:D Beggars can't be choosers :D

[IBcivic]

Thanx guys/gals

[IBcivic]

Specs for Infinity SM-150 Studio Monitor

Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 12 in. (100 x 50 x 30 cm)
Bass: 1 x 15 in. (38.1 cm) polypropylene coated woofer
Mids: 2 x 4.5 in. (11.4 cm) polypropylene coated midranges
Highs: 1 x 1 in. (2.5 cm) dome polycell tweeter
Suggested for amplifiers with: 10-300 Watts per channel
Frequency range: 44 Hz - 25 kHz
Crossover frequencies: 500 Hz, 5500 Hz
Sensitivity: 102 dB
Impedance: 8 Ohms

I still need to hook these refrigerator sized cabinets and give them a listen, but...

From what I have found on the Internetz, these may end up as workshop duty speakers.

People that have auditioned them, seem to all say the same thing. They are good sounding set of speakers, but lack detail in the mid-range and tend to be a bit boomy. Just the thing I need to piss-off the other tenants

A few have gone through the trouble of bracing the cabinets and applying various forms of dampening to tame the low-end frequency response.

I guess I need to give em a chance and give them some ear time, before deciding.

[chad]

They can be bright.... I'm not a huge fan of polycell tweets though.

I was looking for a pair when I didn't give a shit about my shop audio.... then I started giving a shit.

Killer for garage. they get fucking loud.. My buddy has a set driven with WAY too much power... You will give up before they do. Especially with that tweet.

[cajunner]

I thought those had 4.5" cone midranges.

I have a pair of the clear kappa 2" polydomes, I'm surprised what they'll fetch on the bay sometimes. I see a lot of white ones, by then they're pretty much gone... Pretty loud suckers, they have a 4.2 and 4.3 ohms tested resistance, so 6 ohm versions. They were new pulls from a stereo shop for warranty work and have like, no real use on them. I've tried them in the dash, just to see for a couple of minutes but I was surprised at how much the high end gets harsh, you wouldn't think that pliable poly screeched without a low-pass filter on them. Then again, domes in the dash are kinda funny on placement too.

but I digress.

[chad]

I found all the poly cell stuff from that era to be rather harsh. Some kid in college had the 8"clear woofer/poly cell tweet. Goddamn they would drill a hole in your eyeball.

[cajunner]

what's cool about the kappa poly dome that came in the RS series, is they are extremely flat. They use a wafer of samarium-cobalt magnet, the whole magnet assembly is about 3/4" thick with the dome standing up a 1/2" from the face plate. There's a plastic enclosure filled with jute that is just glued to the back, that when removed reveals the whole dome assembly is about 1.2" thin.

I never got to audition the polycell stuff that much, never bought any myself, but it seemed to me Infinity was always trying to get high efficiency out of their home speakers, I guess that's partly why people want the replacement parts and pay high from the resale market. They were built using components that for the time, were hard to equal with an equivalent. I don't know if anyone was successful in putting together a 5" polygraph dome like they did, that was a specialty piece, along with the EMIM/EMIT stuff.

I wonder if the Infinity 15" polycell series was louder than say, the C-V 15" D series, at that time..

[IBcivic]

I edited out the word DOME out of the midrange description. They are definitely cones.

Good catch Caj.

[cajunner]

I edited out the word DOME out of the midrange description. They are definitely cones.

Good catch Caj.

used to gawk at the SM series in Crutchfield, back in the day.

I believe those polycell foam membrane tweeters had reliability problems, you don't see that material used for tweeters anymore.

I wonder if you made a polycell-type dome out of carbon nanotubes, if it would be special..

[IBcivic]

My back is feeling better... I think I will wrestle those infinitys out of my garage and have emailed play some tunes

[chad]

I wonder if the Infinity 15" polycell series was louder than say, the C-V 15" D series, at that time..

No, Vega had the corner. They used a real compression-ish tweeter, a decent mid and a wonderful cast frame woofer that had a hell of a motor. They were built as more of a prosumer thing with a woodgrain cab. The D9, similar driver compliment.. the AT series went to a more stout horn loaded dome, you could tell it was under stress what high levels.. Still killer but somehow the D series got loud as hell and still remained somewhat listenable even at high levels.

Years ago I found a set of D3's I refurbed for my kid for a total cost of 50 bucks. Even after I've all growed up I still find them pretty decent tonally to listen to. and for a 10" they make ungodly low end for music. Wife is still pissed at us over that.

This is in no way intended to indicate that the infinity SM series were slouches.