Infinity RSIIIa recap with pictures

avguytx

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Finally done with the recapping of another pair of speakers that I wanted to get done before the spring semester started back! Was supposed to start back today but, with the snow last night, we didn't. So, I'll go to the one class tomorrow weather permitting. I replaced all the electrolytics and mylar caps with new Solen caps and took measurements with my Fluke of the originals....listed below. Obviously, the electrolytics were off some (especially the big ones!) but the mylars were pretty darn close still. I have no meter to check the ESR, though, but that's ok. The speakers are roughly 28 years old and I plan on these being in the "friends and family" for a long time to come. The new Solen caps came in for this pair, and another pair, on Saturday and this afternoon was a great time to work on these.

So, over the last couple of weeks, my buddy and I recapped Infinity Quantum 3's and RTR Model II F's and I did my Norman Lab Model 9's, a pair of Genesis G10's (simple one cap deal) and these RSIIIa's. I also have the (6) 1.5uf caps to do my Heresy II's soon and I am waiting on a Parts Express order to come in with some Dayton 5% caps for doing a pair of Polk Monitor 10b's (garage speakers at buddy's house) and a pair of Pioneer HPM-100's. What is that....7 pairs total that will be done? Whew... Fun though!

As you can see from the pictures, the RSIIa's are quite easy to recap as the back panel comes out and everything can be easily accessed without de-wiring everything. Nice. It's pretty cut and dried but the space gets a little close on the 6.8uf and 7uf caps but still drop in easily enough. I hit all the other connections with some new solder just to insure a good connection and the stock terminals are going to stay for now. I cleaned them up along with the fuse holder and they're nice and shiny.

The cost of the Solen caps thru Madisound (my preferred place for Solen caps) was $77.27 which also included some other caps and parts. (Shipping was $5.37) Well worth the expense for these great sounding speakers.

Ok...now for the readings on the stock capacitors.
(2) 600uf electrolytic "can caps" in parallel in each speaker for 1200uf total "value"
**cap group one = 1375uf
**cap group two = 1725 uf (wow!)

19uf mylar caps
**cap one = 19.4uf
**cap two = 18.3uf (not too bad)

16uf electrolytic caps
**cap one = 17.5uf
**cap two = 18.2

(2) 3.5uf mylar caps in parallel for a 7.0uf value (replaced with one 7uf cap)
**cap group one = 7.5uf
**cap group two = 7.2uf (not bad either)

6.8uf electrolytic caps
**cap one = 8.05uf
**cap two = 8.1uf (a little off)

And there you have it.... Here's the before and after pictures.

100_0524.jpg


100_0526.jpg
 
Yes, the Solens are huge but the poly caps, etc, in equal values compared to the electrolytics are pretty much always substantially larger. Same thing goes with ClarityCaps, SoniCaps, Mundorf, and even the Dayton caps. Does make it interesting sometimes in doing crossovers that are built onto terminal cups for sure. Just calls for a little creativity! ;)
 
Looks nice - I hope I recap as well as you did with my Altec Segovias.

Have you looked at the crossover in the Altecs yet? Post a picture of them and let's see what's in there!

Cleveland, Oklahoma huh? Out close to the lake? Hmmm....I used to date a gal from there back in the early 90's and I lived in Tulsa and then Owasso from 1990 till 2003. (not mentioning her name to protect the guilty and the innocent. :D )
 
I know, old thread. I just received new caps for my RSIIIa's today. Madisound was great to deal with. Can't wait to get started on updating these!
 
Hey, people bring back older threads than this from the dead! :D Let us know if you have any questions along the way.

Yep...Madisound is my choice of places to order from for speaker parts whenever I can.
 
I am done and very happy with the results! Pretty dang easy to do I might add!

Before:
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After:
000_0924.jpg



I gave $150 for these. Next project is cleaning them up. Removing the drivers, repaint the front baffles, sanding the sides and tops, staining in a darker cherry stain. I am so happy I kept these. I came close to selling them to a collector in Atlanta a few months back.
 
What is the optimal length of time for burn in of the caps? I am guessing I have around 16 hours on these so far.
 
I would imagine you're getting close to them being broken in. There might be a little more change along the way but your ears will get acclimated to the sound of them now and it will be less noticeable. I'm glad everything worked out and they are sounding better! See...I told you it wasn't hard to do!
 
Ken, if I can do it anyone can! lol

Kip, thanks so much for your help! Giving me that list, with links, made things really simple. Between getting the caps replaced and actually wiring the woofers IN phase. I am extremely happy with the results.

My next project with these is gonna be making new bases for them. Lightly sanding and staining the oak a little bit darker. RIght now I have the bases pulled off and have the speaker sitting on 1" thick marble slabs. The old bases were in really bad shape.

Also if you remember. The previous owner had refoamed the woofers himself. And done a rather poor job of it. Since my recent success at refoaming some ESS woofers. I am gonna go ahead and refoam these again I think.

I also need to recover the grills and find some Infinity logo's for them at some point.
 
I need to get some emblems for mine, too, one of these days. They were missing on mine and the grills were falling to pieces so I built new grills. Also built new bases since the originals were gone. If you decide to refoam the woofers, you should be able to do it shimless as those are very forgiving in alignment. The only reason I had to put actual dust caps on mine is because the person before had done a botched foam job and cut (what I call) the phase plugs off of 2 of the woofers. So, off came the other 2 and all 4 were matched up.
 
Mine were refoamed probably in the last 8-10 years per previous owner. Thing is, he done a sloppy job of it. And to me it kinda looks bad.
 
I am more amazed today with these speakers than yesterday. They are in a rather large room (30'x24') and they fill up the room better than any other speakers I have had.
 
I am more amazed today with these speakers than yesterday. They are in a rather large room (30'x24') and they fill up the room better than any other speakers I have had.
It's fun isn't it!
Your recap looks nice and clean. Well done.
I recapped my Infinitys a couple months ago.
Each listening session since has seemed to provide a "wow, I never heard that before" moment.
 
I'm bidding on a pair right now and I'm pretty new to recapping , but those values on the caps are doing my head in . I understand cap values of uf , but what are caps rated mh, Npe, mm on the woofers and low pass on the mids ?. I'm reading the schematic posted online pdf.
 
I'm bidding on a pair right now and I'm pretty new to recapping , but those values on the caps are doing my head in . I understand cap values of uf , but what are caps rated mh, Npe, mm on the woofers and low pass on the mids ?. I'm reading the schematic posted online pdf.

mH is Millihenry, the nomenclature for measuring inductance, i.e. the coils, not capacitors. MM is when Infinity used Mylar capacitors, PP was for polypropylene capacitors, and of course, NPE was electrolytic capacitors.
 
mH is Millihenry, the nomenclature for measuring inductance, i.e. the coils, not capacitors. MM is when Infinity used Mylar capacitors, PP was for polypropylene capacitors, and of course, NPE was electrolytic capacitors.
Thank you so sincerely much now I feel like a dimwit that it was so obvious. Lol.
 
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