The Infinity Primus P162 Bookshelf speakers have been selling like hotcakes at the Audioholics store - that's just a fact. They've got a lot of buzz right now. If I was designing a set of budget bookshelf speakers and I wanted to sell, I'd focus on a few things. Great center image, wide soundstage, and the lowest response I could muster. Well, Infinity hit the nail on the head with this one. These are the perfect entry level speakers.
Discuss "Infinity Primus P162 Bookshelf Speaker Review" here. Read the article.
I think a smaller version of these are going to make there way to my surrounds soon. Probably the P142, but maybe the P152.
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The review questions the dynamic abilities of the tweeter used. Well, I don't know what caused the problems the reviewer heard, it could be the crossover itself was saturating the tiny xover coil causing distortion in this speaker system. Or, the simply fact that the natural response of the tweeter has a rising upper range that will simply be perceived as 'harsher' due to perceived imbalance as you raise absolute SPL according to basic Fletcher-Munsoon curves. But using the tweeter directly connected in an active system with a 200 watt RMS amplifier (to each tweeter), no dynamic limitations are present until you get into extreme SPL ranges. The midwoofer and tweeter used in this speaker, used with the right crossover, are suited to pretty much any level of speaker system, in terms of actual performance. But you do need to cross the midwoofer at about 90-100Hz to allow it to retain transparency at very high SPL. The mid-woofer and tweeter use very thick ceramic layers(extreme heavy anodized to build up a 20%ceramic/40percent alu core/20% ceramic) that total about 40 % of the thickness of the diaphragm. The increased stiffness raises the frequency of break up mode as well as this structure having superior dampening ability, resulting in drivers that have near perfect piston-like behavior within their used bandwidths. The mid-bass for example does not even require a notch filter, unlike most metal diaphragm mid-bass/mid-range drivers. However, one can still use a notch filter ( I do ) if they want to seek perfection.
I analyzed the behavior of the drivers in a pair of Primus 160, which besides color scheme, should be identical to the 162. I ended up using the mid-range and tweeters in a reference quality, no holds barred monitor system designed to be absolute neutral. I could have used any drivers ( I have many very high quality drivers on hand ), but after discovering the potential these offered, I decided to go ahead and use them.
Now, even though these drivers have extreme potential, the cabinets and crossovers used SEVERELYrestrict the performance. I use extreme low resonance cabinet systems along with a fully active DSP crossover system combined with high power amplifiers in my application.
-Chris
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The Infinity Primus P162 Bookshelf speakers have been selling like hotcakes at the Audioholics store - that's just a fact. They've got a lot of buzz right now. If I was designing a set of budget bookshelf speakers and I wanted to sell, I'd focus on a few things. Great center image, wide soundstage, and the lowest response I could muster. Well, Infinity hit the nail on the head with this one. These are the perfect entry level speakers.
Discuss "Infinity Primus P162 Bookshelf Speaker Review" here. Read the article.
"Selling like hotcakes at the Audioholics store..."
I'm sure the brisk sales have nothing to do with the fact that the P162 is the top rated bookshelf speaker by none other than Consumer Reports right now. The brief review is in the December 2008 issue on page 39 and is also available in a little more detail at CR's web site.
For whatever reason, your findings about bass do not jive with CR. As they use an anechoic chamber I trust their findings.
Second, the peak you measured at 15,000 Hz has little effect with most music sources. In fact, given how little fundamentals are at 10,000 Hz and above, a peak at 1,500 Hz would have had a far more audible effect.
Of course, when one reads between the lines it seems that the P162 was pushed pretty hard.
I owned a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers for a while, and found them to be very natural sounding and suitable for Left, Center and Right.
At a delivered price of $181 at Crutchfield, they are a very good value with solid response past 15 KHz. As with just about any bookshelf of this size, a subwoofer is recommended.
Remember, we are not talking Totem Mani 2 here; the tax on a pair of Mani 2's would be more than a pair of these P162's.
Consumer Reports states the P 162 had "very good sound, with very good bass." No mention of listening fatigue.
You really missed the boat on this one.
Last edited by spyboy : 04-14-2009 at 06:14 PM.
Reason: addition
"Selling like hotcakes at the Audioholics store..."
I'm sure the brisk sales have nothing to do with the fact that the P162 is the top rated bookshelf speaker by none other than Consumer Reports right now. The brief review is in the December 2008 issue on page 39 and is also available in a little more detail at CR's web site.
For whatever reason, your findings about bass do not jive with CR. As they use an anechoic chamber I trust their findings.
Second, the peak you measured at 15,000 Hz has little effect with most music sources. In fact, given how little fundamentals are at 10,000 Hz and above, a peak at 1,500 Hz would have had a far more audible effect.
Of course, when one reads between the lines it seems that the P162 was pushed pretty hard.
I owned a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers for a while, and found them to be very natural sounding and suitable for Left, Center and Right.
At a delivered price of $181 at Crutchfield, they are a very good value with solid response past 15 KHz. As with just about any bookshelf of this size, a subwoofer is recommended.
Remember, we are not talking Totem Mani 2 here; the tax on a pair of Mani 2's would be more than a pair of these P162's.
Consumer Reports states the P 162 had "very good sound, with very good bass." No mention of listening fatigue.
You really missed the boat on this one.
All hail Consumer Reports. God forbid reviewers have different opinions. Heck Consumer Reports also loves Boses speakers so I suppose its all a matter of personal taste and we all know there is no accounting for taste
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All hail Consumer Reports. God forbid reviewers have different opinions. Heck Consumer Reports also loves Boses speakers so I suppose its all a matter of personal taste and we all know there is no accounting for taste
You better believe all hail CR. Wanna buy a Chrysler Sebring convertible?
How about something from General Motors?
The sound engineers at CR don't have their heads in the clouds, (or another popular location). They put the speakers in their anechoic chamber and let the instruments do the rest.
Certainly more than can be said for your testing methods.
And last but not least, this is not supposed to be a discussion about someones opinion.
But, don't let that stop you from bashing an organization that has vastly more and better resources to test and report on everything from TVs to speakers to cars and hundreds of other items.
Audio engineers are not hard to come by. Audio pros who have visited CRs AV test labs come back very impressed. Look up Gregg Loewen.
CRs speaker tests go back at least 25 years and the anechoic chamber still tells the truth.
Infinity Primus P162 Bookshelf Speaker Review
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