Infinity Primus P363 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Review

[j_garcia]

I went and gave these a quick listen last night and I can definitely hear those "bumps". Midrange was good for $99, but Fry's isn't exactly a good place to listen and I couldn't get a great feel for them. LOL, the salesperson said "Don't expect much from a $99 speaker" Anyway, I thought they were fine. Decent lower midbass punch, but sligthly less extension than I expected. Highs were crisp, but overall they lacked a bit of clarity. The cabinets were not as inert as I would have hoped. Still, for that price, these things are quite good, though the 4 Ohm impedance still makes them not something that will be good for low end receivers.

 

[tonmeister]

Robert Scoble Visits Harman Test Labs

I thought of this thead this week when tech writer Robert Scoble visited Harman Labs and picked the Infinity Primus 363 in a blind listening test. You can read about it here and see the interview he conducted with me right after he choose the Primus as his favorite choice in the test.
Audio Musings by Sean Olive: Behind Harman's Testing Lab

 

[billy p]

I like the way you skirted around the cables question ...

 

[KEW]

Aren't those actually P362's?
I always assumed they are sonically identical. Is this correct?

 

[Alex2507]

I thought of this thead this week when tech writer Robert Scoble visited Harman Labs and picked the Infinity Primus 363 in a blind listening test. You can read about it here and see the interview he conducted with me right after he choose the Primus as his favorite choice in the test.
Audio Musings by Sean Olive: Behind Harman's Testing Lab

You lost some weight since Boston.

I always assumed they are sonically identical. Is this correct?

Yes.

 

[tonmeister]

I like the way you skirted around the cables question ...

Yes, I didn't make any friends with the cable companies or my JBL Pro colleagues with the comment about we don't have many of them on our panel because they are old rock n rollers with hearing loss

 

[tonmeister]

Aren't those actually P362's?
I always assumed they are sonically identical. Is this correct?

I think they were P363,s not P362s but they are sonically the same.

 

[tonmeister]

You lost some weight since Boston.



Yes.

Yes, I've taken up running since Feb. and am up to 5.5 miles every morning chasing my dreams Lost 25 lbs.

 

[KEW]

I think they were P363,s not P362s but they are sonically the same.

The one in the video had a silver front panel. Unless the P363 comes in both silver and black, I think they were P362. It really doesn't matter since it is only color, but I'm a little OCD on this stuff.

 

[PENG]

I like my 362 a lot but they don't sound good with orchestral classical recordings such as concertos and symphonies. I have no idea why..

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I like my 362 a lot but they don't sound good with orchestral classical recordings such as concertos and symphonies. I have no idea why..

Bias, bro, bias.

I like my P362 a lot too, but they are sitting in my closet.

 

[PENG]

Bias, bro, bias.

I thought accurate speakers should do well regardless of the type of music but the 362 changed my mind. They did not sound too good reproducing large orchestral music, not good enough for me anyway. It could well be that I was bias,bias,bias, but then why would they sound good to me playing Jazz music such as Diana Krall's? By the way I mistakenly reported previously that I paid $279.99 for them when in fact I paid $385, still great value for the money.

 

[Alex2507]

I thought accurate speakers should do well regardless of the type of music but the 362 changed my mind. They did not sound too good reproducing large orchestral music, not good enough for me anyway. It could well be that I was bias,bias,bias, but then why would they sound good to me playing Jazz music such as Diana Krall's? By the way I mistakenly reported previously that I paid $279.99 for them when in fact I paid $385, still great value for the money.

Sean Olive mentioned that simple music (Tracy Chapman, Fast Car) is easier to rate speakers with. Also the preference tests are done at I think 80-84 db. That's where and what most people listen to and at. My point is that a speaker that was designed to do well in preference tests with that content at that volume doesn't mean that they'll be able to satisfy a person trying to enjoy the sound of a dozen violins. It's a different set of requirements being placed on the speaker.

Vocals are midrange and that's where the 360/2/3 do exceedingly well and that's where humans hear the best so it's no wonder that those speakers come out on top in these tests. They are 'good' speakers. For the money they are 'excellent' speakers.

 

[zieglj01]

While all this is interesting (blind testing), when are these
Infinity's going to be tested against other speakers in this
blind set-up. Not a big shock, that the Infinity was chosen
the winner, over the likes of Polk and Klipsch.

 

[KEW]

While all this is interesting (blind testing), when are these
Infinity's going to be tested against other speakers in this
blind set-up. Not a big shock, that the Infinity was chosen
the winner, over the likes of Polk and Klipsch.

Anybody recognize the other speaker in the line-up?

 

[zieglj01]

Anybody recognize the other speaker in the line-up?

Looks like Martin Logan.

 

[Alex2507]

Looks like Martin Logan.

It is ... maybe a Vista?

Why would they want to test it against other speakers? They have achieved their objective. Harman Audio is allowing them to build good sounding speakers within a certain price point and the world knows it. My ears were happy and their profit margin was healthy.

Using science they (Olive and team) sold I believe Toyota on buying their car audio stuff. Great. More profits and more happy ears. My only hope is that Sean Olive goes and gives Del a hand bangin' out KEW's Phil's so that I can step up to some Salks.

Is that too much to ask?

 

[zieglj01]

It is ... maybe a Vista?

Why would they want to test it against other speakers? They have achieved their objective. Harman Audio is allowing them to build good sounding speakers within a certain price point and the world knows it. My ears were happy and their profit margin was healthy.

My only hope is that Sean Olive goes and gives Del a hand bangin' out KEW's Phil's so that I can step up to some Salks.

Is that too much to ask?

Well at least I agree, that they achieved their objective.

The Primus series is nice for the price, and a lot of people
are happy with them.

Maybe you will get the Salks soon - however, Sean may be
too busy. Good Luck.

 

[PENG]

He mentioned "neutral" and "accurate", if I remember correctly. I am not sure we all know what qualify a speaker to be considered neutral and accurate, I mean even just on paper such as graphs and specs. Obviously a speaker that has +/-6 dB over the audible range should not be consider accurate, but should a speaker that has +/-3 dB necessarily considered not as accurate/neutral as one that offers +/- 2 dB, without considering other factors such as the what, where, how and things other than frequency response that also contribute to sound quality, such as distortions, transient response, ability to do well with more complex signals such those recorded in huge symphony orchestras?

I think there aren't much unkowns in amp specs such that provided the specs are honest, detailed, complete, and verifiable, I feel comfortable to make a purchase decision without relying on my ears. With speakers, I am not willing to judge them by looking at the specs and graphs only. Don't get me wrong I do value specs and graphs, but to a much lesser extent that I do with amps, that's all. And I do use them to weed out speakers that I won't even bother considering.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I thought accurate speakers should do well regardless of the type of music but the 362 changed my mind. They did not sound too good reproducing large orchestral music, not good enough for me anyway. It could well be that I was bias,bias,bias, but then why would they sound good to me playing Jazz music such as Diana Krall's? By the way I mistakenly reported previously that I paid $279.99 for them when in fact I paid $385, still great value for the money.

Like we think, probably a lot more to it than just on-axis and off-axis and measurements.

Sure, great measurements are for real and that's what we want. But after passing that test, the best speakers will also pass the actual listening tests with all kinds of music like complex orchestras.