These speakers sound almost boxless, and are as transparent as any loudspeaker ever made (planar, electrostatic or conventional). They use the same EMIM and EMIT planar midranges and tweeters found in Infinity's $10,000 Sigmas (which succeeded them). They disappear when you listen to them; they create an impressively deep and wide soundstage. They do really well with vocals and they come as close as I've ever heard to conjuring up the presence of a vocalist in the very same room with you. It's frightening.

Everyone here says that they do need a lot of power, and they're right. Their bass feeds on power, and you'd better make sure that you're driving their woofers (dual voice coil woofers!) with a high current power amplifier. A SET will kill itself trying to drive these loudspeakers, and the Renaissance 90s have "Receiver Killer" stamped all over them. Don't underpower them.

These really _are_ an undiscovered treasure. I think that Infinity did a really crappy job marketing these loudspeakers, and I can't imagine how anyone who hears them could dislike them. As far as I know, they were sold for $3,800 new, so they obviously weren't mispriced. Or _were_ they? All things considered, even at $3,800 the Renaissance 90s were and are a bargain, and on the used market they're probably the best deal that you'll ever find. You can sometimes pick up a pair for as little as $1,000.

A friend was saying that in the past, or at least from the mid-80s on, you had to "dig the Infinity sound" to really enjoy Infinity loudspeakers, but I don't think that this disclaimer applies to the Renaissance 90s. Their sound is so compelling and so natural and so transparent and so unlike the sound of any other loudspeaker (excepting Infinity's IRS Sigmas, which share their planar drivers). They might lack the extreme dynamic capabilities of the big B&Ws (the Nautilus 801s), but they easily surpass even the 801s in terms of their transparency and in terms of their realism and in terms of the depth and breadth of their soundstage and (here's the kicker) certainly in terms of their asking price.

I use an Adcom GFA-555II to power them. I know that it's not the best sounding amp in the world, and I plan to upgrade, and hopefully soon (I like the sound of the Plinius SA-100, mainly because the bigger SA-250 is out of my price range). For what it's worth, I'd swap out just about any component in my stereo system (I'm a regular at my dealer's, and I've listened to everything that he has), but I'd keep my Renaissance 90s. I really would.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Reference Studio 100 -- Dunlavy Audio SC-IV -- Energy Veritas v2.8 -- B&W Nautilus 801 & 802 -- Infinity IRS Sigma

+Startling accuracy
+3D Imaging
+Planar-like depth and space
+Impressive bass that goes real deep
+Great on vocals and strings
+Best speaker ever for under $11000

-Power hungry and hard to drive
-Maybe cant reproduce volume levels of other speakers

I have these speaker 7 years ago and have used ever since. Think they sound better than new designs and I use with good system. My system is consisted of:

Pass Aleph 5 power
Ayre K-1X pre
Sony SCD-1 SACD
Linn Inkemi CD player (HDCD)
Nordost Blue Heaven IC (XLR)
Siltech speaker cables (bi-wired)
Shaktih stone and Vibrapod tweaks
Room is 25 feet x 15 feet

I love how they sound for opera and jazz voice. They make female voice sound real and in room with you. On string and instrument they make seem SO real it confuse you. I had for a while and thought that I would get new one. So I listen to speaker from B&W, Magnepan, Thiel, Infinity, Legacy, Vandersteen, and Monitor, at dealers and did not like. I went home and listen to Renaissance 90 and these other speakers just seem to come up so short? So finally I decide to keep Renaissance 90 because the best speakers I hear that not cost more than $10,000.

Listen to them!

Similar Products Used:

B&W Nautilus 801
Dzurko Jaguar
Vandersteen 5
Legacy Focus
Thiel 3.6

Just read the reviews below. They're all explained, to some extent. I will add that its the most musical speaker Ive heard, and I do a lot of listening and comparing. These are the kinds of speakers that you fall in love with and promise yourself you will always hold on to.

The power thing. They do need a lot, and its a bummer because some of us aren't huge fans of solid state gear. I have two A systems, one which is anchored by my R90s and the others by a little Cary SET (made in my back yard here in N.C.)/Avantgarde combo. I love the sound of my R90s, but I really wish that I could power them with some sweeter sounding tube gear.

I bought these speakers in black lacquer (which added about $1,000 to their price) in 1993, and I sold a slightly older pair of Infinity Kappa 9s to afford them. Ive kept them ever since and I love them and will probably hold on to them forever. I do a lot of listening to a lot of different gear and I still havent heard anything that can really touch them. People below have pointed out what their planar drivers can do for the reproduction of music, so I wont repeat myself here.

I will say that if you give these speakers proper spacing from walls and corners they will really seem to disappear. Also, you really got to experiment with placement to get the best of them. I really think that you have to bi-wire them to truly experience them, too.

I even bought a pair of Infinity IRS Sigmas in 1995 and retired my R90s to my B system, but within about three months I had the R90s back out again. I actually preferred them to the Sigmas, which I sold shortly thereafter.

I recently added an SCD-1 to my system and had it originally hooked up to the Avantgardes and to the Cary. I also tried it with the R90s and the ML amps and have kept it in that system ever since: There was just no comparison.

Looks like my R90s are ready for the whatever new formats the industry wants to bring our way!

My system is as follows:

(2) Mark Levinson ML-33H monoblocks
Mark Levinson No. ML-380S pre-amp
Electrocompanient ECD-1 CDP
Meridian 508.24 CDP
Sony SCD-1 SACD
Goertz MI3 Divinity speaker cable (bi-wire)

Similar Products Used:

Avantgarde Duo/Dynaaudio Contour/Magnepan MMG 3.6/Infinity Kappa 9/Infinity IRS Sigmas/Thiel 7.2