Summary: I bought these back in 1996 when I was in college and I would have to say that I agree with everything -- good and bad -- that I have read in these reviews. If you are looking for champagne sound so that you can hear every hair whistle in Roger Water's nose while he plays guitar on Dark Side of the Moon then these are not the speakers for you nor will any speaker in this price range be for you.
But, for an average listener who likes decent sound and has a decent receiver to hook these up to, these have really been very durable speakers. These things were put through hell back when I was college living in a fraternity house and they still get that treatment on the weekends now that I have my own place. After over 11 years of use, I finally blew the tweeters (replacements cost $100 for the pair). Otherwise, considering what I paid (I think it was $300-$350 each back in 1996) to have gotten over a decade's worth of use is quite impressive.
One complaint I do have is that the bass is not all that strong on these at higher volumes. I have a JBL sub hooked up to my system, which makes up for the difference, but I do wish these speakers had more bass.
These are not speakers for "audiophiles" but have certainly been good for an average listener who likes to play his music loud and keeps these things in constant use.
Strengths: Durable and have taken quite a beating over the years; have held up despite constant use and abuse at high volumes.
Weaknesses: Very heavy, bass is a bit thin at higher volumes.
Similar Products Used: Cerwin Vega RE 30's (circa-1995) which are currently being used in my basement - those have more bass but a muddier sound overall.
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Summary: I agree with the last guy, these are quite impressive speakers for the money. The tweets are nice and clear, but not "hissy" like so many of the newer speakers. The mid-range is the greatest strength of this speaker, in my opinion. In my system, I don't use the woofers much in these speakers, as I have an Infinity Entra series 10" sub which does a little better job. I do this by designating them a "small" speaker in my receiver setup, so the woofers aren't doing much.
Anyway, after doing so, I realized the strength of the mid-range and highs, all the way from very low volume to window-shattering high volume. Great for music AND home theater. All I can say is I'll never sell these babies, and I would normally sell a set of speakers after a few years of use to upgrade to something better.
Strengths: Great sound reproduction at all volumes, crisp and clear. Can handle power like you wouldn't believe, and because they have crossover adjustments for the highs and the midrange right on the speaker, you can tweak them to fit into any existing system.
Weaknesses: Pretty large speaker, and heavy. Don't have very tall feet on the bottom to raise them above carpet, so I pretty much always have them on short speaker stands that point them slightly upward so the tweets hit the ear.
Similar Products Used: None.
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Rating Reviewed by: mike goff(Unregistered User)
(Audio Enthusiast)
Review Date August 2, 2003
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Value Rating 5 of 5
Used product for More than 1 year
Visitors rate this review 4.56 of 5,
9.00 votes
Review 3 of 20
, from clarkston mi usa
Price Paid:
$400.00
from damark
Summary: the people that are whining about these
speakers are either liars or cant hear!.
these speakers a very good and make these new speakers sound like crap!.
not to mention the new ones are built very cheap out of very cheap materials.
Strengths: very low loud bass. very loud midrange and very loud highs.
Weaknesses: size may be a problem for some folks
Similar Products Used: cerwin vega se series 12 inch woofer speakers. not very good!
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Summary: Yes I've had these for a long long time... I bought them way back when I was a teenager and didnt know squat about audio or sound and now I cant wait to get rid of them. The SM's were designed to be Party speakers- very efficient so not much amp power needed to drive them. They can play LOUD but thats about it. Flabby, boomy bass, grainy rough highs, no midrange, horrible imaging, no soundstage. They really cut corners on the box, completely untreated in anyway and offers horrid box resonances and colorations. The crossovers are a huge dissapointment as well.... running a 15hz to 15khz sweep there are huge holes in the tone at the crossover points where the speakers just do not reproduce that frequency hardly at all! Timbres are very 'off' and unrealistic as are instruments size and weight. The fact that they are not matched pairs kills any imaging and soundstage and makes the sound heavy to one side. I'm not sure what infinity was thinking there. More so not only am I disgusted for owning them... I'm disgusted at myself for ever thinking they sounded good when I first bought them!
Strengths: they play loud... would make a good frat party speaker for those that dont give a rats patooty about imaging, soundstage and sound quality
Weaknesses: EVERYTHING! flabby bass, no mids, harsh grainy highs, holes in freq response/xovers, box resonances, no imaging/soundstage, not very musical, dull and uninvolving
Similar Products Used: B&W 610, Magnepan 3.6R, magnepan 1.6QR, Avalon Eclipse, Vandersteen 2Ce sig, Martin Logan Aerius
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Summary: The best part is I called Infinity, they are sending a new tweet. No questions asked. Also a kit for My Infinity Sub and 2 new tweets for the JBL 2600's.......free.
Gotta love great support.
Strengths: strong sound, great for music and vocals
Weaknesses: blew a tweet the first weekend.
Similar Products Used: many
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