End of an era: Genesis 500 servo amp died


I have loved my Genesis 500 speakers since I bought them new in 1994. Well finally one of them developed a problem--a hum in the right speaker. I got in touch with the company that took over Genesis and through them got a technical guy out to my house who removed the servo amp and transformer and shipped them out to Genesis in Seattle for diagnosis. Sad news is the amp can't be repaired. I was offered the option of replacing the amp in both speakers with the current version of the amp (which comes with the $32,000 current version of my speakers), together with replacing my woofers with the new current version, but the price is too high for me. It's not an unreasonable price but I can't see investing half of what I originally spent on these speakers to repair them. So for now, I have moved my ProAc D-13's from the living room to the basement listening room where the Genesis were, with my big BAT monoblocks (VK-55SE) and BAT VK-32SE preamp. The sound is OK but obviously nothing like what I was used to with the Genesis. Maybe I need to downsize everything at this point. I love the ProAcs, which were being used with an ARC CA-50 tube integrated upstairs, but they do not sound their best in this new configuration. They were better upstairs, with the integrated amp! I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't need two systems but now I have 1.25 systems and nothing sounds like I want it to. I could start over, building something around the D-13s. Or try another speaker with the BAT equipment--but I don't want to spend what I did on the Genesis (they were $15,000 back in '94). Any thoughts?
sc53

Showing 3 responses by roxy54

If you don't need 2 systems, sell the one with the ProAcs, and use the money to repair the Genesis speakers.
Rhljazz,
There is so much truth in what you said. It is so tempting to read about a component and convince yourself that is your next step up on the sonic ladder. If only it was always true! I have made the mistake with amps and speakers. As you said, one change can throw off the carefully constructed balance you (hopefully ) already have, and leave you less satisfied than you were.
I recently had some bonus money and decided that I should replace my speakers with a used pair here on Audiogon of similar design, but far more expensive build.
Within a week, I knew that I had made a mistake, and 5k and a lot of aggravation later, I am happily back with my former speakers, which I hadn't sold, and some guy in Romania is hopefully happy with my mistake.
The lesson is: don't make changes without careful consideration and ideally, an audition.
You answered your own question. What's to ponder? Life is short. Get them fixed.