What are yalls experience with the Infinity Beta series?

[Braddock]

A few years ago when Infinity was closing out its Beta line I bought the whole setup for my HT system. I figured for such a discount and the reviews I had read on them I couldnt lose. Fast forward a few years and Im in the process of upgrading again. For over 20 years Ive been messing around with A/V receivers and setups. Nothing fancy, just consumer level stuff. The one thing Ive always noticed is that every center channel Ive had, all the way up to the Infinity Beta C360, sound like crap. Its hard to hear their voices clearly, its muddy, etc. But when music plays in a movie, everything else sounds great. Ive used anything from Onkyo SrTX806 to a Denon AVR1913 and nothing changes. ANyways, thats just a side note, what I really want to know is, what are yalls thoughts on the Beta series? Definitely not for music in my opinion, but what about HT? Im awaiting my new prepro to arrive in the mail to couple with my new 5 channel amp, so Im hoping for a vast improvement over the Denon AVR 1913.

 

[j_garcia]

Have you checked to make sure that speaker isn't damaged? How do you have it placed? Have you tried one of the other speakers connected as the center? Have you calibrated the system? IMO, the Beta series were as good as or better than the current Primus line IMO. If the speaker is fine, then it sounds like it just doesn't work for you and no level of electronics change is likely to fix that.

 

[lsiberian]

The Beta line was moved up to Revel to sell at a higher price point. So they aren't slouches. The C360 is probably the best horizontal I've heard, but it's still a horizontal center. I owned a set of Betas for a half a year before I built my own speakers. So I can verify they are excellent speakers, but they are not top line level speakers. Get some Salks.

 

[j_garcia]

I am going to just guess here, but I'd say 7 out of 10 times when people have issues with their center is is because it is either placed in the worst possible spot relative to the seating position or it is simply not properly configured/calibrated.

 

[mike c]

yeah, the C360 (the one with the mid below the tweeter) was pretty good.
i had no dialogue issues.

my guess is that you calibrated it wrong.

 

[zieglj01]

I for sure, will take the Beta series over the Primus

 

[j_garcia]

I for sure, will take the Beta series over the Primus

I preferred the Alphas to the Betas on top of that, but the Primus line is sort of a cheapened version of that era of speaker.

 

[Braddock]

If Im sitting right in front of it 12 inches away, I should be able to understand it regardless of calibration. Once I get my new gear all set up and calibrated, we'll see how it does. It seems every time I do a calibration, that I have to strain to understand whats being said and I end up turning the center up from -5db to +4 or so just to hear what theyre saying.

 

[Musicianized]

Dunno why you guys are knocking the Primus line, they are excellent.

 

[lsiberian]

Dunno why you guys are knocking the Primus line, they are excellent.

Who is knocking them?

 

[Musicianized]

Who is knocking them?

I guess nobody was really knocking them.. I have 3 163's as front/centers and 2 153's for surrounds with an outlaw sub and the sound is excellent to me..