My introduction to Infinity's - restoring the RS II

Sonance'84

moe.ron
Subscriber
I picked up a pair of Infinity RS II's a few weeks ago, knowing they needed some work. I'd never owned any Infinity's before this and have only heard Kappa 8's, one time. I pretty much jumped at the opportunity to fix these speakers up.

They both are missing the front grills, but they do have the rear grills and foam diffusers. Upper grill pegs busted off. Woofer foam was shot. Some chipping of the veneer at the very bottom of the front wings. Half-assed stain job done by previous owner. Other than that, all the drivers test good and there weren't any major scratches.

I took pictures of the wiring, pulled the drivers and began sanding. I filled the grill peg holes while I was at it, since they're in the line of sight. I left the chipped veneer as is, in case it could be properly repaired in the future. The stain I chose was Minwax Wood Finish - Red Oak 215, which I did 2 coats of. It's dry and ready for oil now, but it's been windy here. I'm going to use Howard's Feed-n-Wax for that, hopefully in the next couple of days.

I've got the new foam on the woofer cones, just need to center the voice coils while gluing them to the basket. I'll get to that this weekend.

Here's a few pics for now, starting from the day I brought them home and the sanding / staining. Can't wait to get these back together!

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That's all for now...I should have them oiled soon though, so check back for the final product.
 
Looking good!
Being a painter, I am impressed with the third picture in your second post. The one with them both stripped and sanded.
I know how much work that is.
From that point it is more like fun again proceeding forward. And with a "bare canvass" the possibilities are quite wide for what to choose for the final finish.
 
Very nice! Fantastic speakers IMO, just make sure to give feed them enough good quality power (clean 400 wpc at 4 Ohm per my experience)...
 
Looking good!
Being a painter, I am impressed with the third picture in your second post. The one with them both stripped and sanded.
I know how much work that is.
From that point it is more like fun again proceeding forward. And with a "bare canvass" the possibilities are quite wide for what to choose for the final finish.

Thanks! Quite a bit of work for sure. I love this part, where you start to see all the work paying off.


Very nice! Fantastic speakers IMO, just make sure to give feed them enough good quality power (clean 400 wpc at 4 Ohm per my experience)...

Definitely gonna feed them some good power, it was my main concern. I received an email back from the US Musical Fidelity rep and he said the amp is 2 ohm stable and should run the RSII's no problem. Then last night, I came across the Stereophile review from March 2000, which they quote the designer saying, "the amp should drive just about any loudspeakers to satisfactory levels in any room." It's conservatively rated at 150W rms at 8 ohm, 260W rms at 4 ohm...but the US importer at the time (Audio Advisor) commented that the A300 actually delivers more than 200W rms at 8 ohms.

I'm hoping that means around 300W rms at 4 ohms. In any case, I shouldn't need to worry with this amp, which is a relief.

My main concern at this point is centering the voice coils. I've put off that part just because I want to do it perfect. I have a 30Hz sine wave to help, but it still makes me nervous.
 
Looks good! Don't worry about the centering, the glue gives you plenty of time. What does the crossover look like on this, and are you upgrading it at all?
 
Nice work man, I've followed a few of your threads and I'm always impressed.

Did you find these local here in Vegas ?

I've been watching Craigslist for the pair I sold 2 years ago and so far no luck.
 
Looks good! Don't worry about the centering, the glue gives you plenty of time. What does the crossover look like on this, and are you upgrading it at all?

The clear glue Simply Speakers sent me sets up and dries VERY quickly here in the desert. I actually messed up one foam ring because I wasn't used to how quick it bonds. Not much time to set up and position the foam at all.

I've read where others have suggested Aileen's tacky glue for the baskets, which I also have on hand. It should give me a little more time than the clear glue. BTW, that clear glue smells just like old Testors model model car glue.

The crossover is very complex, with four crossover points and some HUGE electrolytic cans. It already has a film cap for the tweeter. I'll probably leave them alone for now and decide what I'd like to do after I hear them. The pots and rheostats will get the DeoxIt treatment.

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Nice work man, I've followed a few of your threads and I'm always impressed.

Did you find these local here in Vegas ?

I've been watching Craigslist for the pair I sold 2 years ago and so far no luck.

Thanks! I did find these in Vegas, or more like they found me. I got these from a friend, who got them from his uncle. I'm still waiting for him to clean the rest of his garage and find the Sony amp that his uncle gave him with these. He said he still has the original brochure and receipt too, which he'll give me once he finds them.

You had a pair of RSII's? I think I remember seeing a pair on CL at least a year ago, maybe longer...they needed woofer foam though. Were those yours? It sounds like you want them back.
 
I apologize, the glue I use from Rick Cobb takes forever, didn't realize the simply speaker glue was different.
I wonder how off those huge electrolytic caps are....those are as big as amp filter caps!
http://www.infinity-classics.de/technik/manuals/RS_II_technical_sheet.pdf
1600uF....dang.

Yep, mega caps! I've read where people say to leave them as they are quality caps and it would be hard finding replacements. Some of the smaller ones can be changed no problem, but I doubt I'll do that right away.
 
Howard Feed-n-Wax

Here's some daytime shots of them after I applied the Feed-n-Wax. You can see the color better in this lighting. The front and back painted parts are just dusty, I haven't wiped them down yet.

Just need to glue the woofer foams to the frames, center the voice coils and then re-install the drivers. They should be ready to some inside and play after that. Hopefully by this time tomorrow. :thmbsp:

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What about painting the front of the woofer enclose? Deep, strong matte black might look nice. Right now there is this mismatch between the beautiful wood, and old faded black woofer area. If I ever decide to work on mine, that's one thing I want to do...
 
What about painting the front of the woofer enclose? Deep, strong matte black might look nice. Right now there is this mismatch between the beautiful wood, and old faded black woofer area. If I ever decide to work on mine, that's one thing I want to do...

I'm pretty sure they're originally brown paint, not black. I've never seen a pair with black paint. I doubt I'll re-paint them though, as the paint is fine, just dusty from the sanding. I didn't wipe them down before the pics.
 
I think you'll want to glue the surrounds to the cone before gluing the surrounds to the frame.
 
There ya go:)

Any tips on centering them by hand? Is it easier than I'm making it out to be? I feel like this is the part where I really need to be precise. The foam was glued to the cones Monday, so I know it's dry.
 
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