Please Post your Infinity speakers
- Thread starter lordfoo
- Start date
With Sound Advice in Tampa, and I thought they had one in Orlando, it sure does seem difficult to find any upper end Infinity's here in Florida. I have seen a pair of RS-1b's sold out of Tampa, as I almost purchased them only someone outbid right at the last, and my most dissapointing loss was a pair of QLS-1's out of Tampa. But other than that the best items I have found are a few pairs of Kappa's around.
I used to love Sound Advice. A friend of mine used to sell there, while I was selling at Circuit City. Had there been a Sound Advice closer to me, I'm sure that I would have worked there. They always had many Infinity models. I used to love listening to all the Kappas, side by side. Like Circuit City, they started going downhill in the early 90's and were selling mostly cheaper stuff, by the late 90's. Best Buy's success was a major reason that places like Sound Advice and Circuit City stopped selling good quality equipment.
My first Infinity Speakers
Got myself a pair of Infinity RS 4000 speakers today. Got them for thirty bucks from a collector close to my house. The speakers need re-foaming (Both mids and woofers), hence the price. But they sound alright as they are right now. The bass is definitely a bit boomy with cabinet resonance. The Emit Tweets do sound nice. These are definitely usable without a sub.
The center dust caps have been pushed in for a driver or two but I think I know how to get them out (a hand vac and a light tough).
I plan to refurbish them and then eventually upgrade to RS6000s or similar when something comes up locally. A floor stander with an Emit and a 10 inch woofer would be ideal..
Got myself a pair of Infinity RS 4000 speakers today. Got them for thirty bucks from a collector close to my house. The speakers need re-foaming (Both mids and woofers), hence the price. But they sound alright as they are right now. The bass is definitely a bit boomy with cabinet resonance. The Emit Tweets do sound nice. These are definitely usable without a sub.
The center dust caps have been pushed in for a driver or two but I think I know how to get them out (a hand vac and a light tough).
I plan to refurbish them and then eventually upgrade to RS6000s or similar when something comes up locally. A floor stander with an Emit and a 10 inch woofer would be ideal..
GrammaMambo
New Member
kneeOhFight
Addicted Member
I went from the RS 4000 and RS4b to the 6 Kappas, and found just what I was looking for... ten inch Infinity woofers are more than the equal of even the twin 8" woofers in each of the RS4b's.. in the meantime, internally brace your speakers from back to front (I used 2x2) to tighten the bass resonance issue...cheap and effective...if you can't pop the dustcaps up, no big deal, as it doesn't affect performance..enjoy your Infinitys
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texasquad
Active Member
Joined the Infinity club today with a pair of Reference Three's for $20 from Goodwill. Need to re-foamed. Will also replace speaker cloth that has white spatters on it. I pulled a woofer on one of the speakers and I checked out the innards. Looks brand new and well built. I also noticed that the serial numbers match and are A/B of the same number so this pair has been together from the beginning. Looking forward to listening to them after repairs.
kappa7krazy
Active Member
cflutist
Member
IRS Beta
Here are my IRS Betas which I purchased in 1990.
The first picture was taken right after we had the popcorn ceiling removed in the house which is why there is blue tape on the carpet marking where the right Woofer Tower needs to be moved back to.
Cheryl
Here are my IRS Betas which I purchased in 1990.
The first picture was taken right after we had the popcorn ceiling removed in the house which is why there is blue tape on the carpet marking where the right Woofer Tower needs to be moved back to.
Cheryl
Attachments
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WOW, nice setup Cheryl! Welcome to AK!
cflutist
Member
Thanks Jim.
My love for audio started while I was in college. Had lots of SAE gear (remember the parametric equalizer?) and the Q2s at the time. I lusted for the QLS but couldn't afford them at that stage in my life.
My women friends don't have much knowledge about audio, but then again, I don't know much about cosmetics either
Cheryl
My love for audio started while I was in college. Had lots of SAE gear (remember the parametric equalizer?) and the Q2s at the time. I lusted for the QLS but couldn't afford them at that stage in my life.
My women friends don't have much knowledge about audio, but then again, I don't know much about cosmetics either
Cheryl
Here's a pair I just refoamed, Infinity Sterling SS-2001:
I'm listening now, I like 'em. Of course at this small size they lack bass, and after listening a while I think the lower midrange is a little bit boomy, but so far they seem good (as in non-fatiguing) for long-term listening.
I'm listening now, I like 'em. Of course at this small size they lack bass, and after listening a while I think the lower midrange is a little bit boomy, but so far they seem good (as in non-fatiguing) for long-term listening.
Voltron
Active Member
Pulled a pair of RS-5000's out of an electronics recycle shop today for 5 bux. Cabs are excellent (minor nicks) and one grille required a little stitchery in one corner. All the speakers look good (refoam needed of course). I am looking forward to comparing them to my 1500's.
They will be pushed by a Yamaha 5890.
Comments on the compare?
They will be pushed by a Yamaha 5890.
Comments on the compare?
Waldman
New Member
My Infinity Kappa 9.2i Series II speakers
Hi All,
I'm new here and this is my first post. I have been lurking around for a very long time and reading most everything here, but would now also like to contribute.
I have one pair of Infinity's so far (Kappa 9.2i Series II in oak) and am maybe getting my second pair next week (Reference 60's), although I must first go inspect and test them properly. Not many Infinity's come up for sale here in South Africa, so I suppose not that many were sold here - what a pity. Anyway I am very happy with my set which I purchased used a few years back.
I believe these were never sold in the States, which is a real pity as now there is not that many professional reviews on them - I have not found any yet on the web - maybe someone has a copy of a printed professional review somewhere?
I am attaching a pic of one of my Kappa 9.2i Series II speakers with its cover removed, as well as my user review that I wrote about them as to how to get the best out of them on a shoe string budget, while keeping it relatively 'green' as well. Comments welcome.
My user review for Infinity Kappa 9.2i Series II:
I just love these 2 oak coffins.
Pretty much everything has been said already - just beautiful sound from these 2 monoliths!
Anyway, I'd like to add how to get great sound from them on a shoe string budget.
There must be many other ordinary people like myself that do not have the financial means to go and pick out whatever you like, but have a critical ear and appreciate good sound.
I like classical, 80's pop, house, reggae, classic hard rock, etc. so I needed a system that can cater for just about anything.
I got the speakers at a steal, so that part of the equipment was a no brain-er. The challenge was to get the other equipment together to compliment my new babies.
On my meager budget, it turned out to be a real challenge. At the time I had an AV amp Yamaha DSP-AX1 as well as a 100W/ch integrated amp (Rotel RA-1070) with damping factor of 400. When I saw these 4 12" woofers the first time I realized that 'damping factor' would play a very big role to control these huge cones. This gave me the idea to go for a power amp with a very high damping factor. The best value I could find at the time was a used Rotel RB-980BX, 120W/ch, damping factor = 1000. It did control the bass extremely well, but the high end was not as impressive, as I later discovered. I was using the RA-1070 as a pre-amp from here-on.
I did a lot of research, saved some money and later bought a used Rotel RB-1080 (200W/ch, damping factor = 1000). It was ok, but It was running hotter (which I really did not like), than the RB-980bx, so I advertized the RB-1080 again. At this point I was quite disappointed and just thought I'll stick with the RB-980bx power amp and the RA-1070 used as a pre for now and later start looking again. I was lucky that someone wanted to purchase my RB-1080 to replace his 'light weight' RB-981 power amp to drive his center channel speaker. I read up on the RB-981 and offered to take it as a part trade for the RB-1080 that he wanted.
The RB-981 is 130W/ch and damping factor of 500. As soon as I received it, I did a comparison and as I suspected it did a brilliant job of the highs, blowing the socks off both the RB-1080 and the RB-980bx (for the highs).
So, I now had my bi-amp combo: RB-980bx for the bass and RB-981 for the highs - very, very happy!
Sources and pre-amp was the next challenge:
I was using the RA-1070 integrated as a pre-amp. It was pushing 5Volts, which is pretty loud, but had a pre-amp hum since new. It was barely audible, but it really bugged me, so I sold it. It was also running a bit hot, even with its amp switched out, so I sold it.
I dabbled with a few pre-amps as well as AV amps as pre-amps. Eventually I saw the light and decided to try my iPod directly, using its built-in pre-amp. Wow! Obviously the best pre-amp, is NO pre-amp at all!
So, I gave up a CD played and tuner - so what? I had ripped all my cd's anyway.
Source:
I had used various Apple iPods for many years and some are better than others. The best of the best is my latest (by a huge margin) the 3rd Generation iPod Touch 64GB. The sound is just absolutely in a different league to all the previous iPod's.
So now I am running the Apple iPod Touch 64GB in the original iPod Dock with IR remote. I use the original Apple iPod AV cable, power supply and IR remote that came with the dock. I then split each of the left and right RCA's to the 2 power amps, which Bi-amp the two Infinity Kappa 9.2i Series II speakers.
The whole system uses no more than 50 Watts AC power, has no hum or line/gain noise what-so-ever.
Oh-yes, I made up my own speaker cable, using old ICL inter-mainframe comms cables - it took many, many hours stripping very fine strands with my finger nails, as it is very fine and fragile (each individual strand), but it was well worth it. I have tried many branded speaker cables, but my home made ones are best by some margin IMHO and seems totally transparent.
I am done looking for 'better' equipment. I am very, very happy with my whole system... on a shoe string.
I hope someone out there can get some inspiration from my journey and not just settle for an off-the shelf system that can never give you the satisfaction of a well sorted custom system.
Hi All,
I'm new here and this is my first post. I have been lurking around for a very long time and reading most everything here, but would now also like to contribute.
I have one pair of Infinity's so far (Kappa 9.2i Series II in oak) and am maybe getting my second pair next week (Reference 60's), although I must first go inspect and test them properly. Not many Infinity's come up for sale here in South Africa, so I suppose not that many were sold here - what a pity. Anyway I am very happy with my set which I purchased used a few years back.
I believe these were never sold in the States, which is a real pity as now there is not that many professional reviews on them - I have not found any yet on the web - maybe someone has a copy of a printed professional review somewhere?
I am attaching a pic of one of my Kappa 9.2i Series II speakers with its cover removed, as well as my user review that I wrote about them as to how to get the best out of them on a shoe string budget, while keeping it relatively 'green' as well. Comments welcome.
My user review for Infinity Kappa 9.2i Series II:
I just love these 2 oak coffins.
Pretty much everything has been said already - just beautiful sound from these 2 monoliths!
Anyway, I'd like to add how to get great sound from them on a shoe string budget.
There must be many other ordinary people like myself that do not have the financial means to go and pick out whatever you like, but have a critical ear and appreciate good sound.
I like classical, 80's pop, house, reggae, classic hard rock, etc. so I needed a system that can cater for just about anything.
I got the speakers at a steal, so that part of the equipment was a no brain-er. The challenge was to get the other equipment together to compliment my new babies.
On my meager budget, it turned out to be a real challenge. At the time I had an AV amp Yamaha DSP-AX1 as well as a 100W/ch integrated amp (Rotel RA-1070) with damping factor of 400. When I saw these 4 12" woofers the first time I realized that 'damping factor' would play a very big role to control these huge cones. This gave me the idea to go for a power amp with a very high damping factor. The best value I could find at the time was a used Rotel RB-980BX, 120W/ch, damping factor = 1000. It did control the bass extremely well, but the high end was not as impressive, as I later discovered. I was using the RA-1070 as a pre-amp from here-on.
I did a lot of research, saved some money and later bought a used Rotel RB-1080 (200W/ch, damping factor = 1000). It was ok, but It was running hotter (which I really did not like), than the RB-980bx, so I advertized the RB-1080 again. At this point I was quite disappointed and just thought I'll stick with the RB-980bx power amp and the RA-1070 used as a pre for now and later start looking again. I was lucky that someone wanted to purchase my RB-1080 to replace his 'light weight' RB-981 power amp to drive his center channel speaker. I read up on the RB-981 and offered to take it as a part trade for the RB-1080 that he wanted.
The RB-981 is 130W/ch and damping factor of 500. As soon as I received it, I did a comparison and as I suspected it did a brilliant job of the highs, blowing the socks off both the RB-1080 and the RB-980bx (for the highs).
So, I now had my bi-amp combo: RB-980bx for the bass and RB-981 for the highs - very, very happy!
Sources and pre-amp was the next challenge:
I was using the RA-1070 integrated as a pre-amp. It was pushing 5Volts, which is pretty loud, but had a pre-amp hum since new. It was barely audible, but it really bugged me, so I sold it. It was also running a bit hot, even with its amp switched out, so I sold it.
I dabbled with a few pre-amps as well as AV amps as pre-amps. Eventually I saw the light and decided to try my iPod directly, using its built-in pre-amp. Wow! Obviously the best pre-amp, is NO pre-amp at all!
So, I gave up a CD played and tuner - so what? I had ripped all my cd's anyway.
Source:
I had used various Apple iPods for many years and some are better than others. The best of the best is my latest (by a huge margin) the 3rd Generation iPod Touch 64GB. The sound is just absolutely in a different league to all the previous iPod's.
So now I am running the Apple iPod Touch 64GB in the original iPod Dock with IR remote. I use the original Apple iPod AV cable, power supply and IR remote that came with the dock. I then split each of the left and right RCA's to the 2 power amps, which Bi-amp the two Infinity Kappa 9.2i Series II speakers.
The whole system uses no more than 50 Watts AC power, has no hum or line/gain noise what-so-ever.
Oh-yes, I made up my own speaker cable, using old ICL inter-mainframe comms cables - it took many, many hours stripping very fine strands with my finger nails, as it is very fine and fragile (each individual strand), but it was well worth it. I have tried many branded speaker cables, but my home made ones are best by some margin IMHO and seems totally transparent.
I am done looking for 'better' equipment. I am very, very happy with my whole system... on a shoe string.
I hope someone out there can get some inspiration from my journey and not just settle for an off-the shelf system that can never give you the satisfaction of a well sorted custom system.
Waldman
New Member
Thanks Chris. Yes, I did see the ad. Unfortunately, R50k is somewhat out of my reach, so the Kappa's will just have to do, especially considering I only paid R4k ($600) for the Kappa's. The Epsilon's might already be sold, as the ads on that site gets deleted after a certain time and is not editable. Would be nice to audition them though, albeit 1400km away.
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All together now....
The current line up hanging out in the mancave....:thmbsp:
The current line up hanging out in the mancave....:thmbsp:
