Hello just wondering if any one owns a pair of the new reference model speakers. Just wondering how they sound. I'm really curious on that piston midrange driver in the model 263. I wouldn't mind getting a pair as infinity hasn't made speakers except for car audio in a long time. This might be it as Samsung tries to acquire Harmon international. Thanks.
I've only heard them in a big box store under less than ideal conditions, but I was impressed. I'm pretty sure Ffloyd Toole
was the chief engineer behind these and the simply outstanding measurements are a testament to what talented people with ostensibly unlimited resources can accomplish. They're on my bucket list. That flat midrange driver means no cavity resonance in the ear's most sensitive frequency band.
Home Theater Review raved about them here:
http://hometheaterreview.com/measurements-i-also-did-full/
QUOTE:
Conclusion
I expected that a fairly large tower like the R263 would be built for mass-market tastes -- refined mass-market tastes, to be sure, but in the $1,000/pair range, I'd expect a tower speaker to be oriented toward rock/pop and movie sound. The R263, though, seems aimed totally, completely, and absolutely at audiophiles.
The mids and highs of the R263 are the cleanest I've heard from a tower speaker below, let's say, $2,000 (and probably even higher). It comes pretty close to my $3,500/pair Revel F206s, and it might come even closer if the R263 had more bass to balance out the highs better. It reminds me of some of the best
speakers that the late Jim Thiel made,
speakers that were beloved for their clarity and spaciousness but never, to my recollection, praised for their bass or dynamics.
If you're a devoted audiophile who's looking for an affordable tower speaker, I'd say look no further. If you listen to a lot of hip-hop, rock, R&B or pop, or if you're going to use your new speakers in a
home theater system, you'll have to add a
subwoofer or choose another speaker.
