Please Post your Infinity speakers

[Housteau]

Although I do not own Infinities any longer, I did proudy own them for about 17 years. It took me a while to find a replacement I would be happy with, but one finally did come along. You can see that here on my first post on the forum as a new member:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2653532&postcount=3025

Here are what my RS1bs looked like in my room prior to my new room treratments:

And here I was using the Martin Logan CLS1s with the Infinity bass towers:

 

[bastek]

May i ask in what areas is the Martin Logans better?

 

[Housteau]

May i ask in what areas is the Martin Logans better?

Better? I would say different. Sometimes in order to move ahead you need to have another set of good speakers to learn from. That was my case here. The Infinity ribbons did certain things the stats could not, but the same was true the other way around. The MLs helped me get better sound from my Infinities by showing me things I was missing. And once again, the same was true in the other direction as well.

What I wanted to do was get the best of both worlds and that is what finally happened with my new system. I have that magic of ribbons with the seamlessness of a single driver stat. The system speaks with one voice and that voice has authority.

 

[jtucker]

I was thinking...

Of buying your RS-1s when you had them for sale. The Gammas were a better deal for me though and fit into my (non-dedicated) room better. I think your new set up probably has a lot of sonic (and physical) similarities to the Infinities. Can you post a few brief comments on that?

Thanks,

J. Tucker
IRS Gamma
RS-II

 

[Army]

Wow Housteau your new setup is gorgous :thmbsp:

Would love too hear it someday, but don't get that far south unfortunately!

 

[Army]

Gettin' there. RS4.5's in front and 2.5s all around for a 7.1 system. Excepting the Paradigm center channel speaker. I like BIG sound!

How far are you from Jay's place Kurt? Reason I ask is if it isn't too far I'd love to hear your system next time I'm down that way :thmbsp:

 

[kmanusa]

Better? I would say different. Sometimes in order to move ahead you need to have another set of good speakers to learn from. That was my case here. The Infinity ribbons did certain things the stats could not, but the same was true the other way around. The MLs helped me get better sound from my Infinities by showing me things I was missing. And once again, the same was true in the other direction as well.

What I wanted to do was get the best of both worlds and that is what finally happened with my new system. I have that magic of ribbons with the seamlessness of a single driver stat. The system speaks with one voice and that voice has authority.

I have RS-4.5s and my Martin Logan CLS are boxed up in my basement. I have no plans to get rid of either set. I found the differences between the 2 similar to what you found with the RS-1s and CLS.

I did use passive subs with my CLS, though, and I found I could never get a seamless blend between the subs and CLS. I can live with the slight discontinuity between the Watkins woofers and EMIMs in the RS-4.5. The CLS are slightly more transparent and more coherent (when used w/o subs) than the 4.5.

 

[Arkay]

Got the Quantum 3's hooked up tonight and put on a CD. The sound was dull. An ear to the front EMIT's on the right speaker revealed no sound. Checked the back EMIT - nothing. Same story with the left speaker - all EMIT's dead. Decided to fiddle with the tweeter pot, so with an ear to the rear EMIT I turned the knob slowly to max. No sound. Twisted the knob rapidly back and forth a few times, and noticed a tiny bit of static at one point. After some additional working of the control had continuous sound from the rear EMIT on the right speaker. A quick check of the front EMIT's determined that they too were working. Over to the left speaker, and soon had all EMIT's on that speaker working. With all drivers now functional the sound is pure vintage Infinity QLS! They sound incredible.

Don't know how I missed this when it was posted. I saw the first picture and actually recognized your floor and staircase, before I even looked at who had posted the pic! Brings back memories of a very pleasant listening (and audio-talk) session with you and Mark W. :yes:

Congratulations, Mark, on getting those Q-3s and getting them playing. Nice to see you are still pursuing Infinities! How do you find the sound of them, in comparison with your Delta/Gammas?

 

[Housteau]

I found the differences between the 2 similar to what you found with the RS-1s and CLS.

I did use passive subs with my CLS, though, and I found I could never get a seamless blend between the subs and CLS. The CLS are slightly more transparent and more coherent (when used w/o subs) than the 4.5.

Yes. And there lies the rub. It was always difficult for me to get that good blend as well. The RS1b bass towers were 8" drivers which really did help with the mating to the CLS. I know of a few that tried Beta towers and those made by Kinergetics (remember them?), but they were too sluggish and couldn't keep up.

 

[Housteau]

Wow Housteau your new setup is gorgous :thmbsp:
Would love too hear it someday, but don't get that far south unfortunately!

You would certainly be welcome. I live in a smaller town and only have one friend semi close by that also has this audiophile disease. Even just with one it is so helpfull to compare systems and sounds to help improve each others set-up.

 

[Housteau]

I think your new set up probably has a lot of sonic (and physical) similarities to the Infinities. Can you post a few brief comments on that?

J. Tucker

I remember years ago when Anthony Coordesman did a review on the RS1bs. In fact he had reviewed several components I had owed previously as well, such as mu Acoustst 1+1s and the VMPS Original subwoofer. He ended his review with something that always stayed with me. I can't remember the exact quote, but it went something along the lines of this: He said his ideal speaker would be one with Infinity ribbons and VMPS bass with the seamlessness of the CLS.

VMPS did come out with some nice ribbon driver speakers a while ago, but they were not dipoles and I knew I would miss that. Once I saw the new RM-V60 prototype I knew I had found what I had been searching for all these years. It is a true line source. The RS1b is not. It has a crazy crossover network with that single midrange driver. You are right, the sound is very similar, just more refined and truly seamless. These planar ribbons are very good and better than the EMITs and Emims. The trebble is a true ribbon also.

The bass towers are simply amazing. They have an adjustable Q and weigh a ton. The cabinets are 2" thick. They are 12" custom drivers, but they are very quick and designed for speed and coherency. The V60s themselves go down flat to 57 Hz in my room and the towers take over from there. The first comment my friend said when he heard them for the first time was how seamless and coherent they were from top to bottom. He had been used to hearing the RS1bs prior. I have to agree. As large as they are they just disappear into the room without any attention being drawn to an individual driver.

And you are also right that they visually have a strong resemblence to the IRS and larger Genesis systems. That certainly didn't hurt. In fact I call it the VMPS Reference System.

What is really nice is how fully adjustable just about everything is about them, even their reverse horn dipole nature can be tuned.

 

[kurtgo]

Army - you would be welcome anytime. I only live about 5 miles from Jay and it's an easy drive. But, I was setup to go to the Fest and now I can't go. Have a friend that is having a special party. I am so bummed. I did talk to Jay though and am still going to have a whole bunch (about 4k) of albums there (mostly wothless, but several collectables) that everyone can pick through and have for free. Because it's so close I was going to offer my place for people to stay at too. Sucks this year, but you guys will have fun. If you stay over till Monday in KC you can come over then - or as above, anytime.

 

[Retro Stereo]

Here's a couple pairs of mine:

Retro

 

[Mark B]

Don't know how I missed this when it was posted. I saw the first picture and actually recognized your floor and staircase, before I even looked at who had posted the pic! Brings back memories of a very pleasant listening (and audio-talk) session with you and Mark W. :yes:

Congratulations, Mark, on getting those Q-3s and getting them playing. Nice to see you are still pursuing Infinities! How do you find the sound of them, in comparison with your Delta/Gammas?

The Q3's sound very similar to the Q2's which were the speakers in my main system prior to getting the IRS Delta's. They're very good speakers, but there is no comparison to the Delta's.

 

[mrtransam5]

 

[Snade]

Infinity Primus P152 with 5" woofer.

You can find this speaker sold new for under a 100 bucks per pair.

Very detailed and sweet midrange and nice high-end. Current buzz about this speaker after review by AK member Art K. comparing this speaker to other current smaller bookshelf speakers.

I'm using them currently in a spare bedroom setup with a T Amp and Sony FM tuner.

Cheers, Snade

 

[SuperKris]

Im not sure if i sould pollute this gread thread of awsome RS series with my simple quantums, but because its infinity from the better years too, ill do it anyway

These are my QB's

I bought these because i was on a budget, and there was a maximum size for the speakers. It was these, of the B&W DM14.

I dont have the room for bigger speakers yet. I just finished school and im taking my time to look for a job. So right now i live with my dad, so i dont have a big room. I had to hang the speaker. I use TV supports to hang them, and that works great actualy!

I still have to replace the speaker fabric for a newer black one. I did already replace the connections for some nice gold connectors that also support bannana plugs. Im thinking about rebuilding the filter, and maybe modifiy them for bi-wiring. Also im thinking about making them piano plack in the future.

So far i think they sound awsome!!! I dint hear a lot of better speakers so far. They do need a very powerfull amp with a lot of current tho. i tryed them on a luxman L230, a pioneer SA-608, and a denon PMA-980R. The denon PMA-980R is rated at 160W @ 4 Ohm, but it could not create the sound i wanted. It took a high current 200W @ 4 ohm PMA-900V to drive them the way they like it. The In-akustic 4mm2 atmosphair 40 helped a lot too. I really love the sound now!

 

[SuperKris]

And my Qex. I dont really love them yet. I really miss bass. I mainly use them for testing.

 

[tivadad]

Infinity RS3b, CS 3006, RS4b

I have a pair of RS3bs running with bridged NAD 216 THX amps and a Marantz 7T Preamp. I also have a set of CS 3006 and parts for rebuilding a set of RS4bs.

 

[tubed]

Having fun with my new camera......here's a pair.