I presume you have read Robert Riena's stereophile review of the Infinity 360 speaker. If you haven't, do so. It is a very positive and acurate description of the speakers. His only major complaint was the speakers midbass ripeness, but this can be almost completly removed by retrofitting the stock plastic feet with speaker spikes. At this price range, I don't know of a finer "full range" speaker, easily giving speakers twice the price a run for their money. Another undiscovered audio gem!

RG

I doubt you could top the Infinity at the price if you want a full range floor standing speaker. If it has been a while since you have auditioned speakers, I would only suggest that you give a few monitor style speakers a listen to see if you have a preference. I say this only because I generally prefer monitors over floor standers and don't mind giving up a little lower frequency for increased imaging and soundstaging. Not only that, the only competition at this price point is going to be a monitor speaker anyway.

PSB Image T45?

Perhaps sacrifice some low end but the imaging and tonal accuracy of these speakers make them a fair value in my book, despite having MSRP of $749.

At that price point there are a lot of choices....Polk, JMlab, B&W, PSB etc etc....

Consult the yellow pages for some hifi shops in your area, grab a few of your favorite CD's/LP's and go out and get your listen on.

BDT

A monitor is a loudspeaker. Typically, a monitor denotes a loudspeaker that is used in the control room of a recording studio to monitor a recording session- hence their name "monitor". To me, the classic definition of a monitor is typically a speaker designed for near-field (very close to the speaker) use.

However, monitor seems to be used interchangeably with stand mounted loudspeakers (aka "bookshelf" speakers). The typical bookshelf would most likely not be designed exclusively for near-field use.

As far as your quest for a loudspeaker goes, I'm afraid I have no experience with either of those. Research the specs from their respective manufacturer's website and try to find reviews online and offline. Then... go listen.

Go with the realization the setup of the system and the layout of the "listening rooms" at chain stores like Circuit City have acoustics that are probably far from ideal and very different from the room you will put them in at home. Fortunately, chain stores usually have a fairly liberal return policy...

Good luck!

Unfortunatly, therein lies the problem. Circuit City and other mass marketing chain stores are not the ideal source for auditioning speakers, but Infinity seems to be represented by only such dealers. Not only having less than ideal acoustic enviroments, associated equipment ie players and recievers are less than ideal as well. In my experience, Circuit City does not carry the Infinity 360, but they do carry the 260, the model just below the top of the line Primus model 360. It has a very similar character to the 360. You will have to imagine just how much better the 360 could be with slighter larger cabinet and woofers, and a dedicated midrange driver, unless you are fortunate enough to find a dealer in your area who has a 360 to audition. In the end, only YOU can decide the difference for yourself. It would be foolish for me to try to sway you in either direction other than to say I own a pair of 360's as my front L/R in my Home Theatre system, and that cost was no object in my selection between the Primus 360 vs Beta 50. In the end, I trusted my ears, Robert Reina's stereophile review as well as others, and ordered online without actually ever hearing the 360. I have not been dissapointed. Retrofitting the stock plastic feet with speaker spikes is mandatory in my opinion to clean up the bass and remove almost all of the midbass ripeness, the speakers only serious objectionable character at this price range.

RG