Polk now owned by Harman International...

And ultimately owned by Samsung.

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Infinity ain't what it used to be, I guess...

Infinity never really was much...other than a few of their top models. My first speakers in the 90s were some boomy harsh Infinity speakers (SM-112 if I recall). That was probably long before the wave of mergers. (NM, I was wrong. Harman acquired them in 1983)

I remember back in 2003 that infinity and Polk were stiff competition.

I think it was the primus line? I felt like Polk had a better product overall

Jstas wrote: »

I, for one, welcome our new Harman International overlords!

Nice! They'll spare you when they come for us.

As far as anther comment above (not from @jstas) about Infinity goes, I meant the actual infinity. You know, the one you meet when you divide one by zero, or try to measure the tangent of a 90 degree angle.

Infinity loudspeakers. Of course. As Boston's never been much of much of a college town* neither was Infinity much of a loudspeaker manufacturer.




https://www.stereophile.com/content/infinity-servo-statik-1-loudspeaker
Yeah... ya gotta wonder why they even bothered, right?



____________
* Or much or a loudspeaker town, either, come to think of it.

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Infinity loudspeakers. Of course. As Boston's never been much of much of a college town* neither was Infinity much of a loudspeaker manufacturer.

I heard those speakers once, I think it was a "Nobody Beats The WIZ" store. So it was a loooong time ago now.

I just remember that if you were seated, there was a sure sweet spot right in front of your face and the sound was hovering all at a single point right in front of you.

But if you stood up or went off axis by a foot or two in any direction, it changed to an almost ethereal experience. Gone was the soundstage and it was just music emanating from...I dunno...like, everywhere. Like you were standing in the music.

It was neat but unsettling at the same time? I guess it's a good way to explain it?

Anyway, the price tag was more than both of my parents' cars combined. I also thought they looked like something from space and even if we could afford them, they were so big they wouldn't fit in the house. I remember the price tag being somewhere north of $15K in like 1991 and the sales guy said they would have to be delivered by lift gate and you would need movers to place them because the whole set was almost a full ton or weight.

I don't even remember the model name.

"Infinity never really was much"
That would be the equivalent of saying JBL & Klipsch never amounted to anything.

By the mid to late 90's Infinity was a shell of what it used to be.
Late 60's the Servo-Static 1 was their first commercial speaker and was pretty much a ground breaker as far as Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound was concerned.
Some of their best offerings came in these speaker lines, IRS, QLS, Kappa.
In those eras.... Infinity was considered one of the top speaker manufacturers. Infinity speakers from those lines were the ones other manufacturers were compared to.

Their last offering was the Infinity Prelude MTS from 2000 which was then a Harman product.
It was a Class A rated speaker that were $10,000 a pair that soon went right to $12,000.
Quality was an issue with the drivers as the lamination on the coils were starting to peel on brand new speakers. That caused a horrible buzzing sound that resembled a blown voice coil from being overdriven by a cheap receiver.

Harman never addressed the problem to try and find a fix. What they did do was provide replacement stock drivers that quickly went out of stock.
After a few years, maybe close to 5, you could no longer purchase replacement drivers. The original stock had been used up and no new replacement drivers were being made.

People ended up with $12,000 paper weights after a few years of ownership.
Absolutely horrible support from Harman.

This comment about Infinity's Prelude MTS line of speakers along with the dealing of Harman comes from personal experience and not something I heard from my brother's mother's father's son's daughter's dog.....

Anywho, I hope that Polk under Harman Audio doesn't end up in the same place as Infinity.
Infinity is now an audio comapany that sells entry to mid level audio products for your car.

Jstas wrote: »

Wait....

Your brother's mother's father's son's daughter has a talking dog?!?!?!

YES ! a $150.00 deposit will get you a 10 minute meet and greet.....

I did say "except for some of the top models" which were largely unavailable by the time I was getting into home audio. The problem with the legacy models is lack of new parts and deterioration of the original drivers. I pretty much avoid all speakers with foam surrounds or unobtainable mid domes and tweeters. We are all entitled to our opinions. Infinity is low on my list.
I also really don't like the JBL or Klipsch sound, and I have heard their legacy models.

I wonder if the new ownership has connections with other companies to possibly continue support for vintage speakers. What lured me back to polk was (mainly members' knowledge here) and the continued support of the SDA's with many of their components.

My bad memory, I forgot to include one of Infinity's line that were also very very good speakers in their day......
The RS "Reference Standard" were some of the best. I lusted after those RS 4.5's for many days.

Lot's of folks here on Polk already know about this but for those that don't it's a nice history thing on Infinity....

https://www.davidsaudio.com/html/vintage_infinity__speakers_and.html

Infinity also introduced some electronics. Their FET preamp:



And a digital amplifier, probably the first for audio use:



Also an air bearing turntable and a separate low mass tonearm (so did Polk) and electrostatic headphones. An innovative company in its heyday.