Gary Koch speaks about active bass in their speaker systems…
There are still many audiophile who erroneously believe that the bass performance of the main amplifier does not matter when using Genesis loudspeakers as they have a built-in servo-controlled bass amplifier. Conversely, they think that it is a waste of money to buy a better power amplifier because the bass performance would not be reflected in the speakers with active bass.
That is outdated thinking. In true active systems, there is no crossover in the woofer and hence the sound of the amplifier used will change the sound of the woofer. All crossing-over is done between the preamplifier and the power amplifiers used.
My designs are different. There is a low-pass filter for the woofers and a band-pass filter for the midrange (sometimes an additional band-pass for the mid-bass coupler), and a high-pass filter for the tweeter. The low-pass filter plus servo-controlled amplifier for the woofer has the same ‘sound’ as the band-pass and high-pass filters used in the crossover of the rest of the loudspeaker. This is how I achieve coherence across the entire sonic spectrum.
Hence, whatever amplifier that is used will have its sound translated to the entire loudspeaker.
With the Genesis loudspeakers, you hear the ‘sound’ of any amplifier you use. For example, when you use a Single-Ended Triode tube amplifier, you hear what the bass of that amp sounds like. With a large solid-state amplifier, you hear the sound of that bass too.
In a recent demo at a customer’s room using the G2.2 Junior, we had the Viola Bravo monoblock amplifiers and a Gryphon Mephisto stereo amplifier (both about the same price). When we switched amplifiers, the biggest difference the audience heard was in the tonal character of the bass.
Mono & Stereo friend Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies, Inc.