I'm in Sweden for the year studying towards a master's degree in applied mechanics, and there's a pair of the Prelude 40's in the local shop. Not sure how common they are over here.
I'm going to give them a listen soon - I'll have to tell you guys about them.
Unfortunately my Renaissance 90's and Kappa 8's are a good 3000 miles away in Michigan, so I can't compare them quite as I wish I could.
Well, I know it's been over a month since I've said I'd give my first impressions, but I've been pretty busy since then...
Anyway, I gave them a rather brief listen - certainly not one to make a do or die decision on them, but enough to give me some thoughts about them.
I listened to a few of my favorite tracks on Bjork's Debut - namely #3, Venus as a Boy, and #8, Aeroplane. They're the first two tracks I play on any system, so I've got a pretty good feeling of what they sound like. The recording itself is excellent, with a lots of ambient synths, enveloping soundstaging, great, well controlled bass, and of course Bjork's sublime voice on VaaB. Aeroplane opens with some ocean and rainforest sounds, leading to some great saxes playing together, and then blossoms into the full song with a huge synth bass note that's really hard for systems to control. The song itself centers on her vocals (of course), with lots of organic-sounding percussion. At the end of the choruses, there's some very detailed cymbals - some of the better I've heard, on par with those on Eric Clapton's Slowhand (Can't say I've heard the SACD of that, unfortunately - just the CD, unknown pressing).
Anyway, back to the sound.
Okay, let me say it right here: I was disappointed. I guess that's not surprising, considering Infinity today and what it once was. So if you're expecting it to sound something like the classic EMIT/EMIM Infinities - my listen told me it's pretty much as unlike them as any other modern non-planar designs are.
I honestly can't say I know the exact models of the amp and disc player they were using - the amp/receiver/who knows was a new Harman Kardon. They all look the same to me, and I didn't bother to ask which one it was since they were closing. The disc player was, I believe, also an H/K model.
Now, just based on my limited knowledge of H/K today, I'm a little skeptical of what they were using to power it. However, they're a quite reputable store with tons of mid end gear that would presumably run the speakers quite fine - so I should hope they're not shooting themselves in the foot with a poor amp or disc player. Of course, I could easily be wrong, so there's no real excuse for not going back to figure out what I listened to them with. About the player - I'm honestly not entirely convinced that anything beyond a properly functioning DAC and error correcting module makes any difference - unless of course you want to intentionally introduce coloring to the sound. But I've found the differences between sources of any (sufficient) quality to be subtle, just as the differences between different solid state amps with enough power for particular speakers are subtle. The difference between speakers, however...
In no way did I feel like the speakers were underpowered at the moderate (slightly loudish, but respectable for a store on the showroom) volumes I listened to. Of course, that can hide itself - but it was nothing like my R90s, which sounded bass-free with just my Adcom GFA-555 powering them. Biamp'ed with a Carver TFM-15CB with the gain set to balance them on top, and they (the R90s) were fine.
The speakers were set up with a moderate (10 degree maybe) amount of toe-in, with maybe 3 feet behind them to the wall, open room to the right, 6-8 feet to the wall on the left (which was mostly covered in their amps/cd players, but not all the way to the rear wall), and about 12 feet of room behind me. The speakers and I were set up like an equilateral triangle, with perhaps 8-9 feet between each of us. That's my preferred spacing (the equilateral triangle) with regards to speaker placement - I find the soundstaging to usually best like that. The floor was a typical commercial carpet and the walls/ceilings typical hard surfaces.
So, my impressions:
Well, the level of detail that I get from EMITs and EMIMs just isn't there. No sparkly yet smooth highs, or ultra-realistic mids (guitars, saxes, brass).
The soundstage was also nowhere near the R90s or Kappa 8s - there was no enveloping in sound, or even extension of the soundstage beyond the two speakers. There was none of the depth that the old Infinities have either - rather than hearing as if the cymbals in Aeroplane are coming from a drummer on stage in front of me slightly right of center, they were coming distinctly from the speakers. I'm sure you guys get the gist of what I'm saying - the soundstage that the high end Infinities are renowned for is more like an average pair of floorstanders.
The mid-bass and bass were just there - unobtrusive to the point of being underbalanced. I guess that can be surmised based on the specs/frequency response numbers given, too. It wasn't sloppy or uncontrolled at all - just underpowered. I suppose going back after-hours and giving them a long, louder listening might get me more acquainted with them - bit we're definitely not talking Kappa SPLs and almost certainly not R90 control here.
My overall impression was that they sound entirely unremarkable - average floorstanders with no weaknesses or strengths - until you see the price tag. And that's not a good thing.
The salesman told me they were designed by a Dane - which doesn't surprise me at all. They had almost exactly the same sound signature as the previous pair of Danish bookshelf speakers that he played beforehand, and a few of the others I've heard there as well. The typical Danish "sound" is rather dull, I think. Good for a secondary system maybe, but not something I would want as a main stereo. It sounds like something you would want playing in the living room with guests over, so not as to offend them in any way. Very smooth to the point of losing the finer details, with good, perhaps slightly light on the bass tonal balance. Not necessarily bad. Just not the Infinity sound.
They do look good as a "furniture" piece - albeit not to my liking as much as classic Infinities, but the WAF is high for big speakers, I'm sure. They're the piano gloss black there - covered in fingerprints, of course.
So my verdict, as flawed as it probably is, is that these are in no way in the same league as the earlier Infinities. Given their price, I would expect far more in terms of soundstage, detail, and bass extension - perhaps they wouldn't be nearly as smooth then, but I can't name a single American speaker that comes close to them in that respect.
If you know headphones at all, if Klipsch is Grado (can it be any other way) and classic Infinity is Stax or Hifiman, these are like low end Sennheiser phones. Far from being as detailed or with enough bass extension to be something like the HD 600 (which is my primary system here in Sweden and I do love them so), but not too far off in overall presentation.
Like I said, I need to give them another listen when I have the store all to myself.