Advice on repairing my Infinity speakers

[mishmish]

Hi!
I have a pair of infinity RS5000 that need some love.
The boxes are broken, foam is long gone, woofers are dirty and some of the plastic is broken. I also assume that the capacitors are not in the best shape.
I asked about them here few months ago and was told I need to do a lot of work, and now I have the time for that.
The goal for me is to have fun, and a decent set of speakers. If you recommend changing the drivers or other stuff at a relatively low to medium cost I would like to hear your suggestions

I was thinking to build a new box, and fix the other issues, but I don’t have any experience in speakers building so I would like some advice!

About the box building - should I just build cabinets that are exactly like the originals, or should I do some design improvements? I’ve seen some people adding braces and insulation to these speakers - should I add them?
I should mention that I don’t care about the original look or something, just want the best sounding speakers that I can get.
Also, for the cabinets - birch or mdf? Which one will sound better?
About the woofers - I already ordered new foams. How can I clean those tears, and get those cones in the middle out?
And about the crossover - should I replace some things while it’s all open, or leave it alone as everything works? If I better do something, what should I do?
A note on the back says that they’ve been serviced in some point by a known tech near by, but I don’t know when.

If you have any other input or suggestions I would love to hear.

Sorry for this long post, and thanks!

 

[swechsler]

If you recall, in my last thread I noted that the woofers may not be original. Based on the gasket (4 holes on the left vs 8 on the right), it appears that they may not be identical, but it's hard to tell since they are so dirty. The one on the left looks correct, the one on the right, possibly not (it's also possible that they are the same woofer but the one on the right has had its dust cap and gasket replaced after the last refoaming). If you could clean up the woofers and then take another pic, we'd have a better idea of what's going on. If that is an actual tear in the woofer (as you suggested) then it is not original; the cones should be polypropylene. You'll have to look for a replacement woofer on eBay (the same woofer was used in several different Infinity models).

Regarding the cabinets, I'd go for MDF with a real wood veneer. And brace as well. You don't need to match the dimensions or style of the originals, but you want to maintain the same internal volume (add extra for whatever is taken up by the braces). You can reuse the stuffing that's in there now if it's in good shape. You should recap the crossovers.

 

[swechsler]

The midranges can/need to be refoamed as well. I don't think it's an easy job, but it is doable. IIRC, they have a nonremoveable subenclosure, which means you can't get to the back of the cone.

 

[wmgwizard]

While I appreciate your enthusiasm IMO the "juice isn't worth the squeeze".

You will have a considerable financial investment far out weighing their value for a speaker that was OK at best.

 

[tomlinmgt]

I had a set of these in mint condition with original boxes given to me. They didn't stay around long...definitely not one of Infinity's better offerings. If you're willing to go through the time, effort and expense of DIY, I suggest you look at the different speaker kits sold by Parts Express or Madisound. Also, there are plenty of used speakers in the sub $500 range, modern and vintage, that will kick the crap out of the RS5000 in terms of sound quality.