Infinity Renaissance 90 questions


Hi fellow AG'ers, I have just pulled the trigger & purchased a pair of Ren 90's in black ash & had some newbie questions for more experienced members. Firstly as they are still shipping from the US, I'd love to know what finish (Black ash or blonde oak) you prefer? In my case, a micky mouse pair came up for sale at the right price in Black ash, so I grabbed them..

Also, I will be initially running my Rens with a Classe Cap-2100 integrated amp which has been bench tested at 235watts/4 ohms. I know most punters advocate giving them 400 watts per channel, so what do you think? (although the Classe has a truckload of current to compensate). I should mention I plan on upgrading to a Ca-2200 pa & AR Reference 3 in a few years, but for now, the Cap will doing regular duties.

Finally, I would be interested to hear from any members who have re-wired their Rens & had a high-end external crossover built & what results you got? I am planning a very high end x-over mod & re-wire of my Rens with Acoustic Zen wire next year and would appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers!
melbguy1

Showing 5 responses by clavil

Hi everybody,

nice to see so many enthousiasts for Infinty's Renaissance 90.
I bought them in 1995 in black ash, mostly because of their marvellous mid range and the stage imaging. Until summer 2008 I had a Treshold Fet nine + OCM 200 (some 250 Watt /channel) to drive them. I choose this combination after having heard a couple of different things, beetween them there was also a Classé Audio (which number ?? I can't remenber).
In August last year I had at home a Audio Research Ref 3 and Jeff Rowland's Capri & monoblocs 501 (1000 watt per channel at 4 Ohm) ...

Oh my goodness, this was incredible, I discovered 13 years after having bought them how really they can sound. This was a shock (a beautifull one ;-) ) the staging became completely holografic, the musicians are just playing there in the middle of the room in front of me, I can zoom with the ears beetween the instruments, the sound never gets hard, and the stage is deep and wide.

I think these elegant beasts need a lot of power, the more they get the better they are under control and only in these conditons they can show their best.
Now I have upgraded everything in my system, I use Rowlands Capri, Monos 501 with their PC1 (a unit which makes the 501 sounds even better). Perfect and precise bass and mellow middle & high range. (I hear mostly Symphonic Music, Opera & Jazz).

At your place I would definitively try Jeff Rowlands Monos 501 , you will just wonder. Maybe you could also consider Nuforce. From this point you have then to build your system like a french dinner in a 3 stars Michelin Restaurant, choosing the right I.C. & P.C. which matches with your taste and you will have long years of pleasure ;-)

Infinity's Sigma is a little different as it is a dipole speaker, one Emit is on the back and the bass and mid speakes are bigger than Renaissance's ones. I have never heard them and would be happy if somebody could tell the differences beetween them.

Furthermore I wonder if somebody could tell which speaker in 2009 has similar sound caracteristics or is a succesfull further development of the R.90.
I have them 1.30 from side walls and 1.50 from rear. With the "toe in" you can decide how deep you want the stage to be ...

furthermore only the right amplification will produce a completely holografic stage imaging
i feel the speaker is the last of your components in a system that is heard and the most critical component in your system, you can run a kmart speaker on the worlds best electronics and it will sound ok but if you run the worlds best speaker on "kmart" electronics i feel it will always sound better than the after mentioned.
greg

Sorry I don't agree, and especially in the case of the R.90 a weak electronic will show you 10% of these speakers. I gave my Fet nine + OCM 200 (from David Belles) to a friend who has a couple of 20 years very modest & old Canton bookschelves speakers, you should hear how they are sounding now! ... we were very surprised.
It's like with cars do you prefer to have a Ferrari with an engine of Mini or a Mini with an engine of Ferrari?
My choice is done ;-)
Hi Timpani,

very interesting!

concerning Krell I had a strange experience, I heard following set up:

EVO 900 + preamp EVO n° ?
EVO 505
MIT Oracle
Magico V3
all in a prepared room

and it was ... bad to very bad!

I know a little bit the Mini magicos and the V3 and never before I heard such a dry sound ...

could it be that everything is still more complicate ... like between humans with personal "sympathies and antipathies" between speakers & electronic ?
Now I'm driving them with a Vincent SP-331 they sound better. Guess this is still the very minimum you should give them though..

absolutely right ! ...

the more power & control, better ...

the difference is huge

only then you will discover what they are capable of