G1 Studio Monitor (Music)

G1 Studio Monitor (Music)
18L Bass Reflex

The G1 Music uses the same crossover but with additional networks for a more musical response. With the flip of a toggle switch, the G1 frequency response will change from “Flat” to “Music”. This is a very desirable feature because the speaker is dual purpose. For recording, the sound engineer will be using “Flat”. After mixdown, he can compare the reproduction in “Flat” as well as “Music”. This A/B will give him an idea of how the final mix sounds like in a non-flat speaker.

Fig 1 – G1 Flat Frequency Response • Nearfield below 500Hz

Fig 2 – G1 Music Frequency Response

Fig 1 is the on-axis Flat response of the G1. Fig 2 is the new response for Music. Note the slight emphasis in the midrange. The treble remains the same.

Fig 3 – G1 Music RAW, Nearfield and Port

The Black plot (Fig 3) below 500Hz includes room reflections. Ignore the deep notch at 150Hz. That’s a floor bounce which my mic picked up. The Nearfield response doesn’t show the notch, confirming the anomaly. The Brown plot is the output from the tuning port. We can see the box is tuned to exactly 40Hz. OmniMic cannot do a summation of the Nearfield and Port responses but the RAW Black plot is sufficient. It shows the real bass level in my room. 

Fig 4 – G1 Music Crossover Passband

The G1 Music crossover passband is in Fig 4. The slight emphasis in the midrange is now more obvious. The crossover frequency remains the same as before. 

Fig 5 – G1 Null

Fig 6 – G1 Music Null

The Null Response is where it gets interesting. Fig 5 is the the null in the “Flat” G1. Fig 6 is the new null in the G1 Music. Now, this is what I call time-aligned.

I will skip the other plots like Waterfall, Toneburst and Spectrogram because they look similar to the G1 Music. However, the Excess Group Delay deserves some attention.

Fig 7 – G1 Excess Group Delay

Fig 8 – G1 Music Excess Group Delay

Fig 7 is the Excess Group Delay in the G1. Fig 8 is that of the G1 Music. The Excess Group Delay at 45Hz has dropped from -1.77ms to -680us. More astonishing is below 45Hz. In the G1 Music, the plot did not fluctuate as wildly as in the G1. I did not change the port or convert to a sealed box. All I did was add some components to the G1 crossover. 

Sound of G1 Music

The character of the G1 Music is totally different from the flat G1. First impression is she doesn’t sound compressed. The music is now more natural. It flows out of the speakers. Vocals are distinct and slightly forward in the sound-stage. There’s no change in the treble but the lower end is from another world. The bass tightened up. Dynamics improved markedly. There are even some texture in the bass notes that were completely absent before.

I can listen to the G1 Music all day but if I’m mixing, I simply flip the switch to Flat mode. Now, I have a reference speaker to work with. 

Crossover is available on request. Free for DIY. Not for Commercial use.
Unless otherwise stated, all measurements were made in Full Space (4 pi) with the mic at 36 ins, tweeter axis. Impulse Window=5ms. No smoothing applied.