Army's next project, I have high hopes for these!

[Army]

Well what can I say I stumbled acrossed a sweet pair of Infinities the other day Reference Standard 2.5's. Solid oak cabs, two emit tweeters, two emim mids and a 12" dual voice coil watkins woofers in each. They weigh in at 117lbs a piece and are 51" tall same size and weight as my AR's :thmbsp:

Didn't really need another pair of 4 ohm speakers( I'm happy with my AR-9LS), but these have me curious as hell. I'm just going to have to restore these and see how they sound, I'm intrigued. I've heard very few Infinities and the ones I have weren't TOTL and only so so sounding. These appear to be about upper midfi in the Infinity line up in there day from what I can tell.

I hope to have these done by the 27th of August (hint hint) but I need to get the mids fixed and the woofers refoamed between now and then. :thmbsp:

I'm excited by the possiblities :banana:

[EchoWars]

That is a seriously cool score....nice...!

[bolly]

I'm excited by the possiblities

so am I buddy, so am I! :thmbsp:

[Micropassatman]

Impressive...

[grumpy]

Did you by chance get the Xover that came with those ?

Looking good there scott !

[dingus]

those are some seriously wicked looking speaks. i share your high hopes.

[Army]

Did you by chance get the Xover that came with those ?

Looking good there scott !

Dave if you look at the backside pic (top of pic), the crossover is intact, and working hopefully.

I seriously hope these can be repaired / restored because from the looks of these, Infinity put a lot of quality parts and workmanship into the design.

[shelby1420]

Dave if you look at the backside pic (top of pic), the crossover is intact, and working hopefully.

I seriously hope these can be repaired / restored because from the looks of these, Infinity put a lot of quality parts and workmanship into the design.

very pretty lookin speakers, hope you bring em back to life!!!! :thmbsp:

[DingusBoy]

Alright Scott, those look like fun! Good Luck.

[Fast_Eddie]

Wow! Those look cool as hell! Hope all goes well with them!

Ed

[Army]

I'm tearing these down this afternoon.

Hopefully I be able to do a review in a few weeks :thmbsp:

[Sandy G]

I know the Watkinses reasonably well, while they don't make speaks anymore, they DO sell parts for a lot of the old ones & re-foam their old ones. I had my WSC-1As redone about 10 yrs ago.-Sandy G.

[Inspiribomb]

I bet those will sound AWESOME once you are finished with them. Sooo, how much of a score was it???

[Charivari]

Ah, so this is where you're hiding your Infinity thread, I was wondering why the one in the Speaker forum wasn't being updated. My, those are some good looking speakers. They certainly appear to have been well taken care of.

I should note that those woofers aren't wholly original. The RS 2.5s came with the earlier paper cone Watkins. It appears that sometime after the owner first picked these up, s/he had to replace the Watkins with the poly-cone type. I suppose the poly-cones might've come in later in the run, so I'm uncertain. There are those detractors who say the poly-cones don't sound as good as the original paper. At any rate, if you want those drivers to be fixed up by the designer for whom they're named, go here (http://www.watkinsstereo.com/pages/1/index.htm).

Good luck. Oh, and, I'm very jealous of those. :yes:
- JP

[grumpy]

Ya know I thought there was something different about them too. The pair i listened to had paper cones as well.

[Army]

Sooo, how much of a score was it???

Let's just say the price of a good meal :)


I started my many works in progress yesterday, and got side tracked before I could remove the woofers. Now I'm curious to see if they say watkins or have any identifiable markings, since I wouldn't know a watkins woofer from any other :scratch2:

I was going by the specs ?! There should be four terminals wired for a dual voice coil woofer, if not I've got something else, I'll have to take a look when I get home.

[Charivari]

A good meal? Ok, I'm beyond jealous now.

Those look like Watkins, because I can see four tinsels through the cone and everything about them looks like the Watkins poly-cone version (the color of the spider, the size and shape of the dust cap, etc.) The driver won't way Watkins on it, but the part number will be stamped on the rear of the magnet, which should match up with the one listed on the schematic I posted for you in the other thread. While the cone materials were changed, I believe the parts number remained the same. For the record, the old, good Infinity (before Harmon International bought them up) only made one 12" dual-voice coil driver, and that was the Watkins. So, four tinsels almost always means Watkins in an Infinity.

- JP

[Army]

Sweet

Thanks JP :thmbsp:

[sbaudio]

As I remembed these woofers have dual voice coils. One is 2 ohm and the other is 4 ohms. The woofers I had were clear. When I had them refoamed I was told that Infinity had developed the adhesive to bond the clear plastic cones. Cutting edge technology at the time. I thought that there was an EQ box that came with these, also. May have been the 4.5s that used 2 woofers in each cabinet? Manufacturer may have been Tongen? Nice speakers but the 4.5s are much deeper and tighter in the bass. Looks like a great project.

[gonzothegreat]

I have a line on a pair of these as well so I will be paying close attention to this thread. I probably won't get the same kind of sweet deal you did on yours but if I help him repair his Altec Iconics I might get lucky...

Did a bit of research on AK and the vintage Infinity site and the consensus is that they are sweet sounding but they will bring most amps to their knees at anything beyond easy listening. The Watkins woofers present a very low impedance load so your amp needs to be stable in that regard.

On his the baffle foam was disintegrating so it would need replacing. The stuff seems thicker than the foam I have from PE so I'll have to shop around for something more appropriate.

[JimmyNeutron]

[QUOTE=gonzothegreat]

Did a bit of research on AK and the vintage Infinity site QUOTE]


Gonzo, what Infinity vintage site are you talking about? I have a pair of the 80's Infinity Modulus speaker system in the black laquer piano urishi finish. Beautiful speakers. But I cannot find 1 iota of anything on them on the net. I know everything I care to know about them, but I want more info. I have 2 versions of the outboard x-over box (version 1.0 and 1.1). One version also has a knob to adjust volume for the sub but on the inside there is no pot!! I want some more info on these, maybe someone here can help?

[Charivari]

JimmyNeutron,

There are two vintage Infinity websites; BobbyShred's (http://www.bobbyshred.com/infinity.html) and the excellent model database of Infinity Classics (http://www.infinity-classics.de/infinity/index.htm). I'd recommend bookmarking both of these, as an Infinity owner.

About your Modulus speakers, the latter page does have this page (http://www.infinity-classics.de/infinity/models/Modulus-1990/body_modulus.html) of model information.

- JP

[Charivari]

Army, how goes it with the Infinities? Get 'em rockin? :banana:

- JP

[Army]

With a little luck tomorrow, just got the Emim's fixed, arrived this afternoon :thmbsp:

Finished up refoaming the Watkins woofers at noon today. If I had the time and energy, which I don't tonight, I'd post a pic of the Watkins. Damned impressive 12" woofer. The mag on those look to be about 6'' diameter :yes:

I'll keep you posted as time permits...

Can't wait to see how they compare to my AR-9LS's

[Charivari]

Looks like I lucked out on timing. I look forward to hearing your take on the sound and definitely the comparison to the AR-9s. The Watkins is an even more impressive woofer in sound than looks when it gets going with enough juice. Be sure you have the pictures on the wall sticky-tacked down. :yes:

How'd you go about getting the EMIM fixed, out of curiosity?

- JP

[Army]

Hi Guys

Well Echowars put the 2.5's back together for me yesterday in time to give them a workout with Retro's Spec 1 & 2 ( thanks again Glenn and Greg for all the help ) and they stold the show.

They hands down blow the AR-9LS's away IMO

And that's saying something, because the AR's are a very good speaker. I put the Infinities in my main system this morning, and the AR's went to the basement, till I find another big amp to drive them.

I'll try and do a review on the differences at a later date. I have too many things that need to be done, before I take a road trip for work tomorrow.

JP
I have a non AKer buddy that can fix just about any driver made. His specialty is Infinity speaks. If you want or need the hook up PM me I can give you his addy and info. He does beautiful work, very inexpensively :thmbsp:

[Charivari]

JP
I have a non AKer buddy that can fix just about any driver made. His specialty is Infinity speaks. If you want or need the hook up PM me I can give you his addy and info. He does beautiful work, very inexpensively :thmbsp:

So far, I've been lucky enough to not blow any of my EMITs just yet and not lucky enough to stumble across anything with EMIMs, working or not. I was curious because I was unaware of anyone doing such repairs quasi-commercially. My curiosity also stemmed from my desire to know in case someone else shows up with blown Infinity EMIMs/EMITs, so I could guide them to the right place. I guess I've adopted Infinities as one of my semi-specialties around here in providing assistance. So, if I encounter someone in need, I'll direct them to you.

The review should prove interesting and hopefully won't rile up any AR-9 supporters around too much. Wonder how the older Infinities lacking a planar midrange (like my Q2s with the domes) would fair in a head-to-head comparison with the AR-9s.


At any rate, glad to hear that they are working and do not disappoint.
- JP

[bolly]

I wonder how they'd do too. :naughty:

[Army]

I wonder how they'd do too. :naughty:

Hi Greg

I've been holding off on the review, for a couple of reasons. Lack of time would be the biggest. I need to hook the AR's back up and do some A/B'ing, to give each speaker a fair shake.

Here's the short story. The Infinities IMO are the most detailed speaker in every way I've ever owned. Crystal clear highs, excellent mids, and serious bottom end. Anything with strings sounds amazing, I'd swear they were in the same room with me.

Downside, whoever said they'd suck the life out of an Amp was spot on. My Sansui G-22000 at over 300 wpc into 4 ohm's gets the job done. But I'm giving some thought to biamping the 2.5's

More later...

PS if you can find a pair of these and have the power to drive them, buy them :thmbsp:

[EchoWars]

Forgot to mention something about these...

...they kick butt!!

The mids and highs, through the EMIM's and EMIT's sound a lot like the Heil AMT's, but even more open and airy, if that's possible. Bass goes very very low, but is not unnatural or heavy. That Watkins woofer is a serious damn woofer.

Only drawback is these suck power in a big way. Infinity does not give sensitivity specs, but I'd guess 82db/1W/1M tops, maybe lower. I also suspect that these are NOT the speakers to use to raise the roof with high SPL's, as the EMIM's were already blown and I'd bet that it was a case of someone trying to rock out, and that isn't what these were meant for. The EMIM's, and to a lesser extent, the EMIT's, are unobtanium, and I'd be scared of smoking 'em. Low sensitivity and low power handling (or unobtanium drivers) can be a bad combo for the uninhibited volume hand...

But if you don't get stupid with volume levels, these suckers sing. Got to be among the top three speakers I've ever heard.

[Charivari]

But if you don't get stupid with volume levels, these suckers sing. Got to be among the top three speakers I've ever heard.
Well then, could someone please, please, pick up this pair (http://seattle.craigslist.org/ele/96538316.html) and ask me to audition them? I can deliver to Spokane or Portland, just gimme a chance to play them a while. :naughty:

- JP