Monitor Jr's added to bevy of beauties

Monitor Jr's added to bevy of beauties - with 2013 update

A 2013 Music Room update follows the last post in this thread.

Last November I posted a thread about the bevy of mid-70's Infinity beauties that I had gathered together in my new music room.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=403889&highlight=bevy+beauties

Yesterday on a whim I decided that I should endeavor to add the pair of Monitor Jr's that have been stored in the garage since the woofer refoam I did some years back. The attached photos show the results - a bit crowded but I think they are a worthy addition to the room with their rarely seen factory stands. They sound amazingly good even though they haven't been recapped although that won't be true for long as I ordered the necessary capacitors last night.

Despite the fact that there obviously had to be some compromises relative to arrangement, all four pair sound great in their own particular fashion and relative to their compliment of drivers many of which, at least in the Monitor IIa's, 2000II's and now the Monitor Jr's, are identical. The WTLC's are the exception driver-wise and it is very evident sonically when compared with the other three.

Along with the other changes and additions I've made to the inventory in the room it has become an even more welcoming place to relax and enjoy the music I have collected over the years on vinyl, reel to reel, and CD. Sorry, no 8-track.

Great collection, your own corner of Nirvana. Relaxing to music is great.

John M

I've got a soft spot for the Monitor Jr. I bought a set new in the early '70s (if memory serves me right). Those speakers impressed me with exceptionally clean and deep bass response. One of the best I've ever heard amongst the many speakers I've owned over the years.
If I ever come across a nice pair I would definitely scoop 'em up.

kconnor said:

I've got a soft spot for the Monitor Jr. I bought a set new in the early '70s (if memory serves me right). Those speakers impressed me with exceptionally clean and deep bass response. One of the best I've ever heard amongst the many speakers I've owned over the years.
If I ever come across a nice pair I would definitely scoop 'em up.

Click to expand...

The 12" CTS woofer that Infinity used in each of the Monitor series (original, II, and IIa, and Jr.) as well as in the 2000II was notably used in Fender as well as other guitar amps back in the day, and whatever magic Infinity created with the doping that they applied to the cone certainly did the job as the bass produced in these models never fails to surprise listeners, myself included. In my setup the Monitor IIa's really shine in that area probably because they have the advantage of being corner loaded, positioned 6" from the rear wall and 3" from the left and right walls of the room respectively. I also have them on 18"steel shot loaded and spiked Lovan stands which might help as well as they currently sound better than they ever have in the 40 years or so since I bought them new for my L.A. bachelor pad.

- 2013 Music Room update -

After living with this setup for a short while it became apparent to me that the corner location of the Monitor IIa's was causing a serious bass "bloom". I don't have a spectrum analyzer and so did not know specifically in what frequency range this anomaly was occurring but it made most music with serious bass content practically unlistenable. The IIa's have powerful tight bass but corner loading them was just a very bad idea. I tried everything I could to mitigate the problem using CornerBlox bass traps behind the IIa's in various configurations along with stuffing acoustic foam in lots of other places but failed at every turn. So I turned my attention to the 2000II's to get them dialed in until I could figure out what to do about the IIa's. Once that was done I went back to the IIa's and at first tried moving them further from the back and side walls but was limited by the lack of available space given the crowd of speakers in the room. Finally about a week ago I decided to bite the bullet and swap the IIa's with the WTLC's which were closest to the equipment rack to get the IIa's out of the corners. Of course in order to facilitate the swap all four pair had to be moved which required some heavy lifting but it was something I realized had to be done if I was ever going to use the IIa's again.

The results, with the continued use of the CornerBlox traps in various locations as well as large Auralex LENRD traps stacked to the ceiling in each of the corners behind the WTLC's did the trick and the Monitor IIa's once again sound spectacular with powerful tight bass and the same wide soundstage as before except tighter and more dimensional. The WTLC's do not seem to have suffered from the relocation and may have actually been helped because of their dipole design but I still find them a bit lacking in the midrange for not having a dedicated mid-range driver to support the two Peerless mid-tweeters which while they are a great little driver, just don't fill out the middle as well as they might. Otherwise the 2000II's and Monitor Jr's are as good as before the swap.

Photos of the new arrangement as well as the rest of the room in it's current configuration are attached. The WTLC's are barely visible but are the speakers in the corners with the bears on top of them. The green acoustic panels on the walls are from Acoustamac and were part of the original treatment of the room. Finally, my uber-rare Infinity Monolumia can be seen on the glass topped table in front of the futon. It only gets used on special occasions.

Nice job on the room, great collection of classic gear. Those metal racks are really strong. I have some of those myself.
Jim

Nice to see a Peaches record crate again!

And yes, the Jr's are great sounding speakers. I still have the pair I bought new in '75, as well as two more pairs, and despite having Renaissance 90's, 80's and Sigmas, the Jr's still impress with the sound that comes out of that package. Truly a great speaker that so few are familiar with.

HDJR808 said:

And yes, the Jr's are great sounding speakers. I still have the pair I bought new in '75, as well as two more pairs, and despite having Renaissance 90's, 80's and Sigmas, the Jr's still impress with the sound that comes out of that package. Truly a great speaker that so few are familiar with.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately they got last choice of location in a very crowded room but still manage to sound pretty good nonetheless.