Drivers in Genelec Speakers - Forum

Hello,

Thanks for your post and interesting questions.

The original ribbon tweeter used in Genelec S30 is based on the 50’s Decca ribbon. From the start Genelec bought ribbon drivers and modified them, basically using only magnet and chassis pot as components. The ribbon itself, its careful corrugation and assembly and its matching transformer are Genelec designs. In the S30B we added a short waveguide in front of the ribbon, and in the S30C and D models we used a combined front baffle with the midrange driver.

Also, our flagship 5" midrange design, introduced in 1989 in the large 1035A three-way main monitor, is a proprietary Genelec design featured nowadays in all our 3-way models and manufactured in-house.

In addition to our own design and manufacturing, Genelec benefits also from the latest advances in driver developments by collaborating closely with a selection of leading driver manufacturers who are specialized in manufacturing high-end tailored made drivers. Genelec’s tailored made drivers are manufactured according to our proprietary design specifications and requirements as well as quality and test criteria. The final quality of the tailored made drivers is assured by Genelec via thorough testing both in the manufacturer’s site and in Genelec’s factory, to fit seamlessly to our system solutions.

Concerning your question about soft dome tweeters, Genelec has been using such tweeter types in many early models such as the 1019A and 1022B, as well as in the 1024 series and large 1025 series main monitors. For further infos on these discontinued models, please consult our website under: http://www.genelec.com/products/previous-models/

In general, dome tweeters are fairly efficient, and have low distortion and wide dispersion. There is a choice between hard and soft dome materials, but all have relatively low mass and good power handling capabilities.

Soft dome on-axis response can go flat easily over 20 kHz. As the material is soft, the dome does not vibrate as a piston – the first breakup modes are already present at a few kHz - but a bending wave propagates along the material to the center of the dome and back. At certain frequencies the center of the dome vibrates in anti-phase with respect to the voice coil. To control the vibration the soft dome is damped with viscous material and it absorbs the wave. At higher frequencies the soft dome becomes a ring radiator where the main radiation happens from a narrow area around the voice coil; i.e. both dome and surround radiate. This means that the off-axis response starts to drop soon above 10 kHz with a 25 mm dome, and this is visible in the power response. Several years go Vifa made a new soft dome tweeter, where they omitted the dome totally and made it a bare ring radiator. The diaphragm was supported from the center giving a distinctive look to this driver. Its on-axis response went to about 40 kHz but off-axis response dropped rapidly as it became directional.

Hard domes vibrate as a piston up to the first breakup frequency, which depends on dome material and size. The same physics works with hard domes as with soft domes, but as the speed of sound in a hard material is much higher than in a soft one, the first breakup frequency is typically around 25...26 kHz for a 25 mm aluminum or titanium dome and around 28..35 kHz for a 19 mm aluminum or titanium dome. Titanium is stiffer than aluminum, but as it is also heavier, the end result is practically the same. Beryllium dome breakups are higher.

Hard dome present also a greater power handling and maximum SPL output. Their dispersion characteristic allows a very efficient combination with a DCW waveguide which shapes the emitted wavefront in a controllable way, thus allowing control of the dispersion. Such DCW curved, rigid surface fitted in front of the driver unit can be dimensioned for constant directivity and may also extend down to low mid frequencies depending on the DCW frontal area.

A properly engineered hard dome tweeter can have extremely low distortions, good power handling, good directivity and it can be very reliable. All these parameters are objective reasons for our choice of hard dome tweeters.

Best regards,

Hello, Mr. Anet,

thank you very much for your answers, especially for the explanation on the benefits of the hard dome tweeters and the differences of the behaviour between the two material types. Such a skilled explanation cannot be found on Wikipedia. Now I understand the reason of your choice.

I have always found hard domes sounding hard, vivid and grainy (although not by Genelec ), thus my question on this issue.

Also, thanks a lot for your answer about the drivers' design and manufacture, mainly for your honesty. I see the benefits of cooperation with specialized drivers manufacturers (like Vifa) and understand that it is not always desired to manufacture everything in-house, just in prestige reasons.

One famous danish monitors manufacturer was more prestigious to me in the past, because it makes everything including all the drivers itself, but I have always found its sound somewhat "misty", which may be caused by different design principles.

Again, thank you very much!
Rasto,
Bratislava

P.S. I am looking forward for the tossup of the 6010 lottery to see first Genelecs in my house. So, please, cross fingers for me. THX!

Dear Christophe,

thank you very much for your eloborate and insightful explanations.

Are you able to discuss the materials used in your 3-way designs -> 12/15 inch bass driver, 5 inch midrange (which is the best midrange driver I have witnessed so far - big Kudos for its benchmark design!) and especially the treble - is it aluminium or titanium hard dome? Does Genelec have "ambitions" to use beryllium (eg. like JBL's high end designs) for future projects?

Thank you.

Hi!

Explore the catalog of previous models, I noticed that in some models (like 1025B) you used the soft dome as midrange (perhaps an old ATC's or Volt).
I curious:
Why you changed the paradigm and start to produce your own midrange driver?
Why the con instead of the dome?
How compared this new one to his predecessor?

Best regards

Hello.

Maybe this isn't exactly the right thread, but here goes.

I've bought a 1094A active sub incredibly cheap because the driver is broken.
Now my question is: Where can i order a new driver? Or is there any way to fix it? Its broken in the outer bearing of the driver and i was wondering if it's posible to fix it in any way. I know that the driver should be replaced, but on a budget it's worth considering.

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks!

Hello.

Maybe this isn't exactly the right thread, but here goes.

I've bought a 1094A active sub incredibly cheap because the driver is broken.
Now my question is: Where can i order a new driver? Or is there any way to fix it? Its broken in the outer bearing of the driver and i was wondering if it's posible to fix it in any way. I know that the driver should be replaced, but on a budget it's worth considering.

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks!

Hi,

Whether it's fixable depends on the way it's broken. If the surround is only slightly torn or detached from the frame, you could try to glue it back with a PVAc based glue (wood glue).

Naturally you can also buy a new driver through the distributor in your country: http://www.genelec.com/sales-network/

Now that it's 2017, does anyone have any new suggestions about where to order replacement tweeters here in the USA for my 1029A speakers? These were 19mm dome tweeters made by Fifa, I think?

Hi!

In the case that your Genelec speaker has a damaged driver, woofer or tweeter, we always suggest the service to be carried out by our authorized distributor and their service engineer. After replacing the driver, the speaker needs to be re-calibrated to the original specifications and also always the assembly needs to be done with a set of new gaskets and screws. All this is available, contacts here:
http://www.genelec.com/where-buy