Infinity RS 1.5 Speakers Restoration!

Man, those cabs look nice. They used a premium veneer with no finish applied. Looked magnificent when new. You usually don't find 1.5 in excellent condition and better still without holes bored into them from the stupid dog-ear stands many of them got. The 1.5 is a beautiful speaker with pleasing rounded features. Much nicer than most comparable boxy floor speakers in that era. The 1.5 had elegance.

Mine look nearly that good but have some sun bleaching in the veneer from a period of idiocy/convenience when they were on a high ledge beside unmasked windows. No scratches or gouges, though. I've never tried to treat the finish and I expect they would clean up nicely without a lot of effort. The grill cloth is in the same protected shape. I've always been very careful handling them. Proud to say I bought them new as a kid with a new decent paying job and cash burning a hole in my pocket. One of the best purchases I made as an ignorant, cocky kid and started a long time love and appreciation for the brand.

They have the nice brass Infinity badges that came on the 2.5, and 4.5. The 1.5 was their little brother. (Those were the days.)
 
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Project complete! I spent last night recapping the crossovers, which is no small feat considering they remained inside the cabinet for the project. This time around I picked up a capacitance meter for this project and future projects. When I removed the original electrolytics, I was curious to see how much the values have drifted. Each speaker has (2) 75uf's in the midrange circuit and (1) 2.83uf in the tweeter circuit. The original 75uf's in one speaker measured 81.9uf and 84.2uf respectively. The original 75uf's in the other speaker (different brand electrolytic) were remarkably close to labeled value, ~76uf. Both original 2.83uf's were very close to labeled value as well. These were all replaced with Dayton Poly's. The original large value caps in the woofer circuit remain upon the advice of others here. I didn't check capacitance on these, mainly because I didn't want to desolder the leads, and maybe I don't want to know...:)

Wiring diagrams sure come in handy, and it certainly helps when making sure the proper leads go to each voice coil on the Watkins woofer. Everything was carefully put back together and a quick listening test was performed. I now see why so many others rave about these wonderful speakers. I need to spend more time listening with different amps and sources but my quick test revealed a very detailed speaker with a robust low end. I'm not sure these will replace my Dahlquist DQ-10's (w/matching sub) but who knows... I'll report my findings after some additional listening.
 

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More pics...
 

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Project complete! I spent last night recapping the crossovers, which is no small feat considering they remained inside the cabinet for the project. This time around I picked up a capacitance meter for this project and future projects. When I removed the original electrolytics, I was curious to see how much the values have drifted. Each speaker has (2) 75uf's in the midrange circuit and (1) 2.83uf in the tweeter circuit. The original 75uf's in one speaker measured 81.9uf and 84.2uf respectively. The original 75uf's in the other speaker (different brand electrolytic) were remarkably close to labeled value, ~76uf. Both original 2.83uf's were very close to labeled value as well. These were all replaced with Dayton Poly's. The original large value caps in the woofer circuit remain upon the advice of others here. I didn't check capacitance on these, mainly because I didn't want to desolder the leads, and maybe I don't want to know...:)

Wiring diagrams sure come in handy, and it certainly helps when making sure the proper leads go to each voice coil on the Watkins woofer. Everything was carefully put back together and a quick listening test was performed. I now see why so many others rave about these wonderful speakers. I need to spend more time listening with different amps and sources but my quick test revealed a very detailed speaker with a robust low end. I'm not sure these will replace my Dahlquist DQ-10's (w/matching sub) but who knows... I'll report my findings after some additional listening.

For the experts, is the variance from rating mentioned for the 75 ohm caps enough to make a difference in performance and/or sound?
I ask because they are same era, same manuf. as the ones I replaced in my RSM's.
In my case, I didn't have a cap. meter so I do not know the values of mine or how much they had changed.
I do know that the new caps tamed a harsh midrange.
 
For the experts, is the variance from rating mentioned for the 75 ohm caps enough to make a difference in performance and/or sound?
I ask because they are same era, same manuf. as the ones I replaced in my RSM's.
In my case, I didn't have a cap. meter so I do not know the values of mine or how much they had changed.
I do know that the new caps tamed a harsh midrange.

I've wondered the same thing. One speaker was more out of spec than the other... I will say that the new caps did smooth out the midrange as well. That was immediately apparent.
 
the caps infinity used had a 20% tolerance (+10% or –10%), so the 81.9uf is actually still within the range that infinity felt acceptable for the spec'd 75uf (67.5 – 82.5). the 84.2 is out of tolerance.


speakers did come out nice.



.
 
Thanks guys! I did a little more listening last night. The Beatles, Smithereens and Adele. These are very natural sounding and revealing speakers. I'm very impressed with these. A great find and project!
 
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