Genelec Introduces 1039A Active Monitoring System

July 11, 1997 -- The Genelec 1039A is a very powerful monitor system that has been designed for use in large broadcast facilities, music recording rooms and dubbing stages. The system consists of two 320 liters speaker enclosures and two 7U racks housing amplifiers, electronic crossovers and protection circuitry. The 1039As are designed for flush or soffit mounting in the control room wall, although they can be used free standing as well. The system is capable of producing sound pressure levels of 126 dB.

Bass, midrange and treble controls are included to allow the monitors to be matched to the acoustic conditions in different control rooms. The proprietary Directivity Control Waveguide Technology^TM (DCW), unique to Genelec monitors, optimizes the sensitivity of the system to it's environment and radically improves the stereo imaging and frequency balance. Another important feature that the 1039A's share with other monitors of the Genelec range is the electronic protection circuitry that serves to protect the drivers from damage by overload or distortion.

The bass, midrange and treble amplifiers each produce 2 x 400 W, 350 W and 120 W respectively. Thus the total power per channel available is 1270W with very low harmonic distortion, in the region of < 0.05% at nominal output.

The speaker drive units are two by 15" long throw units for reproducing the bass. The woofers are in vented configuration and give a frequency response extending down to 25 Hz with the 3 dB point at 29 Hz. The midrange frequencies are reproduced by a 5" proprietary high sensitivity direct radiating cone driver and the high frequency driver has a 1" metal dome unit with an upper -3 dB point at 20 kHz. The mid and high frequency drivers have field replaceable diaphragms and are mounted in the DCW for optimized Directivity control.

The revolutionary and proprietary Directivity Control Waveguide Technology^TM, developed by Genelec, is a means of greatly improving the performance of a direct radiating multiway loudspeaker under normal listening conditions. One of the basic ideas is to match the performance of the drivers in terms of both frequency response and directivity. This results in smoother frequency response both on and off axis. Also, due to improved directivity control, especially in the midrange frequencies, more direct sound and less reflected sound is received at the listening position. This gives improved stereo imaging and ensures the system is less sensitive to differing control room acoustics than any conventional direct radiator design. The DCW Technology improves the drive units sensitivity by +2 to +8 dB, thus increasing the system maximum SPL.

The active crossover network consists of three parallel band pass filters, with crossover frequencies at 400Hz and 3.2 kHz, and a common balanced input stage. All filters are aligned for equal phase and group delay characteristics and are acoustically complimentary.

Physical dimensions of the boxes are (HxWxD) 32 1/4" x 41 3/8" x 21 5/8". For the amplifier unit, dimensions are 12 3/16" x 19" x 9 13/16". Weight is 313 lbs. each for the boxes and 46 lbs. each for the amplifier units. The 1039A's have a retail price of $25,000 US per system pair complete with amplifiers.

For more information, visit their web site at www.genelec.com.