Directivity Control Waveguide (DCW™) Technology

Directivity Control Waveguide (DCW™) for flat on- and off-axis response.

A revolutionary approach was taken by Genelec in 1983 with the development of its Directivity Control Waveguide (DCW™) used at the time in an egg-shaped enclosure. The Genelec DCW technology developed and refined over more than 30 years greatly improves the performance of direct radiating multi-way monitors.

The DCW technology shapes the emitted wavefront in a controlled way, allowing predictable tailoring of the directivity (dispersion) pattern. To make the directivity uniform and smooth, the goal is to limit the radiation angle so that the stray radiation is reduced. It results in excellent flatness of the overall frequency response as well as uniform power response. This advanced DCW technology minimizes early reflections and provides a wide and controlled listening area achieving accurate sound reproduction on- and off-axis.

Minimized early reflections and controlled, constant directivity have another important advantage: the frequency balance of the room reverberation field is essentially the same as the direct field from the monitors. As a consequence, the monitoring system's performance is less dependent on room acoustic characteristics.

Sound image width and depth, critical components in any listening environment, are important not only for on-axis listening, but also off-axis. This accommodates not only the engineer doing his or her job, but also others in the listening field, as is so often the case in large control rooms.

DCW™ Technology key benefits:

  • Flat on- and off-axis response for wider usable listening area
  • Increased direct-to-reflected sound ratio for reduced control room coloration
  • Improved stereo and sound stage imaging
  • Increased drive unit sensitivity up to 6 dB
  • Increased system maximum sound pressure level capacity
  • Decreased drive unit distortion
  • Reduced cabinet edge diffraction
  • Reduced complete system distortion