Oddball infinitys / specs? and first refoam!

[jpciii]

Oddball infinity / specs? and first refoam! ES-103

The speakers in question are: Infinity Efficiency Series ES-103

Picked these up from a local lady (craigslist.org) for $20. Of course the foam surrounds on the woofers and passive radiators where completly shot. She didn't even know this because; in the 20+ years that she has owned them, she NEVER removed the grilles.

Anyways, I performed my first refoam job on the woofers and replaced the passive radiators. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. They sound great, btw. Those polycell mids and tweeters are really nice... smooth, controlled, detailed, etc. Not harsh at all. I wasn't expecting much bass because the cabinets are so shallow. Happy to report that the bass sounds great too... a little lacking in detail, but surprisingly good.

If anyone has any specs on these, PLEASE share . I particularly want to know their efficiency rating.

I've included a pic of one of mine, and an ad. I guess they came out in the early 80's, but don't know much about them.

 

[Army]

Lookin Good there JP

I'm curious to know the spec's myself, haven't had the time to do much digging.

I picked up a pair of these three weeks ago, haven't had time to touch them

I lost interest when I found the mids weren't working, might be the pot needs cleaning?! That and I found a pair of bigger Infinities.

Good to know the sonic's are worth the effort :thmbsp:

 

[jpciii]

I just checked and am sorry to report that the pot seems to control the tweeter more than the mid. I did see some polycell mids on ebay a few weeks ago when I got these speakers and was trying to find info. The epay mids where a little different, though.

It was worth the effort to bring them back, but it wasn't particularly cheap. Those replacement radiators go for about $35 for the pair. Since it was my first refoam job, I opted to get a kit for the woofers (another $20). So I'm into these for $75... not too bad, but not the greatest score either.

 

[Army]

I've got a Non AK buddy in Ohio that works on Infinities mostly and I'm gonna send the mids out to him, either he can work little magic or I'm out the price of shipping. No biggy because I've got several parts I'm senting all at once.

 

[merrylander]

I have noticed that the shallow case speakers from Infinity benefit from some bracing between the front and rear panels, otherwise the back panel resonates at its own natural frequency and can muddy the bass.

Rob

 

[Toasted Almond]

If it's the mids that are inop Army, and not something inside, I might be able to help at cut rate pricing. Like the shipping.

 

[Army]

Thanks TA

I'm going to try and tear these a part soon. I haven't had time to check them out with the meter yet, to see if it's the mids or the crossover. I'll keep your offer in mind. Thanks again.

 

[grumpy]

Pretty sure there was an optional ? external Xover for those.

 

[Inspiribomb]

How heavy are those JPCIII? They look nice. I have found with my Infinity RS-6000's that I really have to turn up the mids (on the pots on the back) to get the level I like out of them.

 

[jpciii]

That German infinity-clasics.de website (currently down, btw) listed them at 22 kilos (about 48 pounds). I'm pretty sure that is correct. The only specs that they listed on these where dimensions, weight, driver size, and 8ohm. Someone here claimed their lower model (es-83, I think) was 4ohm, but that website says 8ohm.

The official Infinity website says almost nil about them.

I think that merrylander has a good suggestion about bracing them front to back... maybe I'll play around with them a little more in the next few weeks.

 

[Charivari]

Infinity Classics is up as of ten minutes after your post:

ES 103

Introduced: 1985
Dimensions: 46 x 94 x 16,5 cm
Wight: 22 kg per Unit
Bass: 1 x 25 cm, 1 x 30 cm passive radiators
Mids: 1 x polycell dome
Highs: 1 x polycell weeter
Suggested for amplifiers with: 200 Watts per channel
Frequency range: 45 Hz - 22 kHz
Crossover frequencies: ???
Impedance: 8 Ohms
Wight: 44kg (pair)

I realize you already know the above info, but I added it in case IC goes down again and since Army asked for the specs.
- JP

 

[Army]

Thanks for the specs JP :thmbsp:

 

[jpciii]

bump

still looking for some more info... efficiency, price, crossover freq, etc.

Thanks

 

[sssand2]

jpciii,
I have a pair of the es-83's that I bought new back in '84 or '85. IIRC, I paid $400 for the pair retail. I don't recall the price of the 103s though, at the time, they were more than I wanted to spend (perhaps ~$600). My 83's are packed together in one double box (which I still have) and weigh 88 pounds packed. I will look at my paperwork and see what specs I have. The 83 uses an 8" woofer with the 10" PR whereas the 103 uses a 10" woofer with the same 10" PR. I suspect the efficiency would be similar.

Steve

 

[sssand2]

Looked at my manual...

Jp,
I realize I made a mistake on the configuration of the 103's (as you know since you have them ). The 103's have a 10" woofer and a 12" PR. I dug out the manual that came with my 83's and found it was generic to Infinity speakers. It did not have specifics about the ES series (in fact it doesn't mention any series specifically :cry: ). So, I can't add much to your knowledge of them except that the efficiency, IIRC, is in the mid 90's.
I haven't listened to my 83's in quite a while since I didn't have a good place to put them and a couple of years ago I lent them to my dad to replace his damaged Genesis. Good luck in your search for further information. Iwould be interested in any information you find.

Steve

 

[jpciii]

Hey Steve. Thanks for checking.

I'm a little surprised they packed them both in one box. That is one heavy box!

 

[sssand2]

JP,
Not only heavy, but big too. Since they are double boxed, the package comes in at roughly (by memory) 4'x1.5'x1.5'. A bit unwieldy to carry (I have done it, but it wasn't fun LOL). Sorry I didn't have more info for you. I don't recall if the store had an ad for them or not. I wish Infinity would have provided a more useful manual with them.

Steve

 

[Neely]

I know this is an old thread but I decided to look up some information on older speakers online out of curiosity and fell down the rabbit hole leading me to this post about the Infinity ES series speakers and the need for a user manual. I remember I still had all documentation from all my purchased stereo equipment from my 1st stereo setup from Pacific Stereo in 1985 here in Texas. It included Onkyo TX27B receiver, Hitachi DE7 Stereo Cassette Tape Deck, ADC Sound Shaper SS-315X Stereo Frequency Organizer, and ES200 Infinity Speakers. I am uploading pictures of the manual just in case anyone might possibly need them in the future, probably not considering how old this thread is now. Also, I have a picture of the ES200 's in my old apartment in 1985 not that anyone could probably care but hey since I am uploading the user manual (I tried in 1 pdf format at 11mb but it said it was too big can't figure that out So I will post as individual pages) t I only have 1 picture of 1 of the speakers by my fireplace. I believe I got rid of them around 1991 and got a set of Cerwin Vega VS-120's which I still have today in great shape but I rarely have used them over the years.

 

[Bkphoto]

Always wondered how these sounded....

 

[Neely]

Sounded fantastic I loved mine.