Infinity Hierarchy?

Rommaster

Marantz 2238B
Is there a nice organized list of where different Infinities stand? After refoaming my RSIIIB's, i've become curious to see where in Infinities line they stand. It's really confusing looking through everything, even on that german infinity classics site. It would be nice if everyone could combine their knowledge and assemble a little chart with any information possible from manuals, ads, etc. If this is already available, I'd love a link. Thanks!
 
Rommaster,
Expound upon this please. Do you mean for example a list of the best to the worst. If you do, everyone can contribute their opinions, however, it will be only that. Additionally, probably very few of us, my self included, will have experience with all of the models. Also, a model that is designed to fill a small room can not be rated against one designed to fill a large room with a 'club like' musical expereience.

Say more and we will go from there.
Vito
 
Well, a best to worst list would be very interesting. My original post was requesting a hierarchy in terms of rank from top of the line to bottom of the line from each series they released. An example of this is that as far as pioneer recievers go, you can see a few different series -- sx-x50, sx-x80, sx-x2x, etc. Within each of these series, there is a simple hierarchy based on original price and WPC, ex. sx-1280 obviously is above an sx-980.

I just thought it would be interesting to see where everything stood with infinity. I know their SM series was the consumer level low-end stuff, but within different series (the Reference series for example), where did each model stand so to speak. I don't know if this clarifies anything at all :) , just thought it might be interesting.

I would also be interested to hear what people's favorite infinity's are. What the "holy grail" of infinities is, and where my RS IIIB's fit in just to give me an idea of if i'm getting a good example of what Infinity has to offer, or if I am not hearing a good example. Hopefully this helps :)
 
The worst I have heard was the 2000AXT. The walsh tweeter was amazing, but the midrange sounded like a saxophone, which worked when you played sax recordings, but sucked on Jackson Browne. I owned them for a year and sold them as furniture.
 
The Infinity Classics website has already done a fine job of organizing the hierarchy of the different models in each of the various lines of speakers that were manufactured from about 1968 through approximately 1993, so I'll only address the Reference Series of speakers here. I'll leave it to you to peruse this excellent website to learn more about the many other speakers that Infinity created.

According to Infinity Classics, the RS-IIIA/B was part of the Reference Series of speakers manufactured from about 1982 through 1984. There were 10 speakers in the line (unheard of today); the IIIA/B was 3rd from the top, with only the RS-IB and RS-IIA/B ahead of it. From this series of speakers, the 1B is unquestionably the "Holy Grail" but the IIA/B is no slouch either. However, the ultimate Holy Grail of Infinity speakers would easily have to be the various incarnations of the mega-expensive IRS, first introduced in 1980.

Rommaster said:
I would also be interested to hear what people's favorite infinity's are. What the "holy grail" of infinities is, and where my RS IIIB's fit in just to give me an idea of if i'm getting a good example of what Infinity has to offer, or if I am not hearing a good example. Hopefully this helps :)

IMNSHO, the IIIB is a very fine example of the classic Infinity sound from this era when Infinity was clearly on the cutting edge of speaker design. It employs the same tweeter as the much more expensive models in the Reference Series, and only gives away the last octave or two at the bottom to the bigger and much more expensive IB and IIA/B. Infinity clearly did not ignore this speaker's development in favor of the bigger models, as they introduced a new dome midrange (the Polydome) that was used in the IIIB, 4B, 5B, and RS-6, and in the later Kappa series of speakers, instead of a more conventional cone midrange. The only way my IIIB's will ever leave my house is if I find a pair of IIA/B's or (if the wife would ever let me and I could afford both the speakers and the amps to drive them) some IB's.
 
Along these lines, how would you compare the sound and/or quality between the RS-IIIa and the 7 Kappa? I have a pair of 7Kappa and am considering a trade for RS-IIIa.
 
Tedrick said:
The Infinity Classics website has already done a fine job of organizing the hierarchy of the different models in each of the various lines of speakers that were manufactured from about 1968 through approximately 1993, so I'll only address the Reference Series of speakers here. I'll leave it to you to peruse this excellent website to learn more about the many other speakers that Infinity created.

According to Infinity Classics, the RS-IIIA/B was part of the Reference Series of speakers manufactured from about 1982 through 1984. There were 10 speakers in the line (unheard of today); the IIIA/B was 3rd from the top, with only the RS-IB and RS-IIA/B ahead of it. From this series of speakers, the 1B is unquestionably the "Holy Grail" but the IIA/B is no slouch either. However, the ultimate Holy Grail of Infinity speakers would easily have to be the various incarnations of the mega-expensive IRS, first introduced in 1980.



IMNSHO, the IIIB is a very fine example of the classic Infinity sound from this era when Infinity was clearly on the cutting edge of speaker design. It employs the same tweeter as the much more expensive models in the Reference Series, and only gives away the last octave or two at the bottom to the bigger and much more expensive IB and IIA/B. Infinity clearly did not ignore this speaker's development in favor of the bigger models, as they introduced a new dome midrange (the Polydome) that was used in the IIIB, 4B, 5B, and RS-6, and in the later Kappa series of speakers, instead of a more conventional cone midrange. The only way my IIIB's will ever leave my house is if I find a pair of IIA/B's or (if the wife would ever let me and I could afford both the speakers and the amps to drive them) some IB's.

Wow, thanks for the great response. I think the german threw me off on the infinity classics site. I saw that they had all the models on there, but wasn't able to really pick out the "order" of each. Glad to hear that my RS IIIB's are a good example. They really sound wonderful to me -- first thing i noticed is that they really disappear. Very large soundstage with lots of detail. I drove them with a nakamichi pa-7 and a str-7065 as the pre. They really eat the power and don't sound fatiguing at all. I can't imagine the amp I'd need to get the larger models to any decent volume :eek:
 
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