Everyone's got one

Everyone's got one

What is it with the followers of Infinity that keep applauding this very mediocre speaker. The fact that Circuit City pushes this brand says enough. But lets not bash the product until you at least audition it. On visual assessment this speaker comes over as very middle of the road at best in its finish - the grille is an excellent excercise in costing-cutting manufacturer.
And now onto the sonic virtues. The bass is certainly lacking which at least helps to emphasise the muddy waters of the midrange. The treble doesn't exactly sparkle but I also note a significant hole somewhere in lower highs around the cross over point. The dynamics seem a little compressed and the attack is very sloppy. Listening to any complex peice of orchestral work and the speaker seems to immediateley give up trying to express any detail or seperate the instruments into identifiable positions.
This comes no where near the entity of what can be defined as audiophile. So what can we salvage from here on. The only hope is part of HT setup. A sub will be an absolute necessity to fill the lower void lacking from these speakers, otherwise these speakers will do as average HT towers at best - clarity and gusto is still a short fall compared to the likes of BA and Missions.
I performed an A B comparison and the Infinity's lose hands down in all regards. A look at Infinity's offerings in car audio speakers sums up this company's aspirations - very mediocre/average. Do yourself a favor and look at Bostons at the very minimum - these speakers nearly squeeze out all that is sonically possible at their relative price points.
If you bought Infinity based on misguided recommendations and not on your ears then you only have yourself to blame. I returned mine and enjoy the Bliss of Mission's 77 series setup - now we're talking.

Similar Products Used:

BA, Mission

If you liked everything about the Reference 2000.6 except the bass response, you'll really like the RS-5. I had to move them 2 feet farther from the wall than the 2000.6 to reduce the bass. Midrange has also been improved. They also cost less than my 2000.6's.

I just got the RS-5's, CC-3 center channel, and BU-2 Subwoofer. I love them, but have decided my JVC-884 is my weak link. I'm sending it back to Crutchfield and have order a Sony 50ES receiver to replace it. The main thing I wanted to mention to people here is that Crutchfields is running a great promotion right now on Infinity. I paid high prices for the RS-5's and CC-3, $699 and $399 respectively. BUT, they throw in the BU-2 for free. When you calculate everything out, they still work out to be a few dollars more than you could have bought them through mailorder, like www.soundpros.com, but the no questions asked return policy makes up for it. If you don't take advantage of this type of deal....don't buy from Crutchfields. I just ordered RS-4's for my surrounds from soundpros.com for under $400 (includes shipping). Crutchfields sells the same model for $499.

Purchased for under 500$ shipped from http://www.cyberteria.com/ (they only carry Harman Int. speakers). Hooked them up with the expectation that 6.5" woofers cannot possibly produce the low freaks that I desire. Boy, was I suprised!Highs and mids were on target with expectation. Mids are exceptional, due to the size of the drivers. To me, good midrange repro is essential, due to the fact that our ears are most sensitive in this range (and partially due to the fact that guitars and sax live in the mids...).
Bass response, as stated before, was beyond my expectation. Teamed with a Yamaha YST-SW150, tuned correctly, and it is more than enough for a small apartment. Imaging is good, though a little `localized' - in other words, sit too close to the speaker and the soundstage will break down. At the proper distance, and using QPS-1's as ambient surrounds, it works out well.
All around good quality for the money - don't buy Crutchfield or Circuit City - mail order is the best (as I'm sure everyone reading this already knows).

"The simplest explanation is usually the right one". These speakers minimise number of drivers and internal electronics and still provide good quality audio, a testament to the adage "simpler is usually better".

I give 4 stars because there is no such thing as a perfect transducer.

After reading the reviews on this site and after listening to lots and lots of speakers at stores all across Houston, we went ahead and took a chance on the RS5's. Boy, are we glad we did!It was so hard to tell in store showrooms (and not without alot of hassle) if a speaker worked well as a Home Theater speaker AND as a music-source speaker.

Let me tell you, these puppies sound great playing both!!

You really do need to have a sub woofer as has been mentioned, but if you want to hear your DVDs, LDs, MiniDiscs, or even just local radio, in a smooth dynamic and "kickass" way... then you should definately check these out!

You'll be glad you did!

Very powerful mids and highs, the bass is good for this type of speaker, but I have a Klipsch ksw-200 woofer that I use with my system. Get these from the internet if you are going to buy them, www.shop4.com, www.cyberteria.com, www.onecall.com. Good speaker for the money.

The RS5 is great speaker. I got a steal at less than $200 for both. Had them as fronts for a while but are just as loud as rears in a dolby digital set-up with boston acoustics towers as front.Will add a M&K 70B sub and bi-amp the fronts. The RS5's in any application are awesome.

I have now owned my RS5's for 4 weeks. I have played many differant types of music on them and can say I counldn't be more pleased. These speakers are being run off of my Yamaha RV-902 receiver with the settings "flat". The bass is adequate, but a sub is needed to pic up the lower freqs <80Hz. For what I paid through mail order, I couldn't find another pair of speakers that even came close in sound quality.

three words....... This speaker ROCKS!!!

compact disc players