Were Renaissance 90s the best Infinity?

Endzone

Active Member
I've heard great things about these speakers. Mostly that they had an unbelievable mid-range. Also the bass wasn't overpowering like it tended to be in the SM-150.

Anybody own these? What prices do they go for?

Thanks,
 
Well, can't personally compare them to an SM-150 (never heard one), but, while I suspect they would kick any of the SM series to the curb, I don't think they were close to the best Infinity. Maybe the "Best Infinity Under $5,000 post-1990" might be more accurate.

David
 
they don't come up for sale very often and tend to get snapped up quickly. valuation questions are best asked in the "Dollars and Sense" forum. as for quality, they're certainly the best Infinity speakers of their size, and likely the best "pound for pound" as well (literally and figuratively). there are quite a few guys on here that have them, i'm sure they'll chip in. personally, they're the only Infinity i'd readily add to my stable that are smaller than the QLS1s.
 
The SM150s were not Infinities "best" as far as accurate bass goes. From what I have read the Renaissance series stuff was very good. :thmbsup:
 
The best ? No. Very nice speaker but but might be very nice with a 12 "Watkins dual voice coil and a mid mass coupler to meld with the EMIM.
 
I consider the Renaissance 90's to be the best bang for the buck of any Infinity model. They are one of the best jazz speakers that I've ever heard. I would love to get a pair some day for a dedicated audio room, but I would need to put together a pretty powerful seperates system to power them properly. Currently, I only use receivers in my sound systems. I have a friend that has the 90's, powered by a nice Adcom amp. I only hope that he gets tired of them, and desires to get something bigger.
 
I don't have any experience with the truly high end Infinitys, but I can say that the 90's are phenomenal speakers, with a few caveats...

First, they can be painfully unforgiving. Any shortcomings in a recording, or weakness in your source components will be glaringly revealed by these speakers. That being said, with a quality signal, they can be breathtaking and you will hear things in the music that you never heard before. Clean vocals seem like they are in the room with you.

Second, they require tremendous amounts of high-current power. I currently have mine bi-amped with a pair of vintage 200w Sansui power amps, but that is still a little on the low side power-wise, and also, my amps need to be re-capped, so they are probably not delivering as they should.

Third, these do not have an overt bass presence, and will not be to everyone's taste. The response is there, but presents itself as a more discrete spectrum, not coloring the upper registers to any degree.
This would probably be considered to be a very "accurate" response, but again, not to everyone's taste. I know that I've seen references to crossover issues with the 90's, where it is said that the crossover design never really was successful at transitioning from the woofer to the mid-bass drivers. There were apparently several generations of crossovers for the 90's, trying to address this "problem."

I also own a pair of IRS Sigmas, which are very similar speakers, but with a 12" single voice coil woofer, and there is definitely a different character in the bass presentation. Of course, I have yet nowhere near the amplification necessary for the Sigmas, but one of these days...

Overall, if you can power them properly, for what they cost new, they were a bargain, and for their used prices today, not much could touch them. Just be on the lookout to stockpile spare "unobtanium" EMIMs and EMITs.
 
Thanks for your responses. I've never seen a used pair on Craiglist or Ebay. People must really like them.
 
Thanks for your responses. I've never seen a used pair on Craiglist or Ebay. People must really like them.

A pair just sold on eBay today. Keep a watch out for eBay and Audiogon, they come up for sale every few months. They are excellent speakers.

David
 
Renaissance 90:s

Endzone...

I have got 2 pair´s of Ren-90:s in my various systems:banana:. In my opinon they are absolutely the best performing Infinity speaker (excluding IRS) in overall performance. If you power them with tremendous amounts of clean, high current power you will reach heaven:music:.
Interesting to see that the Ren-90 seem to be performing that much different according to the various upgrades made to the crossovers. If I play the two pair´s side by side it seems to be that pair 1 (low serial number)is a little bit tighter, deeper and more rapid when it comes to bassperformance:scratch2: Have checked the caps on both pairs and everything seems ok... Performance in mid- and high´s are simply...breathtaking. Vocals, presence and tonal balance is upthere in Hi-Fi nirvana!
In comparison to my IRS Sigma the Ren-90:s seems to be the more "earfriendly" and easylistening speaker of the two. BUT.. If you go with the upgrade to the Sigmas you will get a much more complex speaker with extreme demands considering positioning and you will need a separate powerplant:D. A 12 inch woofer is never wrong:thmbsp:

Regards

Lansen
 
In comparison to my IRS Sigma the Ren-90:s seems to be the more "earfriendly" and easylistening speaker of the two. BUT.. If you go with the upgrade to the Sigmas you will get a much more complex speaker with extreme demands considering positioning and you will need a separate powerplant:D. A 12 inch woofer is never wrong:thmbsp:

Regards

Lansen

What is this Sigma upgrade? I thought that only one revision was made. (Unlike the IRS Epsilon which has a later revision A crossover and SCU).
My Sigmas are more ear friendly and smoother than my Ren80s, and with the High-Mid-Low control switches are almost customizable to any room.
 
The Sigma's are such a better speaker than the Rens, it's ridiculous to compare the two. I've had the chance to listen to each in the same room with same electronics (and I've owned 80's and 90's). The Sigma's are better in every way, smoother mids, better highs and nice tight, deep bass. The Ren's really struggle in the bass department.

My Revels actually sound more like the Sigma's than the Ren's did.:thmbsp:
 
The Sigma's are such a better speaker than the Rens, it's ridiculous to compare the two.

They certainly sound different, and it is safe to say that the Sigma's are certainly a higher grade of speaker in the Infinity line. But considering that, aside from the woofer, they share the same drivers, so comparing them wouldn't really be out of the question.

Besides the difference in woofers, I'm guessing that there is a big difference in the crossovers between the two, and owning both I would be curious to know just how big the differences are between the crossovers.

From what I recall, based on the versions of the 90's crossovers, this is something that Infinity struggled with. Someone described the 90's as having a "honky" midrange, and depending on the input and how they're driven, they can definitely present that way.

In comparison to my IRS Sigma the Ren-90:s seems to be the more "earfriendly" and easylistening speaker of the two.

Funny, my impression has always been the opposite. :scratch2: My Sigmas sound a little more relaxed, and the 90's sound more analytical. But as they say, "horses for courses"...
 
Before I bought my RS4.5's I had the choice of buying the Ren 90's. Someone who had experience with both speakers told me to buy the RS4.5's and I haven't looked back. You can't beat 2x12 inch woofers in each enclosure and replacement drivers are much easier to source compared to the Ren 90's which are like hens teeth ;)
 
The Renaissance 90's are certainly not perfect. Even though I consider them the best bang for the buck in the Infinity lines, they are weaker than many other speakers for bass. The bass is tight, but there's just not much there compared to other models. Many people do not like bass heavy speakers; so for those people, the 90's would be an ideal choice, even over other models with larger or more woofers.

Another thing is that the EMIM midrange is very clear sounding, but IMO, lacks power and directivity. It simply sounds more diffuse compared to a cone midrange driver. It is great on jazz and classical music, but not so good on rock, where the vocals need to have more punch. This is a tradeoff that I think effects all speakers that use electrostatic type drivers and dome drivers.

The only Infinities that I've personally heard that I would consider better sounding than the 90's are the IRS V's and RS-IIb's, but both of those are much larger speakers. The 90's give you the same type of sound in a much smaller and more elegant package.
 
Picky, picky, picky is what Infinity speakers are with ribbon drivers. Took me quite a while to find an amp that really let my Ren 90's sing. I've heard IRS Gammas and Betas, and in my room, the Ren 90'ss sounded good as either of the other two in their rooms, to my ears of course. They can benefit from a good subwoofer or two, but the 10" Watkins woofers do dig down low, and I have good response at 26 Hz.

The Ren 90's give you a significant portion of the high-end Infinity sound, all while keeping the price fairly reasonable, and in a relatively small package.

The best Infinity? That's debatable; in my opinion, no, but they are certainly my favorite :)
 
I've had my Ren 90's opened up and had a look around inside. For a speaker that was 3k+ when new you would think they would have put a little extra effort on the x-over section. Craftsmanship is sloppy to say the least and the components are low to mid grade.

I've seen the x-overs inside the Sigma, trust me, it's a whole different animal, a beast with extremely well done x-overs. I'll try to post some pics of the two.

All I'm saying is the Ren 90 is an "ok" speaker for the buck but once you get into some higher end (IRS) Infinity's or equivalent speakers you quickly realize where their deficiencies lay.

I still think to this day the Ren 80 had better bass to mid-bass cohesiveness. Again this is just my 2cents from having all three at the same time in the same room on the same equipment.
 
Picky, picky, picky is what Infinity speakers are with ribbon drivers. Took me quite a while to find an amp that really let my Ren 90's sing. I've heard IRS Gammas and Betas, and in my room, the Ren 90'ss sounded good as either of the other two in their rooms, to my ears of course. They can benefit from a good subwoofer or two, but the 10" Watkins woofers do dig down low, and I have good response at 26 Hz.

The Ren 90's give you a significant portion of the high-end Infinity sound, all while keeping the price fairly reasonable, and in a relatively small package.

The best Infinity? That's debatable; in my opinion, no, but they are certainly my favorite :)

26 hz bass response?... I have changed my mind about about a Renaissance 90 designed with a fantasy design employing a Watkins woofer. No need for a subwoofer with this truely audiophile loudspeaker.
 
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