Crescendo 3007 and RSe speakers

[abricru]

Advice please: I'm a 62-year-old lady who has inherited an enormous amount of stereo equipment including a pair of Infinity Crescendo CS 3007 speakers.

My hearing loss is in the higher frequencies so I've always liked the Infinity tweeters. These speakers appear to be in excellent shape except for the foam. After removing the screws, I am not able to pull the speaker out of the cabinet. I tried prying a little with a screwdriver but was afraid I might damage something. If I ever do get them out, I am not sure whether to attempt to refoam them myself or send them off for repair. I also saw a YouTube video suggesting that rubber was a better material to use than foam.

I am a bit concerned about the amount of power required to drive these speakers.

Receivers I have:

NAD 3020B
OUTLAW RR2150
NAKAMICHI SR4

There are others, but I think these are the three best. Would any of these three be powerful enough to drive the Crescendo speakers? I see people mentioning "bi-amping" the speakers, but I don't understand what that means or if it is necessary. I also have two Fosi audio mini power amplifiers if that would help somehow.
There's a pair of Infinity RSe speakers, but I'm not crazy about the way they sound. Disappointing. The Infinity bookshelf speakers I got sound great, but they need to be re-foamed as well.

Any advice or opinions on this mess would be appreciated. I'm overwhelmed. Thank you so much for taking the time to read.

 

[jefferylhenr]

The RSe’s will need crossovers restoration and potentially work on the drivers and probably the 3007’s as well. I am not totally familiar with your amps, but I know some of the NAKAMICHI‘s go down to 4 ohms. All of your amps probably need restorations as well. Biamping is where you use a high quality and low distortion amp to drive the tweeters and mids and a high current low ohm amp to drive the bass woofers. Use the preamp outputs from your low distortion amp to feed the amp driving your bass woofers. Looking at the spec sheet on your OUTLAW RR2150 it’s more than up to the task of driving your 3007’s. The 3007’s are 30 years old and have 2 electrolytic capacitors that should be replaced with polypropylene’s.

 

[jazzmans]

take them to a professional, so they can verify the woofers aren't shot.

of the three pairs of cs 3007 I've had, (I still have two pairs) one had all four woofers destroyed, but they looked exactly the same to my eyes.

use foam, not rubber. Rubber will change everything about the woofers.

Any receiver that outputs 15 watts or more will drive them with ease.

CS 3007 are not a difficult speaker to drive at all. I've got a pair of mycrescendo 3009 rigged up to a fosi audio chip amp, and it sounds just fine.


I don't have a pair of rsE, but I have many different speakers from 'round that time in infinity's life. They're great.

 

[7.62]

The crescendo’s woofers are a pain in the rear to get out the first time if they’ve never been removed. There’s a, I’m not sure if it’s a type of mastic or rubberized compound that was used to hold the trim rings to the edge of the woofer basket over the original foams, maybe to keep vibration down I’m not sure. I think I used a steak knife with a nice pointy tip, rare around here because I’ve broken most of ours…..lol. I believe I also used the freebie screwdriver from parts express.

If you persist, working slowly around the woofer, insert that tip between the trim ring and the cabinet, I used a piece of sheet metal to pry against to keep any damage on the cabinet to a minimum they will eventually give. Good news is the connections to the woofer should be clipped on not soldered.

I’d suggest, if you’ve never refoamed woofers to send these out. I agree with Jazzman, they’re not to tough to power, pick your 2-3 highest powered receivers and go with what sounds best, of course though like most Infinity’s they’ll gulp the power if you give it to them.

And welcome to Audiokarma .

 

[abricru]

Thank you all very much for the advice. It is extremely helpful. In your opinion, would these Crescendo speakers be worth repairing if it turns out they need more than refoaming? The cabinets are so nice looking and HEAVY ( for me and my back, lol). I hope I can get them working and also the killer bookshelf speakers. They sound great even with the messed up foam. Thanks again!

 

[swechsler]

Worth repairing would depend on the cost. Finding the correct replacement woofers, while possible, will probably be somewhat expensive (figure around $75-$100 each on the used market), but at that price, probably worthwhile. Since you already have the Crescendos in your possession, you can do a simple test which should tell you if the woofers are still good: connect the speakers to the receiver of your choice, then lie them on their backs on the floor. Play some music through them, not too loud, but loud enough that you can hear it. Then put your ear up to each woofer and make sure it is producing bass. If so, then you can probably get away with just refoaming and replacing the capacitors. It's not 100% conclusive; you should still have them gone over by a pro, but at least you know you're starting with something. If one or more woofers is not making sound, then it could be bad, or there could be some other issue.

 

[swechsler]

There's a pair of Infinity RSe speakers, but I'm not crazy about the way they sound. Disappointing. The Infinity bookshelf speakers I got sound great, but they need to be re-foamed as well.

I'm a bit confused about this. Are you saying that you have three sets of Infinities: the RSe's, the Crescendos, and a third set of bookshelves (the RSe's are considered bookshelf speakers as well)? What's wrong with the RSe's? Obviously they'd need refoaming as well, but there are also several possible failure points in the crossover that could contribute to their mediocre sound: the capacitors, the level controls and the fuses. You didn't mention if you had any experience working with electronics (although the fact that you tried to remove the woofers tells me you're not totally uncomfortable with DIY work), but those are all potentially simple repairs if you know how to solder. The fuse holder and the level controls need deoxidation/cleaning (Deoxit D5) and possibly a new fuse, and capacitors can be simply unsoldered or cut out of the circuit, and new ones soldered in.

 

[abricru]

I'm a bit confused about this. Are you saying that you have three sets of Infinities: the RSe's, the Crescendos, and a third set of bookshelves (the RSe's are considered bookshelf speakers as well)? What's wrong with the RSe's? Obviously they'd need refoaming as well, but there are also several possible failure points in the crossover that could contribute to their mediocre sound: the capacitors, the level controls and the fuses. You didn't mention if you had any experience working with electronics (although the fact that you tried to remove the woofers tells me you're not totally uncomfortable with DIY work), but those are all potentially simple repairs if you know how to solder. The fuse holder and the level controls need deoxidation/cleaning (Deoxit D5) and possibly a new fuse, and capacitors can be simply unsoldered or cut out of the circuit, and new ones soldered in.

Yes, I have three sets of Infinity speakers. I don't know much of anything about the electronics inside. I can't get the speakers out of the cabinet, so I guess I'll have to get somebody to help me take them somewhere for repair. The RSes were supposedly refurbished.

Here's a simple question: If you try to re-foam the speakers yourself, and you mess up, does it ruin them or can you try again?

Thanks again for all the info.

 

[swechsler]

Here's a simple question: If you try to re-foam the speakers yourself, and you mess up, does it ruin them or can you try again?

Depends how you mess up. You're unlikely to do permanent damage, but removing new foam that was incorrectly installed is much more difficult than removing old decayed foam.

There are many videos on YouTube that show what's involved in refoaming speakers. Watch some and see if you're up to it. If you have some DIY or craft skills and steady hands it's not that difficult.

 

[7.62]

^ what is swechsler said. Doesn’t sound like your in a hurry so take your time, soak up some knowledge and you never know what you might find while doing that, that pertains to your speakers. You really want to try and get it right the first time because if you think cleaning them up now is tough for refoaming, it’s nothing compared to having to clean them up with all that fresh work you just did and I speak from experience….LOL. I’ve missed centering the foams once or twice and it is a PITA !