Infinity Help for a Friend

zingo

I have a buddy who has some Infinity EMIT & mid range drivers which need replacement/repair; he owns Vortex Music and Movies in Kirkland if you went to that local get-together. Does anyone local (Seattle/Everett) know of a repair or replacement person/source/shop who I can refer him to?

Thank you!

EndersShadow

zingo wrote: »

I have a buddy who has some Infinity EMIT & mid range drivers which need replacement/repair; he owns Vortex Music and Movies in Kirkland if you went to that local get-together. Does anyone local (Seattle/Everett) know of a repair or replacement person/source/shop who I can refer him to?

Thank you!

I know a guy whose had stuff/parts fixed for a couple sets of Kappa's and I believe those were the parts. Let me dig through some emails to see if I have the guys info who did his stuff. In the meantime might also PM Bored184 who sent some parts for his Kappa 8's to the same guy.

BKphoto

i saw a guy that has a store on ebay that fixes all vintage infinity drivers....you might have to dig for a while...

zingo

Thanks guys! I believe he has a pair of 4.5s if I remember correctly...

pitdogg2

DOH posted in the wrong thread....carry on

geoff727

Jake, call me. I have lots of EMIMs, the drivers he needs. I tested one of his EMIMs the day we were over there, and he is suffering from the classic metal fatigue problems on the traces. Some of it is only visible under a microscope, but will fail the driver completely.

The only complication I see is....I don't know if he will want to pay for what I have. Almost all my stuff is from parted out IRS's; I have invested in very good quality stuff. But, I do have lots of full EMIM's along with raw diaphragms that I can let go of.

Geoff

aboroth00

EMIM's are pricy because they are interchangeable with the big IRS's but EMITs are relatively cheap. If he blew the EMIM's, the best bet is to look to purchase whole speakers and just salvage the parts than having to pay the exorbitant prices people charge for spare parts.

geoff727

aboroth00 wrote: »

EMIM's are pricy because they are interchangeable with the big IRS's but EMITs are relatively cheap. If he blew the EMIM's, the best bet is to look to purchase whole speakers and just salvage the parts than having to pay the exorbitant prices people charge for spare parts.

EMIM's don't "blow" in the conventional sense. They do, however, have several other failure modes. Any experienced Infinity enthusiast knows this.....and knows some tricks to prevent some of it.

Buy an entire speaker to salvage parts? How do you know THOSE parts are all what you need? What if he magically found another RS4.5 and half of those EMIMs need replacing too? There are only two vintage Infinity models out there you would want to do this with....and neither of them are cheap to buy. And even on one of those models, there is one particular EMIM in the array that is crossed over differently and you must be cautious of. Sorry.

How do you know my prices for drivers or diaphragms are "exorbitant"? Do you have any idea of the work that I put forth on these things to keep them good and lasting through the years? Or the care I've used in buying them?

Man, you make me feel like a schmuck.

aboroth00

geoff727 wrote: »

EMIM's don't "blow" in the conventional sense. They do, however, have several other failure modes. Any experienced Infinity enthusiast knows this.....and knows some tricks to prevent some of it.

Buy an entire speaker to salvage parts? How do you know THOSE parts are all what you need? What if he magically found another RS4.5 and half of those EMIMs need replacing too? There are only two vintage Infinity models out there you would want to do this with....and neither of them are cheap to buy. And even on one of those models, there is one particular EMIM in the array that is crossed over differently and you must be cautious of. Sorry.

How do you know my prices for drivers or diaphragms are "exorbitant"? Do you have any idea of the work that I put forth on these things to keep them good and lasting through the years? Or the care I've used in buying them?

Man, you make me feel like a schmuck.

.

Emims dont blow in the conventional sense.

I happen to live in socal so its a little more dense with regard infinity speakers which has allowed me to own most of their lines. But in most cases buying emims individually costs more than buying speakers for parts. With the added benefit of having extra parts. I still have quite a few extra infinity parts myself. I did not mean to target anyoone on this forum. Just letting him know his options

geoff727

It's true, they are not cheap. And buying a pair of speakers for the purpose of parting out does give money back when parts are sold. But here's the tough part....

2.5's and 4.5's have lots of years on them. A great many of them out there need new drivers or replacement diaphragms from Apogee. Buying either of those models is really a shot in the dark as far as EMIM longevity and quality is concerned. You could be buying into an identical problem.

-IIa's and -IIb's use a low crossover point on the outer two EMIM's, and they are common spots of trouble, unless the speakers have been very well cared for over the years.

Betas, Gammas, and Deltas, have one EMIM. I'd sell a 4.5 to help fund a Beta, but not the other way around.

RS-1b's often have at least six good EMIMs; the third one from the top can be a trouble spot because of the way that it is crossed over. I guess the question is again, would you buy and part a set of -1b's to save a set of 4.5's....

If you want the best EMIMs, get the IRS. There's a lot of EMIMs, so each one works less, even though the crossover point can be selected quite low. Obviously, buying these to save 4.5's would be nuts.

I guess you are right, if you think it's worth doing so. And it's true that many of them them are overpriced for what you're getting. It does take great care in buying parts of this vintage to know what you're getting.

aboroth00

geoff727 wrote: »

It's true, they are not cheap. And buying a pair of speakers for the purpose of parting out does give money back when parts are sold. But here's the tough part....

2.5's and 4.5's have lots of years on them. A great many of them out there need new drivers or replacement diaphragms from Apogee. Buying either of those models is really a shot in the dark as far as EMIM longevity and quality is concerned. You could be buying into an identical problem.

-IIa's and -IIb's use a low crossover point on the outer two EMIM's, and they are common spots of trouble, unless the speakers have been very well cared for over the years.

Betas, Gammas, and Deltas, have one EMIM. I'd sell a 4.5 to help fund a Beta, but not the other way around.

RS-1b's often have at least six good EMIMs; the third one from the top can be a trouble spot because of the way that it is crossed over. I guess the question is again, would you buy and part a set of -1b's to save a set of 4.5's....

If you want the best EMIMs, get the IRS. There's a lot of EMIMs, so each one works less, even though the crossover point can be selected quite low. Obviously, buying these to save 4.5's would be nuts.

I guess you are right, if you think it's worth doing so. And it's true that many of them them are overpriced for what you're getting. It does take great care in buying parts of this vintage to know what you're getting.

You are absolutely correct. Parts from Graz are a definite option. I've had to part out speakers to keep my Infinity's still chugging and it has been more cost effective for me to do so. You are also correct about the RS-1b's having at least 6 good EMIM's. The RS-1b's require a lot of room and are very heavy. I happen to own a set and they are quite heavy... and large... sort of an eye sore depending on the room...

geoff727

Graz's diaphragms are definitely a nice product. When I bought mine, I built a baffle to compare the original vs. the Apogee-built ones. I preferred the Apogee ones enough to invest in 26 of them, enough for current and future projects.

I like the 1b's, with the exception of the active crossover. A friend of mine who has this system, he uses a dbx xover, and we supplemented the low bass with two true-servo woofers. Very good results. I never did feel totally sold on the back-EMF-based equalization of those woofer towers to fill in the really low notes. But, as mid-bass drivers they seem to do the duty really well.

aboroth00

geoff727 wrote: »

Graz's diaphragms are definitely a nice product. When I bought mine, I built a baffle to compare the original vs. the Apogee-built ones. I preferred the Apogee ones enough to invest in 26 of them, enough for current and future projects.

I like the 1b's, with the exception of the active crossover. A friend of mine who has this system, he uses a dbx xover, and we supplemented the low bass with two true-servo woofers. Very good results. I never did feel totally sold on the back-EMF-based equalization of those woofer towers to fill in the really low notes. But, as mid-bass drivers they seem to do the duty really well.

TWENTY SIX EMIMS? That is a lot of Emim's.... You almost have enough to fill 2 full RS-1b's.

Yes the 1b's active crossover is sort of crap. I'm not totally sold on it either and the big problem is that the woofer towers are sub par. There is a hole in the upper bass due to the ribbons not being able to reach as low when the woofer towers come in.

geoff727

It is a lot. 8 for one set of RS2.5's-4 replacements plus a full set of spares. And enough for something else down the line. My other set of 2.5's is getting a Bohlender-Graebener stack, implemented as a fully-active set up.

I tried to convince one of my friends at audiokarma to ditch both the passive and active crossovers on the -1b and reengineer the system as a fully-active, power-tapered line array, much closer in concept to the IRS than the progressive point source that the system is now. If I ever found a set of -1b's, I would try this.