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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: Please advise, 400USD speakers with good bass posted by jazzwave@gmail.com on August 11, 2009 at 21:02:40:
I moved my office in 2005 and changed the audio electronics to: Cambridge Audio 640C (CD)/ Revox B160(FM)> Audio Research LS3 > ARC D130 (s.s. 2X 130W), and needed narrow, full range speakers. About then, I saw the same Stereophile recommendation for the Infinity Prmius 360 that Bill the K. mentions and eventually bought a pair.As this was to only be for a couple of years, and these might become studio monitors and even -gulp- television speakers- I decided to get the best budget full-range speaker I could find and decided on the Infinity's. My other choice was to buy used Vandersteen 1C's for a bit more money, and 1Cs are great with the ARC stuff, but simply too large for the office.
Looking around, I eventually got a pair of Infinity Primus 360's off Ebay for, I think $350 with shipping. These were new then and a strong seller with high prices. I used Home Depot "HD-14" speaker wire made from a particular orange and black extension cord for awhile- while trying three vintage tuners and then changed to 10' Audioquest Type 4- quite a bit nicer in every way.
And, with the very neutral Audio Research stuff, I was pleasantly surprised with the Primus 360. These are 93dB and so have no problem with loud volumes- I think I could be using my EICO HF-14 with 12W and still have satisfying Mahler and pipe organ bass- and indeed I've thought of a system like this.
The overall sound is quite neutral and dynamic, and with good timbre and discretion between sounds. There is a noticeable cabinet resonance in the upper bass and at one time I was looking into fitting some remedial damping. The bass is one of the best features, authoritative and still relatively transparent and detailed. I can hear that these would be great for loud and heavily layered movie and violent video game sounds.
The efficient speakers I've had seem to me to have good detail at low volume and this was great in an office. Imaging is very important to me and when I had the AQ Type 4 wires and was trying the McIntosh MR67 tube tuner (1965) the soundstage produced from the 360's was simply amazing- quite a bit wider than the speakers and very precise, focused front to back placement- the best FM imaging I'd ever had. Listening in mono was even more amazing. The image of course is all in the centre- but what a centre! and the transparency, detail, sense of air, and dynamics were wonderful. These never seem dry or thin, though are revealing of the somewhat dry and thin 640C.
All in all, I think the Infinity 360 is a great bargain. The model number is now called 362 and there is still the centre and the various 5.1 system speakers. Because of the good sound- impressive bass and image along with the high efficiency, I have in mind to buy a single one for a bedroom system: Dual 1019 (TT) / Scott 330 (mono tube tuner)> EICO HF-14 (mono tube integrated, EL84,12W) > Infinity 360. I can use these as recording monitors and I think too if I ever took television sound seriously, I'd add the sub and centres and so on.
I think you can see I'm an enthusiast for the Infinity 360 as having a good sound and certainly not expensive. I would only hope the 362's have tamed the cabinet resonance, the only notable defect for me. I bought these thinking they were a second/third tier speaker to be handed down to lower and lower use- my speakers can end up playing background music in the garage, but they are really good enough for serious use- what goes in is important of course.
Cheers,
Bambi B
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Follow Ups
- Infinity Primus 360 - Bambi B 08/13/0910:04:13 08/13/09 (1)
- RE: Infinity Primus 360 - jazzwave 23:30:35 08/13/09 (0)
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