Question about using Genelec GLM Network Adapter without a Computer

[tmtomh]

Okay, dumb question time:

In another thread I've mentioned I want to replace my aging computer music server with a Wiim Ultra. I've just received the Wiim and done initial setup - and now I have a question about Genelec and GLM with this new setup.

Old Setup:

• 8351b stereo pair-->GLM Network Adapter-->old computer. Computer also sends music to the monitors (via USB-->coax-->AES EBU.)
• I keep the GLM Adapter permanently connected mainly so I can use the little Genelec wireless remote for Power On/Off and volume control from the comfort of my midfield listening seat.
• I do not control the monitors with the GLM software on the computer in day-to-day listening. Unless I want to run a new room calibration or change a setting, I never fire up the GLM software.
• For this reason, the monitors' "STORED" DIP switches are set to ON - so when I turn them on they can use the GLM settings I've saved to their internal memory (since the settings aren't available from the software, because the software is not running on the computer).

New Setup:

• Wiim up and running and has replaced my old computer for purposes of sending digital music to the monitors.
• Now I would like to remove the computer from my setup entirely - in other words I would like to disconnect it not only from the monitors as I already have, but also from the GLM Network Adapter. And to be clear, I want to keep the Network Adapter connected to the monitors because otherwise I lose the ability to use the Genelec wireless remote.
• Google search/AI says this is simple: just disconnect the computer and instead of powering the GLM Adapter from the computer's USB port, power it from AC mains by using a typical 5V USB wall plug and cable.
• Since I don't normally run the GLM software anyway, and since the monitors are already set to use their internally stored settings, everything should be fine this way - I should still be able to use the Genelec wireless remote, and the monitors should still apply their normal filters and other settings.
• But while this sounds logical and Google says it will work, I haven't actually been able to find anything on Genelec's own support pages that address this kind of setup. All their support pages seem to assume you either have a computer with GLM software always running, or else that you are using the monitors in standalone mode without the GLM Network Adapter and therefore without any of the available Genelec wireless (or wired) remote control devices.

Of course I could (and will!) just try it myself - but I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone is already using them in this way: with the GLM Network Adapter connected to the monitors to enable remote control, but with no computer attached to the GLM Network Adapter.

Thanks!

 

[staticV3]

By not having the GLM software running in the background, you already had your GLM Network Adapter connected to one big expensive USB wall plug.

Nothing will change when you you replace that with a more economical wall plug.

 

[napfkuchen]

I think staticV3 is right. Can't test it myself since I don't have the Genelec remote.
Just a suggestion: Why not switch to a different volume control method? You could save the "startup level" as the maximum listening volume (and also set a "max level restriction" for safety) within the speakers, and then use a streamer with digital volume control (e.g. WiiM Pro). This way, you can adjust the volume using the streamer remote and/or the app on your smartphone/tablet.

 

[tmtomh]

By not having the GLM software running in the background, you already had your GLM Network Adapter connected to one big expensive USB wall plug.

Nothing will change when you you replace that with a more economical wall plug.

That's what I thought - but as usual, you put it in an especially clear, concise, and logically compelling way - thanks!

(To be clear, until just a few hours ago when I set up the Wiim, that computer was also my digital music source, feeding the Genelecs for the past three years and my prior gear for about a decade before that. But I take your point )

I think staticV3 is right. Can't test it myself since I don't have the Genelec remote.
Just a suggestion: Why not switch to a different volume control method? You could save the "startup level" as the maximum listening volume (and also set a "max level restriction" for safety) within the speakers, and then use a streamer with digital volume control (e.g. WiiM Pro). This way, you can adjust the volume using the streamer remote and/or the app on your smartphone/tablet.

Thanks for your suggestion - this is actually something I considered and am still considering. The only reason I didn't just do that already is that if I did so, I'd have no way to remotely control Power On/Off for the monitors.

But I am still considering it because I could enable the monitors' ISS feature, which puts them in sleep/standby when they don't detect any signal for a little while (and of course I could always just turn them off entirely with their main rear power switches if I were going out of town for a few days or something).

But before considering becoming fully dependent on their ISS functionality for everyday use, I need to see how the Wiim Ultra behaves when it goes into standby mode - if it keeps a clock signal alive over its coax output, then the Genelecs will never go into standby mode.

And there's one more factor. I have a very nice little digital switcher that has multiple coax and optical inputs and can send them to a coax output for easy connection to the Genelecs. And I have a Sony UBP-X800 that I like as a disc transport and which has sat unconnected in my system for some time for reasons not worth going into here.

So ultimately I'm planning to connect both the Wiim and the X800 to a couple of that unit's coax inputs, and connect its coax output to the Genelecs. So I'll also have to see whether the switcher puts out anything over its output that might keep the Genelecs "awake."

But with all that said, yes, it's definitely an option, especially since the Genelec wireless remote's interface is hot garbage - little membrane buttons that are 100% symmetrically arrayed on the remote so you can't tell if you're holding it right-side-up or upside-down, and no display so you have no idea what volume level it's set at and you have to count button clicks to know how many dB you're turning it up or down by.

 

[staticV3]

(To be clear, until just a few hours ago when I set up the Wiim, that computer was also my digital music source, feeding the Genelecs for the past three years and my prior gear for about a decade before that. But I take your point )

Via SPDIF, yes, presumably just like you will with the WiiM Ultra.

So in that sense, nothing will change. The GLM Network Adapter will continue receiving audio from a SPDIF source and will continue receiving 5V via USB with no accompanying GLM data.

 

[tmtomh]

Via SPDIF, yes, presumably just like you will with the WiiM Ultra.

So in that sense, nothing will change. The GLM Network Adapter will continue receiving audio from a SPDIF source and will continue receiving 5V via USB with no accompanying GLM data.

Yes, basically - the Mac mini output its audio via USB, which went into an SMSL PO 100 Pro that converted it to coax SPDIF.

But the GLM Network Adapter doesn't receive audio. The audio signal goes directly into the AES EBU digital input (or XLR analogue inputs if you're using that option) of one of the monitors. As far as the audio signal chain, the GLM Network Adapter is totally out of it, unless there's something I'm unaware of (very possible!). To my knowledge, all it does is pass along control signals to the monitors from (a) a computer running GLM, (b) a wired controller like the 9310, and/or (c) a wireless remote like the 9101.

@napfkuchen's comment above also inspired me to take another look at the monitors' ISS functionality. I remembered I'd written it off because it never seemed to work - I'm guessing the Mac mini's USB port put out some kind of constant signal (or USB related garbage) that prevented the Genelecs from going to sleep. But with the Wiim, the Genelecs seem to be going to sleep properly. I'll have to test further, but so far so good.

So I went into the GLM software and increased the startup volume from my usual -33dB to -20dB, saved that to the monitors and then unplugged the Network Adapter from them - so right now they're in full standalone mode. I might have to reconnect the GLM Adapter to fiddle with that -20dB setting if it turns out to be not quite loud enough for material mastered at a very low level. My goal is to have the monitors start up at a loud enough level that I can use the Wiim volume control as an attenuator and still have enough headroom to make things as loud as I'll ever want - while at the same time having the monitors start up at a level well below 0.0, in order to protect my ears and the monitors themselves in case something goes wrong and the Wiim feeds them a full-volume signal without warning (the Genelecs at 0.0 fed by the Wiim at full volume would be insanely, dangerously loud in my space, even with a musical source mastered at a low volume level).

I already have been getting so much enjoyment out of my music collection with these monitors over the past few years. But this Wiim-based playback setup and interface seems like a really promising upgrade. The Genelec remote is pretty bad, so I'll be glad to stop using it if this new setup pans out. And it also has gotten progressively less fun over time using the antiquated iOS Remote app to control an outdated version of the Apple Music desktop app running on a 7 year-old OS on a now-14 year-old computer.

The Wiim interface is faster, more responsive, far more feature-rich and configurable, and with both the mini and the GLM hardware out of the setup for everyday listening, also more simplified and streamlined than I'd imagined possible. And the cost of the Wiim Ultra plus a compact 512GB USB drive was half the cost of a new Mac mini (and a new mini would still have to be controlled by the old iOS Remote app and would likely still require the GLM adapter and remote since it would probably prevent ISS from working).

We'll see if any bumps show up in the road, but so far I'm quite impressed with Wiim.

 

[napfkuchen]

@napfkuchen's comment above also inspired me to take another look at the monitors' ISS functionality. I remembered I'd written it off because it never seemed to work - I'm guessing the Mac mini's USB port put out some kind of constant signal (or USB related garbage) that prevented the Genelecs from going to sleep. But with the Wiim, the Genelecs seem to be going to sleep properly. I'll have to test further, but so far so good.

Got the WiiM Pro right after release and only during the initial period did the speaker LEDs flash briefly even after a short pause without sound as soon as they received a signal again. Got around the problem by covering the LEDs with white tape, but an update came out relatively soon after, and since then you only see it when the speakers are woken up from standby.

My goal is to have the monitors start up at a loud enough level that I can use the Wiim volume control as an attenuator and still have enough headroom to make things as loud as I'll ever want - while at the same time having the monitors start up at a level well below 0.0, in order to protect my ears and the monitors themselves in case something goes wrong and the Wiim feeds them a full-volume signal without warning (the Genelecs at 0.0 fed by the Wiim at full volume would be insanely, dangerously loud in my space, even with a musical source mastered at a low volume level).

Therefore my recommendation to restrict the maximum volume level. 0 dB is not pleasant, happened to me once with an external soundcard right in the middle of playback. Fortunately, I had installed a multi-switch under my desk for PC, laptop docking station and monitors...

 

[tmtomh]

Got the WiiM Pro right after release and only during the initial period did the speaker LEDs flash briefly even after a short pause without sound as soon as they received a signal again. Got around the problem by covering the LEDs with white tape, but an update came out relatively soon after, and since then you only see it when the speakers are woken up from standby.


Therefore my recommendation to restrict the maximum volume level. 0 dB is not pleasant, happened to me once with an external soundcard right in the middle of playback. Fortunately, I had installed a multi-switch under my desk for PC, laptop docking station and monitors...

Thanks! RE the LEDs, I long ago disabled them in GLM because they were a visual distraction to me when listening. To test their ISS functionality with the Wiim (or with anything else) I just put my ear a few inches from one of the monitors drivers to see if I hear a slight hiss (still awake) or total silence (asleep).

And yes, I forgot to mention in my prior comment that in addition to increasing the Genelec’s startup volume I also set their max volume (to 1dB above that new startup volume) for extra insurance. As I figure out the max level I’ll be using on the Wiim’s volume control, I’ll set a max level for that too.

Ideally I’d rather use just one attenuator instead of two in the signal chain, but given that the Wiim’s is 32-bit floating point and the Genelec’s is 64(!), and that I’m using both in the upper 20 to 40% of their ranges, there’s unlikely to be any practical loss of accuracy or resolution.

 

[robca]

A powered on, disconnected GLM only sends the same message on the RS485 bus (1F0 1F 00 67 9F EF 0B 7E ) every 600 msec. That is the "Set volume" command, repeating the last used volume over and over again. It adds no value, unless you actively control the volume with a wireless or wired volume controller.

A much cheaper alternative is https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...m-solution-for-volume-control-and-more.73465/ that's the exact reason why I started going down the reverse engineering path.