Infinity CS 3009 v Vandersteen 2ce or Polk SDA2Bs

geppy1

Infinity CS 3009 v Vandersteen 2ce or Polk SDA2Bs How would these Infinitys s compare?/ thanks

Timothy Smith

I have not heard the Infinitys, but have owned multiple pairs of Vandersteens and Polk SDA's. I preferred the Vandys, but not by a big margin.

Maybe try Dahlquists, Meadowlarks, and A/D/S just to complicate things.

mccarty250

My brother owns SDA 2B's, I've Got DQ-20's, DQ-10's, ADS L1590's and ADS L500's.

SDA 2B's: A lot brighter and potentially harsher than any of the latter options. Bass is at the same level as the L1590's or very close but is 'sloppier'. More forward sound than any of the latter speakers.
DQ-20's: Can't fill a room like DQ-10's, not as extended in the highs compared to a DQ-10 but has better midrange than a DQ-10. Has less bass by far than SDA 2B's or ADS L1590's. Best midrange out of the entire group.
DQ-10's: CAN fill a room. Placement sensitive but no more picky than SDA's. Very balanced. Not as bright or forward as an SDA.
ADS L1590's: Very very neutral and uncolored. Tremendous bass, accurate midrange. Nothing sticks out individually about these speakers they are just pleasant and smooth all around.
ADS L500: Nice smaller speakers, not in the same league as the others.

Just my thoughts and opinions on them.

I have some Infinity RSII's, not quite the same as CS 3009's but:

Infinity RSII's have less bass and bass extension than either the SDA2B or ADS's. Tweeter not as bright as the SDA2B's but more accurate. Bass is better than either Dahlquist option. Imaging is good, just a tad under the DQ-10's. Picky of source material...the pickiest of the lot.

mccarty250

Let me add that my brother's SDA's are recapped but are unmodded in my assessment. The DQ-20's and DQ-10's I recapped myself. The ADS L1590's are not recapped but use a non-degrading 'slick' cap and appear to be in spec, just to provide full disclosure.

Out of the lot of them the least picky of source material and most likely to 'rock' are the SDA's and ADS L1590's.

geppy1

Nice imfo

halo71

nice imfo comparison...

mccarty250

I can field other questions, i was on a conference call so I was trying to field questions and concentrate on this at the same time. Where as some folks are cable, amp, or preamp addicts I'm more of a speaker addict. There are others if you questions about anything specific.

aboroth00

Let me say as an Infinity fan, the crescendo series was junk compared to their other stuff. If you like the Emit-R, you can look at the Kappa .1 and .2. The other speakers you mentioned will probably sound better.

halo71

mccarty250 wrote: »

There are others if you questions about anything specific.

huh?

erniejade

Vandersteen are a bit mellow, nice bass, but some people think they a bit too relaxed. Some like the more relaxed sound. I had 2ce, ce sig, and 3a. I thought the 3a had the advantage on the line.
The infinity strong bass the emit tops I like bit that series was more of a circuit city speaker top end so it was solid but not amazing. One thing to think about with the infinity foam woofers.
The sda you either like the sda effect or ya don't. The 2b is a solid speaker. Balanced. Its all personal taste

If you want to take the next step up, I would suggest the legacy focus or a redone set of 2.3tl if you want to stick with sda. Out of all the sda I have had, I thought the 2.3 were more balanced sounding. On the used market they are outstanding values.

mccarty250

Sorry, stream of thought typing. Other speakers I own as that is my primary addiction that i would field questions about. Currently:

AR9
Infinity RSII
ADS L1590
ADS L500
Dahlquist DQ-10
Dahlquist DQ-20i
DCM Time Window 1a
Klipsch Chorus I
Fried Model R
Boston Acoustics A400
Polk Monitor 10B
Econowaves (DIY self-built)
Minimus 7's
Various Polk HT speakers (Monitor 70's, etc.)
Some I might have forgotten.

Sorry for the lack of clarity in my post I think i was on the phone while I typed that up.

halo71 wrote: »

huh?

mccarty250

Ernie, what were the primary functional differences between the Vandersteen 2cx lines and the 3x lines? I heard some 2ce's at AK Fest a few years back and even with a lot of beer in my system my brain made note of them as being exceptional. Those are some speakers that at some point in my life I will probably own or purchase.

erniejade wrote: »

Vandersteen are a bit mellow, nice bass, but some people think they a bit too relaxed. Some like the more relaxed sound. I had 2ce, ce sig, and 3a. I thought the 3a had the advantage on the line.
The infinity strong bass the emit tops I like bit that series was more of a circuit city speaker top end so it was solid but not amazing. One thing to think about with the infinity foam woofers.
The sda you either like the sda effect or ya don't. The 2b is a solid speaker. Balanced. Its all personal taste

If you want to take the next step up, I would suggest the legacy focus or a redone set of 2.3tl if you want to stick with sda. Out of all the sda I have had, I thought the 2.3 were more balanced sounding. On the used market they are outstanding values.

aboroth00

RSIIA or RSIIB or original RSII with woofers for mids? Big diff.

mccarty250

Are you asking about my RSII's?

Mine are conventional RSII's i.e. they don't employ the EMIM's as midranges. Driver complement for the upper midranges include poly cone mids, dual 10" poly woofers, front and rear firing EMIT. As far as the Crescendo series from my understanding those were issued after infinity jumped the shark as well. As far as vs Kappa series there have been endless threads debating what sound is preferable, RSII or Kappa 9 or Rennaisance without anything conclusive being said that is compelling. There were also owners that chimed in that had owned all three at one time or another. I like the Infinity sound but I will have to say that it's just brutally revealing of source, if your source material is less than perfect then you are NOT in for a treat.

erniejade

mccarty, i will send you a pm so we dont mess up the op's thread.

mccarty250

Thanks, sorry OP, I responded more to the second post than the first my apologies for the extraneous info.

aboroth00

mccarty250 wrote: »

Are you asking about my RSII's?

Mine are conventional RSII's i.e. they don't employ the EMIM's as midranges. Driver complement for the upper midranges include poly cone mids, dual 10" poly woofers, front and rear firing EMIT. As far as the Crescendo series from my understanding those were issued after infinity jumped the shark as well. As far as vs Kappa series there have been endless threads debating what sound is preferable, RSII or Kappa 9 or Rennaisance without anything conclusive being said that is compelling. There were also owners that chimed in that had owned all three at one time or another. I like the Infinity sound but I will have to say that it's just brutally revealing of source, if your source material is less than perfect then you are NOT in for a treat.

I've owned the K9's and Renaissance and heard the RSII's. They sound different sure, after all they're different lines with different drivers. I've owned the EMIT-R as in the C3009's. They're my least favorite and in terms of sound, the C3009's are subpar. You can find a cheap pair when the owner actually knows what he has instead of overpricing the gear. Considering you can get a pair of the above mentioned better Infinity speakers for ~500-1000$.

geppy1

Ended up tripping over some Infinity RSIII the 4 foot tall 19 inch wide really skinny ones form early 80s right when i was getting into the retail audio. I listened to them last night for 2 hours and at no point did i need to do anything. With the Vandersteens I always had to mess with the controls on back, depending on the volume or material. These are not as rich as the Vandys. but also not as dark. Voices are very natural. I had forgotten how good the EMT was. In the past when going from the SDAs to Vandys I missed the stage width orf the SDAs but the Vandys had depth. With the RS IIIs I am surprised that there is not a lot of difference in the stage width from the SDAs and the depth is almost equal to the Vandys but stage height is better then either.

I cannot get an accurate fix on the original price of these in the early 80s We stocked the RSIIIA (1984) and I do not remember it either pricewise other then it was alot. I have heard $1000 a pair for the early RIIIs. My RTA12Cs ran $1000 a pair and I have to say I cannot believe the Infinitys were that cheap because the build quality seems a lot more high end. The crossovers are huge and thw wood work on the cabinet is beautiful We shall see

mccarty250

I'm glad that you found something that you enjoy. The infinities that I've heard have been very picky/revealing, I have not heard RSIII's but I assume that they are very revealing of source and picky like the others that I've heard. Poorly mastered recordings are NOT flattering from an infinity speaker.

Got to audition some QLS's and RS4.5's tonight and there were radically different from one another with the exception that the highs were pretty smooth on both.

aboroth00

geppy1 wrote: »

Ended up tripping over some Infinity RSIII the 4 foot tall 19 inch wide really skinny ones form early 80s right when i was getting into the retail audio. I listened to them last night for 2 hours and at no point did i need to do anything. With the Vandersteens I always had to mess with the controls on back, depending on the volume or material. These are not as rich as the Vandys. but also not as dark. Voices are very natural. I had forgotten how good the EMT was. In the past when going from the SDAs to Vandys I missed the stage width orf the SDAs but the Vandys had depth. With the RS IIIs I am surprised that there is not a lot of difference in the stage width from the SDAs and the depth is almost equal to the Vandys but stage height is better then either.

I cannot get an accurate fix on the original price of these in the early 80s We stocked the RSIIIA (1984) and I do not remember it either pricewise other then it was alot. I have heard $1000 a pair for the early RIIIs. My RTA12Cs ran $1000 a pair and I have to say I cannot believe the Infinitys were that cheap because the build quality seems a lot more high end. The crossovers are huge and thw wood work on the cabinet is beautiful We shall see

Glad to hear you found something you liked. As soon as I heard the Emit's, I was hooked and bought plenty of more vintage Infinity's to compare. 1000$ back in the day was a lot of money and that's nothin to sneeze at.

TroyD

mccarty250 wrote: »

Sorry, stream of thought typing. Other speakers I own as that is my primary addiction that i would field questions about. Currently:

AR9
Infinity RSII
ADS L1590
ADS L500
Dahlquist DQ-10
Dahlquist DQ-20i
DCM Time Window 1a
Klipsch Chorus I
Fried Model R
Boston Acoustics A400
Polk Monitor 10B
Econowaves (DIY self-built)
Minimus 7's
Various Polk HT speakers (Monitor 70's, etc.)
Some I might have forgotten.

Sorry for the lack of clarity in my post I think i was on the phone while I typed that up.

Would you mind sending me your address and time of day that you are least likely to be home?

Very nice collection...I've owned most of those but not the BA A400's...come close a couple of times but would LOVE to have a pair for the cool factor, if nothing else.

BDT

mccarty250

Unfortunately for would be robbers my wife is an armed domestic goddess that is home full time (she actually does pack heat believe it or not) and I have two dogs that bark for those wishing to steal my audio 'pot of gold'

You know, those BA/A400's were a lot better than I thought they would be and the flush profile makes them not take up a lot of real estate. I liked them a LOT more than I thought I would. The BA/A400's and the Friends were shopgoodwill acquisitions and took a lot of TLC to get back into good operating condition. Let me also add that the A400's were a PITA to refoam due to the quantity of drivers and the recap was HORRIFIC as I did all the soldering through the minuscle driver holes. The Frieds were a huge surprise, they are now my favorite speaker for my office system in the near term.

TroyD wrote: »

Would you mind sending me your address and time of day that you are least likely to be home?

Very nice collection...I've owned most of those but not the BA A400's...come close a couple of times but would LOVE to have a pair for the cool factor, if nothing else.

BDT

geppy1

Not saying these are it for now. One thing is that when listening to them I do not miss the SDAs When listening to the Vandys I have had beofre i did miss the stage width

erniejade

I have heard the rsIIIB in the past. I always thought they did a good job on music. I also heard them with a sealed box subwoofer, and the speakers were crossed over at I think he said it was 50 or 60 hz ( different yes but it worked nice) and on the sub crossed over it actually opened them up more.

At work i am using a set of RS7B