New speaker day-Infinity RS-IIIa

halo71

Well after a long wait my friend shows up with these this morning. His friends wife is making him get rid of them. He is wanting $200 for them. He said they were his babies, woofers refoamed less than 10 years ago and in great condition! Well, the latter is not so.

They look like they have been sitting in a basement. Bunch of cobwebs and dust. The cabinets are in decent shape and need a clean up. The pad around the mid and tweets is like dust but that is to be expected. The kicker is there are IIIa and IIIb tweets and mids in them. How much of a difference is this make? I can not tell a difference sound wise so far.

I must say the EMIT's are pretty impressive! The bass is tight and accurate, they don't dig deep. But what's there is pretty damn good. And driving these with an Onkyo Integra M504 power amp, hoping thats enough power.

The wife's not gonna like this when she gets home from work today. These are BIG speakers.

halo71

Oh yeah, both grills are missing the Infinity badges. And one grill is cracked.


Are these worth $200?

pitdogg2

sorry but those look like they have been rode hard and put away wet.
200.00 seems ok BUT I'd offer a little less because of the grills and having to look at the front of them bet they look better with grills.....

halo71

Oh come on. They look that rough? lol

I am thinking they will clean up pretty well. I was excited to hear them first.

HTguru1982

Sounds like they're worth 200 pops to me: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=386148&highlight=infinity

Joe08867

200 is above the max I would go, I would offer 150. Since the grills are screwed up and all.

The pads can be fixed around the tweeter and mid pretty easy.

halo71

Sound wise what are you thoughts?

Conradicles

I'd pay that for them, or maybe try to get him a bit lower. A little TLC and they will look great.

RuSsMaN

Those are fun speakers.

geoff727

If a person finds RS-IIIa's/-IIIb's with grilles intact, they are lucky. These things were not constructed out of very sturdy stuff, and the original cloth was pretty shoddy too. Much better just to fabricate your own.

The -IIIa/-IIIb EMIT and Polydome mix will make no difference sound-wise, only cosmetically. Only the faceplates are different, that's it.

These things can spruce up pretty nicely. Just a simple repaint of the fronts and backs, cleaning the sides, tops, and edge flutes, and application of Howards's Feed & Wax will make a huge difference. All for just a couple hours work.

Check the pots carefully. Beware, when you open them up, the crossover looks like a torture chamber.

The woofer refoams are, frankly, not a very professional job. If you want them redone at a low cost with a very clean job, I'm happy to do it. I've done quite a few of these. Here's a picture of one I did for reference. Not to blow my own horn, but the truth is I'm an Infinity fan, so I'm happy to do this stuff.

Absolutely, they are worth $200, if for nothing else than parts. Mine cost me $255 and they were worse off than yours are.

Ebay the Infinity logos, they are plentiful and not expensive. Ebay off the blue Polyd's/EMIT's and buy the orange ones. They are also plentiful.

Good luck with them!

Geoff

halo71

Geoff, thanks! So tell me....am I safe with running them on my M504? It's 165 wpc I think. The fuses on the back, protection for the tweet right? Can the tweet be rebuilt? Yeah the first thing I noticed was the refoam was rather sloppy. Looks like something I would have done. So what is your charge per woofer? If the tweet and mid mixture does not make a difference I will leave them alone for the time being.

I have listened to several CD's since this morning. These speakers seem very airy and open. By far the best speakers I have ever owned.

pitdogg2

refoaming is very easy I've done 6.5" - 15" take your time do one side at a time. One side as in the woofer side first let dry then basket side let dry very easy. Just make sure you buy the correct foam for you driver NO universal foams....

just make sure all is very clean before you start glueing.

geoff727

halo71 wrote: »

....am I safe with running them on my M504? It's 165 wpc I think.

I don't know much about the Onkyo, but I think you should be fine with it. The low-powered stuff would start to cause problems.

halo71 wrote: »

The fuses on the back, protection for the tweet right?

Yes.

halo71 wrote: »

Can the tweet be rebuilt?

Yes. I've mixed and matched parts from a ton of these to come up with perfect EMIT's.

halo71 wrote: »

So what is your charge per woofer?.

I'll PM that one.

halo71 wrote: »

If the tweet and mid mixture does not make a difference I will leave them alone for the time being.

Ya, they'll be fine.

G~

halo71

Thanks again Geoff! I seen some RS's somewhere that the owner had refinished them in a rosewood stain. And they looked sweet! I am not concerned about resale value and keeping them original. The crumbling foam on the front will be the first to go. I need a big ****$ mouse pad to stick back on there!

And when budget allows XO upgrades will be in order.

scottyboy76

you know the game, if he asks 200, he will take 150.

The mouse pad material is exactly what i was thinking.

Appearance wise, look to be same speaker as my rs6s with an extra mid woof.

Is wife into music? if so, she might not be too unhappy after hearing these babys.

congrats, and these sound like your type of project, you are a hands on type guy.

Also good to know we have an experienced vintage infinity guy to ask questions of.

BTW, still have your three speakers, I will be coming to cobb county each sunday through wed. or thurs. to take my turn watching over my mom till she passes, if you are in town, let me know, we will get together for handoff.

geoff727

Hey guys, a mouse pad is not really the best thing to use for that anti-diffraction pad around the EMIT and Polydome. That's foam rubber, and isn't going to do a thing for you. If you have a local hardware store, see if they carry some black carpet felt, the stuff that's about a quarter of an inch think. That will be a much better replacement for the original foam that is (or was) there. In any case, it needs to 'open', not a closed-cell type foam.

I think I've seen the -IIIa's you're talking about. Those might be Klaus Pohlig's from Germany. I wasn't crazy about the application, but i agree, the color was very nice.

G~

halo71

Geoff, I was kidding about using mouse pads to replace the foam. :biggrin: I am wondering though. If the woofers are wired in series as I've read. How come the bottom woofer seems to be get much lower bass than the upper woofer?

Scott, the wife is into music just as much as I am. But she'd be just as happy listening to my little Monitor 5's as she would these. These speakers are just over 49" tall.

Also your traveling the wrong way to meet up with me! You need to go south east.

geoff727

halo71 wrote: »

Geoff, I was kidding about using mouse pads to replace the foam.

Oh, good (Whew). I can take a joke, I really can. Just not today, I guess. :rolleyes:

This is what the crossovers look like in these. Aesthetics was not the primary concern here.....

halo71

Geoff, I pm'd you. :biggrin:

halo71

I must admit, old stock XO's and all. I am liking these! When money permits XO upgrades will be the next step.

Keep in mind I am still an SDA virgin. But I am hearing things on CD's I have not heard before! :biggrin:

erniejade

The 504 amp is a solid amp it will be fine with them.

zingo

I'm going to bring this thread back from the dead, and ask if you ever compared these to SDAs? Anyone else with SDA verses classic Infinity RS Emit speakers?

Msabot1

If those infinitys are in as rough shape as yer sayin...I'd be careful putting the spurs to them with that 504....those amps can put it to about any speak out there.....they are gutsy!

halo71

No not as of yet. There are a free pair of SDA2B's waiting for me in Arkansas at my brothers house. I have yet had the money to get out there and get them. Oh an visit too! lol I'd love to compare the two. But then again SDA effect with non SDA speakers....might not be a good comparison.

EDIT: msabot.....Since this thread was started I have completely rebuilt the XO's. And cleaned them up a bit.

Msabot1

Cool should be ok....give em the spurs!!!

geoff727

zingo wrote: »

I'm going to bring this thread back from the dead, and ask if you ever compared these to SDAs? Anyone else with SDA verses classic Infinity RS Emit speakers?

At the time I had the 2.3tl's, I briefly switched between the Polk's and my Infinity RS-IIIa's. The problem is....that was years ago. I seem to recall the impression that I liked different things about each system, but neither really prompted me to say "THAT one's better".

However, I did end up selling the 2.3tl's to Nathan on the forum, and the -IIIa's are still in 'upgrade corner', mid-mod, pending the completion of another pair of Polk's for a friend in Salt Lake City. So, I guess I did choose the Infinity's, after all. But then bought a pair of SRS 2's.

halo71

And I meant 1B's not 2B's.....

George Grand

Someone gave me a pair of those about five years ago. They might've been IIIB's. I never used them side by side with any SDA, but they weren't in the same league with what was already here so I gave them to someone else. They are big, but not that heavy for their size.

11tsteve

halo71... did you re-use the pots in the crossover? I have a pair of RSb's refinished the cabs and redid the corssovers, refoamed the woofers.
I removed the pots(they were shot) and recapped using Clarity/Mundorf... i added differing values of the Mundorf MOX where the pots were. I am not 100% happy with the results. I grew up with a set of these and I must say, I am not quite where I remember the sound, and just curious how you approached.

halo71

I cleaned the pots and reused them Steve. I have not an issue with them since.

George.....at 70+ pounds each I thought was fairly heavy for a speaker this size.

Gmgulick

Where can I find a pad for the mid range and Twitter