Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

[timk]

I head these (or whatever was current production in 1989) on my very first trip into a real hi-fi shop. It was The Sound Shop in Colorado Springs, and the store manager, a guy named Bob, sat me down in front of them. As you would expect, it was quite an experience, one I still recall very vividly.

http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/988infinity/index.html

To do something in the same vein is fun to consider, but probably totally impractical. I do not now have nor ever expect to have the design skills to even evaluate a project like this, let alone attempt it. What I really need is for one of you hot dog designers to do this and let me build them. They're not something I could actually keep around, but it'd be fun to fool with them until my wife got tired of them taking over the living room.

Anyone else heard these? When I got to listen to them, the shop was housed in an older brick building in downtown Colorado Springs. My new friend Bob showed me the wall behind them and the mortar that the sub towers was knocking out of the joints. Pretty impressive.

[Steve Henry]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I had a chance to hear them in Dallas about the same time. A clone would be fun. You could use 2 Neo10's on the bottom with 2 Neo8's and a Neo3 in an MTM configuration open baffle. Then pick the 12 of your choice for the sub tower.

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=Mfg&srchMfg=275&Manufacturer=Bohlender%20Graebener

[jonasz]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

The baffle shape kind of remind me of these, wich by the way sounds excellent! :D

[rone]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I heard them around the same time - they were in a long narrow room about 1/3 - 1/2 way from the back and really close to the long walls. What I heard for 30 seconds was not all that great. When the salesman noticed us, he looked at the t-shirts and jeans we were wearing, ejected the disc he was playing, shut off the system and walked out of the room....

I heard some soundlab dynastats about 6 months later that absolutely blew those IRS's away.

Look at the stereophile reviews - I seem to recall it took a while before they had a full working pair of IRS's ;)

[antisuck]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I heard first the Gammas, then the Betas a few days later, and the experience pretty much changed my life as it marked the first time I'd heard a High End system. Previous to that I'd lived with a roommate's pair of Bose 901s for a summer, and made acquaintance with another guy who had Klipschorns in his bedroom ( :eek: ) and found those suitably impressive for what they were, but the big Infinitys were from another universe.

OT a bit: Years later I ran across a copy of the first disc the salesman played for me, and in a moment of masochistic perversity bought it on the spot only to never hear it sound the same again. :rolleyes: It's a good 'un though, and still part of my auditioning arsenal - Serendipity by Michael Garson, on the Reference Recording label. Some really tasty piano-based jazz, and a nice example of what can happen when people who really care about the music are put in charge and decide the best thing to do is just stick a pair of really expensive microphones in a good sounding room with a bunch of top-shelf musicians and start the tape rolling.

[duanebro]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I have a pair of Infinity RS4's They use a ribbon tweeter a
2" dome mid. Bass is provided by 2 8" woofers per side. I like my Tritrix better. I think that the crossovers may just be worn out. Some day I will go through and re build the xo.

[timk]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I had a chance to hear them in Dallas about the same time. A clone would be fun. You could use 2 Neo10's on the bottom with 2 Neo8's and a Neo3 in an MTM configuration open baffle. Then pick the 12 of your choice for the sub tower.

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards...er%20Graebener

Now we're getting somewhere. You're beginning to make me think it could be done. Damn expensive experiment, though.

[badgolfermike]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I have had mine for about 20 years now and they are still spectacular. I used to like going in and browsing the new equipment, not anymore, it would cost a fortune to better the Beta's. They need power and a big room though.

Mike,
Aurora, CO
Infinity IRS Beta's, Infinity RS1b's, ESS AMT3's, Pioneer HPM 100's, Klipsh KG 4's

[fdieck]

Re: Anyone remember the Infinity IRS Beta's?

I had a chance to hear them in Dallas about the same time. A clone would be fun. You could use 2 Neo10's on the bottom with 2 Neo8's and a Neo3 in an MTM configuration open baffle. Then pick the 12 of your choice for the sub tower.

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards...er%20Graebener

If you heard them at Omni Sound, there is a good chance that it was after I did a Sidereal Capacitor upgrade and StaightWire wiring upgrade. An engineer from Texas Instruments charged over 2 Grand to mod the Bass servo module!
I made a couple of hundred bucks as I recall...........