First experience with EMIT-R

[AndyPanda]

A little background first ... I'd never owned any Infinity speakers before. I have Yamaha NS-1000M, NS-690 II, NS-500M, NS-100X (https://audio-heritage.jp/YAMAHA/speaker/ns-100x.html).

About a year ago I picked up a small pair of Infinity speakers at the thrift store for $15 - they are RS2000 with polycell tweeters and the 6.5" woofer needed a refoam of course. I was surprised by how nice they sound and paired them with a subwoofer and have been enjoying them in one room.

I have been watching CraigsList the past few weeks hoping to score a similar small pair for anther room. Instead I saw a pair of Reference Six for $149 and recently refoamed. Not what I was looking for but I couldn't pass them up. The seller bought them new back in the day and just installed a new Martin Logan system. The speakers look like new and the refoam job was done professionally and looks perfect. These are the black IMG speakers and the EMIT-R tweeter.

I brought them home and have been listening for a few hours and I can't believe these tweeters! I'm 65, a professional musician for years so lots of high frequency loss - and I really expected the EMIT-R tweeters would be lost on me --- but I am hearing crystal clear highs that I didn't think my ears could hear and no listening fatigue at all. I'm really surprised!

Anyway that's my story ... and I'm sticking to it.

 

[jazzmans]

Yup.

welcome to the Infinity sound.

just wait until you hear a set of Emim's, think of all that clarity, speed, and accuracy, but in all the high frequencies, not just the top 10k.

 

[tubed]

The EMIT isn't really a tweeter such as a dome or cone type that play around 2k hertz.
More like a "supertweeter", imo, most of them @ 4k hertz.
The Emit-r is quite fine and its design used in contemporary high speaker designs.

 

[swechsler]

You got a good deal, there's a lot of foam to be redone on those speakers. And even though they were part of Infinity's entry level series, they still sound very good.

I invite you to peruse our Infinity subforum.

 

[tonyk]

The emit-r has better dispersion than the standard emit, it’s not nearly as beamy.
Congrats on your find

 

[Tedrick]

Welcome to the world of vintage infinity. Nice find on the Reference Sixes, too.

 

[AndyPanda]

So now I stumbled onto a pair of CS3006 that have been refoamed and work perfectly and look nice. Is that a model I should be grabbing? (same price, $150)

I really don't need another set of speakers - but you know how it is

A bit of searching and if I understand it right, the CS3006 will be rear ported, better braced cabinet and real wood veneer compared to the Reference Sixes that I have now. I'm not a fan of rear ports - but I'm still pretty tempted.

 

[jazzmans]

I think the Crescendo line is underappreciated, but I've not heard the 3006. bookshelf?

fair warning,
I own two pairs of 3009 and
two pairs of 3007 amongst my infinity collection.

the 3007 is all the speaker most people will ever need.

 

[AndyPanda]

I certainly don't have any book shelves that they would fit on - but yeah it's a 3-way with EMIT-R, 4" IMG mid and 8" IMG woofer.

 

[Old-School]

Nice. They were some nice sounding ones no doubt.

 

[swechsler]

That's probably a good price for the CS3006, but I have my doubts as to whether it's audibly better than the Reference 6 (I suspect the latter will go lower due to the larger cabinet) - appearance-wise, of course, the CS series is head and shoulders above the Ref series. I think Infinity used cheap contact paper for their fake wood veneer (well, not really, but it doesn't look much better, especially the "wood"grain version).

 

[Manuel64]

So now I stumbled onto a pair of CS3006 that have been refoamed and work perfectly and look nice. Is that a model I should be grabbing? (same price, $150)

I really don't need another set of speakers - but you know how it is

A bit of searching and if I understand it right, the CS3006 will be rear ported, better braced cabinet and real wood veneer compared to the Reference Sixes that I have now. I'm not a fan of rear ports - but I'm still pretty tempted.

The 3006 is an excellent sounding small speaker. It's a big book shelf speaker, so it's best to use it on speaker stands. It can be used on a shelf as well, just make sure the shelf is big enough and can support the speaker's weight.

Because of the rear port, if you do place it close to a wall or inside a cabinet, you should stuff the rear port with polyfill. Any porous stuffing will work, even old socks. I prefer polyfill. If you place the speakers on tall stands and away from the rear wall, then the port can remain open or stuffed. You can experiment to determine which sound you like best. Open ports will be better for some applications such as movie soundtracks. The nice thing about rear ports is that if you decide to stuff the ports, it is not visible on the front of the speaker.

 

[wallacefl]

Would recommend trying a pair of these as a replacement tweeter in the Dahlquist Dq-10...years ago a friend did this to his pair and eliminated the piezo also ...result was +++

 

[swechsler]

Would recommend trying a pair of these as a replacement tweeter in the Dahlquist Dq-10...years ago a friend did this to his pair and eliminated the piezo also ...result was +++

That sounds like an interesting idea, of course you'd need to modify the crossover for best results.

 

[Rex81]

The Crescendo and Reference lines used the same drivers, but the Crescendos have better cabinets. The Reference Six is the top of the Reference line and the 3006 is the bottom of the Crescendo line. If you don't have a place for them, no sense in getting the 3006, as the Reference Six are better speakers overall. But then again, when has space constraints ever stopped a speaker purchase? That's a good deal for both speakers.

 

[Mlistens03]

Crescendo 3006's for $150 I'd do any day of the week. I had 3007's, but my room was way too small for them. I did put them in a bigger room once, and they blew my mind.
Long story short, grab them. If nothing else, you can flip them for a bit more.
I've heard Kappa's and References as well, and I liked the Kappa's the best, but the Crescendo's are better than the References IMO.

 

[7.62]

The Emit-R is one of those magical things as far as I'm concerned. It pulled me in like a tractor beam the first time I heard them and continues to do so.

 

[teebee]

Very, very nice sounding tweeters, they have a slightly smaller sweet spot than the typical dome. Great for bright sounding rooms with lots of reflections.

 

[Cylontymany]

I have the Rreference 5 recapped and refoamed and I like it-would love the have the 6

 

[Mlistens03]

Crescendo 3006's for $150 I'd do any day of the week. I had 3007's, but my room was way too small for them. I did put them in a bigger room once, and they blew my mind.
Long story short, grab them. If nothing else, you can flip them for a bit more.
I've heard Kappa's and References as well, and I liked the Kappa's the best, but the Crescendo's are better than the References IMO.

I’ll add to this that, while I really liked the EMIT’s, I brought home a pair of polk LSi’s last December, and the Infinities were out the door within the month. FWIW.