018. In his own words:

Setting and tuning for the Hong Kong show. This is similar to the set up I had at CES in Las Vegas this year. The Viola Chorale integrated amplifier with Genesis Maestro loudspeakers. I feel that this is one of those magical pairings that transcend price and reputation.

 

[NorthStar]

I like the looks and finition of those speakers. ...Nagra gear...nice.

 

[Ki Choi]

Happy the man is the one who's making his living by doing his hobby - George Bernard Shaw, loosely quoted.

Gary is the man in my book. Good luck to Genesis and Gary in HK.

 

[carolkoh]

Shiny! One of the difficulties of taking photos of the Maestro. Or perhaps a feature: The reflections.

 

[CKKeung]

Pairing the Mastero with a high quality integrated amp is a good idea.
With Chorale, the combo was neat and tidy and gave very good sound at the Show.

Are the other top integrated amps in the markets also good matches?

 

[garylkoh]

Yes - we've used the Maestro with the Gryphon Diablo and also Jadis I50. The Maestro is an easy drive, and the built-in servo-controlled bass means you don't need much power for huge dynamic swings either.

 

[Steve williams]

what a beautiful finish to that speaker.I bet it sounded every bit as good as it looked

 

[ca1ore]

Boy, those speakers look nice .....

 

[garylkoh]

what a beautiful finish to that speaker.I bet it sounded every bit as good as it looked

Thanks, Steve. That's high-gloss ebony - a special custom finish. The Maestro has been getting great response since it was commercially launched this year. Next show in 2 weeks in GuangZhou!!

 

[Steve williams]

Congratulations Gary. Well deserved.

 

[SCAudiophile]

Gary,...Congratulations! Beautiful setup!!! How do these compare to the 5.3s?
<Corrected post....should have typed '5.3s'

 

[carolkoh]

Well, they now have new mid-range drivers that Gary designed/specified, an additional woofer, 3 separate compartments and separate cross-overs for tweeters and mid-range... and I like them! I will poke at Gary to answer too.

 

[ChasFreeland]

I am a lucky owner of a pair of Genesis Maestro speakers. I have the same finish as seen in the photos. I am using Spectral Reference Standard mono block amps, 400 watts per channel, and a Spectral preamp. MIT cables. My audio dealer, Image Audio in Bangkok, advised me to mount the speakers on a high grade polished aluminium plinth, about an inch thick, as a way of not only making the speakers easier to level and move around on my carpeted floors, but also to absorb resonance. The speakers are in my library, so the wall behind them is a wall of books. No room tuning required. Gary has come to my home twice to personally adjust the speakers so that they give their best sound quality. And they do sound amazingly good indeed. When it came time to buy new speakers, I chose the Genesis Maestros over comparable Wilson speakers. I had been using Wilson Watt Puppy speakers for many years, but thought these had better sound and value for my room. Thanks to Gary for his personal care and customer service with setting-up the speakers. Don't get that kind of quality attention to detail these days. I can only say that anyone in the market for new speakers should give these an audition. You'll be hard pressed find a better hi fi designer/dealer than Gary Koh.

 

[garylkoh]

Thank you for the mention Charles. Your system is spectacular - especially since your new Spectral amplifiers and upgrading the preamp. I look forward to my next visit with you.

 

[garylkoh]

Gary,...Congratulations! Beautiful setup!!! How do these compare to the 5.3s?
<Corrected post....should have typed '5.3s'

A bit late.... but....

Compared to the G5.3's, it was a completely ground-up design. The G5.2's was Arnie's last design for Genesis before he retired in 2006. Those were reviewed in Stereophile by John Atkinson (and given the cover) but he noted some of the usual problems with Arnie's designs (extremely low impedance and high phase angle) along with the usual accolades for the sound. I fixed the crossover with no detriment to the sound (but little improvement to the sound) in 2007 and gave it a suspension system, and that resulted in the G5.3's.

The G5.3 was a design that stood the test of time, selling well into it's 10th year. However, all along the way I had met dealers, customers and potential customers who told me that the design was pretty long in the tooth, and wanted to have the 4 woofers of the original Genesis V. Telling them that the 3 long-throw woofers of the G5.3 moved as much air as the 4 much shorter-throw woofers in the G-V largely fell on deaf ears.

So, I looked at simply adding another woofer the the G5.3 and make it the G5.4........ however, I started looking at the design of the G5.3 and found a lot more that I could improve on. Over the past 10 years, I had learned quite a bit in loudspeaker design and also improved the servo-feedback circuit.

So, the cabinet was designed from the ground up. The four woofer cavities each have a different volume to distribute out the resonances. The cabinet is separated into 3 parts and each is de-coupled from the other with a suspension system. The mid-tweeter passive crossover is also electrically de-coupled from the mid-bass passive crossover and the bass crossover is active. I also re-designed the mid-bass driver to reduce the magnitude and increase the frequency of the resonant peak in the metal cone.

The result is that the Maestro improves on the G5.3 in every aspect - being able to seamlessly convey the fabric of sound and emotion of the performance.