Vintage Speakers still rock

**kach22i** · 05-03-2010, 12:05 PM

I heard a lot of speakers at the recent AK-Fest, and have to say some of the old stuff just sounded "right" when compared to the new stuff. Which was like a young kid trying to hard to impress.

Hat's off to these old Infinity 4.5's............................they had the right stuff.
http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x...2010/?start=20

**RBFC** · 05-03-2010, 08:18 PM

I remember hearing the Infinity RS1Bs at Sid Marks' (classic recordings writer for the Absolute Sound) apartment in NYC around 20 years ago. He had tweaked them a bit. The original Decca LP of Rigoletto with Pavarotti was playing and the sound was breathtaking! Although the IRS has been said to have "integration" difficulties, some of the slightly smaller models offered spectacular sound.

Lee

**kach22i** · 05-04-2010, 09:02 AM

Yea, but were they "digital ready" speakers?

Remember some were saying 20 years ago that you had to get new speakers to get the most out of your $17.00 CD's. The high cost of entry actually kept me content with my turntable until about 1991 when I bought my first CD player/changer.

Speaker companies were almost required to advertise themselves as "Digital Ready".

That's one silly phrase I'm glad died out.

Or is it still around?

**nsgarch** · 05-04-2010, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by kach22i

I heard a lot of speakers at the recent AK-Fest, and have to say some of the old stuff just sounded "right" when compared to the new stuff. Which was like a young kid trying to hard to impress.

I had a pair of those George, right before I bought my CLSII-Z's. They were bi-amped with big Brystons; and though in a nice big room with high ceilings, I could never get them to image worth a damn!

**JackD201** · 05-05-2010, 01:05 AM

In hindsight, I remember when you could count great imaging speakers that were not little monitors with the fingers of one hand. They already could do the other stuff very well though.

**kach22i** · 05-05-2010, 07:39 AM

This might sound odd, but the hand you see in one of the photos is not mine. A young man was checking out the speakers and touched the sponge foam absorber adjacent to the tweeters. In horror and shock he (and I) saw the two deep fingerprints he left. The sponge foam lost it's spring back, I tried to ease his guilt by saying the imprints may come back out over time, perhaps taking months to do so.

Just perhaps the foam has changed character enough to improve imaging.

I think if these speakers were made today, the blank panel area adjacent to the EMMIT ribbon tweeters would not exist. The designer today being free of rectangular shapes unlike in the era of the 60's, 70's and 80's would allow them to stand free.

Similar to this:
http://www.newformresearch.com/r630v3.htm

**kach22i** · 08-02-2010, 06:47 PM

Based on looks alone, I'd say these old speakers still rock. I've not seen or heard of these before, they are cooooooooool.

B&W Bowers & Wilkins DM70
http://loudspeaker-repair-service.re...rbish_DM70.htm

**JackD201** · 08-03-2010, 03:34 AM

I never knew they made stats. Great find Kach!

**jadis** · 08-03-2010, 03:44 AM

I had listened to the 4.5s several times in the 80s. I think in those days, it was the 'flagship' of Infinity. Then came the RS 1 and 1B (I owned its younger brother the 3B). Then the IRS Beta. Well, technically the IRS was the flagship, till the 5 series, but in those days, it was called 'expensive' at something like $20,000. Today, it may not even buy a pair of bookshelf speakers.

**RBFC** · 08-03-2010, 07:39 AM

I heard the 4.5s about 35 years ago and it was the first time I'd heard an acoustic guitar sound pretty real to me. Couldn't afford them then, but never forgot that demo.

Lee