Genesis Profile Four

Designed from the ground up to be an under seat amplifier to amaze and delight the ‘Norms’ rather than being a beast of heatsink with a bespoke brass label or having the word ‘Extreme’ in its moniker, the Profile series is even named for having low one. Only 40mm deep, including the heads of the quality Allen headed bolts and screws used to hold it so neatly together. You can tuck these in odd places as it is also fan-cooled. The top bears an oval aperture with a powder coated expanded metal grille over the fan with a neat little oval badge (even this is held on with tiny Allen headeds) all of which is kept in place with an oval ring of matt finished metal.
The case is brushed steel and looks like a piece of Professional audio or else some sort of nobby professional cook’s cutting board and generally exudes an air that can only be described as ‘Posh’. Which isn’t bad for the money. The controls and connections are all on one drop of the amplifier with both pairs of channels having a highpass crossover and the third and fourth channels alone getting a lowpass job that you set by the small piece of extra electronics (a resistor SIMM thingy called a Resnet pack) that you plug in the side. Even these are cunningly thought out so that you can use the filters to do different system arrays from two-plus-subwoofer to actively filtered full componentry. You can connect via a high level input but you need the optional extra box with the correct wire connector loom to match that on the amp and the right electronics inside to do so.
– Class AB
– 4 x 55w RMS @ 4 Ohms
– 4 x 85w RMS @ 2 Ohms
– 2 x 170w RMS @ 4 Ohms bridged
– Fan cooled
– Brushed folded Steel case with extruded Aluminium heatsink along back edge in cut-out to case
– Screw-down plate connection system able to cope with 8 Gauge terminated forks
– 4Ch RCA input; high level input also possible with optional High Level Interface box
– 12dB per Octave high pass crossover 25Hz to 300Hz & 300Hz to 6kHz by 20x multiplier switch on Channels 1 & 2
– 12dB per Octave high pass crossover 20Hz to 200Hz on Channels 3 & 4
– 12dB per Octave low pass crossover on Channels 3 & 4 fixed points @ 50Hz, 60Hz, 75Hz or 100Hz (can be 3kHz, 4kHz or 5kHz all done with replacement SIMMS)
– Input sensitivity: 300mV to 3.0V
– Stereo & bridged operation
– Frequency response not quoted
– Signal to Noise Ratio >100dB
– Channel separation not quoted
– Fuse Rating 25A x 1
– HxWxD(mm) 40 x 304 x 2242mm
Review by Adam Rayner
Looking deceptively simple this amp has been designed with some real smarts.
You cannot switch the highpass crossover off like you can the lowpass filter on channels three and four. There’s no switch. It is always on. This is because it goes down to 20Hz. Set down at twenty Hertz it’s a subsonic filter, even if you are using a ‘normal’ bass system – as after all this small amplifier’s chassis hasn’t got the huge power supply needful to waste lots of juice on the subsonic power sucking tones below 20Hz. This isn’t an SPL or ground pounder product. Genny do the Dual Mono Extreme for that SQL or ‘Sound Quality Loud’ need.
So if you have normal or even really capable front speakers that can go pretty low, you crank that control way down to a point at which it seems best to stop your fronts trying to make the deepest tones below their stated roll-off and use the power thus saved to protect the amp and tighten up the punch at the lower tones, since the amp won’t be sweeping dirt uphill. The lowpass crossover frequency (your sub’s crossover point) can be set by changing the small delicate-legged resistor thingy called a SIMM. Each has eight spindly leg connectors that literally add their contents to the circuitry inside the amp. You can use one frequency range for bass crossovery (as mentioned above) or else select a different range that is all about using the amplifier to run components. This is where the two sets of crossover points are used to allow the tweeter to take over from the midbass and to filter the subwoofer tones from your midbass’ lower end. It’s very clever in its simple elegance.
The inevitable and rapid conclusion is that mad VFM isn’t really what this amp is all about so much as a serious miniaturisation tip. This process has always added to cost of things (until the next, smaller model is out) but the laws of physics do rather have say in making watts with a 12Volt DC supply and this is a cunning item for being so petite yet strong. (Google ‘Precious McKenzie, weightlifter’)
The immediate surprise is the sheer speed and grip of the output. Even faster in discernible rise time than the Massive, which is built like its moniker and clearly has a donkey-choker of a power supply in its guts. This translates to a delicious breathy tingliness to the very highest tones and adds dramatically to detail retrieval and emotional impact. How ever this thing has been made, the power output is still in ‘Genesis watts’ by which the maker is referring to his own choice of specifying his amplifiers’ power outputs by way of reality rather than inflated claims. In fact the brand has a reputation for this that well precedes the whole American CEA ratings system. A few other notable amplifier producers also adhere to this modesty-makes-it-better approach, in particular Rockford Fosgate.
Those simple,elegant crossovers work with great smoothness and good steep slopes. The sound has real potency but doesn’t have the visceral thump of the big boys in this group. You still feel the bass and the SPL meter on the AudioControl SA-3055 RTA/SPL meter registered 126.4dB before the output finally acquired any distress or overdriving. Which looks very nearly as meaty as the Massive 4x100W P400.4 at nearly twice the declared CEA-rated power!
Lovely clarity and real drive if without the sheer muscle of some of the others, only losing sweetness and purity when being spanked, whereas the Massive model just got louder.
The quality and performance of this amplifier is literally incredible for both its footprint and its mass.
Overall 8.0
Sound Quality 8
Power Output 8
Features 8
Build Quality 8
Value For Money 8