Infinity IRS V upgrade

[lwschwartz]

I have been enjoying Infinity speakers since the early 70's when I got my first set while in the Air Force. I have had many other lines of speakers which were all good but the sound from my Infinity's has always seemed better to me. Infinity was sold to Harmon many years ago. They used the brand name like Black & Decker used the DeWalt brand. The developer, Arnie Nudell went on to found and work with Paul McGowan of PS Audio at Genesis. Many of the concepts of Genesis are good but they didn't sound the same. I have done direct speaker comparisons with many brands but keep coming back to my Infinity's. I currently have three sets. The prototype set, a mid production set and one of the last ones that were produced. After extensive testing, I finally realized that I may not live long enough to find a set of speakers that sounded better to me so I needed to refurbish and or upgrade what I had.

I have worked with many of the original engineers and through the help of Paul McGowan, who even had Arnie Nudell fine tune the upgrades to the point that Arnie says the upgraded systems are the best he has ever heard.

One of the most important upgrades are to refurbish the EMIM's with new magnets and recalibrate the diaphragms. Another vital upgrade is to replace the crossover in the bases of the mid high units. We have tried replacing capacitors which helps but Paul was able to convince Arnie to redesign the crossover with the much improved components available today. It is now an external unit but sounds better than ever. It does require special cables to go from the crossovers to the mid high panels but those can easily be made by WireWorld. Ivan is always available to help with that. The capacitors in the amps also need replacement where needed.

I have spent weeks trying different combinations of units and comparing the sound. The best I have found is from source to tube preamp to Pass Labs XVR crossover and then to the amps. The 80 Hz and below goes directly from the XVR to the amps on the back of the woofer columns. The original Infinity Servo only turns the amps on and off. The 80 Hz and above goes from the XVR to the new outboard crossovers designed by Arnie Nudell, the original system designer. From there to the mid high panels.

Each time I hear a new speaker system that is claimed to be the best, I come back to these. I have owned several systems that are into the 6 figures but these are still better. I would expect that our friend, Gary Protein, may agree with me.

I don't do the work myself but I have developed many sources over the years. As far as I have been able to tell, there are less than 30 of us system owners left. There were only a bit over 50 systems made. If anyone has further questions or wants to know sources for repair services or components, PM me for their contact info.