Any news on the Infinity Beta's (1 Viewer)

[James Sarno]

Just wondering....
Has anyone heard anything on the Beta's
...pics,specs,rumors...whatever.
I think they were making a appearance this month @ the CES.

Prices are dropping on the Alpha's and I'm tempted...
But I want to see some kind of review or something on these new speakers.

Any Info is appreciated
...Thanks

 

[terence]

Here you go.

http://www.onecall.com/ModelSearch.htm

http://audioadvisor.com/store/catego...peakers&Page=2

 

[John Garcia]

I didn't think the Alphas or the Kappas were all that impressive compared to previous models. Maybe the new ones will sound better.

 

[terence]

Hi John,

How would you discribe the sound of both lines? Feel free to go into great detail.

 

[John Garcia]

I compared only the bookshelf speakers, since that was what I normally look at. I really liked the IL10 bookshelf, and thought the Alpha10 would sound as good, but I found it to be a little less full sounding, and a little thin in the upper midrange. Both auditioned with Onkyo receivers.

The Kappa bookshelf had a wonderful tweeter that is well crossed over, and I've always liked the highs of the higher Infinity speakers (have Kappas in my car), but the midrange sounded muddy or muffled - it seemed to be struggling to go lower than it was capable of. That may not be the case with the floorstanders, but I was not impressed with this particular model (I forget which, but I believe there's only one bookshelf). I auditioned the Kappas with a very nice Pioneer Elite hires player with my own SACD and a B&K ref50 in a soundroom at a higher end store, and I adjusted the speakers a few times to suit the room because I thought the placement might have been affecting them, but they retained that character. I listened to the NHT M6 and M5 in the same store with lesser equipment and was much more impressed, though they are on the bright side.

 

[terence]

Thx John for your thoughts.

 

[jad]

I have been listening to the Beta 20's for a week now and they are very full and sweet sounding. They sound much better than the IL20 & Alpha 20.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

I saw a pair of Beta 50s at Circuit City this past week. The grilles were solid plastic with thousands of holes drilled through them.

I guess I wasn't a fan of the grilles and didn't pay too much attention to the speakers because they were a bit out of my price league. Plus, CC didn't have the other Beta speakers (e.g. center channel) so it seemed kind of like a moot point to listen to the speakers, get partially excited about the sound and then get disappointed when you realized they don't have all the models on the floor yet.