I have refurbished several Infinity speakers, though the pricier models. They had much better cabinets and decent for the day parts. New caps, coils, resistors, wire and binding posts turn them from a good vintage speaker to a really great speaker. Arnie Nudell designed a lot of Infinity speakers. Always worth a try.
I rocked High School back in the day with a Kenwood Receiver and a pair of Infinity SM-120s. I later was able to pick-up a 3rd SM-120 to use for a "Center" channel.
I used to go to a roller skake place in the early 90 that had a pair of these chained to the celling in the middle, facing back to back. They BLASTED night after night for YEARS, and survived.
Just found a pair of the SM 122s brandnew in the boxes, NEVER USED for $400. The guy bought them 30 years ago and the wife said NO way to big for their living room, so he boxed them back up and put them in the closet. They got packed in and blocked in with years of items in storage And he forgot about them until they went to go move and he found them. I drove out of state to get them and they are brand new just like he stated. I guarantee that there are not another pair out there that are in the conditioned as these are new. Anyone that says they are loud is an understatement and anyone that says they cannot sound audiophile are sorely mistaken. I power these with an Adcom 575se at 350 watts per channel along with another pair of SM 112s and a Bryston preamp and CD with built in DAC, and they sound incredible. Sad thing is, i have owned many kinds of high end speakers, some at $5,000 a pair and i still love these Infinitys way more. With the right setup and a little tweaking, they rival speakers at 10 times the price.
I got a pair of Infinity 2500 large bookshelf speakers from the late 80s for $50 and they sound great for my bedroom where I mostly use them at low volume at night
I think if shipping costs wernt through the roof we would still see more companies offering these old big box high efficiency speakers. I’m really glad GR Reserch is offering the Brute, and Bully. Old school speakers that measure well and sound big! Thanks Danny!
Almost 40 years ago I was lucky enough to hear an IRS-V. A few years later I bought the SM-155. They ran without any problems until last year, but of course their sound suffered. They are now in my workshop, awaiting resurrection. I'm going to get started now in the summer and had similar ideas as you suggested. If you like, I can send you a PDF with my results at the end. Really cool video!
No way! I was hoping you would get to these some day, I have the SM 155s which were the 90s version of that. I was actually concerned you were gonna roast em.
I somehow knew that he would give an honest opinion on these. And I was a little skeptical at first because many people keep saying that these are garbage speakers when in fact, they are not. I have owned several pairs of these and I have owned several pair of these for over thirty years. Just found a brand new pair of these in the box has never been used from a guy in wisconsin. With some tweaking and the right equipment. These things can totally sound audiophile . And they play very loud and efficient. I have owned speakers that cost 10 times the price of these and I am a lot happier with the sound of these over all of them. With a little bit of tweaking, these can become monster audiophile speakers for a fraction of the price. Glad that danny finally did a review of these.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I was powering mine with a 40 Watt Harman Kardon 503, they get concert in your living room loud and seem to sound better the louder I play em. I think because as far as Infinity is concerned they are almost the bottom shelf of that time period is why people think they’re not good. They do lack bracing thats for sure, almost as bas as any other big box speaker from then. Id love to hear them with Dannys mods.
@@bryang9290 Mine have all been professionally braced, rewired and new crossovers and they sound better than my $8000 B&Ws and even more expensive Legacys. The more power you give them, the better and better they sound.
I had the SM-80's - their bookshelf sized brethren. They sounded great IMO - that is, except for that super "bright/harsh" Polycell tweeter that would almost bite you if it was in a live, untreated room - and a cabinet that was like an instrument all on it's own......
Highland Superstore sold tons of these in the mid 80's. I bought a pair to DJ my wife's high school reunion in '87 in a Ramada Inn meeting room. Atop non-slip mats ... I placed them up on each end of an 8' table. Why? ... 'cause we like to party.
Hi! I remember the Infinity SM speakers from my younger days. They could really throw a party, not very audiophile, but not bad either. Awesome job on the crossover. They probably sound really good and earfreiendly now.
People that say that they are not audiophile have no idea what they are talking about. This is because they power these with garbage equipment. I power several pairs of the SM112s and SM122s with Bryston and Adcom components and they sound better than my speakers that i have paid 10 times the price for. I have owned top of the line speakers and these i always go back to because i simply love them better. With the proper bracing and crossover upgrades these blow away speakers at 10 times the price.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 +1 on the Adcom, its a super combo with the SM, Id run that combo myself in my youth. Nowadays its most diy, custommade or products from very small niche companys, for Me. Imo the HIFI industry today is compleatly rotten and you really dont get what you pay for.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 uhm....Infinity made good speakers, and they also made "LOUD" speakers. These fell into the loud party speaker category. Nothing WRONG with them,, but to insinuate they equaled the truly good speakers, is a bit naive. They had limited deep bass and vibrated like crazy, and were actually a decent but mostly LOUD speaker. For parties or loud Rock music, these were TRULY GREAT I agree!, But for acoustic music, jazz or classical, the shortcomings were more evident is all we are saying. The tweeters were the weak link, as was the thin cabinet, lack of padding etc.
@@kevintomb Did u not read my posts, i own Legacy Whispers, also a pair of B&W 802s and i have owned pretty much any kind and brand of speakers out there and my Infinity 112s and 122s together are just simply better than any of them. They have been upgraded with everything Danny states here. I AM happy with them and thats all that matters to me, not what some tools on the internet think. I have people over all the time and they are always impressed with the Infinitys, especially at that price point you cannot go wrong. Now move along there pal.
Man this takes me back to the days of the Kappa 7.1s I had in college, which I ended up selling to get a set of Polk RT55i because they got surround rot. Neither probably measured great but those Polks could take a beating, I had them on a Carver A500X for ages.
Yep, right out of high school and beginning college, I was torn between wanting either these exact Infinity model speakers, OR else the Cerwin-Vega AT-15 model, which looked almost identical to these with a 15" woofer, the offset mids and tweets, dual 5" midranges, a 1" dome tweeter, and level adjustment controls for the mids and tweets, essentially the same as this infinity model here... I would have loved having either of those mentioned brands and models of speakers for my dorm room in college, but unfortunately I wasn't able to afford to buy EITHER one of those speakers brand new, so I had to settle for a decent but smaller pair of speakers that I found at a local pawn shop for $20/pair.
@@v12alpine That's really cool, good for you! I'm a speaker designer, builder, repairer, and "improver/upgrader" myself, and I would've done something like that back then too, but at that time I didn't have enough time, (due to classes AND homework), OR enough money, (I didn't have a job at that time), NOR did I have any of the right kinds of tools needed to do that back then, so I could only dream about building speakers, and plan some designs out on paper, meanwhile actually listening to music on some already pre-made speakers that I found that were still in good shape from my local pawn shop, as I mentioned.
Diese Upgrades sind geldschneiderei! ,sagt man in Deutschland. Die letzte jbl Sache war doppelt so teuer wie etwas sehr seriöses aus Dänemark. $$$ in den Augen.
@@thomasschafer7268 Ich denke, es würde sich lohnen, wenn es 200 $ oder der Lautsprecher 1500 $ oder mehr wert wäre. Der Reparaturpreis für die Magnepans beträgt etwas mehr als 200 US-Dollar für Lautsprecher, die viel mehr wert sind als diese Infinity.
It’s remarkable to me that so few speakers these days are even as “high” as 6 ohms. Back in the 60s and 70s, most loudspeakers were 6 ohms or higher other than exotic stuff like Thiel and Snell
I remember those speakers. We sold them at a store i worked at, and DJed with them once....always thought they were screamers. Nice work civilizing them a bit.
Great job . I think i have still one pair somewhere , bought them like 10 years ago for 50 euros with destroyed foam rands , those are already as new again ( pretty easy to refoam) , Maybe i have to search for them and give them the gr research update
I'm currently using a dynaco st70 on these now and they sound great. 30 watts per channel push them to beyond reasonable listening levels with no problem other than a bit of hearing loss lol.
Magic man! Nice work. I have heard these, and they are a fun speaker, and I was very shocked to see your results. I would love to see you offer some high sensitivity horn speakers some time!
Now I'm waiting for someone to bring in a B&W 801 s3 , it is so interesting to watch and I've learned a lot "bumping" in to this fellow ! :D Man I'm glad I didn't have the NS 1000m at home when he pulled them apart :P
I have a set in storage. They are in great shape and have not been abused. They are big and heavy. If you add any more to them, it will cost you a fortune to hire riggers every time you want to move them.
Jesus dude they are great speakers, i had over my lifetime So many expensive brands. B&W dali revox,etc and off course sound is personal these speakers Have a very good balance in high and low frequency. It also depends what amp,cd,recordplayer u use.
I sold these speakers back in 1988 when I worked in a stereo store while in college. These designed to compete with Cerwin Vega. Huge profit margin and great commission for the sales person. Not a great speaker for critical listeners. Compared to the Infinity RS and Kappa series of the same period, they were a step down. Very efficient at around 103 db and easy to drive. Thanks for memory lane Danny!
I wonder if this could have been turned into a four way. Separate the two midrange drivers, lower unit as a mid-bass, crossing over to the upper mid-range.
Good evening all I can say is a friend of my many years ago had a pair by them not the ones in the video and they sounded great so I thought and the rest is history I am hooked on hi fi ect... just can't afford 😕 well not right now anyway thanks.
Nice speaker to upgrade, but refering to the cabinet shouldn't be more efficient to make a new cabinet well braced more stable and thick one for better results?
Sold these at a stereo store while working in college. Loved listening to them but knew they were not super accurate. I am happy to see you take control of these and bring them back to relevance. I somehow thought you might turn them to a 4 way and use the second mid as a mid-woofer filler driver. Thanks for for your efforts
These speakers demonstrate a point I made in a previous video. You can just look at these speakers and know there is going to be vertical off axis issues because there are two mid drivers. I really don't know why some people had an issue with the obvious. The SM-125s had a single midrange and would not suffer from the same issue - at least not obviously. There still could be off axis issues, but not because there's two mid drivers. Quite frankly, Danny's "after" vertical axis dips in the midrange area were much less than I expected. Another testament to his superlative skill? Or perhaps It's my expectations? This speaker series has a reputation as being "when Infinity went to hell", as one fan put it. As Paul McGowan put it, "they were very popular among the military crowd". And that's about all he's willing to say about the series. They were tax and import/export free (so, affordable to low paid enlisted personnel) in every military BX, and Infinity had a reputation for high quality speakers. But the Studio Monitor series was considered a significant fall from their otherwise higher quality product lines, and I think Paul knows it. I bought a pair of the SM-152s in 2008 and had to replace the woofers with a not quite exact replacement, (the coils were melted and OEM replacements were no longer available) but the replacements were close enough that I didn't have to alter the crossover. I will say it's VERY hard to find a woofer as sensitive, with such high wattage, AND a reasonably low F3. I had to sacrifice a couple Db for higher wattage. A compromise I think was worth it considering the original voice coils were literally melted down with copper beads stuck to the magnet. But I also found that the box was boomy ah, and there was no stuffing whatsoever. They came from the factory just as Danny saw. I added some bracing and stuffed it full of fiberglass to tame the box a little, then sold them. This was before I knew anything about Danny and no-res. I did what I could. I kind of wish you still had them. I would be interested in the vertical response with only one midrange driver in use. I'd bet a coffee that Danny could make it even better with one less mid driver.
why are the drivers except the woofer almost always on the left or right of the baffle and not mirror image of each other it looks like you are getting 2 left or 2 right speakers instead of a left and right pair
In this instance, mirror image pairs are an expense that's not in the budget. The was no extra money for anything other than perceived value (aesthetics, trim rings, etc), and to play loudly with adequate quality. I remember clearly ... these were advertised heavily, every week, big full page adds for (in my area) Highland Superstore.
It depends on the manufacturer, but often the main reason older/cheaper speakers are left-only or right-only is often down to manufacturing costs, as production costs are higher when a design is a mirrored pair vs all the same.
Did you keep the tweeter and mid adjustment knobs in the new crossover design? Nice job although I reckon the 2KHz peak in the off-axis might give it a forward sound in-room. Probably suits the speaker though. I still would like you to comment more on how you think the upgraded speakers sound.
Man i would really love to be able and get my mach 2s to you, but cant afford shipping down from fort collins. I know they are just a radio shack speaker, but most definitely shake the house.
I have a pair stuck in a corner in the garage! I have actually already started removing the old caps from the crossover. Can you share a video on what you recommend doing with the crossover and attenuators?
A couple of questions, Do the mids have sealed backs, or in a sealed area? In the kit are the "attenuators" still in the signal path? Is that a possible option?
They already have, i own several pairs of several versions of these and i've been offered way more than i ever thought they would be worth. Every once in awhile a pristine pair will have a bidding war on ebay and i saw a pair go for 1500 plus 400 for shipping. The secret is out on these.
Are they high end? Nope not by a long shot. Do they sound awesome rocking out? Hell yeah! I bought SM's back in the 90's for my home theatre. SM 155, SM center, and SM65. They worked great for watching movies and rocking out. I phased them out in 2005 when I got Infinity primus with there 12" powered subwoofer for home theatre and used the 155's in my weight room. I got rid of all of them about 5 years ago and went with bookshelf speakers on the wall with and powered sub in the corner to make more room. The SM series were made for a certain crowd of audiophiles to compete with Cerwin Vega's tower speakers and it did that very well. I wish I had the room to keep them but they just took up too much space. And also the foam was starting to go on the cones.
Both the above are essentially the same issue. However yes, there's advantages other than power/output, etc. Potential advantages include vertical control and summation, in the forward lobe (D'Appolito alignment for example). Also the benefits of the additional cone area are enjoyed, without the penalty of increased cone size affecting directivity. Of course driver center-to-center proximity is vital. But any vertical spreading of drivers can be beneficial. Since the drivers are at varying distances, energy up to the ceiling and down to the floor, that is de-correlated and summation is smeared anywhere along the vertical axis ... except straight ahead to the listener. That's a lot, but I hope that helps.
These were very popular on the military base. I bought mine in 91. They were a bit over $500 at the PX for the pair. I've replaced the tweeters at least dozen times. Including the SM82, SM112 & SM122 that I've also owned. The biggest tip I can give to those is to replace the dust cap along with the surround on the woofer. The thin foam dust cap makes a fluttering and occasional popping noise, clearly audible. The paper dust cap eliminated this problem and new surround tightened up the bass a bit better. They're still in my archives, may have to revisit them.
That's not the dust cap. There is a felt bumper ring...bump stop...under the spider to prevent the voice coil from bottoming out against the back plate of the woofer. The designers knew these were going to be played very loud with the bass controls cranked for maximum bumpage. It's why you had to replace the tweeters so many times. Amp clipping takes out tweeters first...especially with receivers that have internally fixed preamp gain stage. Headroom goes away at about halfway up the volume control. Crank up the bass and it goes away even faster, since bass takes more power to reproduce.
850 is not affordable, the box need bracing, bigtime. wires and bindingpost, and feet need to be replased, i did this first and it was day and night diffrence. This is in my mind the best speakers Vs money you get for heavy music, i like Vega to but infinity is more Hifi than its comp in that time
Not sure if they shipped from the factory without dampening in the box? You've never seen these before? They were marketed to compete with Cerwin-Vega. The crossover has self-resetting circuit breakers to protect them from overpowering at party level listening. It's clearly not an "Audiophile" speaker, and replacement drivers are not available for decades. The only worthwhile "mod" is to insulate the box...and maybe stiffen the walls with on-edge gussets. Other than that, it's mass-produced CNC vinyl veneered fold and glue enclosure. Modifying the crossover will compromise the longevity of the mids and tweeters when cranked to party levels...which was the intended market. BTW...the drivers were sourced by Tonegen, Japan for Harman/Infinity.
BS!!! These can totally be audiophile when paired up with the right equipment and with a few tweaks to them. I have owned pretty much every kind of speakers over my 40 years plus of being an audiophile, these are always my goto speakers when i want accurate sound but at obscene levels. I have the SM112s and SM122s powered with an Adcom GFA 575se with 350watts per channel and Bryston preamp and CD with built in DAC and they sound better than my $8000 a pair B&Ws. For the price, these simply couldnt be touched in the 90s and even now. I have people come over and they cannot believe how well they sound. They are efficient but they also love power. The more you give them, the better they sound. I can get mine to rock concert rediculous levels and they still sound crystal clear.
@@vegaslimoguy2376Yes...amplifiers matter. Glad you love them. Headroom is more important than redesigning the crossover...that doesn't need to be redesigned. Infinity designers didn't just "throw caps and coils" at them. They were designed to play at "obscene levels" that doesn't mechanically stress the midrange and tweeters.
Shocked they did that will. I think you'd be much more impressed by the vintage infinity RS line. I own the rs2 and rs3's and am very impressed by what that do
No matter what. if the room those speakers are in is not. good. all these tweaks. are a waste of time I know that He knows that. but does not. bring that to the forefront. in each of his videos. which he should do. When you have a perfect room. all of his suggestions are. pertinent. if your room is not set up right you might as well just listen to TV speakers.
Say what??? These Will blow you out of the room. Let me guess you are one of the people that try to power these. With a ninety nine dollar receiver from best, buy l o l
Hey. Sorry your set gave you so much trouble. I loved every vibrations that enveloped the whole neighborhood ! I believe 90% of music is WHAT you FEEL not what you hear!
Nice to finally see some infinity stuff on this channel!!
I have refurbished several Infinity speakers, though the pricier models. They had much better cabinets and decent for the day parts. New caps, coils, resistors, wire and binding posts turn them from a good vintage speaker to a really great speaker. Arnie Nudell designed a lot of Infinity speakers. Always worth a try.
Ive always liked Infinity floor standing speakers from the 80s and 90s. Never been disappointed
I had these for over a decade. I miss them, they were damaged in a cross country move. Such a fun speaker!
I rocked High School back in the day with a Kenwood Receiver and a pair of Infinity SM-120s. I later was able to pick-up a 3rd SM-120 to use for a "Center" channel.
I used to go to a roller skake place in the early 90 that had a pair of these chained to the celling in the middle, facing back to back. They BLASTED night after night for YEARS, and survived.
Just found a pair of the SM 122s brandnew in the boxes, NEVER USED for $400. The guy bought them 30 years ago and the wife said NO way to big for their living room, so he boxed them back up and put them in the closet. They got packed in and blocked in with years of items in storage And he forgot about them until they went to go move and he found them. I drove out of state to get them and they are brand new just like he stated. I guarantee that there are not another pair out there that are in the conditioned as these are new. Anyone that says they are loud is an understatement and anyone that says they cannot sound audiophile are sorely mistaken. I power these with an Adcom 575se at 350 watts per channel along with another pair of SM 112s and a Bryston preamp and CD with built in DAC, and they sound incredible. Sad thing is, i have owned many kinds of high end speakers, some at $5,000 a pair and i still love these Infinitys way more. With the right setup and a little tweaking, they rival speakers at 10 times the price.
Great story. 👍 From a big Infinity fan.
10 times the price 🤣
I remember buying a pair of SM-155s in Japan in the PX in 96. Great speakers to rock out to.
Modded and Hot Rodded. Excellent vid. Perfect
Had a pair of SM152’s for about 15 years and they took a beating and keep on going. Great speakers, had a lot of fun with them
This speaker sounds way better with only 1 mid. driver hooked up. I know as i have a pair ! They really rock !!
Try no mids, even better 🤣
My all-time favorite speaker.
I got a pair of Infinity 2500 large bookshelf speakers from the late 80s for $50 and they sound great for my bedroom where I mostly use them at low volume at night
Impressively high sensitivity for not having a horn. That dome tweeter was surprising and still holding up after this amount of time.
I think if shipping costs wernt through the roof we would still see more companies offering these old big box high efficiency speakers. I’m really glad GR Reserch is offering the Brute, and Bully. Old school speakers that measure well and sound big! Thanks Danny!
Almost 40 years ago I was lucky enough to hear an IRS-V. A few years later I bought the SM-155. They ran without any problems until last year, but of course their sound suffered.
They are now in my workshop, awaiting resurrection. I'm going to get started now in the summer and had similar ideas as you suggested.
If you like, I can send you a PDF with my results at the end.
Really cool video!
Love when a theme starts to emerge. People literally go “wow, Danny works on vintage stuff” flood gates open. Just like the Klipsh stuff.
We've also still got 2 more vintage Pioneer models coming. :p
Nice! I love it when old mass market speakers are found to be not too bad... Leaving room for improvement on a budget.
Wonderful news! I bought 4 of these for 50 bucks last year. 🙂
Truly excellent work again, Danny. So great to see a good result on another old model.
I have a pair of SM 152's in my music room right now ; and they sound fantastic even without modifications. If you can grab a pair cheap, do it.
They are fantastic with the right equipment.
A good powerful amp with 100w at 8 Ohms should do the stuff?
No way! I was hoping you would get to these some day, I have the SM 155s which were the 90s version of that. I was actually concerned you were gonna roast em.
I somehow knew that he would give an honest opinion on these.
And I was a little skeptical at first because many people keep saying that these are garbage speakers when in fact, they are not. I have owned several pairs of these and I have owned several pair of these for over thirty years. Just found a brand new pair of these in the box has never been used from a guy in wisconsin. With some tweaking and the right equipment. These things can totally sound audiophile . And they play very loud and efficient. I have owned speakers that cost 10 times the price of these and I am a lot happier with the sound of these over all of them. With a little bit of tweaking, these can become monster audiophile speakers for a fraction of the price. Glad that danny finally did a review of these.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I was powering mine with a 40 Watt Harman Kardon 503, they get concert in your living room loud and seem to sound better the louder I play em. I think because as far as Infinity is concerned they are almost the bottom shelf of that time period is why people think they’re not good. They do lack bracing thats for sure, almost as bas as any other big box speaker from then. Id love to hear them with Dannys mods.
@@bryang9290 Mine have all been professionally braced, rewired and new crossovers and they sound better than my $8000 B&Ws and even more expensive Legacys. The more power you give them, the better and better they sound.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I believe that, I sat in front of B&W powered by Mackintosh, probably a $20,000 system or something and I like mine better.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I always give honest feedback, but I am not a reviewer.
They are some nice looking speakers. Love the 15" drivers.
I had the SM-80's - their bookshelf sized brethren. They sounded great IMO - that is, except for that super "bright/harsh" Polycell tweeter that would almost bite you if it was in a live, untreated room - and a cabinet that was like an instrument all on it's own......
I bought a pair from the goodwill for $50 10 years ago and they are still part of my home system, i'm moving soon and they'll be going in my garage :)
Highland Superstore sold tons of these in the mid 80's.
I bought a pair to DJ my wife's high school reunion in '87 in a Ramada Inn meeting room.
Atop non-slip mats ... I placed them up on each end of an 8' table.
Why? ... 'cause we like to party.
Hi! I remember the Infinity SM speakers from my younger days. They could really throw a party, not very audiophile, but not bad either. Awesome job on the crossover. They probably sound really good and earfreiendly now.
People that say that they are not audiophile have no idea what they are talking about. This is because they power these with garbage equipment. I power several pairs of the SM112s and SM122s with Bryston and Adcom components and they sound better than my speakers that i have paid 10 times the price for. I have owned top of the line speakers and these i always go back to because i simply love them better. With the proper bracing and crossover upgrades these blow away speakers at 10 times the price.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 +1 on the Adcom, its a super combo with the SM, Id run that combo myself in my youth. Nowadays its most diy, custommade or products from very small niche companys, for Me. Imo the HIFI industry today is compleatly rotten and you really dont get what you pay for.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 I also used Adcom amp on the SM speakers, back in the day, they matched very good.
@@vegaslimoguy2376 uhm....Infinity made good speakers, and they also made "LOUD" speakers. These fell into the loud party speaker category. Nothing WRONG with them,, but to insinuate they equaled the truly good speakers, is a bit naive. They had limited deep bass and vibrated like crazy, and were actually a decent but mostly LOUD speaker. For parties or loud Rock music, these were TRULY GREAT I agree!, But for acoustic music, jazz or classical, the shortcomings were more evident is all we are saying. The tweeters were the weak link, as was the thin cabinet, lack of padding etc.
@@kevintomb Did u not read my posts, i own Legacy Whispers, also a pair of B&W 802s and i have owned pretty much any kind and brand of speakers out there and my Infinity 112s and 122s together are just simply better than any of them. They have been upgraded with everything Danny states here. I AM happy with them and thats all that matters to me, not what some tools on the internet think. I have people over all the time and they are always impressed with the Infinitys, especially at that price point you cannot go wrong. Now move along there pal.
Man this takes me back to the days of the Kappa 7.1s I had in college, which I ended up selling to get a set of Polk RT55i because they got surround rot.
Neither probably measured great but those Polks could take a beating, I had them on a Carver A500X for ages.
Yep, right out of high school and beginning college, I was torn between wanting either these exact Infinity model speakers, OR else the Cerwin-Vega AT-15 model, which looked almost identical to these with a 15" woofer, the offset mids and tweets, dual 5" midranges, a 1" dome tweeter, and level adjustment controls for the mids and tweets, essentially the same as this infinity model here... I would have loved having either of those mentioned brands and models of speakers for my dorm room in college, but unfortunately I wasn't able to afford to buy EITHER one of those speakers brand new, so I had to settle for a decent but smaller pair of speakers that I found at a local pawn shop for $20/pair.
I was a nerd and built my own in the dorms with radio shack drivers lol.
@@v12alpine That's really cool, good for you! I'm a speaker designer, builder, repairer, and "improver/upgrader" myself, and I would've done something like that back then too, but at that time I didn't have enough time, (due to classes AND homework), OR enough money, (I didn't have a job at that time), NOR did I have any of the right kinds of tools needed to do that back then, so I could only dream about building speakers, and plan some designs out on paper, meanwhile actually listening to music on some already pre-made speakers that I found that were still in good shape from my local pawn shop, as I mentioned.
$850 upgrade to a $300 speaker? They better have some epic sentimental value for the owner.
Diese Upgrades sind geldschneiderei! ,sagt man in Deutschland. Die letzte jbl Sache war doppelt so teuer wie etwas sehr seriöses aus Dänemark. $$$ in den Augen.
@@thomasschafer7268 Ich denke, es würde sich lohnen, wenn es 200 $ oder der Lautsprecher 1500 $ oder mehr wert wäre. Der Reparaturpreis für die Magnepans beträgt etwas mehr als 200 US-Dollar für Lautsprecher, die viel mehr wert sind als diese Infinity.
850? Spencive bigtime🎉😅
It’s remarkable to me that so few speakers these days are even as “high” as 6 ohms. Back in the 60s and 70s, most loudspeakers were 6 ohms or higher other than exotic stuff like Thiel and Snell
I remember those speakers. We sold them at a store i worked at, and DJed with them once....always thought they were screamers. Nice work civilizing them a bit.
Great job .
I think i have still one pair somewhere , bought them like 10 years ago for 50 euros with destroyed foam rands , those are already as new again ( pretty easy to refoam) ,
Maybe i have to search for them and give them the gr research update
with that kind of efficiency might be fun to try these with a small tube amp. Would guess most were powered with monster receivers back in the day.
I'm currently using a dynaco st70 on these now and they sound great. 30 watts per channel push them to beyond reasonable listening levels with no problem other than a bit of hearing loss lol.
Magic man! Nice work. I have heard these, and they are a fun speaker, and I was very shocked to see your results. I would love to see you offer some high sensitivity horn speakers some time!
Now I'm waiting for someone to bring in a B&W 801 s3 , it is so interesting to watch and I've learned a lot "bumping" in to this fellow ! :D Man I'm glad I didn't have the NS 1000m at home when he pulled them apart :P
Good video ..starting to enjoy a little more as time goes on 👍
I have a set in storage. They are in great shape and have not been abused. They are big and heavy. If you add any more to them, it will cost you a fortune to hire riggers every time you want to move them.
Jesus dude they are great speakers, i had over my lifetime
So many expensive brands.
B&W dali revox,etc and off course sound is personal these speakers
Have a very good balance in high and low frequency.
It also depends what amp,cd,recordplayer u use.
I've heard some of your Original speakers from the 90s I would guess.
Som people still rock those too
Never get tired of watching a true professional honestly evaluate and fix speaker problems that manufacturers created!😊
I sold these speakers back in 1988 when I worked in a stereo store while in college. These designed to compete with Cerwin Vega. Huge profit margin and great commission for the sales person. Not a great speaker for critical listeners. Compared to the Infinity RS and Kappa series of the same period, they were a step down. Very efficient at around 103 db and easy to drive. Thanks for memory lane Danny!
I had a set of those for a little while the dust cap is so soft on the woofer it makes a loud snapping noise when cranked up
That would be the voicecoil out of alignment which means someone improperly refoamed them without centering the voicecoil.
I wonder if this could have been turned into a four way. Separate the two midrange drivers, lower unit as a mid-bass, crossing over to the upper mid-range.
Thank you!
These would make the most of a few watts of SET tube amp power. Even after the mods they'd be a good budget alternative to Danny's GR Brute's.
I have the same ones.
Great speakers
Should get a kappa 8 or 9 and do some serious crossover work to them
Or perhaps the infinity kappa 8.1i ?
I live in central Kentucky and i drove 4hrs. each way to Alabama to buy a perfect pair in 2023. I paid $300.
Will this also work on sm155? I dont think there is a big differences on 152/155?
Good evening all I can say is a friend of my many years ago had a pair by them not the ones in the video and they sounded great so I thought and the rest is history I am hooked on hi fi ect... just can't afford 😕 well not right now anyway thanks.
Nice speaker to upgrade, but refering to the cabinet shouldn't be more efficient to make a new cabinet well braced more stable and thick one for better results?
Nothing holdes you back, just copy the org size, the inside ofcorse. Then you can make a propper left/right pair👌
Great last video 👍
Sold these at a stereo store while working in college. Loved listening to them but knew they were not super accurate. I am happy to see you take control of these and bring them back to relevance. I somehow thought you might turn them to a 4 way and use the second mid as a mid-woofer filler driver. Thanks for for your efforts
Danny, can you do anything for my Bose 901's ?......
These speakers demonstrate a point I made in a previous video. You can just look at these speakers and know there is going to be vertical off axis issues because there are two mid drivers. I really don't know why some people had an issue with the obvious. The SM-125s had a single midrange and would not suffer from the same issue - at least not obviously. There still could be off axis issues, but not because there's two mid drivers. Quite frankly, Danny's "after" vertical axis dips in the midrange area were much less than I expected. Another testament to his superlative skill? Or perhaps It's my expectations?
This speaker series has a reputation as being "when Infinity went to hell", as one fan put it. As Paul McGowan put it, "they were very popular among the military crowd". And that's about all he's willing to say about the series. They were tax and import/export free (so, affordable to low paid enlisted personnel) in every military BX, and Infinity had a reputation for high quality speakers. But the Studio Monitor series was considered a significant fall from their otherwise higher quality product lines, and I think Paul knows it.
I bought a pair of the SM-152s in 2008 and had to replace the woofers with a not quite exact replacement, (the coils were melted and OEM replacements were no longer available) but the replacements were close enough that I didn't have to alter the crossover. I will say it's VERY hard to find a woofer as sensitive, with such high wattage, AND a reasonably low F3. I had to sacrifice a couple Db for higher wattage. A compromise I think was worth it considering the original voice coils were literally melted down with copper beads stuck to the magnet. But I also found that the box was boomy ah, and there was no stuffing whatsoever. They came from the factory just as Danny saw. I added some bracing and stuffed it full of fiberglass to tame the box a little, then sold them. This was before I knew anything about Danny and no-res. I did what I could.
I kind of wish you still had them. I would be interested in the vertical response with only one midrange driver in use. I'd bet a coffee that Danny could make it even better with one less mid driver.
I have the sm152, i only use 1 mid. driver. ea. Sound is for sure cleaner and more listenable !
Great I have a pair of these infinity SM152. What part of Texas are you located. I would love to get some work done on them.
That’s why I like KEF Uni-Q…
why are the drivers except the woofer almost always on the left or right of the baffle and not mirror image of each other it looks like you are getting 2 left or 2 right speakers instead of a left and right pair
In this instance, mirror image pairs are an expense that's not in the budget.
The was no extra money for anything other than perceived value (aesthetics, trim rings, etc), and to play loudly with adequate quality.
I remember clearly ... these were advertised heavily, every week, big full page adds for (in my area) Highland Superstore.
It depends on the manufacturer, but often the main reason older/cheaper speakers are left-only or right-only is often down to manufacturing costs, as production costs are higher when a design is a mirrored pair vs all the same.
Did you keep the tweeter and mid adjustment knobs in the new crossover design?
Nice job although I reckon the 2KHz peak in the off-axis might give it a forward sound in-room. Probably suits the speaker though.
I still would like you to comment more on how you think the upgraded speakers sound.
The volume pots are no longer in the circuit. How is sounds now is a LOT better than it did.
@@dannyrichie9743 useful description 🤣
My American Acoustics DS1212 would smash on them.
Man i would really love to be able and get my mach 2s to you, but cant afford shipping down from fort collins. I know they are just a radio shack speaker, but most definitely shake the house.
im using 155 in black
I have a pair stuck in a corner in the garage! I have actually already started removing the old caps from the crossover. Can you share a video on what you recommend doing with the crossover and attenuators?
The attenuator panel can be used to fill the hole cut for it in the cabinet. The stock crossovers and those attenuators can be discarded.
@@dannyrichie9743 can I just obtain the crossover kit separately?
@@DJWerkz Separately from what? We packaged everything you need.
@@dannyrichie9743 Just looking for your upgraded crossover kit as I am doing my own cabinet work
@@DJWerkz This upgrade does not include a cabinet.
Where does one get this upgrade kit?
Why no price for the upgrades?
A couple of questions,
Do the mids have sealed backs, or in a sealed area?
In the kit are the "attenuators" still in the signal path? Is that a possible option?
The mids have a sealed back. The old attenuators are no longer in the signal path. They degrade the signal considerably.
I've never liked speakercabinet's that aren't mirrored, it just tells me the producer tried cutting corners and cost.
Looks like the super deals on these will be drying up soon !
They already have, i own several pairs of several versions of these and i've been offered way more than i ever thought they would be worth. Every once in awhile a pristine pair will have a bidding war on ebay and i saw a pair go for 1500 plus 400 for shipping. The secret is out on these.
Hey Danny, what do you think of Clayton Shaw’s new Caladan open baffle speakers?
The prototype that I heard sounded really good.
they are from 1992, not the 80s
Danny you didn't mention it, but I assume you did away with the variable resistors in the circuit?
Yes and I should have mentioned it.
Right on
Do you have any upgrades for the EPI Monitor 2 or DCM Time Window of TF 250?
Are you going to talk about the tekton debacle?
Danny do a Tekton Perfect Set next😂
Well, we do have a Tekton Lore BE in for an upgrade, but right now might not be good timing for that one.
What about those levelcontrols? Get rid of them or what? Just wondering.
No more of those things in the signal path.
Are they high end? Nope not by a long shot. Do they sound awesome rocking out? Hell yeah! I bought SM's back in the 90's for my home theatre. SM 155, SM center, and SM65. They worked great for watching movies and rocking out. I phased them out in 2005 when I got Infinity primus with there 12" powered subwoofer for home theatre and used the 155's in my weight room. I got rid of all of them about 5 years ago and went with bookshelf speakers on the wall with and powered sub in the corner to make more room. The SM series were made for a certain crowd of audiophiles to compete with Cerwin Vega's tower speakers and it did that very well. I wish I had the room to keep them but they just took up too much space. And also the foam was starting to go on the cones.
$829
Nice price very affordable
Bullshit. For used 400€ never pay overprized upgrade.😅😅
5000 dollars very reasonable
Is there any good reason to have two mids, other than power handling?
Improved clarity, as each woofer is doing half the work of a single for the same output.
Both the above are essentially the same issue.
However yes, there's advantages other than power/output, etc.
Potential advantages include vertical control and summation, in the forward lobe (D'Appolito alignment for example).
Also the benefits of the additional cone area are enjoyed, without the penalty of increased cone size affecting directivity.
Of course driver center-to-center proximity is vital. But any vertical spreading of drivers can be beneficial.
Since the drivers are at varying distances, energy up to the ceiling and down to the floor, that is de-correlated and summation is smeared anywhere along the vertical axis ... except straight ahead to the listener.
That's a lot, but I hope that helps.
These were very popular on the military base. I bought mine in 91. They were a bit over $500 at the PX for the pair. I've replaced the tweeters at least dozen times. Including the SM82, SM112 & SM122 that I've also owned. The biggest tip I can give to those is to replace the dust cap along with the surround on the woofer. The thin foam dust cap makes a fluttering and occasional popping noise, clearly audible. The paper dust cap eliminated this problem and new surround tightened up the bass a bit better. They're still in my archives, may have to revisit them.
That's not the dust cap. There is a felt bumper ring...bump stop...under the spider to prevent the voice coil from bottoming out against the back plate of the woofer. The designers knew these were going to be played very loud with the bass controls cranked for maximum bumpage. It's why you had to replace the tweeters so many times. Amp clipping takes out tweeters first...especially with receivers that have internally fixed preamp gain stage. Headroom goes away at about halfway up the volume control. Crank up the bass and it goes away even faster, since bass takes more power to reproduce.
impress of infinity before speaker sold to somebody else - around late 1990's. unfortunately, the used speakers sold locally are in poor condition
I hated those polycell tweeters,
Infinity was a very good speaker until they went cheap in the 2000s
850 is not affordable, the box need bracing, bigtime. wires and bindingpost, and feet need to be replased, i did this first and it was day and night diffrence. This is in my mind the best speakers Vs money you get for heavy music, i like Vega to but infinity is more Hifi than its comp in that time
Not sure if they shipped from the factory without dampening in the box? You've never seen these before? They were marketed to compete with Cerwin-Vega. The crossover has self-resetting circuit breakers to protect them from overpowering at party level listening. It's clearly not an "Audiophile" speaker, and replacement drivers are not available for decades. The only worthwhile "mod" is to insulate the box...and maybe stiffen the walls with on-edge gussets. Other than that, it's mass-produced CNC vinyl veneered fold and glue enclosure. Modifying the crossover will compromise the longevity of the mids and tweeters when cranked to party levels...which was the intended market. BTW...the drivers were sourced by Tonegen, Japan for Harman/Infinity.
So you didn't watch the video.
@@craigellsworth3952 I watched the whole thing. Assumptions are funny.
BS!!! These can totally be audiophile when paired up with the right equipment and with a few tweaks to them. I have owned pretty much every kind of speakers over my 40 years plus of being an audiophile, these are always my goto speakers when i want accurate sound but at obscene levels. I have the SM112s and SM122s powered with an Adcom GFA 575se with 350watts per channel and Bryston preamp and CD with built in DAC and they sound better than my $8000 a pair B&Ws. For the price, these simply couldnt be touched in the 90s and even now. I have people come over and they cannot believe how well they sound. They are efficient but they also love power. The more you give them, the better they sound. I can get mine to rock concert rediculous levels and they still sound crystal clear.
@@vegaslimoguy2376Yes...amplifiers matter. Glad you love them. Headroom is more important than redesigning the crossover...that doesn't need to be redesigned. Infinity designers didn't just "throw caps and coils" at them. They were designed to play at "obscene levels" that doesn't mechanically stress the midrange and tweeters.
@@edgewound You act like an engineer, but don't think like someone designing a product to a price point. Yeah, I know what "edgwound" refers to.
shit from day one
Shocked they did that will. I think you'd be much more impressed by the vintage infinity RS line. I own the rs2 and rs3's and am very impressed by what that do
Just buy the GR Brute kit and enjoy them . Fantastic
I believe the Brut is a 12" speaker? Maby better compared to the sm122?
OMG, I'm so old! Mid 80's is classic. Thanks for nothing! Ha.
These are actually from '92
No matter what. if the room those speakers are in is not. good. all these tweaks. are a waste of time I know that He knows that. but does not. bring that to the forefront. in each of his videos. which he should do. When you have a perfect room. all of his suggestions are. pertinent. if your room is not set up right you might as well just listen to TV speakers.
The bass wasn't there with these
Say what??? These Will blow you out of the room. Let me guess you are one of the people that try to power these. With a ninety nine dollar receiver from best, buy l o l
Hey. Sorry your set gave you so much trouble.
I loved every vibrations that enveloped the whole neighborhood ! I believe 90% of music is WHAT you FEEL not what you hear!
Do not watch him if you are unable or do not want to take your speakers apart and buy his stuff.