Infinity Intermezzos - To Repair Or Not To Repair?

Puunda

Active Member
Hi everyone,
I've got a set of 5.1 Intermezzos, but they have problems. The mids from both the fronts and center are damaged, and the tweeters from the surrounds are damaged.
I've contacted Harmon, and no parts for the intermezzos are available.
I've found a local speaker repairer who says he can repair the mids for $200/ea.
I've also found tweeters online for about $40/ea + shipping.
So a total of around $700 to get them repaired.
My question is, are the Intermezzos worth fixing at that price?
Are they that good? Or should I just sell off the parts?

Thanks in advance
 
First, I think that $200 each to rebuild the mids is insanely pricey--I'd shop that work around (ship if necessary). IMO, they are not worth a $700 investment, but that is just me.
 
First, I think that $200 each to rebuild the mids is insanely pricey--I'd shop that work around (ship if necessary). IMO, they are not worth a $700 investment, but that is just me.
So let's say I can find someone who can repair the mid for $100/ea ... let's just say
So that makes it about $400 to get it back to life. Is it a worthwhile investment then? How reliable are the amps in these speakers?
If I was to sell off the parts, is there much demand for th parts for Intermezzos?
 
another way to look at this.

if the conditions for why the midrange and the tweeters got damaged continue,
then fixing it means you can blow them again unless you fuse each or if it
was external mechanical damage that won't happen again.

your money fixes a one-time problem or goes towards a new set of speakers.

with the DSP room processing of AVRs, you may be able to replace only the
speakers that were damaged or not-repairable (due to cost or parts)
 
So that makes it about $400 to get it back to life. Is it a worthwhile investment then?

IDK--have you heard them or a fully functional set and like them? A lot depends of if you like/want them, or if you are just looking to flip them. I wouldn't sink $400 into them to gamble on flipping for a profit.

How reliable are the amps in these speakers?

Again, IDK. Plate amps are somewhat notoriously unreliable (generalization here), and can be difficult to find/replace, or repair. I have only run across a couple of Infinity subs that I considered, and they both needed work.

If I was to sell off the parts, is there much demand for th parts for Intermezzos?

Sorry, again IDK--they are not a common or sought after speaker system in the Infinity "food chain". Parts are no longer available, and the scarcity of used parts could make them valuable to someone looking to restore/repair a set, but that is likely a somewhat limited market. They may sell immediately for big bucks, or you may have to sit on them for quite a while to find "that" buyer.

I know, this is not much help. If they were a more widely popular model and/or revered in the Infinity community, the answers would be clearer.
 
another way to look at this.

if the conditions for why the midrange and the tweeters got damaged continue,
then fixing it means you can blow them again unless you fuse each or if it
was external mechanical damage that won't happen again.

your money fixes a one-time problem or goes towards a new set of speakers.

I bought these speakers recently along with some other equipment. I don't know how they were damaged, but from what I've read, the Intermezzos had a design fault with the mids and woofers, making this problem very common.
Assuming that's the case I'm hoping the problem will be 'fixed' when I get it fixed.
With the tweeters however, I think they must've been blown because they were driven too hard and/or under powered. Neither of which I will be doing.

I've never heard them fully functional, so not sure if it's worth the money getting them fixed.

From the feedback I"m getting so far though, it seems like it's not really worth fixing.
 
The preludes and the intermezzo have problems with their 3.5 inch mids, the coating on the neo magnets peel off and scrape the voice coils, these drivers share the same part #'s, on the prelude the 5.5 inch mid bass drivers have the same problems, I don't know if your 6.5 inch mid bass uses neo magnets or not, also the sub amps have many failure problems on the two speakers.

I think it is worth it if you can get the mids fixed, what kind of warranty do they give you with the repair?

I had the preludes and my mids went bad but at the time the mids were still available at infinity so I bought new ones but quickly sold the speakers because the coating were faulty and would just peel again.

I took one of my old mids apart and could have probably repaired it myself but I sold the speakers.

!t's a shame as the prelude and the intermezzo are nice sounding speakers,
 
if you're going to have them repaired, please have them list the parts, process, etc. no sense
payinga lot of money for substitutes you can buy off any websites. it has to be infinity parts
for that model.

fixing could mean a rebuild from a guy who has done this before. or sending them out to a
known fixer (like Watkins, and others who specialize). replacing the speaker could
mean a pull, partout, new OEM part, etc. you want the speaker the cabinet and the
crossover are designed for.

otherwise that Infinity is no longer an infinity and resale plummets. kinda like a Ferrari with
a Yugo engine that happens to fit in the engine bay.
 
I'd contact Millersound and see if it's a project they'd be willing to tackle (the mids, they don't do tweeters). Looking at the tweeter, it may not be easily repairable because the pieces appear to be glued or sonic welded together. However, I do see that several tweeters sold on eBay in the last few months for a fairly reasonable price.

ETA: I just checked, there are at least two different models: 335225-003 and 335225-002. I don't know what the difference is, but you can certainly determine which you need by removing one from the enclosure. Both are currently available for purchase, used, on eBay. Before you buy any tweeters, though, make sure you can replace or repair the mids at what you consider a reasonable price.

Here's what one tweeter looks like:

s-l1600.jpg


s-l1600.jpg
 
I don't know if your 6.5 inch mid bass uses neo magnets or not, also the sub amps have many failure problems on the two speakers.
The mid bass on the center and mains are both fine. The sub on the mains also appear to be fine

I think it is worth it if you can get the mids fixed, what kind of warranty do they give you with the repair?
1 year warranty

I took one of my old mids apart and could have probably repaired it myself but I sold the speakers.
Can you please elaborate on this? How can you take it mid apart? Everything looks glued in.

if you're going to have them repaired, please have them list the parts, process, etc. no sense
payinga lot of money for substitutes you can buy off any websites. it has to be infinity parts
for that model.

fixing could mean a rebuild from a guy who has done this before. or sending them out to a
known fixer (like Watkins, and others who specialize). replacing the speaker could
mean a pull, partout, new OEM part, etc. you want the speaker the cabinet and the
crossover are designed for.

otherwise that Infinity is no longer an infinity and resale plummets. kinda like a Ferrari with
a Yugo engine that happens to fit in the engine bay.
I believe the speaker repairer was going to simply replace the voice coil. I was trying to explain the fault with the neo magnet, but he believe it's because the voice coil was damaged due to abuse. However it happened, he was going to take it apart, replace it with the same size voice coil.
I'm not sure any OEM parts are available for the 3' mid.

I've decided it's not worth fixing. It's a lot of money, and from the sound of things, the 'fix' will make the mid make sound, but not to original spec. Also the amps in them seem prone to breaking also, so too much risk. And I don't even know if I like the sound of them.

I'm going to write them off and sell the parts.

Thanks for your help everyone
 
It's not easy to take apart the mids as everything is glued in place.

I said it could be done but you would have to be extremely careful when doing it, you would have to UN solder the leads, scrape off the surround and the spider, then if I remember correctly you might have to actually remove the magnet to get at it and scrape the coating that is peeling off it, then recoat the magnet with epoxy, re attach the magnet making sure it is centered, then center the coil and cone and and glue the spider and surround back in place.

Like I said it could be done but it's not going to be easy, you also have to be kind of a handy person to do it.

Also you might be able to get away with removing everything but the magnet and just use a compressor to blow out the peeled coatings from out of the voice coil gap and use a small brush or something and coat the magnet with polyurethane.
 
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It's not easy to take apart the mids as everything is glued in place.

I said it could be done but you would have to be extremely careful when doing it, you would have to UN solder the leads, scrape off the surround and the spider, then if I remember correctly you might have to actually remove the magnet to get at it and scrape the coating that is peeling off it, then recoat the magnet with epoxy, re attach the magnet making sure it is centered, then center the coil and cone and and glue the spider and surround back in place.

Like I said it could be done but it's not going to be easy, you also have to be kind of a handy person to do it.

Also you might be able to get away with removing everything but the magnet and just use a compressor to blow out the peeled coatings from out of the voice coil gap and use a small brush or something and coat the magnet with polyurethane.

I'm a very handy person, but this sounds too complicated for me. I don't know how I can get the surround and spider off without damaging it. Then the recoat the magnet with epoxy?! Getting way too complicated.
So this has sealed the deal for me.
 
I'm a very handy person, but this sounds too complicated for me. I don't know how I can get the surround and spider off without damaging it. Then the recoat the magnet with epoxy?! Getting way too complicated.
So this has sealed the deal for me.
It's a shame infinity doesn't support their products as these speakers sound really nice.
 
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