Infinity Primus upgrade

[Samuel allison]

Hi, I have 2 infinity Primus 263 towers, 2 Primus 162 bookshelves, a C350 Center and a P8 sub. They are connected to a Denon x3100w receiver. I want to upgrade my towers first because I can upgrade one thing at a time. What would be a good up grade under $1000

 

[shadyJ]

I would say go for some bookshelf speaker fronts. You just don't need tower speakers if you are using a subwoofer. You can get a higher fidelity sound by forgoing all that extra cabinetry and bass extension which you wouldn't be using when a subwoofer is employed. A very solid choices at $1k is the Revel Concerto2 M16 bookshelf speakers. Another choice which looks to be very good is the SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers. Hsu's new CCB-8 speakers were quite good when I heard them recently, and those would leave a little left over in your budget, or you could get a 3.0 set and get your center speaker taken care of at the same time for just a tad over your budget. If you look around you can probably score a pair of RBH SV-61s for under a grand.

One thing you could do after you upgrade your front two is, if you have the room, move the Infinity towers to either side-surround duty or back-surround. That way you get a full 7.1 system that your AVR supports.

 

[j_garcia]

I'd also say spend a bit less on the mains than you had planned (a solid bookshelf) and put more toward a better sub.

 

[Pogre]

I'm all about bookshelf speakers when using a sub. I have a pair of the Ultras Shady mentioned and wouldn't trade them for any towers in the same price range. Quality over quantity.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I agree with above idea, towers with sub are generally not required as long as bookshelves play nice and flat at least down to 60hz so you could set a crossover at 80hz or so. With some sealed speakers or very small ones bass extension may not be low enough and this could cause bass "localization", which is not ideal.

My strong vote goes toward Ascend's CMT340 LCR. 1k allow you to buy all 3 including stands for fronts (makes them look like Tower speakers) and still have almost $100 change

 

[slipperybidness]

Hi, I have 2 infinity Primus 263 towers, 2 Primus 162 bookshelves, a C350 Center and a P8 sub. They are connected to a Denon x3100w receiver. I want to upgrade my towers first because I can upgrade one thing at a time. What would be a good up grade under $1000

The other guys are giving you good advice, so I will agree with them.

But, I will say that I prefer towers in general. I really can't argue with the reasoning that they are saying that the $ is better spent on bookshelf and subs, vs tower speakers.

Good advice, which I personally ignore for the most part

But, with that being said, I think the next step up from the Primus for towers would probably be the RBH:
https://rbhsound.com/r55ti.php

 

[lovinthehd]

What sub is a P-8? Infinity PS-8 or an Earthquake P8 or ? If it's an 8 inch sub I think you should spend the whole $1000 on the sub and then see if you really think your speakers need upgrading afterwards, seems otherwise more a lateral move with new fronts at that price point. What is it about the sound of your speakers you're looking to improve?

 

[slipperybidness]

What sub is a P-8? Infinity PS-8 or an Earthquake P8 or ? If it's an 8 inch sub I think you should spend the whole $1000 on the sub and then see if you really think your speakers need upgrading afterwards, seems otherwise more a lateral move with new fronts at that price point. What is it about the sound of your speakers you're looking to improve?

You do make some good points. But, the Primus line isn't exactly a slouch in the bass department either.

I think that if it were my HT, I would probably take your advice and invest in a ~$1k sub first and see where that got me.

I think I would be fine with Primus for my HT, but I would want something overall better for a dedicated music rig.

My P363 don't get much use, likely these will become a workshop speaker whenever I finally get a dedicated workshop. They are OK, but when you stack them up against my GE T2 or my Alexis-Philharmonitors, it's no contest.

 

[lovinthehd]

Knowing a little more about use of the system or the goals for the change wouldn't hurt.....

 

[Pogre]

HD has a great point. When I got a real sub I was pretty blown away at how much better my whole system sounded. It really did clean everything up.

 

[shadyJ]

You do make some good points. But, the Primus line isn't exactly a slouch in the bass department either.

I think that if it were my HT, I would probably take your advice and invest in a ~$1k sub first and see where that got me.

I think I would be fine with Primus for my HT, but I would want something overall better for a dedicated music rig.

My P363 don't get much use, likely these will become a workshop speaker whenever I finally get a dedicated workshop. They are OK, but when you stack them up against my GE T2 or my Alexis-Philharmonitors, it's no contest.

I have stacked up my P362s against more expensive speakers in A/B comparisons, and it's amazing how well they hold their own considering the cost. I also have a good set of free-air measurements of the P362s vs other speakers, and their off-axis dispersion is better than most, even much more expensive speakers. I know a lot of people like some of the budget speakers more that have come out since then, like the Pioneer SP speakers, Sony Core, Elac Debut, etc, but for me I don't think the Primus 3-way towers has ever really been topped for the cost when they were like $100 to $150. The only budget speaker that might have challenged it for the cost was the passive Behringer Truth monitors. The Primus 3-way center is very good too, one of the best center speakers, if not the best, at its cost. I also have free-air measurements of those, and they aren't bad considering the design.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I agree with the nomination for a sub upgrade. Much like slipperybidness, I'm a fan of towers also. For me, if I have 1000 dollars to spend on speakers, and my best money is some bookshelf speakers, I'll save a little longer to increase my budget for the towers. That's not to say I disagree that bookshelf/subs can be great. I have my reasons for towers is all. Your infinity's get some love, and that's because they're pretty good, and I think a new sub is a better way to go. Unless p8 is really p18
Some room details and preferences would help too.