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Abstract
Look at the size of these things. The iPod has never docked in such regal luxury and Apple-hued comfort. The Model L, as in large (of course), has been anchored in my bedroom the past couple of weeks, a gleaming piano-black hulk containing two speakers, an iPod dock concealed under a pop-up drawer, a slot-loading CD player and an FM tuner in a 38-pound box about 18 inches high, 12 wide and 15 deep.
Full text
Next to everyday one-box iPod speakers, the fleet of Geneva Sound Systems inspires the same awe as a first encounter with the Queen Mary 2.
Look at the size of these things. The iPod has never docked in such regal luxury and Apple-hued comfort. The Model L, as in large (of course), has been anchored in my bedroom the past couple of weeks, a gleaming piano-black hulk containing two speakers, an iPod dock concealed under a pop-up drawer, a slot-loading CD player and an FM tuner in a 38-pound box about 18 inches high, 12 wide and 15 deep.
And how else to show off this $599 speaker-dock-room-anchor but hoisted on an optional $119 aluminum-alloy stand about 21 inches tall that, at 29 pounds, brings the Geneva L package to $718 and 59 pounds?
A companion system, the XL, weighs a staggering 84 pounds -- without a stand -- in a cabinet extended to 2 feet tall to accommodate two subwoofers.
My back couldn't handle the XL, but my ears were fine with the L. This is an extraordinary system, aesthetically and sonically, that exceeds, in every way, any dock I've ever seen. It does not sound quite as good as $718 worth of smartly matched electronics with two separate speakers, but it's remarkable for a one-box system.
Jan-Erik Lundberg, a Swedish banker, started Geneva Sound (genevalab.com) in Zurich in 2005 with no experience in audio. A friend, Hollywood sound designer Per Hallberg ("Black Hawk Down," "Gladiator" and "Braveheart," for which he won an Oscar), recommended a technology from a Stockholm company called Embracing Sound Experience that coaxed stereolike sound from a single source. With ESE, says Geneva, the L's sound spans up to 180 degrees.
The Geneva system actually has two sources, not one, but they're built so close together that they're unable to produce conventional two-channel sound. The speakers -- each with a 1-inch, silk-dome tweeter for high frequencies and a 5 1/4-inch polypropylene cone driver for the lower frequencies -- are mounted behind a concave black steel grille. A 50-watt digital amplifier from D2Audio of Austin, Texas powers them.
The rigid cabinet, also available in iPod-friendly white and red, is a 1/2-inch medium-density fiberboard with seven hand-polished coats of piano lacquer -- they're made in the same Chinese factory as Yamaha pianos. From the front, it's a sea of black, with the display blaring in red letters, up to 1 inch tall, from behind the grille. There's a ventilation slot on the back and a larger opening on the bottom with connections for other MP3 players and another device, such as a DVD player or video-game console.
The pop-up drawer on top reveals the white docking/charging cradle for the iPod (multiple adapters included) and a simple set of four pushbutton controls. Most users will command the L with the monster remote, almost 6 inches tall and 3/4-inches thick, with ample rubberized buttons that include six FM station-preset buttons marked P-R-E-S-E-T.
Just behind the pop-up drawer is the CD player, though you'd never know it. It's merely a slot in the gloss black. Insert a CD and it's swallowed into the cabinet. Here again, Geneva combines aesthetics with attention to audio quality: To protect the CD drive from internal vibrations from the nearby speakers, it's shielded in an aluminum box that hangs on a floating spring-foam suspension system.
The sound: a clean, generous midrange, smooth highs, little bass but an extended soundstage that can fill even large rooms, though it occasionally seems too heavily processed.
Only a few gripes from this user, who would want a dimmer/off feature for the oversize display, a wider-ranging remote and the system to remain on the source selected (such as the radio or CD) instead of automatically shifting to iPod when turned on. And how difficult will it be to service one of these bricks when the CD player finally starts skipping?
In these days of $599 table radios -- the price of Polk Audio's excellent I-Sonic, which also includes an HD radio tuner, a DVD player and XM Satellite Radio capability but no iPod dock -- the Geneva L's price is hardly out of whack. It could offer more for the money, such as adding a USB connection for playing tunes directly from a computer. But this is a product with high-end aspirations, all the way down to the packaging, the demo disc and the white buffing cloth.
No doubt about it. Geneva rules the sea of iPod docks.
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PHOTO; Caption: PHOTO (color): The Model L ($599) from Geneva Sound Systems features two speakers, an iPod dock, a CD player and an FM tuner in a hulking 38-pound box.
(Copyright 2007 by the Chicago Tribune)