Infinity rs1b....my impressions

[muziekfreak]

Well hello there, after a few reviews here. You come to the conclusion, not many have time nor patience to read anymore. However, it's hobby and this is for me a part of it too sharing.

Take anything said here with in mind, I am just a enthusiast.




First impressions

This is a speaker that requires a good amount of space. It's a overly complicated and flawed in its core design. I am a spoiled magnepan owner, so most certainly not new with dipole speakers. A d their inherent, capability to fill a room. With pure ambiance and incredible channel seperation.

It seems super odd by choice, to make a planar mid high panel. To be flanked by a wall sized bass column . That blocks half the panels, and also its ability to do "its thing "

We will see


Set-up

In short a pain in the ass, a old crossover /servo controller that unfortunately came damaged in the mail with it. It can be repaired, but after concluding. That these speakers are NOT SERVO CONTROLLED AT ALL . I opted for a minidsp, it has superior crossover ability and settings. Especially knowing now that the rs1b is not a servo controlled speaker, the controller is a motional feedback system. I will not go indepth , but it works different and not nearly as interesting as servo. And relatively antiquated, any after market crossover will work with the bass towers.

The panels have passive crossovers so no need to worry about that.

My mood, after glancing over these speakers became less and less enthusiastic. They look fantastic, but there are so many things I can point out as ridiculous from a design stand point. But that's how nudell was, genius but also a overachiever.



Sound

After some crossover tinkering, and settling for around 125hz on the bass towers with proper amplitude settings. Press play, it's the first speaker that entered my space that can rival the tympani I I have. It presented itself with the same open no fatique sound characteristics.

Very laid back , yet powerful and puts out a relatively wide sound field. However it doesn't to do to the extend of my magnepans. It's little bit more timid. A little bit smaller and narrow, but that does make sense. The bass towers do block a good portion of its dipole capability. And the tympani is a true line source speaker with its 6ft fall posture and equally wide. It's not , just a magnepan it's sound field abilities. Are incredible..and not many can rival it.




The rs1b is the first in here, that gets close to what Iove about my maggies. Not so weird, as the emim drivers are magneplanar drivers in the rs. It sounds really pleasant, these speakers demand you attention. They produce low end that's so effortless, the 6x8inch woofers per side barely do any work. And fill a room, on any demand you ask from them . After hours of listening it will invite you for more and more and more.

These speakers have so many similarities to what my reference maggie can do. Minus the disadvantages (lacks low end, and it affect dynamic range) low mass drivers. Are just not that good at it, the rs1 has that covered, needless to say . It is a incredible system to listen too ..there are buts.. important ones !


Beware before buying

Now who doesn't dream of a arnie nudells finest, for a fair amount of money you can find these on occasion. There are a couple of things you need to understand.

They are not servo controlled towers, in defense of infinity , their controller (least mine) doesn't say servo either. Add to that it's a very unreliable crossover and known to break. Get yourself a better crossover it helps tremendously..

They will most definitely benefit from a overhaul. The emims, emits these are the type of speakers. That has lots of wiring, connectors, pots what not. These are nearly 40 years old, you can imagine it takes patience and some work.

Conclusion

I do not consider the rs1b a incredible system. There is room for improvement on almost every aspect of the speakers.

However they do cater to what I am in for it.
Musicality, it's rich, full warm , and effortless how these produce sound .. and they look absolutely stunning in any audio set.

I am slowly refurbishing them , they are worth the effort.

 

[tubed]

Is there a reason you have a pair of dipole speakers so snugged up to the wall?

 

[tubed]

I don't know what the horizontal dispersion of the EMIMs and Emits are but it seems that the bass modules could be placed out of the way as to not "block" the higher frequencies.
Do you have your Tympany's butted up against the wall or are they out into the room as the Infinity's should be?

 

[NH-MAN]

Very nice, might want to give them some more time.

From stereophile

Room placement and speaker orientation are two other things which take a lot of time to get right. As usual, the manufacturer's recommendation here is only a starting point. Everything from soundstaging to tonal accuracy is affected by the speakers' placement and orientation in a particular room, and only through experimentation over weeks or months will it be possible to get the most out of the system.

 

[muziekfreak]

I don't know what the horizontal dispersion of the EMIMs and Emits are but it seems that the bass modules could be placed out of the way as to not "block" the higher frequencies.
Do you have your Tympany's butted up against the wall or are they out into the room as the Infinity's should be?

Not even close 4 foot away from the walls..
The towers according to the manual need to flank the panels precisely how I have them placed.

It's flawed ...

 

[muziekfreak]

Is there a reason you have a pair of dipole speakers so snugged up to the wall?

They are over 4 foot away from the wall which is more than enough , my tympanis were not used to produce low end subs did.

Also the rs1 is not a line source only two emims play the loudest the rest just tags along. These don't need 6 foot at all..

There are so many fantasy stories out there about these. Line source ....wrong, servo controlled ..wrong . They are not betas or higher irs models that are true servo . Cheap cheesy connectors on the emim... Wrong, they used automotive glass fuses for the 3 emim sections and tweeters.

Imagine that...all wired with monster cable, goes through a 5ct automotive fuse.. wrong
Bass towers , firm knock on them makes then sound ridiculously hollow......wrong...all particle wood constructed as with most of that era...wrong


There is so much room for improvement, I am sorry that I don't polish it. Truth needs to hear heard about these. Not even once they raised the hair on my neck .. my tympani with subs?! buries it and does that for me almost every single time ..I think I'll be moving these to the bedroom. I'll be repairing the crossover (few burner resistors) and I will restore them . It's a project, but I have 0 rush doing it.

I am not out of speakers nor attached to these at all. I feel people that never had them are more in awe over them because of the way they look. Listen to a pair , are they bad ?! No that would be nonsense too, are they on the level I am used to ?! Hardly

 

[Gerres26]

Not even close 4 foot away from the walls..
The towers according to the manual need to flank the panels precisely how I have them placed.

It's flawed ...

I think he is talking about the front wall. They look to have plenty of room from the side walls but also look to be pretty close to the front wall.

maybe it’s the angle of the picture that makes them look closer?

 

[muziekfreak]

I think he is talking about the front wall. They look to have plenty of room from the side walls but also look to be pretty close to the front wall.

maybe it’s the angle of the picture that makes them look closer?

The closest wall is 4 foot is the angle , I already put them away and put back my tympani ..

It's not even close
The rs1b will be in my collection room for now. I might restore them but I am in no rush. I think , correction seen the amount of speakers I all have..including multiple nudells.

I know IAM used to more than what the rs1 has to offer after this experience. Doesn't make it a bad speaker, it's just not up to my standards in many ways.

Tympani stays ....for sure

 

[goodolpg]

They do look quite close to the wall.
This doesn't look like 4 feet to me...

I know they are not IRS's, but many images of IRS's show the bass columns moved back from the mid/high columns. Maybe it's later models, like the V, I don't know.
Perhaps some experimentation with the OP's entire systems placement might help. Or not.
Toe in/out. Distance from walls and corners. Distance to listening position.
I have found small movements, even an inch, came make a big difference in the perceived sound at my listening position.

I also understand being constrained by ones listening room and its layout and furnishings.

 

[bakes]

Quick aside - the same woofers were used in the KLH1 computer-controlled speakers built around 1980, when KLH was owned by Infinity. Two per side in those, and the bass has some fun weight.

 

[Donkey Karma]

Curious, did u consider posting this in the infinity forum, or maybe you posted there as well?

Either way those cats are wizards on must things Infinity. Interested how this would play out in there..

Either way 1st world problems and congrats. Sounds like they are in the right hands.

 

[muziekfreak]

I think he is talking about the front wall. They look to have plenty of room from the side walls but also look to be pretty close to the front wall.

maybe it’s the angle of the picture that makes them look closer?

If I can make a 6x6 magnepan sound glorious, the emim panel has more than plenty of room to do its thing .....which it doesn't to the extend of a tympani.

Not even close...

Curious, did u consider posting this in the infinity forum, or maybe you posted there as well?

Either way those cats are wizards on must things Infinity. Interested how this would play out in there..

Either way 1st world problems and congrats. Sounds like they are in the right hands.

No I haven't , because I deal with to many fanboys that really believe Infinity is as good as it gets. Forget that they are decades old. Forget that systems like this are no longer being made )for a reason (

All I get

I must be deaf
It's my equipment
Or my room is flawed .

Funny , people that never had the opportunity to one on one a flag ship mageneplanar vs a flag ship rs (which relies on the same technology only 4x smaller)

One even told me that well you need subs ..
Ohh so bass towers are not considered subs ?!

I don't do well with superficial nonsense..
Or pure ignorance , so no I don't post to much there.

 

[muziekfreak]

Quick aside - the same woofers were used in the KLH1 computer-controlled speakers built around 1980, when KLH was owned by Infinity. Two per side in those, and the bass has some fun weight.

I already knew that Arnie ran it for two years..
And yes I am aware they are klh, it's not the drivers that are the problem . These are die cast woofers all good.

It's how they implemented them that makes you toes curl. The cabinet they are in, knock on it , it's like knocking on a door that hollow.

These need major improvements on virtually every front .. I can make a list of things that can be done to make it a bit better.

Also .good pair of subs will outperform or least be on par with these towers. This isn't the 80ts anymore , for less than a grand you can buy a couple of stellar subs that will measure up to it.

So why aside from looks, would I opt for two towers. They just didn't impress me enough to keep as a main set. And that's okay , I got a **** ton amount of infinties. So it's not a real problem to me

 

[muziekfreak]

They do look quite close to the wall.
This doesn't look like 4 feet to me...

I know they are not IRS's, but many images of IRS's show the bass columns moved back from the mid/high columns. Maybe it's later models, like the V, I don't know.
Perhaps some experimentation with the OP's entire systems placement might help. Or not.
Toe in/out. Distance from walls and corners. Distance to listening position.
I have found small movements, even an inch, came make a big difference in the perceived sound at my listening position.

I also understand being constrained by ones listening room and its layout and furnishings.

They are 3.7 feet away from it stop the nonsense you're the 5th Infinity fan that makes these weird assumptions, if I can make a 6x6 magnepan wrap you in amazing stereo filled sound . That little emim panel is not a issue on those distances. Magnepans are way harder to set up right are you kidding me .

Magnaplanars are the same tech people , only upsized by a good amount. What you infinity fans love so much about them (emit and emims) , I already played with upscaled !

Also LOOK at where the drivers are not the fancy wood frames. It's at almost 4 foot precisely.
..
.. Sorry it's just not a great system. It get out done by a 1974 refurbished planar system with two subs and without even trying may I add.

Also I took the liberty to get some fellow audio guys over. That were more than eager to take a listen, the rs1 was sounding great. We all agreed, sounds great like my audio engineering buddy said "don't forget that you're used to way bigger speakers than this in the mid high sections" he's right.

We pull my maggie's out, set the subs to their correct settings. They blew the infinity away , no contest even. You cannot even remotely suggest that Emims (planar drivers) outperform 6ft tall PLANAR DRIVERS..

It's ridiculous to even suggest it. The bass towers?! Are paper weights, no real bracing sounds like a hollow door when you knock on them . No wonder we see. 55hz bump no wonder they need that little magic box . We fixed that with a minidsp , sorry not impressed. They need work and I am willing to do that , those cabinets need to be lined with sorbothane. I already refurbished all the emit drivers to new. The emims will be slowly but surely replaced too. So it's not I hate them, they are not the best I got simple

I like my kappa 9 as a overall speaker way better. That being said it's been updated, so that might given it its edge.

The r80 was to small to compete
The rsIIa was very similar in room response
The rs4 was also to small to compete with the rs1

 

[Sound Dragon]

I think you could have gotten your point across about the short comings of the speakers without making folks who love them seem obtuse or stuck in another era. Not everyone comes here to blindly defend hills to die on.

 

[kevintomb]

I an NOT an Infinity "Fan boy" but like several Infinity speakers.

I have heard these several times (albeit a few years back now) was very impressed overall. Not going to argue over them being perfect or not, but can say without doubt, there is so much room for experimentation and so on with these, that several things can make or break the sound, as far as imaging and so on and even how the bass integrates with the mid/high panels and so on.

Have you tried toeing in the upper frequency panels a bit?

Try moving the woofers back a bit behind the upper panels also.

Many have altered the passive crossover also and had better sound from the upper frequency panels.

 

[goodolpg]

I guess I've never seen a subwoofer that is 4 feet deep. Brand and model please?
Using the curtain slats as a reference, each slat must be one foot wide.
That rack holding the cd's is 2 feet deep?
I need to get out more.

Not even close 4 foot away from the walls..
The towers according to the manual need to flank the panels precisely how I have them placed.

It's flawed ...

Go ahead and hate them, it's your ears and room.
And don't experiment with placement, god forbid you find they might sound ok, or at least better than crappy.
Place one of the towers in front of a doorway, that might help.
Gee maybe after the first couple generations of IRS V Arnie said, you know, these sound better with the bass towers moved back from the other towers.

"Also I took the liberty to get some fellow audio guys over. That were more than eager to take a listen, the rs1 was sounding great. We all agreed, sounds great"

You ALL say they sound great.
But then they don't.

I'd buy they sound great, and in your opinion the Maggies sound better. I'm ok with that.


So you all have tin ears (because you ALL said they sound great) and no one had a tape measure.
I get it now.

Oh and I am aware of forced perspective in photography.

 

[Gerres26]

Yea I am no Infinity fan boy at all...can’t say I’ve ever heard any of the classic large Infinity’s actually. I was just pointing out that placement didn’t look great for them. Just remember, because your other speakers sound great in that spot doesn’t necessarily mean a different pair will sound their best in that same spot.

Sorry, but your posts are coming off more and more like Infinity bashing and Magnepan praising...whatever floats your boat but no need to bash what others like. I may have missed it but what was the associated gear during this demo?

 

[goodolpg]

I'm ok with they are "flawed", most speakers are.
He likes something else better, I'm ok with that.
But he pretty much **** on them, yet he and his buddies said they sounded "great".

 

[jazzmans]

as a last comment on this thread which is devolving rapidly...

My magnepan 2.5R DO sound bigger then my Infinity RS IIbs, and they're set up in the same room. I've played with placement, swapping which pair is where many, many times, and the differences remain.

The Infinity's do midbass/bass better then the maggies without a sub, but the maggies definitely throw a bigger soundstage then the Infinitys do. The infinity's do 'rock' better then the maggies, when my subs are off.

mine are about the same distance from the rear walls as OPs.
There's a reason I run both of them simultaniously a fair amount of the time.

I know, neither speakers are the pairs in discussion/disagreement here, but they're similar, emit/emim dual woofers vs full planar magnetic plus true ribbons.
Now, can we quit bashing each other, and agree that we can disagree peacefully?