This is a review and detailed measurements of the Infinity RC263 center home theater speaker. It is on kind loan from a member. The RC263 costs US $268 on Amazon including Prime shipping.
The RC263 is too large for my photo booth so you have to settle for where I test speakers for listening:
As you see the RC263 is a 3-way which is a recommended configuration for horizontal center speakers (two-way "MTM" designs tend to have poor horizontal direcitivty). Inclusion of two mid-woofers should help with power handling which is critical for center speakers as in movies most of the energy is directed at it (due to anchoring the screen). We will see this in measurements to follow.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
All measurements are referenced to the tweeter axis with frequency resolution of 2.7 Hz.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
We want our "on-axis" to be flat as to not impart constant coloration on everything we play and this budget speaker manages to do that fairly well.
Sensitivity is a couple dB above average for bookshelf type speakers which is good.
Estimated frequency response (taking into account important reflections in a room) is very good as well:
This due to early reflections working together to produce a smoother response than one would typically expect:
Here is the horizonta "directivity" which shows how the power of different frequencies drops off as you move away from the direct axis of the tweeter (left and right):
This is very good and broad which is what we like to see in a center speaker allowing for wide seating area and good side reflections.
Vertically it is a bit chewed up and narrow in mid-frequencies:
The cabinet on RC263 has dual angles so suggest using the back side which points the drivers up if the stand is too low (e.g. under a projection screen).
Distortion is rather high in the area of midrange and tweeter (infinity does not provide any crossover information):
The increase distortion frequencies is rather broad which makes it easier to hit so likely is a much bigger problem than a spike here and there. I am tentatively setting a 0.5% as maximum acceptable for broad distortions and RC263 violates that fair bit, peaking to 1.5%.
Impedance in bass domain where most energy is dips to 4 ohm:
Finally the CSD/waterfall:
Speaker Listening Tests
First impressions were rather positive but after a bit, lack of bass performance made the overall experience rather bright. Dialing in a few dBs of bass boost cured that. To my surprise, this did NOT result in the drivers bottoming out showing the excellent power handling of the RC263.
It is said that the Infinity is the "baby Revel." To see if that is true, I put my Revel C52 speaker which costs US $2,000 in the same spot. Performance improvement was quite substantial. Bass had much more energy, able to energize my seat. But importantly, there was a ton of detail and ambiance which was lost with the Infinity RC263. I had my son with me for a second opinion and that was his impression as well without being prompted. Now, some of this may be sighted bias, and differences in frequency response or distortion. I don't have an analysis of that for you. But I can share that my reference tracks sounded much nicer with the Revel C52.
Conclusions
The Infinity RC263 has excellent objective measurements for a budget center speaker. They have tried hard to hit key aspects of good sound in a horizontal center speaker within a very tough budget. So unless you can afford to spend a ton more, the RC263 makes for a very good center speaker in a home theater, augmented by a subwoofer.
As such, I am going to put the Infinity RC263 on my budget speaker recommendation together with its companion, R162 left, right and surround speakers.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Went out yesterday with the Pink Panthers wearing their pink masks and everyone was starring at them! I asked one of them why and he said he had never seen a panther with a pink mask that I should have made them white ones! So now I have to buy new material for my wife to make more in white. Please help me with that expense by donating using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The RC263 is too large for my photo booth so you have to settle for where I test speakers for listening:
As you see the RC263 is a 3-way which is a recommended configuration for horizontal center speakers (two-way "MTM" designs tend to have poor horizontal direcitivty). Inclusion of two mid-woofers should help with power handling which is critical for center speakers as in movies most of the energy is directed at it (due to anchoring the screen). We will see this in measurements to follow.
Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.
All measurements are referenced to the tweeter axis with frequency resolution of 2.7 Hz.
Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:
We want our "on-axis" to be flat as to not impart constant coloration on everything we play and this budget speaker manages to do that fairly well.
Sensitivity is a couple dB above average for bookshelf type speakers which is good.
Estimated frequency response (taking into account important reflections in a room) is very good as well:
This due to early reflections working together to produce a smoother response than one would typically expect:
Here is the horizonta "directivity" which shows how the power of different frequencies drops off as you move away from the direct axis of the tweeter (left and right):
This is very good and broad which is what we like to see in a center speaker allowing for wide seating area and good side reflections.
Vertically it is a bit chewed up and narrow in mid-frequencies:
The cabinet on RC263 has dual angles so suggest using the back side which points the drivers up if the stand is too low (e.g. under a projection screen).
Distortion is rather high in the area of midrange and tweeter (infinity does not provide any crossover information):
The increase distortion frequencies is rather broad which makes it easier to hit so likely is a much bigger problem than a spike here and there. I am tentatively setting a 0.5% as maximum acceptable for broad distortions and RC263 violates that fair bit, peaking to 1.5%.
Impedance in bass domain where most energy is dips to 4 ohm:
Finally the CSD/waterfall:
Speaker Listening Tests
First impressions were rather positive but after a bit, lack of bass performance made the overall experience rather bright. Dialing in a few dBs of bass boost cured that. To my surprise, this did NOT result in the drivers bottoming out showing the excellent power handling of the RC263.
It is said that the Infinity is the "baby Revel." To see if that is true, I put my Revel C52 speaker which costs US $2,000 in the same spot. Performance improvement was quite substantial. Bass had much more energy, able to energize my seat. But importantly, there was a ton of detail and ambiance which was lost with the Infinity RC263. I had my son with me for a second opinion and that was his impression as well without being prompted. Now, some of this may be sighted bias, and differences in frequency response or distortion. I don't have an analysis of that for you. But I can share that my reference tracks sounded much nicer with the Revel C52.
Conclusions
The Infinity RC263 has excellent objective measurements for a budget center speaker. They have tried hard to hit key aspects of good sound in a horizontal center speaker within a very tough budget. So unless you can afford to spend a ton more, the RC263 makes for a very good center speaker in a home theater, augmented by a subwoofer.
As such, I am going to put the Infinity RC263 on my budget speaker recommendation together with its companion, R162 left, right and surround speakers.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Went out yesterday with the Pink Panthers wearing their pink masks and everyone was starring at them! I asked one of them why and he said he had never seen a panther with a pink mask that I should have made them white ones! So now I have to buy new material for my wife to make more in white. Please help me with that expense by donating using : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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