Price Paid:  $42.00 from ubid.com

Summary:
When I first bought these speakers, I used them for fronts. To that end they sound great. I would not rate them as high as the IL 50, but then again they only cost a fraction of their cost. I have had these speakers for about 2 years now, and I still am amazed at what they can do. Now I am using 2 Infinity IL 50's for front speakers, and using these for rears. They are very good rears. The 10" woofer produces room shaking bass, and the highs are wonderful. Also another advantage, when compared to many of Infinity's speakers, these are light in weight. Some people may not like that because of speaker vibration, but it is fine for a rear speaker.

These speakers definately hold the standard stamp of infinity quality.

Strengths:
Great Bass, and Highs

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Infinity IL 50's

Price Paid:  $68.00 from Ubid

Summary:
It took me a long time to figure these guys out. They were super bright when I first listened to them, but after jacking up the bass they filled out quite a bit. I raised them up around ear level and they sounded even better. After a few weeks of them warping themselves into shape they sounded good. What can you say for $68 bucks (for the pair, new). You pay for what you get, in most cases, and these sound pretty damn good for that price. Granted I wouldn't pay over $200 for them, but they arn't a bad speaker once you tweak them out.

Strengths:
Highs, Clarity

Weaknesses:
Bass

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch, JBL

Price Paid:  $99.00 from harmanaudiooutlet

Summary:
Boy, what a steal! I was helping a friend speaker shop at the actual Harman Outlet in Oxnard, CA. EVERYTHING in the store sounded like garbage, mostly 'cause the demo models had beed beaten to death, and many were hooked up out of phase. The lone pair of out-of-box SM 185s was priced at $99/pair. These speakers TOTALLY susrprised me. Good tonal balance, punchy lows, crisp highs, and they can blow your ears off with any amp over 50 watts. Liked them so much, I bought them, even though I wasn't shopping for myself. I've got them in my home studio now, with the lows below 70Hz fed to a Citiation 7.4 sub. Taking the lows out of the 8 incher really opened these speakers up.

I also tried them as the L-R pair in my home theatre, where they really slammed. They get a little crispy and compressed if you hit them too hard, but are otherwise very articulate speakers. Like I said, a steal at anything under $200. I may try to scam another 2 pairs for the theater room, if my wife doesn't let me shell out for the Sounus Fabers that are my true loves.

Strengths:
Hi sensitivity, slam factor, looks

Weaknesses:
resonant cabinet, dead in 6 years foam surrounds

Similar Products Used:
Design Acoustics, JBL, DCM

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I drove these with a 100Wx2 Technics something or other - I can't remember. The crappy receiver may have had as much to do with the sound problems as the speakers themselves.

These speakers are all right for the price. I owned them for 4 years. These days you can do much better for the price. If I had to do it all over again, I would have chosen bookshelf speakers with better detail and less clunk.

In fact I am doing it all over again. I'm going with some PSB Image 2B bookshelves at the moment, retailing for $400. I live in a small apartment now and my Infinitys were way too loud for my room when I had them high school. So I don't need big speakers, just good ones. PSB is what the dudes recommended on the audiophile newsgroups. I'll post my review in about a week when I get them.

Strengths:
Solid, Loud

Weaknesses:
Weak midrange, high treble when turned up. Bass could be deeper

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Smartlink / Nobles

Summary:
I got these speakers 3 months ago, for 209$. at the store they were on floor stands, and the first thing I noticed was the complete lack of bass. treble was great, but there wasn't any bass!
we asked the store-d00d to turn up the bass. that seemed to make the difference, and they sounded extremely smooth.
after taking them home, I hooked them up to my pioneer VSX-D509S, and once again heard no bass (even at the highest setting).
later on I had wall-mounted stands made for 'em, and hung them above ear hight at the corners of the room.
the diffrence was amazing.
I actually had to lower the bass. that however caused a problem.
in songs with well defined bass (a great example would be Cypress Hill - cock the hammer) the bass overshadows almost everything else...
still, lowering the bass level usually does it.
overall they're great speakers (especially for 2 ways).
I have no idea what the dood means about their "harsh sound".
I usually listen for several hours, at a time, and have never noticed anything like that.
I'd highly recommend them to budget-tight people (like myself).

Strengths:
great trebble. after some positioning the bass is great too.

Weaknesses:
speaker hight changes the sound drastically.

Similar Products Used:
non owned. I thought of JBL S38s which were out of my budget, and didn't sound better...