Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

The step response on the axis of the rear-facing tweeter (fig.11) shows that the rearward radiation is indeed 180 degrees out of phase with the Genesis' forward radiation—in other words, dipole behavior. But note that, because the rear radiation in the midrange comes from the front-mounted drive-unit cone and not from a separate unit, as with the tweeters, this follows the HF output by about a millisecond. This is not relevant to the speaker's perceived sound quality, however; these outputs will be well integrated by the room acoustic by the time they reach the listener's ears. Note that the rear-facing single woofer is connected in the same acoustic polarity as the two front-firing woofers; the speaker is omnidirectional below 300Hz or so.

Fig.11 Genesis 500, step response on rear tweeter axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

Finally, the Genesis 500's waterfall plot (fig.12) is commendably clean throughout the treble and midrange, other than at the frequency of the on-axis notch at 800Hz.

Fig.12 Genesis 500, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 50" (0.15ms risetime).

A somewhat enigmatic set of measurements—probably mostly due to the midrange unit's mounting—but nothing to seriously contraindicate KR's positive impression of the Genesis 500. And that bass extension is truly superb!—John Atkinson