Hey, it's Seth again to discuss speakers (like we haven't done this before). I've been hanging on to my Infinity Interlude 10 bookshelf speakers with some sort of kung fu death grip for more than a decade; I just can't seem to find a worth successor. I feel like I've tried a lot of things and always end up underwhelmed or inconvenienced in some way.
I live in a single bedroom apartment. My living room, dining area, and kitchen are a conjoined misshapenly room. It's probably the a horrible nightmare on acoustics that only Freddy himself could have inserted into an otherwise pleasant dream (and I am pretty sure that did not make sense).
I found the most effective area to use my speakers and subwoofer are in the dining area, which is sort of in its own little cubby hole. I get good bass response there, and good imaging from the speakers.
Now to get to the meat of it. The Infinity speakers are great, but I would like better. I find the Infinitys to be smooth, not agitating, open, and fun. I have some M&K S-80 monitors as well, they're less fun, more clinical, lack the bass the larger Infinitys have, but they are bright (not harsh). They too image well, but they just do not excite me.
The Infinitys have their shortcomings. The lower midrange or upper midbass is over pronounced typically of bookshelf speakers. This hump is helped by plugging the ports, but it is not entirely eliminated. This causes pianos and vocals to be noticeably colored. Depends what I'm listening to whether I notice this occur or not.
I've tried B&W 602 S3s, did not prefer them. Bass was just a little too "big", seemed exaggerated. A little brighter than the Infinitys as well, and I'm not looking for brighter. I prefer to keep the same balance of highs I've come to enjoy from the Interlude 10s.
Also tried Paradigm Studio 20 v1, again, brighter than I'd like. I enjoy their soundstage, but they're just more aggressive overall.
I do not have space for proper arrangement of floor speakers, I'm considering that almost a non option. I've tried several and almost always had trouble with placement.
So is there any bookshelf speaker out there that doesn't have a forced bass hump by the crossover and shares the smoothness I've come to enjoy from the Infinitys? Am I crazy for thinking the Infinitys sound smooth? I've heard other people just blanket claim all infinity speakers are bright and harsh, this is not what I hear from mine.
Am I correct to assume that tweeter dome material plays little factor on how smooth, warm, harsh, dark, etc ... a tweeter will sound, and this is more contingent of the utilization of a crossover?
