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Infinity RS 4001's-Good bad or Ug

Thrift-a-holic

Thrift-a-holic

Hooked for life
So I have a friend that is trying to put together a nice 2 channel set-up with good WAF factor on a budget. We talk a lot about equipment, and do some thrifting together. If I see something on craigs list that I think he may like I email him the link. This morning I noticed a link for a pair of Infinity RS4001 speakers. Appear to be in great shape for 50 bucks. Before discussing it further he did contact the seller, and it sounds like they have come to an agreement. I hope these are decent speakers. I am however not too worried as I am pretty certain they should be re-sellable for at least that much. I beleive original MSRP on these was around 500 hundo based on some limited online research. I think there is an "E" version of them too, but not sure if these are the E's or not, and what the E even means. Anybody have or have experience with these? Good living room 2 channel set-up?:scratch2:
 
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One other thing, is the speaker is rated at 6 ohms. My friend runs a vintage Technics SA-303. That unit is like 40 watts RMS, but I beleive that is an 8 ohm rating. There will not be any issues of compatibility will there?
 
Thrift-a-holic said:
So I have a friend that is trying to put together a nice 2 channel set-up with good WAF factor on a budget. We talk a lot about equipment, and do some thrifting together. If I see something on craigs list that I think he may like I email him the link. This morning I noticed a link for a pair of Infinity RS4001 speakers. Appear to be in great shape for 50 bucks. Before discussing it further he did contact the seller, and it sounds like they have come to an agreement. I hope these are decent speakers. I am however not too worried as I am pretty certain they should be re-sellable for at least that much. I beleive original MSRP on these was around 500 hundo based on some limited online research. I think there is an "E" version of them too, but not sure if these are the E's or not, and what the E even means. Anybody have or have experience with these? Good living room 2 channel set-up?:scratch2:
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I've got a pair of RS 4000's, I think they're basically the same. If working, the EMIT tweeters are worth the asking price.

If the speakers are original, I'm afraid you'll find that the foams on the woofers and midranges is shot. It's an easy enough fix, and the speakers are pretty nice when working properly.

bs
 
bshorey said:
I've got a pair of RS 4000's, I think they're basically the same. If working, the EMIT tweeters are worth the asking price.

If the speakers are original, I'm afraid you'll find that the foams on the woofers and midranges is shot. It's an easy enough fix, and the speakers are pretty nice when working properly.

bs
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The RS-4001's do not use the EMIT tweeters. Instead, they use dome-style drivers that Infinity called Polyspherite for the mids and tweeters, so there may well be no issues with foam suspensions on the mids. However, the woofer foams will almost certainly need replacement if they have not been done recently.

Here's a pic and some specs from Infinity Classics:
RS4001E-8.jpg


RS 4001 E
Introduced: 1989
Dimensions: 57 x 29 x 24 cm
Weight: 12 kg
Bass: 1 x 20 cm
Mids: 1 x Polyspherite
Highs: 1 x Polyspherite
Suggested for amplifiers with: 25-125 Watts per channel
Frequency range: 44 Hz - 22 kHz
Crossover frequencies: 600 Hz, 4000 Hz
Suggested price (pair): $ 578

While probably not in the same league as the EMIT-equipped speakers, the 4001's should still sound pretty good. They are a sealed-box design which means that, although the bass may not be as extended as a ported speaker of the same size, what bass is there will be tight, fast, and articulate.

You can find the technical spec sheet here.
 
I was just given a pair of these that the owner said had "blown" woofers. Of course they only need re-foaming. Anyone have anything good to say about them? Anything special about the surrounds? These are too far gone to tell what they looked like. The plastic trim came of simply enough. I'll clean them up and see if I can get the proper surrounds for them. Anyone tried butyl-rubber for the surrounds? Just asking!

The woofer baskets certainly don't impress but they look like a nice tidy three-way and the crossovers look like reasonable units for an economy speaker. I hate to pass them along without putting them back in good shape, but are they worth the effort?
 
snag a pair of EMIT R tweeters, drop em in, and prepare to rock out with your c%$k out....fine first timer Infinitys, but be very, very careful.....Infinitys are very seductive, and the desire to upgrade is nearly irresistible...:yes:
 
kneeOhFight said:
Infinitys are very seductive, and the desire to upgrade is nearly irresistible...:yes:
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I just might be able to resist the urge; I have thirteen pairs of their cousin JBLs. :thmbsp:

I'd be very pleased if these are as enjoyable as some of my smaller JBLs. :huge:
 
BMWCCA said:
I just might be able to resist the urge; I have thirteen pairs of their cousin JBLs. :thmbsp:

I'd be very pleased if these are as enjoyable as some of my smaller JBLs. :huge:
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I remember a day, back in the 70's when JBL was the first and last word in speakers....a crying shame what they, and so many others, Infinitys included, have become...:thumbsdn:
 
kneeOhFight said:
snag a pair of EMIT R tweeters, drop em in, and prepare to rock out with your c%$k out....fine first timer Infinitys, but be very, very careful.....Infinitys are very seductive, and the desire to upgrade is nearly irresistible...:yes:
Click to expand...

x2 on that.
i started with a pair of rs-625's, then sold thoes and got some kappa 6.1's.
now in getting a nice minty fresh set of cs3006's.
actually 2 sets of cs3006's. one set is for back up parts. the one set need foam but the emit r's are more than worth the $$ to me seeing as they are the same tweater thats in my kappa's:yes:

spare parts are a good thing when companies no longer have parts because you never know.:smoke:

-vic
 
New surrounds are on the way!
kneeOhFight said:
I remember a day, back in the 70's when JBL was the first and last word in speakers....a crying shame what they, and so many others, Infinitys included, have become...:thumbsdn:
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I'm not familiar with the current offerings from Infinity but their partner at the Harman group still makes some of the best speakers available today:
title_jblhome.gif

dd66000_ph_rw.jpg
 
Got the Rick Cobb surrounds installed and gave the RS 4001s a good cleaning. After removing all the old surround material there was a cardboard gasket left on the basket that I cleaned up and bonded the new surrounds to. The They sound very nice for a small acoustic-suspension speaker. As others have said, the bass they produce is tight and clean, even up high without any barrier reinforcement (stacked on top of a double-stack of JBL L80Ts). They do require a bit more power than any of my JBLs but power I have plenty of. A very pleasant speaker to listen to and I'm breaking them in with a bit of Lyle Lovett's "It's Not Big, It's Large" right now. Seems appropriate for these small-but-room-filling speakers!

Probably quite common but so far these are the only pair of black RS-4001s I've seen between this site, Epay, and other forums where these have been discussed. Vinyl veneer is still just vinyl but I think I prefer black "ash" vinyl to "oak" vinyl. The IMG woofer cone is interesting. Looks like carbon fiber, but what is it, really?

:thmbsp:

Edit: I found "Injection Molded Graphite" as one explanation of Infinity's IMG woofers. Could that be it?
 
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RS 4001 : IMHO : very flat : good presence/ good imaging.. I think many would think they were boring because of this : someone "new" to audio might need to hear other stuff to appreciate why these are good / most certainly need a refoam ......so be careful/ when mine started to tear the foams I coulnt even see the tears : heard something ...it was the foams .... this model has the polycell tweets .... sound good to me : I got these thrown in on a receiver / tt deal ....I was honestly surprised how good they sounded for their size
 
I picked up a pair from the good will for $10.
Surrounds were shot but the speakers were Pristine, beyond mint.
Just so happens the week before I picked up a single
white van speaker for $5.
I got the white van to use the tweeter guts to replace the insides
of an old philips tweeter in one of my Scotts, worked great with
just a lil modification.
But I got lucky, the white van speaker had 2 8" drivers in it, was gonna
toss them but I was like what the hey, let's see if I can pull these surrounds off.
And they did, the job they did was so shotty they peeled right off.

Bringing me to the butyl rubber question(from last Nov.)
As they were rubber, I used some spray adhesive and stuck them
suckers right on my 4001 drivers and they have been rocking ever since.

Sometimes we get lucky, a cheap $5 white van speaker fixed
my RS 4001's and my Scott Pro 100's, saved me at least $50
and also gave me a very satisfying feeling.

The 4001 speakers are really nice, good looks, nice size, great sound.
No match out there for what I paid.
My plastic bezels were a PITA to get off, I did break one. So much for pristine.
 
Got a pair today for $35, and thought it was a fair deal. A couple of quick questions.
kneeOhFight said:
snag a pair of EMIT R tweeters, drop em in, and prepare to rock out with your c%$k out....fine first timer Infinitys, but be very, very careful.....Infinitys are very seductive, and the desire to upgrade is nearly irresistible...:yes:
Click to expand...
Do I need to look for EMITs out of a certain line for the crossover network to perform optimally? What about the Emit-K's? I just like the looks of these a lot better. I'm not afraid of a router, especially if they will sound better.

Also, if anybody else is looking into a pair of these, what this guy said :
barkerd said:
Be careful/ when mine started to tear the foams I coudlnt even see the tears : heard something ...it was the foams ....
Click to expand...
I got a pair today and had the same thing happen. I should've tested them before I bought them, but the guy was very reasonable and we chatted about being in the same line of work. He said he'd give me my money back if they didn't work and I believed him. I checked the woofers before I got them, and they looked fine. When I got home the woofers sounded off, very nearly distorted, but generally weak and flubby. I looked around for a while and didn't see anything but I could hear it. Finally, I decided to find a bassy track and crank the bass. When I really got that thing moving, I could see tiny, imperceptible cracks all the way around the tweeter.
Even so, I decided I like these enough to put a few bucks into a refoam kit. The highs are very nice, and those midrange domes are fantastic. If I grab a pair of emits to drop in here, I can get the RS6's I wanted all along at half the price.
 
SchweinHaus said:
Got a pair today for $35, and thought it was a fair deal. A couple of quick questions.

Do I need to look for EMITs out of a certain line for the crossover network to perform optimally? What about the Emit-K's? I just like the looks of these a lot better. I'm not afraid of a router, especially if they will sound better.

Also, if anybody else is looking into a pair of these, what this guy said :

I got a pair today and had the same thing happen. I should've tested them before I bought them, but the guy was very reasonable and we chatted about being in the same line of work. He said he'd give me my money back if they didn't work and I believed him. I checked the woofers before I got them, and they looked fine. When I got home the woofers sounded off, very nearly distorted, but generally weak and flubby. I looked around for a while and didn't see anything but I could hear it. Finally, I decided to find a bassy track and crank the bass. When I really got that thing moving, I could see tiny, imperceptible cracks all the way around the tweeter.
Even so, I decided I like these enough to put a few bucks into a refoam kit. The highs are very nice, and those midrange domes are fantastic. If I grab a pair of emits to drop in here, I can get the RS6's I wanted all along at half the price.
Click to expand...

First, et me say that I am a HUGE Infinity fan.

I own RS 4000's, as well as RS 4001's.

My very first set of Infinity's was the RS 4001's.....after being quite impressed , I began reading up on Infinity.

I also came across quite a few of references to these "Emit" tweets, and decided to try some in my '4001's.......didn't work.....too low tweet volume with this conversion....dunno why, perhaps the x-over......

So I purchased a set of RS 4000's next....yes better tweets, but honestly, the polyspherite tweets in the RS 4001's are 90% as good as the emits....a very nice tweet......and the MIDS in the 4001's are the best I have in my growing Infinity collection.

I am looking for a set of the polysherite dome mids to add to my RS 4000's...I think this will be the "magic combo"....!!

As an FYI, following is my Infinity collection thus far:

SL-30's
RS-3001's (successfully modified with Emit tweets)
RS-4000's
RS-4001's
Reference 5's (the last design series by Arnie Nudel)
Crescendo CS-3007's
Crescendo CS-3009's

ALL are really great speakers!!!!

One caveat regarding Infinity's........with all of my Infinity's, I find they really like to have a lot of power available, and reward you with commensurate sound quality when it is provided.
 
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