Recently purchased the Infinity I.R.S. Epsilons. Currently am using 2 Aragon 8008BB for amplification, Levinson 39 for CD, Levinson 380 for Pre-Amp, Monster M1500 RCA for interconnects, and Straightwire Silver Surfer for speaker cable. I know I have a mismatch of components and cabling, but was interested in talking with anyone who has the Epsilons up and running to thier satisfaction. They sound like they have all the makings of a great speaker. I want to replicate as much as possible, the impact of the Betas.

I heard these speakers several times, and I cannot get used to a very slight metallic coloration in the highs. For a speaker in this price range, even such small sins are unforgivable.

An okay speaker system. But, just barely OK is definitly not ideal for speakers of this price range. Detailed sound -yes, naturalness and musicallity-NO.Buy the Martin Logan CLS IIz instead and with the remaining money and spend it on better electronics.

I have the Infinity IRS beta and it is the best loudspeaker I have ever heard. Correctly placed they offer a realism I have never heard before. I think they are much more better than the new Epsilons and look much more impressive. Currently I use two parasound amplifiers because as a student I can´t afford better amplifiers at the moment. My dream amplifier would be a Krell FPB 600 but in future I think I will by an Accuphase P 350 maybe P 450 or so or a Krell KSA 200. I really don´t like all these Mark Levinsons. They are very precisely but their 3 dimensional expression is poor and that is the reason why I like my betas so much.

I was rich.Had Bata at 1988, in Taiwan, cost me N.T. 800.000.00 (about US $30.000.00)
I do not fell sorry about I spend those momey. But sorry for I can not keep it.
It worth it.
5 Star for ever

The Infinity "Beta" system is about 8 or so years old, and no longeravailable except on the used market. It is one of the great values in
used speakers. The system includes separate bass towers (6' high) with
an electronic crossover (very versatile) and large panels for midrange/
treble. The system is extremely dynamic and transparent, with stupendous
soundstage capabilities. Bass is awesome! Downsides: tends toward leaness
in the upper midrange, requires a large room, and careful setup. Critical
of components, especially amplifiers. Occasionally available on the used
market for $5,000-6,000. A system that is not easily outperformed!

Nice set of speakers!
Requires a large room for proper placement, perferably with high ceilings.
I have placed 3 steel bricks on each of the panels base for damping.

My set, of course, is in a room about 20'w x 23'h x 35' d.

Powered by a Carver's Research Lightstar-1 Amp for subs and a Krell 100s.
Pre-amp Krell, Sony CD. Pre-amp runs dual outputs to the amps (balanced for the
Krell and single-ended for the Carver). Custom amp stand holds amps vertically between the speakers. Very complicated upgrade to home theatre.

I have had those speakers for 5 years and i can still be amazed by them.Mark Levinson 23.5 Amps
Mark Levinson 26.5 PreAmp
Spectral Audio CD Player

Fantastic Bass,difficult to setup.
I removed (disconected) the zener diodes in the crossovers located in the bottom of the treble towers.
The diodes are used to protect the speakers when playing too loud.
Removing those improved the sound even more.

5 Stars of course

soundstage depth, speed, articulation, bass extension and control

requires lots of room and many high quality source components as well as big amps to work well

The Infinity IRS Betas, although a 10 year old design, are still in my opinion state of the art by today’s standards, being a true full frequency speaker. They are a four chassis planar/woofer design, and must be bi-amped, the planars being suited and designed for tubes, and the 4 12” woofers per side in separate enclosures being ideally matched with a high current and high damping factor amplifier, the servo-woofer control allows optimum tuning within your room.

These speakers need lots of room to breath, and a lot of high quality power to drive them, I have the planars 8 feet from the rear wall and they produce speed, articulation and a holographic soundstage that is incredible. The lower frequency extension and control is something I have never heard in any other speaker, put on the Antiphone Blues CD and the deep organ notes will simply scare you the first time you hear it, the power of the sub terranian bass becomes physical, it was shaking my couch on a concrete floor! We are not talking about boomy out of control woofer flubbing here, but depth, speed and control.

As with any state of the art speaker, the designers have made choices when tuning the final product, and these speakers were made for high powered tube amps on the planars and big solid state amps on the woofers. I also highly recommend putting these in a big room as the woofers can overload an otherwise normal room. My previous room of 11 x 20 ft was completely inadequate, but they just love my new 16.5 x 40 ft room.

They say that hindsight is 20/20, and I have been emailing a few other Beta owners who have done some mods to these speakers, the first mod I have tried, the second I will get to soon.

1./ Inside the planar base unit are the crossovers which have among other parts four high value electrolytic 100 V.N.P. caps, replacing these with the same value polypropylene caps but 200 to 250 volt rating will greatly improve the transparency and control, this is not really a modification of the circuit, just replacing the weakest (see "cost cutting") part of the crossover.

2./ Another mod is removing the diodes in the speakers, which will produce more improvements, Please be careful with this mod as it will defeat the protection circuitry and if you put more than 300 continuous watts into the planars, you will damage your speakers.

Used value of these is about $4500 to $5000 a pair, and at this price, the performance can not be touched, although I do hope to try a pair of Apogee Diva’s one day as well (another classic).

Associated equipment:
Audio Research Reference 1 preamp
Audio Research PH-2 phono preamp
Audio Research M300 Mk II power amps
Bryston 4B-ST power amp
Infinity IRS Beta loudspeakers
Theta Miles CD player/transport
Theta Gen V DAC
SOTA Star Sapphire III turntable
SME V tonearm
Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge
McIntosh MR7083 tuner with an outdoor antenna on a rotor
XLO Signature 2.1 balanced interconnects, 1.1 rca interconnects and 5.1 speaker wire for front end and planars, XLO type 1 interconnect and type 5 speaker wire for woofer connections
Kimber Illuminations D-60 digital wire