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Infinity RS152 Review (Surround Speaker)

prerich

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abdo123

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Putting this up against a wall is going to fill in the low frequencies but I can't see how it will fix much of anything above 500hz, and the in-room measurement there seems to confirm that. The speaker is cheap as dirt and I'm sure it will do its basic job but I still don't see anything I'd actually recommend to anyone lol.

500$ cheap as dirt? well i be damned lol.
 

ezra_s

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I guess the only way to review these is to just listen to them and subjectively compare them to their direct competitors by ear. THE HORROR!! :p

Well, when I watch a movie with these kind of speakers I expect the spatial surround effect coming out of them without sounding like a tin can, hardly much more. :cool:

--

I got a pair of Klipsch RP 250S just for that and I enjoy them in the movies, specially when I hear the woosh and all those effects that kind of sound projected inside the room, but I would not use them to listen to stereo music, nor I think I would like to try.

-- edit: Although I used them along the other channels to listen to the SACD from Dire Straits in 5.1 and it was amazing.

I think amir is right not to say much about this speaker and the score rating perhaps should not apply comparing to typical hifi speakers meant to be heard as mono or stereo until like he says, "someone" can make sense of what we are seeing.
 

Sancus

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500$ cheap as dirt? well i be damned lol.

People are not buying them at MSRP, they're buying them when they go on sale. $140 for the pair is cheap as dirt, yes.

What stands are those?

They're modular K&M speaker stands. I explained the whole mounting and its caveats a while back. You can also put Genelecs on any of the K&M 3/8" mic stand, as they all have a 3/8" screw hole in the bottom. But unfortunately the microphone rods don't screw into the nice base plate with the corner mount as they are 3/8" vs M20 respectively.
 

Dj7675

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I was hoping that someone had these and posted in room measurements... thanks to @Worth Davis and @spacevector for posting. Looks like the on wall installation makes the frequency response look quite good considering the locations surround speakers have to go.
 
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Is there a point in reviewing these kind of super low end speakers? People spending so little on audio gear will not read this. The people who do come here on asr never settle for this kind of performance.

I rather see the Genelec 8351b finally being reviewed.

That's the most self-righteous and ignorant thing I've read here.
 

MZKM

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I was hoping that someone had these and posted in room measurements... thanks to @Worth Davis and @spacevector for posting. Looks like the on wall installation makes the frequency response look quite good considering the locations surround speakers have to go.
Yeah, bass seems good. ~600Hz dip remains though. Looking at directivity index though it should take well to EQ; unless it is distorting like crazy.
 
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richard12511

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They're modular K&M speaker stands. I explained the whole mounting and its caveats a while back. You can also put Genelecs on any of the K&M 3/8" mic stand, as they all have a 3/8" screw hole in the bottom. But unfortunately the microphone rods don't screw into the nice base plate with the corner mount as they are 3/8" vs M20 respectively.

Thanks, I think something like this is what I need to fix my isopod nightmare dilemma. Right now my isopods are stuck in particular positions. Luckily it doesn't make much of an audible difference, but it's gross, visually. These use different mounting holes, so I could use strong wirecutter to cut the isopods off(then hopefully grip the screws with vicegrip).
 

Sancus

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Thanks, I think something like this is what I need to fix my isopod nightmare dilemma. Right now my isopods are stuck in particular positions. Luckily it doesn't make much of an audible difference, but it's gross, visually. These use different mounting holes, so I could use strong wirecutter to cut the isopods off(then hopefully grip the screws with vicegrip).

RIP isopods :(
 

vlad335

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I have JBL 8330 surrounds and nothing, and i mean nothing i have placed on my wall comes close to them. I probably had different 30 speakers over the past 20 years in the rear side position. Paid $150 a pair used.

I play multichannel SACD's and on some material they sound better than my front stage.
 

Dzhaughn

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Is there a point in reviewing these kind of super low end speakers? People spending so little on audio gear will not read this. The people who do come here on asr never settle for this kind of performance.

I utterly disagree with your narrow assessment of the readership of this site.

Even people who spend $10K on their speakers may want to advise people who want to spend much less. And might well be curious about what exactly their money is buying.
 

tuga

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I'm reading these comments and I'm wondering if people know what these are used for? They're used to create a defuse, disperse, unlocatable soundfield. You can't listen to them like mains. They're not designed to react like mains. If you used them for main duty....you need to see a Dr. who has a couch;):facepalm:.

Why not have all drivers face the wall then?
That would surely give you a more diffused and probably smoother balance...
 

restorer-john

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Why not have all drivers face the wall then?
That would surely give you a more diffused and probably smoother balance...

The point being made (multiple times) is the speakers are not designed, nor should they be tested in free air, or attempts made to characterize them using conventional methods or systems designed for direct radiating speakers.

They are a wall mount, diffuse field, surround speaker and a cheap one at that.

No different to testing an in-wall speaker in free air.
 
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Vladimir Filevski

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I was hoping that someone had these and posted in room measurements... thanks to @Worth Davis and @spacevector for posting. Looks like the on wall installation makes the frequency response look quite good considering the locations surround speakers have to go.
+1
Actually, I am surprised because the dip at 650 Hz is still there, but thankfully much narrower and shallower than in anechoic measurements.
A year or two ago I "tested" HST technology with measuring conventional loudspeaker mounted very close to the wall - in reverse: woofer facing the wall and enclosure back facing the room (just as Infinity RS152). Yes, it works well, but sharp enclosure edges don't help, and some sort of woofer phase plug on the wall (on back plate) is very beneficial.
JBL Control HST is a professional version of Infinity RS152, presented graphs are good explanation what is going on:
JBL_control_hst.jpg

JBL_HST.jpg
 
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Dmitri

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Truth, I have absolutely zero interest in this type of speaker. But I’d love to have a poster size rendition of the horizontal beam width graph for my living room.
 

ArchAcoustics

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Long-time lurker, but I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring.

I'm surprised no one has brought up chapter 9 of Toole's book, which discusses boundary effects in depth (certainly not the only source, but it's a well-known book in this forum). Figure 9.13 includes measurements of the Infinity Beta ES250, twin of the Revel S12. As the book explains, "It was designed with on-wall mounting in mind, and considerable thought went into the physical layout and the crossover network to control the acoustical interactions of the drivers with each other and with the wall behind."

In an avsforum post I can't readily find, Toole also discussed the design of either the ES250 or another Harman bipole speaker, and the challenges of measuring it in an anechoic chamber by mounting the speaker to a boundary.

It seems plausible that the crossover network in the RS152 creates its own "EQ" to account for the boundary. It may be the case that the RS152 has other issues that the ES250/S12 avoided, but I doubt it's really the disaster that some comments here make it out to be.
 

rockyb

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@amirm: Bravo for using your standard measurement suite and throwing it up there for all to pick over. I am glad when you threw up your hands during that you did not abandon the work you did and go on to the next devices to test, but asked for suggestions. I certainly don't blame you for choosing low price items, and most of all for not wanting to rebuild your test setup. There seem to be a lot of smart folks here - maybe they can come up with a consensus on how to test, and even might have the test equipment to do it!
Cheers
 

beagleman

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Athena made something "Similar" to this, way back in the 90s. I owned them and they were quite decent for the price. Wonder how they would compare to the units under review?
41E1K7Y0CNL._AC_.jpg
 
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