Infinity Interlude Question

[20Glove]

I have been looking on Craigslist for the best deal and I have found several people selling these speakers.

MY question first and pretty lame I am sure... but was wondering... the IL50's have built in 250 watt subs in each speaker, is that better than having a separate subwoofer or how is the built in sub going to change the sound if at all compared to free standing subwoofer.... Looking at the 500 watt IL120 versus the IL50 floor standing speaker with built in 250 watt subs in each.

I already have a pair of IL40 floor standing speakers that I love... the sound is awesome... but looking to add and make it a 5.1 or 7.1 system.

Ok 3 deals, which one do you think is best and would sound best for the money.

1) A pair of IL50's and and IL36C for $600:

That would be IL50's in front (built in subs), IL36C Center, and IL40's for the rear.

2) A pair of IL40's, IL36C Center, pair of IL10's, and IL120 subwoofer for $750 total: (had a deal in place for $600 for same set up with IL100 sub instead but was also including a receiver... but guy had change of heart and kept speakers and upgraded receivers... oh well everything happens for a reason, should have listened to one poster here that said I should go pick that up soon, my loss).

A pair of IL40's front, IL36C center, pair of IL40's rear, pair of IL10's back, and IL120

3) A pair of IL30's and IL36C Center for $450:

A pair of IL40's up front, IL36C center, IL30's in the rear, and continue to use my Martin Logan Dynamo as my subwoofer.

My room will be about 16' by 16' when we move into the new house.

I will be hooking these up to a Denon AVR3808ci and using it with a HD DVD player, Blu Ray player, Xbox 360, an onkyo audiophile CD player, and a Yamaha DVD/SACD/DVD A player.

I listen to SACD/DVD A about 10%, games about 15% of the time, CD about 35%, and movies about 40% of the time.

Any other information you would need for suggestions.

Let me know.

 

[MUDSHARK]

The Interludes are fabulous very detailed speakers but I never cared for the matching subs even in the top of the line Prelude MTS towers. Placement tends to be a pain and frankly, subwoofers are not Infinity's strong suit (this from an Infinity fan). Obtaining a sub from a sub company such as SVS would be more satisfying. If you were only running two channel it might be feasible.

My 2 cents.

 

[20Glove]

The Interludes are fabulous very detailed speakers but I never cared for the matching subs even in the top of the line Prelude MTS towers. Placement tends to be a pain and frankly, subwoofers are not Infinity's strong suit (this from an Infinity fan). Obtaining a sub from a sub company such as SVS would be more satisfying. If you were only running two channel it might be feasible.

My 2 cents.

Ok, so are you saying not to get any of the sets or are you saying I should go with the IL30 and IL36C? Cause all the sets except for 30 and 36 come with either IL120 or built in.... and they will not separate.

Also, do you know the difference between built in subs on towers versus free standing subs. Is there a difference?

I love the Martin Logan subs.. they are GREAT. So tight. If I get one of these sets I may link my two martin logan dynamos together for Home theatre.

Let me know what you think.

 

[MUDSHARK]

3) A pair of IL30's and IL36C Center for $450:

A pair of IL40's up front, IL36C center, IL30's in the rear, and continue to use my Martin Logan Dynamo as my subwoofer.

That would be my choice. Since your sub gives satisfactory performance why address a problem that does not exist?

I know of no mandatory difference between stand-alone subs and power tower type arrangements but the enclosure size does require compromises. Perhaps one of the sub experts will chime in. I have never cared for smaller enclosure high watt subs such as SunFire or Paradigm. SVS subs are large for a reason. I do know that stand-alone Subs permit more options with regard to placement not having to be under the speakers.

 

[20Glove]

That would be my choice. Since your sub gives satisfactory performance why address a problem that does not exist?

I know of no mandatory difference between stand-alone subs and power tower type arrangements but the enclosure size does require compromises. Perhaps one of the sub experts will chime in. I have never cared for smaller enclosure high watt subs such as SunFire or Paradigm. SVS subs are large for a reason. I do know that stand-alone Subs permit more options with regard to placement not having to be under the speakers.

Plus, I have to say I can get the IL30's for cheaper than IL10's.

One more question... if you were putting together a 7.1 system.... would you take a chance on buying one IL30 and hoping to find a single speaker down the line?

It is a great deal $44 shipped. I can use it as 6.1 now.. would you take the chance??

Let me know. As always thank you!

 

[Seth=L]

I see Interlude towers pop up on ebay all the time for just one speaker, I don't understand why that is so common. You might get lucky, but I wouldn't risk it myself (getting just the one speaker).

Interlude speakers are great, but as Mudshark stated they are not the best for subwoofers. The Martin Logan subs you have now are better, much better IMO.

 

[20Glove]

I see Interlude towers pop up on ebay all the time for just one speaker, I don't understand why that is so common. You might get lucky, but I wouldn't risk it myself (getting just the one speaker).

Interlude speakers are great, but as Mudshark stated they are not the best for subwoofers. The Martin Logan subs you have now are better, much better IMO.

So Seth, you are saying go with the IL30 and IL36C combo over the other deals I have listed?

Or which deal would you choose?

 

[tomd51]

Having owned a pair of IL50s, 36c and IL10s, I would opt for a separate subwoofer. While the dual 10s do a decent job and go down to 32Hz, it's just not enough for good low-end HT. I was pleased w/all other aspects of the IL line, the 36C is a great center and the IL10s are nice bookshelfs, just not the smallest ones I've seen.

When I introduced the SVS 20-39 PCi to my setup and set the IL50s w/the crossover to 60Hz, you could really tell the difference and hear (as well as feel) what you were missing earlier. The IL40s are basically IL60s w/out the built-in powered subs and the IL30s are the IL50s also w/out the built-in powered subs. The cabinets also may be slightly smaller, but b/c the cabinet enclosure is only being used for the speakers and not for a sub, this likely makes up the difference.

If you can get the IL40s, they'll perform a bit better than the IL30s, but if not, it's not a monumental difference... -TD

 

[kabir]

Even with the inbuilt subs, you still need an extra sub. believe me, I have a setup of Il60(fronts), Il50s(rear), IL36c center and IL120s(sub). Once the sub had stopped working, the system did not sound half as good

 

[20Glove]

Ok, what to do now

If you can get the IL40s, they'll perform a bit better than the IL30s, but if not, it's not a monumental difference... -TD

Ok, Now I am in a Dilemma... well good dilemma I might add...

Someone is willing to sell me 4 IL40's for $300 plus shipping ($137) but am wondering if that is really overkill as a 7.1 system?

This would give me IL40's upfront... IL36C Center... IL40's rear.... IL40's as surround... and 2 linked Martin Logan Dynamos as my subs.. is that way overkill? 6 towers around the listening area... would I lose some sound or gain sound or does it matter?

I feel this might be the best deal I have found and the IL40's are awesome!

Let me know. Thanks to all that have posted.

 

[MUDSHARK]

No such thing as overkill! Not much comes out of the back surrounds but you will still be happy. The price is right so what the hell.

 

[20Glove]

No such thing as overkill! Not much comes out of the back surrounds but you will still be happy. The price is right so what the hell.

I agree. I do not think I could get IL10's for that price. Plus at a later time if I want.. I can move one set of IL40's to zone 2 and go with Beta 250es or IL10's as back surrounds.

One more question... if I listen to music is 7 channel stereo it will sound completely awesome right?

I emailed this person back at 12 noon and he has not gotten back to me... wondering if this is going to fall through, hope not. Will keep you updated.

 

[MUDSHARK]

I have never heard 7 channel music. My DVD-Audio is 5 channel and the concerts I have are also 5 channel though I suppose some out there are 6 channel. The new formats may make use of seven channel but I would expect that to be an advantage mainly with classical music. For electronic music it may merely sound gimmicky. I do not know this and am merely speculating.

Welcome to high-end Infinity. Membership card on its way.

 

[tomd51]

I wouldn't say the IL40s in the rear are overkill, but unless you have large listening area on the side and behind you, you likely will not notice any difference between them and a pair of IL10s or a smaller bookshelf.

The only benefit of having the same speakers and/or timbre matching in the surrounds are if you're listening to multichannel music and the panning from front to rear are heavily used, which isn't often in the case as I've noticed from my SACDs and DVD-As... -TD

 

[20Glove]

I wouldn't say the IL40s in the rear are overkill, but unless you have large listening area on the side and behind you, you likely will not notice any difference between them and a pair of IL10s or a smaller bookshelf.

The only benefit of having the same speakers and/or timbre matching in the surrounds are if you're listening to multichannel music and the panning from front to rear are heavily used, which isn't often in the case as I've noticed from my SACDs and DVD-As... -TD

Well in the new house, which hopefully sell ours soon, we will be in a basement that I confirmed today as being 16' by 28' now I talked to the seller today and he told me it would be easy to put up walls and make a hallway and then a wall splitting rooms... it is an L shaped basement... so the 28' is length of the room and 16' would be width.

So talked to a family friend who is a contractor and he said I would lose about 3 to 3 and half feet width and he told me he would put up the wall to make it a rectangular HT and not L shaped... L shaped my friend said would lose sound. So the room would go to approximately 13' by 20' with a 100" to 104" screen up front and projector in the ceiling... and my AV rack somewhere on the wall. So would put the HT chairs about 10' back from screen and we will have 3 chairs.

If this happens, we will have a pretty good setup... I think!?!?!

We will have the front speakers as spread out in the front as possible (at least 8-10" between speaker and side wall and at least 1' from back wall and at least 5-6' apart. Then Side surround would go about half way between the Front on Rear surrounds. Then rear surrounds even with front surrounds (again 8-10" between speaker and side wall and at least 1' from back wall and at least 5-6' apart).

I figured that would put the fronts, side surrounds, and back surrounds about 6 feet apart each... maybe a little less. We would be sitting approximately even with the side surrounds and approximately 5-6 feet from the rears if I figured it out correctly. I think this will be a nice wide sound stage. I can not wait to hook it up like this and listen to Saw IV in DTS-HD master audio 7.1 we will see with that!!

Thank you all again for posting.