Genesis Advanced Technologies 6.1e full-range speaker Review - Equipment Reviews

In the late 60’s, Arnie Nudell developed the servo-controlled bass system and founded Infinity to produce his first brainchild, the Servo Statik I. Ten years later, his creation of the 4-column Infinity Reference Standard set a standard so far ahead of its time that it created a new market for the high-end loudspeaker. Audiophiles near and afar all agreed that the IRS set the original, inimitable benchmark despite imitations and latter reiterations of his accomplishment by Infinity and its competitors alike.

Then, Arnie founded Genesis in the early ‘90s and developed the Genesis I, which has evolved into the current G1.1 with the reorganized Genesis Advanced Technologies Inc. Now, as the Chief Scientist of GATI, Arnie continues to refine the company’s legacy products and develop new ones such as the $165k Genesis 1.1, the $52k G201, the $16k G5.2, the $12k G6.1, and the subject of this review, the $6,625 G6.1e.

Genesis’ discontinued $9k system, the Genesis VI from the mid-90s, has been the cornerstone of my system for over 5 years. A less ambitious version of the original Genesis company’s $15k 4-woofer 800-watt Genesis V, the G VI was given 3 woofers and a 500-watt bass amp. For all practical intents, the VI constituted a scaled version of the company’s mightiest, and at the same time a resounding alternative to audiophiles like me with a smaller room and a lighter budget.

Genesis 6.1e

After producing active powerhouses like the Genesis 5.2 and G6.1, the reorganized GATI has now created a top-level, strictly passive-design loudspeaker, the G6.1e. On the design motivation for the G6.1e, GATI CEO Gary Leonard Koh offers the following:

"Outside of the USA, most rooms and houses are built of brick and concrete. Because of that, there is practically no bass loss from the walls of those rooms. When the G6e is used in Asian or European homes, it delivers sufficient bass to render the lowest E-string of the double bass WITHOUT a subwoofer. Natural room bass gain is sufficient for the G6e to deliver all the bass you will need for normal music.

After I took over Genesis, I have been driving the company to designing and building loudspeakers for a global market, rather than just for a US market. Hence, the tremendous flexibility in a speaker such as the G6e - it has adjustable midrange and tweeter so that it can be used in practically ANY living room - whether filled with over-stuffed, luxury sofas and velvet drapes, or a bright and airy with a zen-like contemporary atmosphere. The addition of a subwoofer [will bring] the response down to below 20Hz, for the real bass-lover."

Though passive and less ambitious, the G6.1e uses components and design elements amounting to a masterpiece.

Most renowned in the audio industry is the G6.1e’s circular ribbon tweeter that Genesis developed in the 90s. Constantly refined, it uses a kapton membrane with a 0.0005-inch thick photo-etched voicecoil that is lighter than the air it pushes, enabling a frequency response that extends beyond 35kHz. It would seem that Genesis has had the means to accommodate SACD even before its emergence.

Besides the 5-inch titanium midrange driver and the two 6.5-inch aluminum woofers, the G6.1e’s crossover is a matter of pride at Genesis, as they claim to have invested more into its design than other companies have in their entire speaker. Instead of using single, monolithic capacitors in the G6.1e, Genesis uses numerous costlier polypropylene-film and tin-foil capacitors in parallel, to maximize signal integrity, plus OFC copper-wound inductors, resulting in a crossover weighing over 5lb.

Then comes the Genesis cabinet. Per the G6.1e Owner’s Manual and Set-Up Guide, no less than 6 professionals were involved in its creation, including Arnie himself, a structural furniture engineer, an interior designer, an architect, veneer and glues consultants and a German CNC machining consultant. Genesis’ CEO, Gary Koh, provided the final eye on cabinet aesthetics and functionality.

A close-up, careful visual inspection of the G6.1e cabinet uncovers a most intriguing design. There is not one single right-angle on the cabinet. According to the Genesis Manual, this not only creates an optical illusion that makes the speaker slimmer in appearance, but also makes it exceedingly well-damped and vibration-free. Other details also abound, for example:

•        The sides of the cabinet are sloped 1˚ top to bottom.
•        The sides of the cabinet is angled 3˚ front to back.
•        The front of the cabinet leans backward by 5˚.

In spite of higher cost, Genesis selects MDF of specific thicknesses instead of solid wood for greater consistency in cabinet construction. The drivers are installed on a subtly sculptured baffle two-inches thick. Areas of the cabinet most prone to vibration are equipped with multi-layered, bonded MDF of 2-inch thick. Extensive internal bracing in tongue application and groove construction via 1-inch MDF slabs are applied to eliminate cabinet flex and panel resonance.