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Infinity RS1B ? Buy or runaway

I have an opportunity to buy a set of RS1B in excellent condition. They have been well taken care of and are very close to home. Years ago at a Stereophile show, I heard them, wow! The sound and their presence were fantastic! My fear is that like a lot of other things I look back on and lust after look ALOT greater in my memory than they actually perform. Given my current set up and room, I wanted to get some opinions about buying. Or will I be disappointed, maybe due to equipment or the room limitations? I don't think I would get rid of the Apogees unless the RS1B's surpass them in sound quality. Very nervous laying out over 4k for something that won't move quickly if I end up not enjoying them.
My room dimensions are 13' 9" X 25' (Converted garage)
All equipment is located on the front (13' 9") wall with an entry door at the front right corner. Listening position is approximately 13' from the front wall
Current equipment
VPI HW 19 MKIII
Rotel RSX1067 ( for HT)
Audio Research SP4 (lightly modded)
Audire Forte amps x 2 (bi-amp)
Apogee Caliper Signatures
McIntosh MVP891


drf24
playthebody
10 posts
 
I was introduced to Bob Stadther by Paul McGowan. Bob is Pauls chief engineer  at PS Audio and is the responsible for the rebuild of the IRS V's that Paul uses as his current reference. I believe that Bob had access to Arnie Nudell and basically built the xovers that Arnie would have built with todays available parts/technology.  Well Bob did this complete redo for my RS1B's as well.  I am still getting and handle on the entire picture but so far I am extremely impressed with the dramatic improvements in virtually every parameter that i perceive. I will report further if anyone is interested as I spend more time with the system.
 
phomchick's avatar
phomchick
209 posts
 
@playthebody - that's a very interesting post!
When I started rebuilding my RS1s I traded an email or two with Paul McGowan, and he said, based on advice from Arnie, they used Mundorf capacitors in the IRS V rebuild. He didn't specify which series, so I used MKP (M-Cap) series caps. I replaced all of the NPE capacitors with films, and replaced most of the existing film caps in the crossover with Mundorfs.  I also used two larger value Solens (but I bypassed them with Mundorfs).

I would be interested in corresponding with Bob Stadther if you wouldn't mind introducing me. If would be fun to find out how close my rebuilt crossovers are to yours.
infinityaudio
5 posts
 
I own RS1b's and they are still amazing speakers if driven correctly. They need both power and finesse. I use Manley Neo-Classic 250 mono's for the mid/hi and 300w Classe mono's for the bass. The preamp is the Manley Steelhead. I use outboard Mundorf caps rather than the high-pass caps built into the servo (value I've selected calculated by the amplifiers input impedance) that makes a massive difference to sound quality. My RS1b are the same pair as were passively displayed at the Penta Hotel hifi exhibition way back when. 
playthebody
10 posts
 
@phomchick:

·       All printed circuit construction

·       Mundorf M-Cap capacitors on tweeter circuits

·       Jantzen  Crosscap capacitors on midrange circuits

·       Jantzen P-Core for iron core inductors

·       16AWG Foil for air core inductors

·       Rheostats replaced with step attenuators using metal film resistors

·       PS Audio binding posts

·       Terminal blocks for connection to existing wires

The sound is quite amazing. Apologies for the delayed response


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