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Review 2 of 3
Price Paid:
$500.00
from Ultimate Electronics Summary:
First off please understand I listed my self as an AudioPhile because I love Home Theater and it has become my hobby over the past three years but, there are many of you that visit this site that know much more than I do so I am interested in more educated reviews on this particular speaker than mine. First off I am the same person as the above review requesting someone to review these speakers, well... I finally bought them a little over a month ago @ Ultimate Electronics as I made an offer of $500.00 for the pair, and they were listed @ $349.99 a piece or $699.98 a pair. You can find them on the internet for $500.00(pair) all day but I wanted to buy them from a reputable seller.I auditioned the Alpha 25es at three different stores as they all had different room dementions, ceiling height's and in each room the Alpha 25es were placed in different areas as well. They were demo'ed in a 5.1 configuration as the rears using the bipole setting, 6.1 placed at the rear center also set on bipole, and 7.2 placed as sides set on dipole about 7ft' high in a room with 9ft' ceilings and 22ft' in length by 13ft' wide. This was the closest room size to my Home Theater. I was also interested in utilizing the Infinity's as side speakers in my HT set up.My system is'nt by far the top of the line, but is sufficient for what Im trying to acheive. My system is as follows:
Denon AVR-3802
Denon-900 DVD player
Infinity Interlude 36c center channel
Infinity IL40's Mains
Infinity IL10's rears
Infinity Alpha 25es sides
Infinity IL120s Sub
Monster Cable M-series biwire cables-main
Monster Cable M-series for center channel
Monster Cable 400 coax 10ft' for Sub
Monster Cable XP 16 guage for all surrounds.
The Alpha series as most of you know is the successor of the Interlude series and at the time I bought my Interludes, Infinity did'nt make a Bi-Di pole speaker so I was using Klipsch RS-3.II as my sides. The woofer technology is very similar in the Klipsch (ceramitalic) to that of Infinity's C.M.M.D. tech although Im sure you more experienced guru's are thinking "but the tweeter tech is completely different! Yes I know, but it was the best sonically matched speaker at the time. Now, first off the construction of the cabinet on the 25es is quite impressive with a 1 1/2in" baffle on all sides of the speaker hence the heavy weight of 18lbs each. 2nd, this is basically two seperate speakers built into on solid cabinet with the tweeter's and the woofers reversed so they can work out of phase hence providing the Di-pole selection. As you read reviews on these speakers the dipole setting (so they say) is primarily for a 7.1 configuration to fill in the gaps between your front speakers and your rear speakers running out of phase so its hard to localize the sound giving your theater a if you will 360 degree surround soud experience. Bi-pole (simply both speakers playing in phase together) as they say it's best to use this setting when using these in a 5.1 configuration being used as rear speakers. Obviously monopole is what it is (one speaker playing as the other is turned off in this setting). Im really not sure why anyone would use this setting rather than just buying a pair of rear speakers. So, as you do your research on these speakers you will find that most if not all reviews will say the samething. Im here to tell you, I after several hours of testing highly suggest (if using these as side speakers) trying the bipole setting! Yes you can localize where the sound is coming from as you can from every other speaker in the room, but I beleive they provide a much more detailed sound and mix much better than the Dipole setting. Fact of the matter is you can decide! No matter what setting you choose, these speakers sound fantastic period! If your still not convinced, please email me for more info. Im very familiar with the Ceramic diaphrams as I've definitely done my research over the past couple of years and I beleive you will see more of this technology in other medium to high end brand names soon to come, but no one will be able to use the exact same technology since Infinity has a patent on this design. Don't pay $700.00 for these if you can avoid it. End result, Infinity in my opinion has redefined cone technology with ceramic and metal resulting in a very rigid yet extremely sensitive (1-decible) woofer with an impressive magnet attached inside weighing in at 5lbs on each woofer.The 1in" tweeter produces extremely clear hi's up to 20khz . And I must add that the 5-1/4 in woofer has quite a bit of punch to it! Nice job Infinity! Strengths:
Cabinet design!
1-1/2 in" thick baffle
Two seperate speakers in one cabinet
C.M.M.D. technology
5 way binding post
Excellent Driver Technology
Can't say enough, really! Weaknesses:
These Speakers are pretty big measuring just under 15in" tall, 14in" wide! Might not pass the Wife Friendly Law with some of you guys. Similar Products Used:
Too much to list really but I can't say enough good things about Denon's A/V receivers as I currently am running two on two seperate HT's and both are absolutely the best sounding receiver I've heard (it's all an opinion).
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