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Infinity Monitor IIa's

mccarty350

mccarty350

Super Member
All, I have never owned an infinity speaker. I'm plotting a trip to Bloomington Normal Illinois to pick up a pool table light and out of curiosity...yes I'm a crack addict...I checked craigslist on the towns on the route. Low and behold on the route I find that someone is selling a pair of Infinity Monitor IIa's. He's wanting $200.

From what I'm reading they are about 90lbs a pop and appear to have an ohm walsh tweeter...peerless tweeter...same midrange I see on ADS speakers...and some form of 12" woofer. How good are these? Is this a good price? How do they compare to other well known infinities down the road?

I know, a lot of questions. A bit more, I have quite a few speakers and am only looking for things that are exceptional as I want to thin the heard. Amongst my best are DQ-10's, a pair of AR98LS, and a pair of RTR HPR12-M's. Are these in the same league as any of the three of these subjectively?

I know I'm posting in an Infinity forum so there will be some bias but amongst the 20-some odd pairs of vintage speakers I own I don't have any infinities as I have not come across them. Are these west coast speakers? What would they be best at? Is there any way to repair the foam in the walsh tweeters as I have heard they go bad.

Here's the link for the one being sold: http://chambana.craigslist.org/ele/3126023674.html

Midrange driver does not look right compared to others I see online. Any thoughts?

Lots of questions. I appreciate it all, this community is the greatest!

McCarty350
 
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The midrange in the Craigslist ad is the same driver used in the Infinity Monitor as opposed to th*e 2 1/2" Peerless softdome( not the commonly seen 1 1/2" soft dome) normally used in the Infinity 200IIa.
In the same league as the speakers you have listed, they are definitly worth a listen.
Personally I'd ask if the grill covers are included.
 
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Make sure the Walsh's are working. You'll have to pull them so take an ohmmeter and a 1/4 inch socket and just be very careful prying the base up from the cab and pulling a lead as well. A pair of small needle nose pliers will help you lever the lead off. The one pictured looks to be in good condition but the VC's are easily fried and may be open nonetheless. Don't worry if the foam filling the cone is melted but take care not to touch it (the cone) or move it in any way.

I know it sounds like a lot of trouble and the seller may balk, but without working Walsh's they are worth way less than asking and replacement's are difficult and expensive to find and repair next to impossible.
 
First off the seller is not using a real picture, that one was copied from some 2009 set that was sold online so I have requested real pictures of his and not gotten a response yet. I'll add more detail when this guy answers with more than one line...because so far they have just been 1 line responses.

tubed said:
The midrange in the Craigslist ad is the same driver used in the Infinity Monitor as opposed to th*e 2 1/2" Peerless softdome( not the commonly seen 1 1/2" soft dome) normally used in the Infinity 200IIa.
In the same league as the speakers you have listed, they are definitly worth a listen.
Personally I'd ask if the grill covers are included.
Click to expand...
 
Shouldn't I be able to play something and put my ear up to the walshes or put a toilet paper roll over them and put my ear to it? I know it's probably just 12k and up frequency response but I should be able to hear something. I don't want to disassemble his speakers, etc.

Understood, fragile foam like that if I move the cone will disintegrate is that your concern?

So how good are these speakers in your assessment? Within the Infinity lineup how do they compare to RS models, etc.?


Coastsider said:
Make sure the Walsh's are working. You'll have to pull them so take an ohmmeter and a 1/4 inch socket and just be very careful prying the base up from the cab and pulling a lead as well. A pair of small needle nose pliers will help you lever the lead off. The one pictured looks to be in good condition but the VC's are easily fried and may be open nonetheless. Don't worry if the foam filling the cone is melted but take care not to touch it (the cone) or move it in any way.

I know it sounds like a lot of trouble and the seller may balk, but without working Walsh's they are worth way less than asking and replacement's are difficult and expensive to find and repair next to impossible.
Click to expand...
 
It can be difficult to tell if the Walsh's are working just by listening but it is possible if you don't want to hassle getting the seller to let you check them with an ohmmeter. Ohming them out is the only sure way.

The cones are easier to damage with the foam gone as it is meant as a support structure as well as providing some dampening.

I have a pair of Monitor IIa's that I purchased new and I absolutely love them. Amazing bass and great range due to the multitude and quality of drivers covering the audible spectrum. The only difference in the II's that you are looking at are the mids which as has been mentioned, are the one's that were in the original 3-way Monitors. The IIa's have the same dome mid that was used in the later Quantum series. I don't know how much difference there would be in the way they sound.

As far as comparing them to the later RS series, I can only speak to the RS 2.5's since I have a pair and have not heard any of the others, and since they really are a very different animal with their Watkins woofers, EMIT's and EMIM's I am kind of reticent to do so. I use my 2.5's in my Home Theater rig and so am not used to hearing them except in that environment in which they are quite spectacular, but so are the Monitor IIa's in a 2-channel environment. The Walsh tweeters give them a really special sound.

Walsh equipped Mid-70's Infinity's hold a special place in my heart (I have 3 different pair) so I am definitely biased.

I hope this info helps.
 
Coastsider your advice is great, I truly appreciate it. So the ohmmeter test, what do I do, take a voltmeter and set it to continuity and see if it has infinite ohms i.e. no contact/open circuit? I want to see 'some' ohms is that what I'm looking for? Just touch to each lead?

I'm sure the foam will be degraded, is there any way to replace the foam on my own, etc.?

That says a lot as a collector of Infinity if you actually use your monitors for 2 channel duty, hell of an endorsement. That kind of sells it for me. I'm sure your Quantums are amazing what with EMIT's and watkins woofers, I have not had the pleasure of hearing them.

The guy is currently asking $200 but he doesn't know anything about speakers and didn't even plug them in ever. I am going to have him do some tests before I drive out of my way to see him and have asked him to send me photos which I can post here if you like. I'm betting the driver complement may not even be what is in the link in the craigslist ad as he took the picture and verbiage wholesale from another ad.

Would you describe these as east coast or west coast sound speakers? I'm guessing they may sound somewhat similar to my AR98's who have a nice diverse full range driver complement and also are acoustic suspension.
 
Just pull one lead and then check across the two connections on the driver. If there is no continuity the voice coil is open. You should see +/- 8 ohms.

You can refill the foam. There is a long thread which I started back in 2007 regarding the process when I was restoring my Monitor IIa's. I can probably provide a link if you get the speakers.

Once you see actual pictures of the speakers you should also determine if the woofers are original as they got replaced a lot as well and usually with Radio Shack junk.

Infinity was a Southern California company.

I don't have Quantums, I have a pair of RS 2.5's which also have Watkins woofers and Infinity's planar drivers. My Monitor IIa's are in a dedicated 2-channel music room with my other mid-70's Infinity's.

Here's a great link for Infinity information:

http://www.davidsaudio.com/html/infinity_.html

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Good luck.
 
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Thank you so much this is all great advice. I noticed for some reason a plethora of infinity speakers on craigslist claim they were 'upgraded' with polk or JBL drivers. I'm guessing people didn't know how to refoam and just threw whatever in there. I spoke to the owner, he has never plugged them in and knows nothing about them, he was given them as payment for some odd job. I asked him to send me pics and listen to each driver and make sure they work before I waste the time of going out there.

As to the continuity test I don't know if I'll be able to do that and the risk of removing a lead on an old speaker often times is that the piece of metal on the tweeter breaks occasionally but I'll see what I can do. I certainly have several voltmeters laying around.

Feudian slip, I was talking to a guy selling quantums earlier today...i had to tell him that the 'pieces of metal' on his speaker were the tweeters as one of them was missing. I'll hit the link, thanks for all the help!

McCarty350
 
I'm pretty sure this is game over. Looks like someone replaced the original peerless tweeter with some phillips tweeters. I have pictures of the walsh and other angles but it's my guess that this is damning enough to not bother. Am I right on this one?

Thanks,

McCarty350
 

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Good call, I didn't even notice the woofers. This thing is worthless. That's really disappointing I was really excited about hearing some old infinities. Going to have to keep my eye out and see if I can find some out there...this is really depressing.
 
Anybody in the Indianapolis area want to demo some good vintage infinity for me?

I really want to hear some now. Almost getting these things has really given me the jones.
 
Hey J .. what a g-dam shame they butchered these!!! these look like possibly the best of the Infinity walsh what a shame .. I wonder if the guy had the original woofers and just swapped them out with 10 dollar RS to get them sold .. i picked up a pair of Advents that way the originals were back on a shelf ready to get tossed .. a near miss .. whew ;-) ...
 
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