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Help! rs6b wiring idiocy!

scavenger

scavenger

Member
Hello All! I lurk here daily. It's a great place.

I'm new to this, and I pulled the crossovers out of my rs6b's for recapping (had someone else do it).

Got them back. Ready to re-install. Then I realized that I didn't mark the wiring connections or take pictures or anything. D'oh!

So this much I know:
To the woofer - red and red/black
To the polydome - white and white/black
To the emit - blue and blue/black

But I don't know which -- black stripe or no black stripe -- is (+) and which is (-).

AND, do they all hook up the same way? -- as in, if black stripe is (-) do ALL the drivers get black stripe to (-) terminal?

Unfortunately I can't read a wiring diagram. There is one readily available on infinity classics but it's all greek to me.

Can anyone help me please? I would greatly appreciate it.
 
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I believe the black stripe is the negative. I would have to open mine up to be sure, but I believe that is standard. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Thanks cemerson! I thought that might be the case. I got impatient and hooked them up that way with all black stripes to negative. They sound good but I haven't really put the juice to them. I'm hoping someone can confirm that this is correct. I played them low and all the drivers work.
 
Yes, solid color is positive and color with black stripe is negative. That is pretty much how it is in all the infinity's I own currently from Quantum 5s up thru Reference 4s. Red=woofer, White=midrange, Blue=tweeter.
 
Thanks seifreit! They seem like they are working properly EXCEPT:

Still no discernible difference when adjusting the tweeter and midrange pots after thorough cleaning and lubricating.

When playing music with pronounced bass (read bumpin hip hop and funk) at un-recommended volumes, the woofers reach the limit of their excursion and pop badly.
I can pump any other kind of music through these things with my MCS 3865 (NEC AUA-8000) which is rated at 65 watts max output and I have no problems. RS6b's are rated at 35-100 watts RMS.

Same thing happens with my Boston Acoustic A70's which are rated at 75 program and 150 peak.

Neither of these like hip hop at all. My advent 5002's handle it ok but aren't as lively or dynamic as either of these other sets.

Might have to work a sub into the mix and keep the low range away from these speakers. I'm just not a big sub-satellite fan for music.
 
scavenger said:
Still no discernible difference when adjusting the tweeter and midrange pots after thorough cleaning and lubricating.
Click to expand...

I have noticed the same thing with my RS5b's, RS3b's and Kappa 9's. The range of control is very subtle. Now,on the other hand, I have a set of Quantum 5's and the adjustment range is much broader as is the case with the 3000's I have. My personal experience has been that as the models got "newer" the adjustment range narrowed. YMMV

And yes, I currently own quite a few vintage Infinitys. More than I care to admit to my wife.
 
Try a better amp? How freakin' loud are you playing music?

Telarc's 1812 Overture doesn't bottom out my Infinity speakers.

Maybe try some Cerwin Vega.
 
Uh...LOUD. I like my amps. They sound really good and don't distort or seem to cause any other problems. They don't cause problems on any other type of music. They don't cause the problem on my advent 5002's but they don't sound as good. Only CV's I ever had I didn't like either. Just found it odd that I would have the same problem on both the Infinities and the BA's which, rating-wise, should be able to handle it. I can hook them up through a subwoofer amp and take the bottom 100Hz away from them but my subwoofer sucks and I don't want to buy another one.
 
Hopefully you're not cranking up bass with EQ, tone controls or loudness control. That can not only overload the woofers, but it can cause the amp to distort, which can also cause woofer slapping, in my experience.

In any case, a sub is probably a good idea, and you can set it to crossover very low so it just fills in the deep bass and you hardly know it's there. A sub that's well integrated sounds like it's not there. Especially in a system with full sized speakers (rather than tiny satellites) that can do 'most' of the bass by themselves.
 
No I try to keep things flat. If I need to EQ I do it by pulling things out not adding them in. Yeah, guess I''ll have to get a new sub. I have an NHT ma-1a I can use and some crappy sub. I have some Polk Monitor 10's that need one mw-6503 driver that I need to replace. They might do the trick. I just have limited resources for a while
 
I don't know the NHT models but they make pretty good stuff generally.

There are some secrets to sub placement I learned around here, if you have any flexibility in the room.
 
I also have an NHT ma-1 and I think it is a perfectly fine subwoofer. (But I don't use it to simulate earthquakes).
 
One suggestion is to set the crossover frequency on the woofer amp to the low end of the response curve of the main speakers. If -3db is 60 Hz, set it at 60 Hz. Better to have it too low than too high - otherwise it can get very noticeable and boomy sounding. I notice the RS6b is rated 45Hz and up by Infinity. That's nice and low, and you might want to take more of the load off than just <40Hz. If the sub is a pass-through type (amp out ->sub in -> sub out to L and R speakers), you can set it higher without losing anything - all bass will go to one or the other. I might suggest 60 or even 80 Hz. The Bostons are rated to 40 Hz (-3db) but they are a two-way which means the woofer is doing even more duty (midrange) than in the 3-way Infinity. I'd definitely start with 80 there. But you have to listen and fiddle and decide for yourself what sounds best.
 
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