Good "all purpose" speaker.

Sensitive to position

I have recently upgraded my home theatre (HT) system to use Infinity Overture 3 speakers as my left and right front channel speakers. I am using a Pinnacle Classic Gold Center channel speaker, a Velodyne Sub, and a pair of Infinity RS-5's for the rear channel. I was previously using a pair of Infinity Reference Kappa 6 (IRK6) speakers for my front channels. The IRK6, with their amazingly accurate sound and beautiful oak cabinets, will now live in my living room.

I wanted a pair of speakers that would be able to accurately reproduce Jazz, Classical, Pop, Rock & Roll, etc. They also had to be able to deal with HT. After a lot of listening, I knew that the Overture 3 (OVTR3) was the best I was going to do on my budget (less than $2000.00). The highs are clear and detailed, yet not obtrusive. The midrange is incredible - excellent for vocals! The bass is tight and controlled. Bass has a commanding presence but is not boomy or overwhelming. I was surprised to hear bass this tight in a vented speaker.

However, you pay for that excellent bass quality. If you want the Tyronasaurus Rex to shake the windows when he walks, then you will need to add a sub. My current sub, a Velodyne, was purchased mainly to add some low end punch to my IRK6 for rock, pop, and organ. (Yes, I listen to everything). I will be purchasing a house shaking Infinity HPS-1000 soon. Also, while they play the notes, the OVTR3's lack something for organ music. I think you just need a big woofer to get the right effect for the low notes of a pipe organ.

I will say this, the OVTR3 is very sensitive to placement (much more than my IRK6). Where I want to put them, I have a strong resonance around 80 Hz and a dead spot around 200 Hz. Also, to get the excellent sound stage and imaging they can produce, you want to make sure you get them placed just right. I've played with them a bit (they are heavy) and have yet to find the "perfect" position.

Overall, the best listening category seems to be Jazz. These speakers will bring tears of joy to your eyes. Sax, piano, bass, flute - excellent!!

A word of warning, once you play something good on these speakers, all your "ok" recording will sound pretty bad. A lot of modern pop and rock are mixed to play on a boom box (or in a booming car), and sound really artificial on good speakers. This seems even more true on the OVTR3 than on my IRK6.

Also, they speakers will play real loud - much louder than I can tolerate - without any noticeable distortion (other than the buzzing of my rattling ear drums). The bass does not distort, even at high volume. High volume to me is 105db in the 500-10,000 Hz range at my listening position. (Go to Radio Shack and get a sound level meter).

I would recommend these speakers to anyone who can afford them, and I would recommend listening to them before you spend more on anything else. They outperform anything else in their category for accurate sound reproduction. Note, I would say these speakers are worth about $2000 max. The MSRP is $2800.00. I paid $1499.00 (including tax, shipping, etc.) for mine.

Beautiful in Cherry Wood Finish, Nice Tight Bass, Nice Midrange and Sweet Highs, Revealing playing "Real" music
Excellent Value under $1500, garbage will sound like garbage

Bass Control behind speaker screen, auto off to sensitive, somewhat placement sensitive, garbage will sound like garbage

I wanted to wait until I had these for awhile before rating them, it has been about 8 months now so here's what I have found.

I am very happy with this speakers, work well with music, except rap which isn't an issue, classical and rock sound very good and they sound good down to 25-30hz, I prefer nice tight bass that the 6.5" woofers provide, but the mids and high end are gold on these, comparing these to other speakers with huge woofers is unfair in that they produce solid tight bass that a 12 or 15" sub cannot do, you do lose the very bottom end in this trade off, however with the addition on a sub this provides the best combination of tight/deep bass out there.

I usually find that the sub works well in HT but I usually turn it off and let the OV3's do the work, if your into hip hop or electronic music that goes way down in hz go elsewhere these speakers orginally price near 3 grand were never meant to be in the hood or trailer park and deserve much better music.

My setup is as follows:
Mains Overture 3's (with Technics SBM300 bookshelf speakers on top of each Infinity on the B's)
Rears Infinity RS5's
Center CC3
Sub Advent AV550s(I wish they still made these hall of fame sub)
30" RCA HT Tv
Yamaha Rv-1105
Yamaha K903
Toshiba 4109
AR Toslinks
AR Sub Cable
Cat 5 cables braided

Similar Products Used:

AR1, AR226PS, Infinity OV2's, Infinity RS5's

Excellent mid and high ranges

Base response somewhat weak for movies
Construction of screens need improvment

This is an update to my previous review. One thing that I have discovered is that speaker review is extremely objective and one's opinion is rooted in relative experience.

I originally rated these speakers at what I heard at Circuit City. They are certainly better than anything CC sells. Based on my limited experience, I ordered these speakers from Shop4.com for a very good price ($1400/pair delivered).

While I was waiting to received these speakers I heared a pair of Energy's APS5+2s. Frankly, the Energy's win hands down, and at a price equal to the Infinity, there no comparison...I brougt them home. The Infinity's are good, real good. But Energy's excel at everything. For example, the APS5+2s have twin 8" sub woofers that fire out sides of the speakers. The base response and quality are downright nasty and tight (that's good). Because these speakers (Energy) are ending production, you can get them cheap. Hurry.

I am sending the Infinity speakers back today.

Similar Products Used:

Energy APS5+2

Bought from UBID.COM, buyer beware!!had producct for four months suddently stopped working, although new UBID said they would not take BACK OR ISSUE NEW ONE.... I HAVE SPEND OVER $8,000 IN THE LAST SIX MOUNTHS AND THEY SAID I'M RESPONSIBLE FOR REPAIR ... BUY FROM CIRCUIT CITY NEXT TIME......

HIGHLY OVERATED SPEAKER, AND OVER PRICED, YOU COULD GET BETTER SOUND FROM CERWIN VEAGA DX-3 AT $120 EACH.. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC AND FEEL IT TOO DUAL SIX INCH WOOFERS CAN't HANDLE THE BASE LIKE TENS OR TWELVE INCH WOOFER.

IN SUMMARY I WOULD SAY FOR JASS OR CLASSICAL THESE SPEAKERS ARE PRETTY TRUE BUT FOR ROCK OR HEAVY BASE MUSIC BUY A BETTER CABINET AND BUY IT FROM A STORE WHERE YOU CAN RETURN IT ,ECOMMERCE IS DOOMED IFTHEY DON'T HHONOR WARRANTYS. I GIVE THIS OVER PRICED SPEAKER (3) THREE STARS

Whole sound, outperforming most towers at a reasonable level, build well and stunning look.

No direct componet sub inputs for the towers.

Listened by few, Recommended to all. Music or movie, you'll be impressed.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Audio RT1000

Incredible detail, fadility unparalle to the price

Goes into energy saving mode too fast

I did a lot of research (about 2 years, just graduated from college...no $$$ thus can only do research while saving) Before I settled for these speakers, I compared all speakers at circuit city...ok I am lying, all of the higher end speakers at Circuit City and a couple local enthusiast shops. I came down to a SONY DA555ES and a pair of O3. First of all I am never a big bass fan. O3 I believe does more than a good job for music reproduction, no dramatic bass effect that one experiences in the theater that shakes your guts. However, that is for movie fans and that is the job of a HPS-1000; to me bass to that magnitude is simply not music, it is special effect. Another set of speakers in the same price/performance range to consider is Acoustic Research’s AR1. I didn’t like the muffled bass due to the closed box design, thus I got the O3. Bottom line, I believed these are best speakers I can afford, and even after 3 month I still do believe I cannot make decision other-wise. BTW, I don’t know about Polk’s 3000 system, but the voice clarity of their 2000 speakers is no where close to that of the O3, even my untrained ears can tell the difference.

Similar Products Used:

regular stuff, nothing fancy, Pioneer VSX-603 and JBL Music2

everything works very well in this speaker

The tower design, kinda tipsy during placement

I have many speakers (those listed above). Compared to the rest these speakers are worth the money. I have noticed that some people compare these speakers with higher costing speakers and factor that into the overall rating. I am not saying that is right or wrong. I am judging these speakers out of experience and average cost of purchasing. I paid 1050 without shipping. These speakers are quick in response and recreate the sound spectrum accurately. Overall they rate right up with the paradigm monitor 9's that I also own, but they cost me a couple of hundred dollars less. The sound and intensity that these speakers can achieve can be rated with many other speakers that are a few thousand dollars more. I will not name names because from experience people have there own view on how 6000 - 8000 dollar speakers sound when they pay that much for them. After over a year of hard use these speakers are great for Home Theater and all genres of music. If you have a chance to purchase these for 400- 500 dollars apiece do so, you will not be disappointed.

Similar Products Used:

Polk, paradigm, and pioneer

Nice mids, great highs, and bass managment, cherry finish makes wife happy!!

Little tippsy

As with ALL speakers, you have to let the ears do the work, not the reviews or forums however, I have been nothing but pleased with these speakers. The controlling of the bass comes in handy if you also have a sub. I have the BU-120 and it's nice to dial these in together with VE. Once you have the spl meter dialed in (cheap at Radio Shack) you'll never regrett the purchase. Neighbors might but you'll be happy!! Sorry for any spelling probs. not awake yet. Also, don't take any reviews to highly that come from people that rip,rip,rip and also do most of their comparisons by listening to systems,speakers and such at Circuit City. That is a red flag!

Fine detail in music jumps out....

Never want to stop listening.

I have had these since December, 1997. To this day I am still drawn to shutting off the lights, and sitting in awe. I listen to anything from Metallica to Yanni. I am so amazed at how strings on Yanni seem to be right there with you, yet to lound thunderous noise of Metallica does the same. The best is to find an aqustical CD, like Bryan Adams unplugged. You can actually here the pick on the guitar strings. As I said, three years later I still find it hard to shut them off. Amazing.
Before I bought these, I looked at a lot of speakers, but these I enjoyed the best, no contest.
My only complaint is the auto on/off seems to sensitve to electrical noise. If my cable wire is routed too close to the speaker wires, it makes the speakers cycle on/off due to the noise in the cable wire.

Good sound quality in the mid-high ranges. Excellent value at $600-700 ea.

Rather large
Base could be improved

For the pass 4 months I have listoned to a ton of speakers. Finally, I settled on the Overture 3s. Circuit City had these babies priced at $2800 a pair! Shop4.Com delivered them for less than half that amount. For $1,400, I now have, what I believe to be, one of the finest set of speakers at at this price range. The sound quality is excellet, the build quality is great, and the looks are impressive.

You can certainly pay more and get a better speaker but I believe these speakers are at the optimum price/performance point were any increase in sound quality is not worth the investiment it may require.

I have these speakers mated with RS5s in the rear and a Energy sub. Although these speakers have a 300w internal amp, it does not put out enough base for movies. The salesperson at Circuit City said, "I hate the base performance of these speakers, but they will be the very next speakers I purchase." For music, the internal sub are more than sufficient.