Genesis Maestro Floorstanding Speakers Preview

The acclaimed high-end loudspeaker company Genesis Advanced Technologies has unveiled the sixth iteration of their V series speaker, now dubbed the ‘Maestro’. The Maestro is a dipole speaker design that packs a lot of technological innovation into a typical tower speaker size. This 5-way speaker is specified to be a true full range design, with a frequency response of 20 Hz to 40 kHz, +/- 3dB. It can dig so low because of the powerful bass section; four 8” long-throw, servo-controlled bass drivers using aluminum woofers and powered by a 500 watt amplifier which take care of frequencies below 120 Hz. Two bass drivers in front and two in back make for a dual-opposed alignment. Unlike the rest of the speaker, they have a bipolar (drivers in phase) configuration instead of dipolar (drivers out of phase), otherwise the low frequency waves would cancel each other out and destroy the bass sound. The opposing motion of the drivers also nullifies any rocking motion that could occur were all the bass drivers operating in phase.

The mid-bass drivers (called ‘mid-bass couplers’ by Genesis) use two 6.5” aluminum woofers mounted in front and back that operate in opposite phase for a dipole pattern. The mid-range driver uses a single 4.5” aluminum cone with an opened rear baffle, and the high frequencies are handled by two ring-radiator ribbon tweeters mounted in front and back. The bass drivers and mid-bass drivers have their own enclosures, while the mid-range driver shares its enclosure with the tweeters. The enclosures are made from 1” high-density MDF and are decoupled by silicon and acrylic spacers. One over-the-top feature of the cabinet design is each 8” bass driver occupies its own separate sealed enclosure within the bass section which certainly contributes to the speaker’s hefty 160 lbs weight. Inside each cabinet section is the crossover component for those drivers so the crossover circuit stretches over the whole of the speaker. 

As mentioned, the subwoofer section is powered, but the rest of the speaker requires amplification. With a sensitivity rating of 90 dB for 1 watt/meter, the Maestro will not need a monster amp. Genesis claims the Maestro to be a 5-way speaker, and, at a glance, it would only seem to be a 4-way speaker because it only has four different sets of drivers, but Genesis informed us that the rear tweeter has a different crossover. Genesis uses dipole designs on all of their speaker in order to eliminate side-wall reflections. The pressure waves (what we perceive as sound) produced by the front drivers of the speaker cancels out the pressure waves produced by the rear drivers along the lateral axis so little sound is emanated from the sides of the speaker. By diminishing sideward sound, Genesis claims that placement of the speakers becomes much easier since room acoustics becomes much less of a factor.

Quality Like This Doesn't Come Cheaply

All this technology comes in a modest size, which is one of the charms of the Maestro. A bit over four feet tall and one foot wide and just under two feet deep, the Maestro is not a gigantic room hog, and its availability in high-gloss real-wood veneers sweeten the deal for anyone who wants a high-fidelity speaker that is aesthetically pleasing and does not dominate the room. However, so many pros must inevitably be accompanied by a con, and the trade-off with the Maestro is the cost: $30,000. For most people, paying that much for a pair of speakers is not something that can be done on a whim, but for those who want a great sound from a reasonably sized setup, a pair of Maestros look to be a good choice. The Maestros are available from authorized Genesis dealers so check out their website to find one near you and let us know how they sound in the related forum thread below.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.