Infinity RS1b speakers - $2500 (northern colo)

[BetaMan]

What amps do you use to power the Beta's and what amps do you plan to use for the RS-1b's? I have been in the hunt for some amps, have some in mind, just working on getting the funds together, everytime some extra funds come around I get side tracked by other deals I just can't seem to say no to. I have one of the Yamaha amps coming, a M70 but I don't think that will be much good for any of my larger Infinity's maybe ok on the QLS-5's.

I use the M-80 on the Bass towers and the MX-1000 on the mid/tweet columns for the Beta's. They have been like this for about 20 years. Two days ago I got a really good deal on a pair of MX-630 Yammies, $140 for the pair one good, one bad(fixed already, bad solder joint on the caps) that actually seem to power the RS1b's fine at reasonable levels. I just wanted some amps the test the RS1b's without having to dismantle my main setup. It is really neat to be able to compare the two systems one right after another. In all fairness the comparison will never be on an equal field as the Beta's are in a large room with a 20' ceiling and the RS1b's are limited to an 8' ceiling. I know that all the reading states that the Beta's sound best with tube amps on the tweets, but they sound so good now, I could never justify the expense. IMHO room size and placement make more of a difference than amps or wires ever would, so I put my money there.

 

[Ken Boyd]

I use the M-80 on the Bass towers and the MX-1000 on the mid/tweet columns for the Beta's. They have been like this for about 20 years. Two days ago I got a really good deal on a pair of MX-630 Yammies, $140 for the pair one good, one bad(fixed already, bad solder joint on the caps) that actually seem to power the RS1b's fine at reasonable levels. I just wanted some amps the test the RS1b's without having to dismantle my main setup. It is really neat to be able to compare the two systems one right after another. In all fairness the comparison will never be on an equal field as the Beta's are in a large room with a 20' ceiling and the RS1b's are limited to an 8' ceiling. I know that all the reading states that the Beta's sound best with tube amps on the tweets, but they sound so good now, I could never justify the expense. IMHO room size and placement make more of a difference than amps or wires ever would, so I put my money there.

Wow now thats a very impressive place you have there. When you said 20 feet high ceilings I was thinking where do you have 20 feet ceilings, maybe one of those flats where they convert a historic warehouse into living spaces. I bet those Betas really sound awesome in that setting. I have a historical home, a Greek Revival and I thought having 11 foot ceilings was nice, but yours make mine look puny.

 

[Ken Boyd]

By the way, I would hate to have to dust those ceiling fans!

 

[BetaMan]

By the way, I would hate to have to dust those ceiling fans!

Me too, it really only happens when I wash the windows and I don't do that very often.:yuck:

 

[BetaMan]

Hi, I just thought that I would provide an update. When I got these, the rear emit was blown on both sides, I got my Parts Express order yesterday and repaired the left speaker only so I could compare the results. I am replacing all the tweets and if that works out, I will probably replace the EMIM's (Spares for my Betas) too.

I am using 3 Bohlender Graebener Neo3W and one HiVi RT1.3 on each side. I did have to widen the cutout width about a 1/4 inch in places, I also cut the face plate down on the RT 1.3.. So far in mono listening the results seem excellent, but I will post again when I have a chance to listen and tweak a bit more. My plans are to use 5 Bohlender Graebener Neo10's per side in place of the EMIM's. That way I can keep the 5 way architecture in place.

 

[BetaMan]

I ended going back to the infinity drivers until I can take the time to rework the entire crossover. There were just too many differences in the drivers for the existing passive network to sound correct.

 

[Ken Boyd]

Well at least in not a real problem as those speakers sound awesome with the drivers that are in them. I saw a few replacement drivers on the auction site if you need to get them to replace the ones that were bad. I need to get one EMIM myself but its the very bottom on on the panel, which I couldn't even tell was out till I put my ear to it.

 

[BetaMan]

Well at least in not a real problem as those speakers sound awesome with the drivers that are in them. I saw a few replacement drivers on the auction site if you need to get them to replace the ones that were bad. I need to get one EMIM myself but its the very bottom on on the panel, which I couldn't even tell was out till I put my ear to it.

Hi Ken,

Are you sure that just the bottom one is out? If they are RS1b's EMIM's 1,2 & 4 are in series and 5,6 & 7 are in series, if one is open the other two in the series won't work. That is what was wrong with the 1b's I got 4 was open so 1 & 2 didn't work either.

Mike

 

[Ken Boyd]

Well the bottom three speakers stopped working, so I pulled the one on the bottom out and just jumped the wires to exclude it and the ones right above it worked fine. I took it apart and the diaphram didn't look very good, mainly where the terminals are soldered to the foil, looks pretty messy. And further up the diaphram is some little bumps in the foil but the foil itself doesn't look like it has a break in it. I saw a few like new ones on ebay, but at this point I have three pairs of speakers that I have purchased and an amp, and then the shipping cost to get them here so I kind of held off purchasing the new EMIM.