I need advise for my RSII

Sound Dragon

Yawns and sets his couch on fire!
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Hello Infinity Forum. It has been a while. My RSII's have been sidelined for a while do to an issue with the cross over. With them being down I went in another audio direction completely moving to highly efficient speakers and tube amplification. Well needless to say I am back and I have missed my babies. I am in the process of making arrangements for a refurb with a local speaker guru here in Atlanta but am curious as to modifications to these speakers. I have read some of your threads here and am left with some questions and in general could really use your advise to help me focused on what and where I want to go. In their current configuration they were modified by their previous owner to be Bi amplification capable. The crossover was split and a second set of binding posts installed. The Woofers have also been to Millersound and are in great shape. I have seen that some of you have added the bass module from the RSII A/B to these speakers as well. How did you integrate them? Did this make a huge difference? Can another unit from say a RSI be used? If an Infinity unit cannot be sourced is there an alternative? I am probably going to replace the internal wiring as well, What wire do you recommend? Thank you Guys for your forth coming replies, it is greatly appreciated.

J.R the Sound Dragon
 
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botrytis, It was not a complaint just trying to keep it to the top. But thank you for taking time out of your busy weekend to respond with useful information.

As for MODS, I guess I was more interested in any ideas maybe floating around. I know external crossovers have been built and someone even added an extra emit on theirs to make it a double emit front and back. Mine are already modded allowing for Bi amplification and the emits were changed out for emit K's. I am not saying that it is necessary to modify these speakers as they are truly great. However surely that does not mean that there is no room for modification right? With that said what are some of your thoughts?
 
I have rarely heard of any one modifying stock RSII. no reason to.

Really? I couldn't disagree more! Don't get me wrong, the stock RSII speakers are great as they came from Infinity, but there are many things one can do to improve them. It is very common to see these converted to a biwire /biampable configuration with two sets of binding posts on the back. This in itself is a big improvement in my eyes as it opens up options with using multiple amps.

Another mod is to change them from a 5-way crossover design to a 3-way crossover design. People do this mod for several reasons such as... to make them not such an amp killer design. This mod makes them more efficient and many say they sound better this way. They are much easier to drive and this opens the door to many more amp combinations as well. The RSIIb is wired this way if I'm not mistaken and may have been the idea behind modding the RSIIs this way.

Many people, including myself used an Infinity RSIIb EQ to enhance the low end of these amazing speakers. I can say that this is a very noticeable, highly reccomended addition to anyone who has biampable RSIIs, RSIIa, or RSIIb.
I would upgrade the crossovers with better quality caps in the way of Sonicaps, or Auricaps, or the like. Big difference here as well!

As for the cabs themselves, I always liked running mine with the grills off. The only problem with this in my opinion is the ugly face of the woofer box is revealed. It leaves a lot to be desired! I had plans of pulling the woofers and glueing some nice veneer to the face of the woofer cab. Next of course, I was going to route out the woofer holes. A little stain and some poly and then in goes the woofers for a most excellent display that you can be proud of! If you have extra veneer, do the rears of the woofer cabs in the same fashion.

I had three pair of these at one time believe it or not. Never regreted buying them all either except for the pair I purchased in Michigan... I could never seem to find an affordable way to get the buggers home, so I sold them. I hope this gives you some ideas that may work for you. Good luck on your quest for excellence! You've got a good start considering the speakers you inquire about. :thmbsp:
 
Just for the record... Emit tweeters can be made to play out the front and the back of one tweeter with a mod. If you sacrifice an Emit (Use a blown one prefferably) and take the face plate off the second, you can rebuild one Emit sandwiched with two face plates. I was going to build some custom home brew Infinitys this way using several Emits, Emims, and Emirms. :naughty:
 
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I rebuilt the crossovers on mine years ago, and they sounded noticeably better when I finished. There should be a thread started by me on this topic. I don't have time to look for it. It may be under general speakers too.

Evan
 
Thanks Guys. This was what I was looking for. Anyone else who wants to chime in please feel free. We are here to share and learn.
 
No problem. Good luck with your project. Let us know what all you get into with them. Take care.
 
A question about implementation

I have seen that some of you have added the bass module from the RSII A/B to these speakers as well. How did you integrate them? Is there a specific modification to the cross over required? Did this make a huge difference? Can another unit from say a RSI be used? If an Infinity unit cannot be sourced is there an alternative? I think some folks use DBX units instead? Thank you Guys for your forth coming replies, it is greatly appreciated.
 
Hooking it up is a breeze. It goes between the preamp and amp (line in, line out) The unit itself is simple but very effective. It has a bass control (self explanatory) and a conour control (variable loudness). The units are fairly basic on the inside... A couple large caps and a small circuit board. I'm not sure if the larger model ones like the version for the IRS would work or not, but then again, you wouldn't want to pay what those fetch for your RSII application!

I know that there is a DBX unit that does a very similar operation with similar results. The unit model number slips my mind, but if you really are interested in it, I will get the model number for you. There is also an Audiocontrol unit that does a similar dance, but I liked the DBX unit far more as it has many more fine adjustments and is much more reliable in general. Plus you get the bonus light display which is very cool I might add if your into light shows.

It generally takes quite a while to find one. Your best luck is to hunt for one on AudioGon, or that big auction site. Save the search so it will notify you when one becomes available! They usually fetch around $200. so place bid accordingly (a bit high) to win. I will wrap by saying this and I can't emphasize this enough... They make a huge noticeable difference (Huge! :drool:) and I can't push you hard enough to get one! Good luck!
 
I saw this on the bay. Original Infinity RS-1b Series Servo Crossover $549. It may work for you, but that price... Kinda steep for the value of your speakers. It does have twice the amount of controls for twice the price. :D I should have looked at the rear of the unit, but I was in a bit of a rush.
 
Another mod is to change them from a 5-way crossover design to a 3-way crossover design. People do this mod for several reasons such as... to make them not such an amp killer design. This mod makes them more efficient and many say they sound better this way. They are much easier to drive and this opens the door to many more amp combinations as well. The RSIIb is wired this way if I'm not mistaken and may have been the idea behind modding the RSIIs this way.

Many people, including myself used an Infinity RSIIb EQ to enhance the low end of these amazing speakers. I can say that this is a very noticeable, highly reccomended addition to anyone who has biampable RSIIs, RSIIa, or RSIIb.
I would upgrade the crossovers with better quality caps in the way of Sonicaps, or Auricaps, or the like. Big difference here as well!

Nope, RSIIb is NOT wired that way. It is a 5-way + rear tweeter.
 
Nope, RSIIb is NOT wired that way. It is a 5-way + rear tweeter.

Well I could be off base there, but I know that this was a heated discussion with some Infinity guys. I could have swore that it was to model a different speaker out of the RSII line. Maybe a different model all together, but none the less, some were definitely making them a 3-way and reporting back good things. Me personally, I always liked the idea of the 3 midrange playing 2 different frequency ranges and the woofers playing there own frequencies as well. Just seemed like the drivers would have less to contend with and could play there given frequency range better.
 
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Resurrecting my old thread because I finally got my RSII's hooked up again after a few years in mothball. All I can say is wow..... I have missed this sound. I am afraid to admit it but I think they blow my JBL 240 Ti's out of the water. The also play better in my listening space. Though I did have to readjust the volume settings on my Pre amp as the woofers were bloated and burping a bit. They will need a recap of the crossover and the Cabinets will need some love for sure. I don't think that I can go back to my other speakers though.

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They are nice aren't they? I will A-B my pair RS IIs against my RS 2.5s as soon as I get my amp back from being upgraded. I will be getting rid of a few pairs of speakers soon since I'm a little overloaded with seven pairs at the moment. It would be best to have just two or three pairs because they take up a lot of room and they're all big speakers, except for the RSMs.

Your's look very nice!

L.D.
 
Thanks! These are special to me. I drove from Atlanta to Richmond Virginia to pick them up. The previous owner had the woofers and Miss redone by Miller Sound. The cabs are stuffed with some kind of fiber fill my guess is to dampen them.

I am getting some air leaking out of the rear of one cab when the woofers are exerted. I don't remember them doing that before. Should I seal them and If so what. I really wasnt planning on this project this year.

Also going back and forth on keeping the oak finish or going with either a dark stain or a custom paint job. I would love to make them a bit more modern with an automotive grade paint job. The downside being that it's irreversible once done.

And of course there is the matter of the cross over. These were nodded slightly by the previous owner to be no palpable with the highs and Miss on there own speaker posts. I would have to find someone to do the job that knows these speakers rather well.

If one does the crossovers, is it worth it to swap out the internal wiring also? I rather like the idea of refreshing the whole thing inside and out. O e could really go all out.

Well it's a journey and a marathon and not a sprint. Unless you have gobs of disposable cash. Then it's a sprint.
 
Great set up. Love that big Yamaha amp. As for the wire I tend to like the old tinned copper wire infinity used. I have never seen it oxidize. The RSIIb I have used nice monster cable from the factory which is much heavier than what I have in the RSII or Quantum series speakers I but it is not tinned.
Glad you brought them back into the mix. Btw are your mid woofers the gray ones?
Jim
 
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