Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker Measurements

When I reviewed Infinity's Primus 150 loudspeaker in the April 2004 Stereophile, I was very impressed with its overall performance. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the level of realism this $198/pair loudspeaker can reproduce, and I've kept the review pair to serve as a benchmark for an entry-level audiophile speaker. When I'd completed that review, my first thought was: Now—what can Infinity do within the affordable Primus series for more money? So I requested a review sample of the Primus series' flagship, the three-way Primus 360 floorstanding speaker. After all, how could I resist listening to a speaker that claims 38Hz bass extension for only $658/pair?
Sun, 06/19/2005

COMMENTS
Robin Landseadel's picture

I recall reading this review when it first appeared, noting the unusually fine test results as regards frequency response and off-axis response.

There's a thrift store in town, frequently has recent audio gear, with a lot of Home Theater audio gear as of late. Last month they had a pair of Infinity Primus 360's for $39.99, a pair of the matching, shorter, 250's at $29.99 and a C25 center channel for $8.99. All very clean, with the only damage evident being a missing plastic post for one grill cover, which I removed anyway. Very few scuffs/nicks. On top of all that they also had an early Oppo Universal DVD for $25. Last year, found an Onkyo TX RS606 for $50, and a 3 small subs, including a Polk PSW 50 that seems to do most of the heavy lifting, around $30 a pop. I've got 5.3, 360 sound for a total of less than $300, wire included.

This all goes into the garage, reconfigured into a studio for painting. 20' x 14' x 8'. I've got the speakers raised off the floor so the tweeters are slightly above ear level, with the C25 turned on its side for better imaging. All speakers are crossed over to the subs at 80 hz with the Onkyo's onboard EQ raising mids and reducing treble slightly.

This is one of the best systems I've heard so far. Of course, there are audible flaws, but what's striking is how natural and grain-free vocals are and how dynamic everything is. Piano sound is unusually plausible. Raising the speakers off the floor takes out a bit of the boom, crossing over to the subs seems to get rid of the rest, having three subs loafing at low levels gives me organ pedals & makes the room shudder when playing Sarah McLachlan's "I Love You" from "Surfacing". However, there is a residual audible resonance around 4k that doesn't tamp down with the eq change, the tweeter being the one thing I would change in the speaker design if I could.

I've owned a few classic speakers, have heard many others, spent many years using Stax earspeakers with a matching tube energizer as a audio reference for recording. The Primus speakers, set up as they are now, are as musically informative as the Stax Earspeakers, with better imaging and dynamic scale.

I was looking today at the specs for the Wilson Audio Sabrina speaker—product of the year, this year—and compared the measurements for the Primus 360. While I have no doubt that the Sabrina does some things better than the Primus speakers [and at $17,000 they should], it appears that the Primus 360 does some things better than the Sabrina. In my case, at $39.99.

In any case, as far as I'm concerned, the Primus 360 is a classic.

Pages

Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker Associated Equipment

When I reviewed Infinity's Primus 150 loudspeaker in the April 2004 Stereophile, I was very impressed with its overall performance. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the level of realism this $198/pair loudspeaker can reproduce, and I've kept the review pair to serve as a benchmark for an entry-level audiophile speaker. When I'd completed that review, my first thought was: Now—what can Infinity do within the affordable Primus series for more money? So I requested a review sample of the Primus series' flagship, the three-way Primus 360 floorstanding speaker. After all, how could I resist listening to a speaker that claims 38Hz bass extension for only $658/pair?
Sun, 06/19/2005

COMMENTS
Robin Landseadel's picture

I recall reading this review when it first appeared, noting the unusually fine test results as regards frequency response and off-axis response.

There's a thrift store in town, frequently has recent audio gear, with a lot of Home Theater audio gear as of late. Last month they had a pair of Infinity Primus 360's for $39.99, a pair of the matching, shorter, 250's at $29.99 and a C25 center channel for $8.99. All very clean, with the only damage evident being a missing plastic post for one grill cover, which I removed anyway. Very few scuffs/nicks. On top of all that they also had an early Oppo Universal DVD for $25. Last year, found an Onkyo TX RS606 for $50, and a 3 small subs, including a Polk PSW 50 that seems to do most of the heavy lifting, around $30 a pop. I've got 5.3, 360 sound for a total of less than $300, wire included.

This all goes into the garage, reconfigured into a studio for painting. 20' x 14' x 8'. I've got the speakers raised off the floor so the tweeters are slightly above ear level, with the C25 turned on its side for better imaging. All speakers are crossed over to the subs at 80 hz with the Onkyo's onboard EQ raising mids and reducing treble slightly.

This is one of the best systems I've heard so far. Of course, there are audible flaws, but what's striking is how natural and grain-free vocals are and how dynamic everything is. Piano sound is unusually plausible. Raising the speakers off the floor takes out a bit of the boom, crossing over to the subs seems to get rid of the rest, having three subs loafing at low levels gives me organ pedals & makes the room shudder when playing Sarah McLachlan's "I Love You" from "Surfacing". However, there is a residual audible resonance around 4k that doesn't tamp down with the eq change, the tweeter being the one thing I would change in the speaker design if I could.

I've owned a few classic speakers, have heard many others, spent many years using Stax earspeakers with a matching tube energizer as a audio reference for recording. The Primus speakers, set up as they are now, are as musically informative as the Stax Earspeakers, with better imaging and dynamic scale.

I was looking today at the specs for the Wilson Audio Sabrina speaker—product of the year, this year—and compared the measurements for the Primus 360. While I have no doubt that the Sabrina does some things better than the Primus speakers [and at $17,000 they should], it appears that the Primus 360 does some things better than the Sabrina. In my case, at $39.99.

In any case, as far as I'm concerned, the Primus 360 is a classic.

Pages

Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker Specifications

When I reviewed Infinity's Primus 150 loudspeaker in the April 2004 Stereophile, I was very impressed with its overall performance. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the level of realism this $198/pair loudspeaker can reproduce, and I've kept the review pair to serve as a benchmark for an entry-level audiophile speaker. When I'd completed that review, my first thought was: Now—what can Infinity do within the affordable Primus series for more money? So I requested a review sample of the Primus series' flagship, the three-way Primus 360 floorstanding speaker. After all, how could I resist listening to a speaker that claims 38Hz bass extension for only $658/pair?
Sun, 06/19/2005

COMMENTS
Robin Landseadel's picture

I recall reading this review when it first appeared, noting the unusually fine test results as regards frequency response and off-axis response.

There's a thrift store in town, frequently has recent audio gear, with a lot of Home Theater audio gear as of late. Last month they had a pair of Infinity Primus 360's for $39.99, a pair of the matching, shorter, 250's at $29.99 and a C25 center channel for $8.99. All very clean, with the only damage evident being a missing plastic post for one grill cover, which I removed anyway. Very few scuffs/nicks. On top of all that they also had an early Oppo Universal DVD for $25. Last year, found an Onkyo TX RS606 for $50, and a 3 small subs, including a Polk PSW 50 that seems to do most of the heavy lifting, around $30 a pop. I've got 5.3, 360 sound for a total of less than $300, wire included.

This all goes into the garage, reconfigured into a studio for painting. 20' x 14' x 8'. I've got the speakers raised off the floor so the tweeters are slightly above ear level, with the C25 turned on its side for better imaging. All speakers are crossed over to the subs at 80 hz with the Onkyo's onboard EQ raising mids and reducing treble slightly.

This is one of the best systems I've heard so far. Of course, there are audible flaws, but what's striking is how natural and grain-free vocals are and how dynamic everything is. Piano sound is unusually plausible. Raising the speakers off the floor takes out a bit of the boom, crossing over to the subs seems to get rid of the rest, having three subs loafing at low levels gives me organ pedals & makes the room shudder when playing Sarah McLachlan's "I Love You" from "Surfacing". However, there is a residual audible resonance around 4k that doesn't tamp down with the eq change, the tweeter being the one thing I would change in the speaker design if I could.

I've owned a few classic speakers, have heard many others, spent many years using Stax earspeakers with a matching tube energizer as a audio reference for recording. The Primus speakers, set up as they are now, are as musically informative as the Stax Earspeakers, with better imaging and dynamic scale.

I was looking today at the specs for the Wilson Audio Sabrina speaker—product of the year, this year—and compared the measurements for the Primus 360. While I have no doubt that the Sabrina does some things better than the Primus speakers [and at $17,000 they should], it appears that the Primus 360 does some things better than the Sabrina. In my case, at $39.99.

In any case, as far as I'm concerned, the Primus 360 is a classic.

Pages

Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker

When I reviewed Infinity's Primus 150 loudspeaker in the April 2004 Stereophile, I was very impressed with its overall performance. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the level of realism this $198/pair loudspeaker can reproduce, and I've kept the review pair to serve as a benchmark for an entry-level audiophile speaker. When I'd completed that review, my first thought was: Now—what can Infinity do within the affordable Primus series for more money? So I requested a review sample of the Primus series' flagship, the three-way Primus 360 floorstanding speaker. After all, how could I resist listening to a speaker that claims 38Hz bass extension for only $658/pair?
Sun, 06/19/2005

Revenge of the Chips

On Monday, June 6, at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Steve Jobs revealed that Apple would switch from its IBM-sourced PowerPC chip to Intel's Pentium D processor beginning in the latter half of 2006. Industry analysts began dissecting this move several days before the announcement in a series of "will they/won't they" articles every bit as breathless as those announcing the splits between Ben Affleck and J-Lo or Brad and Jennifer.
Mon, 06/13/2005

Oh-oh, It's MAGIX!

We were walking back from lunch the other day with a fellow audiophile who announced that he was selling his audio-component–quality hard-disk–based recorder without ever having used it.
Mon, 06/13/2005

D&M Holdings to Acquire Boston Acoustics

More consolidation in the audio biz: D&M Holdings, owner of Denon, Marantz, McIntosh Laboratory, ReplayTV, Rio, and Escient, took another big gulp last week and made a move to acquire Boston Acoustics.
Mon, 06/13/2005

Finding Music Like the Music That You Like

Let's face it. Despite the vinyl resurgence amongst the young and not so, the days when analogus collecticus could spend hours scouring record bins, holding product in hand, and reading album notes, are mostly behind us. In response to market evolution, at least three competing computer-based technologies have emerged to steer consumers toward music they will likely enjoy. Each uses a different approach, with one claiming "objectivity."
Mon, 06/13/2005

À la carte tracks or subscriptions? What is your preference for downloading music?

Assuming you could get any resolution you wanted (we are audiophiles after all) from a music download site, would you prefer to purchase individual tracks

À la carte tracks or subscriptions? What is your preference for downloading music?
la carte tracks for me
31% (31 votes)
Subscriptions for me
3% (3 votes)
Mostly
9% (9 votes)
Mostly subscriptions
2% (2 votes)
Equal amounts of both
2% (2 votes)
I don't want no stinkin' downloads no matter how hi-rez!
53% (54 votes)
Total votes: 101
Primary Category: 
Category: 

Linn Unidisk SC universal disc player Wes Phillips, July 2005

Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people.—an old SLA slogan
Sun, 06/12/2005

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