Any Infinity experts here?

It took me a second to comprehend which speaker you were talking about. You don't mean "Monitor 11", but rather "Monitor II". Pronounced "Monitor 2", but written with Roman numerals, two upper case i's. I don't mean to be a stickler, but these designations are important, especially with Infinity's history of wacky naming conventions.

It seems there are far more Monitor II out there than your model, the Monitor 1a. In fact, you're the first person I've heard mention the original monitors. Can you post a picture?

I'm interested in these models, because I own and am quite happy with their cousins, the WTLC (Wave Transmission Line Column) and their successor, the Column II. Both are fantastic speakers, the WTLC sharing the Walsh tweeter with the Monitor series, and then Infinity giving up the Walsh for an excellent pair of Motorola piezos in the Column II. I consider the WTLC to be the speaker capable of greater finesse, with the Walsh tweeter doing lovely things for the very highest end of the specturm, while the Column II is a bigger, tougher, fuller sounding speaker, while at the same time able to produce fine details from the forward and rear facing piezos. I think I prefer the Column II to the WTLC, but I'm glad I own both.

I'd love to compare either of these to the Monitor 1 or II. I've heard from people who own both the Monitor II and Column II. Some say they prefer the Column, others say they prefer the Monitor. Interesting.
 
Photos of original Infinity Monitor 1a with mids moved out flush with baffle-board. Original drivers and re-caped with mundorf capacitors.DSC04959.JPG DSC04961.JPG
 
I have made new acoustic foam grills using 3/4" 30 PPI acoustic foam. 10-20 PPI would be preferred but it was not available so I had to thin the foam panels by 50% where the mids and tweeters were located to compensate.
 
It took me a second to comprehend which speaker you were talking about. You don't mean "Monitor 11", but rather "Monitor II". Pronounced "Monitor 2", but written with Roman numerals, two upper case i's. I don't mean to be a stickler, but these designations are important, especially with Infinity's history of wacky naming conventions.

It seems there are far more Monitor II out there than your model, the Monitor 1a. In fact, you're the first person I've heard mention the original monitors. Can you post a picture?

I'm interested in these models, because I own and am quite happy with their cousins, the WTLC (Wave Transmission Line Column) and their successor, the Column II. Both are fantastic speakers, the WTLC sharing the Walsh tweeter with the Monitor series, and then Infinity giving up the Walsh for an excellent pair of Motorola piezos in the Column II. I consider the WTLC to be the speaker capable of greater finesse, with the Walsh tweeter doing lovely things for the very highest end of the specturm, while the Column II is a bigger, tougher, fuller sounding speaker, while at the same time able to produce fine details from the forward and rear facing piezos. I think I prefer the Column II to the WTLC, but I'm glad I own both.

I'd love to compare either of these to the Monitor 1 or II. I've heard from people who own both the Monitor II and Column II. Some say they prefer the Column, others say they prefer the Monitor. Interesting.
Just for fun I am attaching pictures of some other unusual speakers in my sound room. Altec CONCEPT EQ, SAE MARK XII, FREE-AIR ACOUSTICS "Rendition", AR3a Improved with add-on University Sound Super-tweeters. Have a few others like the OHM Model 1, AR12.....
 

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It took me a second to comprehend which speaker you were talking about. You don't mean "Monitor 11", but rather "Monitor II". Pronounced "Monitor 2", but written with Roman numerals, two upper case i's. I don't mean to be a stickler, but these designations are important, especially with Infinity's history of wacky naming conventions.

It seems there are far more Monitor II out there than your model, the Monitor 1a. In fact, you're the first person I've heard mention the original monitors. Can you post a picture?

I'm interested in these models, because I own and am quite happy with their cousins, the WTLC (Wave Transmission Line Column) and their successor, the Column II. Both are fantastic speakers, the WTLC sharing the Walsh tweeter with the Monitor series, and then Infinity giving up the Walsh for an excellent pair of Motorola piezos in the Column II. I consider the WTLC to be the speaker capable of greater finesse, with the Walsh tweeter doing lovely things for the very highest end of the specturm, while the Column II is a bigger, tougher, fuller sounding speaker, while at the same time able to produce fine details from the forward and rear facing piezos. I think I prefer the Column II to the WTLC, but I'm glad I own both.

I'd love to compare either of these to the Monitor 1 or II. I've heard from people who own both the Monitor II and Column II. Some say they prefer the Column, others say they prefer the Monitor. Interesting.
What city in Michigan? I am originally from New Boston in Huron Township. I got my acoustic foam sheet from a place in Macomb County, the Foam Factory I believe. I like the towers for a couple of reasons not the least of which is they take up less floor space. Sonically I think the transmission line loading works better in the tall-boys.
 
Not sure why but on the monitor 2a Infinity put a "hard" wood top over the Walsh's where the 1a had a wire cage on the top and was more of an open air design. Wonder why the original 1's Walsh units were silver colored foil and the 11's were a gold foil.
 
What city in Michigan? I am originally from New Boston in Huron Township. I got my acoustic foam sheet from a place in Macomb County, the Foam Factory I believe. I like the towers for a couple of reasons not the least of which is they take up less floor space. Sonically I think the transmission line loading works better in the tall-boys.

I'm in the Lansing area. I've heard good things about Foam Factory but haven't tried any of the products.

I really like these older tower models too. I think people assume the only good Infinities are the ones with EMITs so these go under the radar. I have mixed feelings about EMITs myself. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I feel like they're a little "hot". The Walsh on the Monitor and WTLC is really amazing, as is the Motorola piezo in the Column II.
 
Not sure why but on the monitor 2a Infinity put a "hard" wood top over the Walsh's where the 1a had a wire cage on the top and was more of an open air design. Wonder why the original 1's Walsh units were silver colored foil and the 11's were a gold foil.

Yes, that is interesting that it's covered on top. Every other Walsh-equipped Infinity is open (WTLC, 2000AXT, 2000 II, Monitor). I know the Walsh tweeter was designed for lateral presentation coming off all sides, but it's pretty clear to me that there is output coming from above as well. I wouldn't think you'd want to limit that. I'm sure that adds to the spaciousness of the sound. But again, having never heard the Monitor II, I can't say for sure.
 
I'm in the Lansing area. I've heard good things about Foam Factory but haven't tried any of the products.

I really like these older tower models too. I think people assume the only good Infinities are the ones with EMITs so these go under the radar. I have mixed feelings about EMITs myself. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I feel like they're a little "hot". The Walsh on the Monitor and WTLC is really amazing, as is the Motorola piezo in the Column II.
Agreed. I find them hot as well. The Walsh tweeters sound more natural, less fatiguing and generally more "airy"
 
Yes, that is interesting that it's covered on top. Every other Walsh-equipped Infinity is open (WTLC, 2000AXT, 2000 II, Monitor). I know the Walsh tweeter was designed for lateral presentation coming off all sides, but it's pretty clear to me that there is output coming from above as well. I wouldn't think you'd want to limit that. I'm sure that adds to the spaciousness of the sound. But again, having never heard the Monitor II, I can't say for sure.
Well consider that the 2 different Infinity produced Walsh TLW were basically standard tweeters with horns attached to the diaphragms, if they weren't capped with foam and covers they might overpower the horizontal desperation and be too "hot".
 
Not sure why but on the monitor 2a Infinity put a "hard" wood top over the Walsh's where the 1a had a wire cage on the top and was more of an open air design. Wonder why the original 1's Walsh units were silver colored foil and the 11's were a gold foil.
My Monitor IIa's had an "open" cloth covered removable top.
No drinks or coffee mugs please.
 
Not sure why but on the monitor 2a Infinity put a "hard" wood top over the Walsh's where the 1a had a wire cage on the top and was more of an open air design. Wonder why the original 1's Walsh units were silver colored foil and the 11's were a gold foil.
Another difference I noticed between the 1a and 11 is that the 1a WALSH tweeters have a metal supporting frame structure. Its designed in such a way to support the cone from bending or tipping without affecting the sound.
 
sorry not sorry to revive this pretty old thread but it's of current interest to me and might add some useful historical info

I bought Monitor IIA's new back in the '90's or it could even have been in the '80's. I forget the exact year but can dig it out if it's of interest. I listened to them many times at Music & Sound Ltd. in Willow Grove who at that time were one of the high end audio shops around Philadelphia. I went there to hear the Servo-Statik IA but could never afford or have room for those. If I recall correctly, M&SL sold at "list price" which for the IIA's at that time was about $1200. After obsessing and exploring further I found out that Tech HiFi was also selling some Infinity models, though not displaying the IIA's, and the store manager (maybe desperate to make sales targets?) agreed to get me a pair for $900 which seemed like a good deal at the time so I ordered from there. I always thought they sounded excellent. Now I have them in storage since the foam woofer surrounds turned to dust years ago. The woofer cones look perfect so one of these days I hope to find new surrounds and go from there. Shortly before storing them I "upgraded" the crossovers using primo quality caps and coils to keep the same crossover points and arranged the terminal board to allow bi-wiring or bi-amping in case I ever go that way. I also repaired melted tensile lead wires on front of the midrange domes which seemed to become fuses during one of my parties that got out of control. Since it was mentioned above, mine came with both "open" tops of the same material as on the fronts plus a wooden top matching the cabinets so you could use either. IME they definitely sound a bit more open with the grill cloth tops.
 
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I have recently got a pair of the Monitor 1A's and the woofers appear to have been reconed and refoamed both, also one of the original Walsh tweeters has been replaced with a Monitor IIA tweeter so I have one gold and one silver tweeter. They sound great but will need some work to be perfect, another thing I have noticed different than any other 1A I have seen is the front baffle is not painted black like every one I have seen which is not many. I could really use a schematic for the crossovers for the 1A as I have a burned resistor.
 

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I bought a pair of the IIA’s back in the mid 70’s. They sounded great. I started out with a Yamaha ca1000 amp (80w/ch), then bought a B1 (150w/ch), using the ca1000 as a preamp. I think I bought the speakers in 77. I moved from California to Oklahoma in 81 and by then I’d had the B1 for about 4 years. The IIA’s started losing Walsh tweeter’s before I moved back to Oklahoma. About 85, the B1 failed so I decided to sell the Infinity’s. I had 2 or 3 bad Walsh tweeters plus a brand new one that I gave the guy who purchased the IIA’s. One of the speakers had also blown a midrange. It only took a couple of days to sell them.
I really liked those speakers but they really went through tweeters and it wasn’t something you caught right away since those things covered such a high frequency.
 
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