Very good highs, and mid response. Very good styling

Weak in base response

I just ordered these speakers from Shop4.com for $350 delievered (pair). At that price, they are by far the best speakers available. I am now using Polk RT 600s in the front with a Polk CS300 center. I have Bose cubes for rears that these RS5s will replace.

Similar Products Used:

Polk RT 600

i have had these speakers for about a month now, and i think they perform reasonably well for the money (paid $500 for pair @ CC). the neodymium tweeter is the same one that they use in the overture series and the highly-praised prelude series, so the highs are really nice. i can really make out the individual cymbal/hi-hat hits on some decent recordings i have. the dual 6.5" woofers provide a decent amount of bass, just making the cut for music without the help of a sub. the bass port seems to really increase bass output, but i felt like there was a serious frequency hump, so i plugged the ports and it sounds much better to me, especially on music with string bass.

anyway, i really like these, and they will easily hold me over until i can buy some maggies to use in a music-only system. they are just as slender as rs-3's and otherwise look very nice. they work even better on movies, and can get seriously loud. they seamlessly integrate with a cc-3 center and us-1 rears. (why doesn't infinity make a decent dipole rear speaker? those qps-1's don't even have a tweeter!)

all in all, i think infinity is a pretty good brand, maybe the best you can get at mass-market stores, and the rs-5's specifically are satisfying speakers to listen to.

After several hair pulling weeks of choosing a set of speakers,I choose the RS-5's, for the price, the look and of course the SOUND.
These "puppies" really dish it out! For what you pay, there really a great buy.
I drive these guys with a Carver Silver Seven -T each.
I had two subs professionally made for me which sit right under the RS-5's
Crossed over at 80Hz. Sounds Unbelivable!!
If you are considering these, get a sub! They sound great without one,
But they sound even better with one! You Will NOT Be disapointed!

INFINITY RS5------ JUST LOVE THESE SPEAKERS TO DEATH----- I RUN THEM FOR FRONTS AND REARS IN MY SYSTEM----- SOUNDS GREAT EITHER MOVIES OR MUSIC------ BUT YOU DO NEED A SUBWOOFER AND YOU WILL BE IN HEAVEN------ I DO RUN THESE WITH A NAKAMICHI AV 10

With A good subwoofer, these speakers sound like OVTR 1 or OVTR2.

Picked up a pair of these on an online action for $127 each +s/h. I had been familiar with older Infinity speakers and was afraid that boomy base was indicative of the brand, but regardless I knew they could handle the power w/o distortion that a good amp can provide. I considered klipsch, boston's, etc., but for the price, I knew I couldn't beat the rs-5's. I got them home hooked them up to my Nak av-7, and turned up the volume. My heart started thumping as I turned the volume WAY up, but these babies took it without even a sweat. I played jazz, hip-hop, classic and hard rock, classical music, new wave. These speakers dealt out firm heart pounding bass, penetrating highs, and good overall mids so effortlessly I was grinning ear to ear. I do plan on getting a sub-woofer, but I wouldn't have to, these speakers produce surprisingly deep room filling tight base. They replaced a pair of Energy ESM-3, w/ 8" woofers which I always considered to be too big for 2-ways to produce accurate mids but you wanted an 8" if you wanted base - but the Rs-5 blow the esm-3s away.
There are of course better speakers out there. If I were to only play music and no home theater stuff, I would definately want a 3-way - there's no beating a dedicated speaker for the mids. But for a hybrid appliaction and the price, you will be hard pressed to find a better deal. They are worth the retail price of $400 per, but they are a steal for $200 or less each. 5 stars!

Good looking; Relatively high off the ground; Powerful Sound

None major - Some imaging weirdness possibly

First of all, I'd like to thank the reviewers for mostly accurate reviews, it helped me make a good decision. I purchased these for 199$ each at CC. They had the new models there also and I did a little A/B'ing. Some of the minor flaws are evident, but almost completely irrelevant. The grills are what they are, they're light and easy to take on and off. They do not fall off or cause any problems. The so called imaging problem results from the tweeter not sending out the sound in a very wide field. But I'm sitting a couple feet away and its still not a bother. They sound fine either way.

I am by no means any sort of audiophile, but I do strive for the best sound quality. The RS-5 provides this. The sound is very forceful, dynamic and crystal clear coming from a brand new Yamaha 5230 home receiver. I have heard the old equivalents of RS4, my roomate had them, and they performed well, but their bass is nowhere near these. People who say they don't have enough bass lie and are wrong. They're only 6.5 inch woofers, what do u expect? Another thing is they perform very well at high volumns. Their sensitivity is really high also, they'll be louder than most speakers at the same distance and power. For me, I live in a dorm room mainly, and the bass is SUPERB. VERY accurate and loud if i want it. I reccomend placing these close to the wall, mine are a few inches away from a really solid wall. Maybe that helps, i don't know. For music and home theater, they're all around excellent speakers. They're the gap between low end, and high end. They outperform everything in their class, and to go to another more substantial step would probably be about 400$. Get em while they are still around. steal at 400$ a pair. Value is easy 5 stars, overall, i'd like to say 4 because better speakers do exist, but i wouldn't choose anything else and feel good about what i paid. 5 stars.

Similar Products Used:

some good old JBL's 20-25 years old; RS4

Accurate mid-range response. Tight, extended bass. Smooth, yet detailed sound. Value

Limited tweeter response. Looks.

As I read the reviews on these speakers I see that many people misinterperate the nature of these speakers. Yes, they do have better sound than crappy bose or shelf systems that we all probably had before these. But that is not somthing that is on the level these speakers are. In reality, these are theater speakers. There is a huge differance between a theater speaker and a music speaker. Theater is DYNAMICS and are ussually assosiated with a softer more laid back sound. Music is detail and accuarcy. These particular speakers in my view fall 100% on to the theater side. I have listened to polk audio's comperable model which has a better tweeter. But these speakers are also more acurate than the infinities could ever hope to be. That does not nessesarily make them better speakers however, just different. Same with the Klipsch. A music speaker ussually has MORE bass than a theater speaker because a theater setup ussually acompanies a sub. A music system doesn't always so the speakers are asked to produce more. My way of listening goes about 80% music and 20% theater. So as I look back on my purchace I see that these probably weren't the best choice for that. But then again, you must consider the outragious prices these things have been going for as Infinity makes room for their new Interlude series loudspeakers. These speakers being of the theater specific variety have an interesting thing I noticed happening with the tweeters. Infinity, in a great effort to optomise the theater performance of these speakers drastically lowered the high-end responce of the tweeters so their is massive overlap between the woofers and tweeters. This creates a less exciting music high-end sound but really makes them shine in the movies. One thing this did do for music however, is really make the midrange take a turn for the better. No other speaker anywhere near these in price could even come close to matching the incredible midrange. Midrange, in my oppinion, is the forgotten element in how people demo speakers and how companies design them. I am glad Infinity stuck with it. As for the bass on these things, I see very little audio expiriance when I read some of the crap people are posting on this site about the bass response on these puppies.
First, these speakers are not designed to have lots of bass. You can't compare these things to other designed for compleatly different purposes. The extention is deep and the bass is consistant, not excesive. These speakers do more than they need to in this department. What are you people doing buying a theter speaker for music and then complaining about bass? When using these in your theater, aren't you using a sub? If not, your system sucks along with your sony crap. You people have been listening to too many flashy shelf systems they sell at wal-mart. This is real stuff and mabey too good for some to apriciate.
In conclusion, buy these speakers if you can find a deal ( retail is pathetically high )and if you're a theater freak, mabey if you're not, even. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the nature of these speakers. Apriciate their high points and do what you must to remedy their faults and you will be happy.
I'll be looking for better speakers mabey a year or two down the road. I must say I would apriciate a more audiofile system, but money will prevent that for the time being.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Polk Audio, JBL, crappy bose, acoustic reaserch, B&W, Definitive tech.

Just a follow up: RS5, great speaker. I said I got these for $200 but they were slightly used, yet in perfect condition. Sorry if I misled .

Takes up little space! Incredible highs and mids with decent bass

none so far

I am truly impressed with these puppies. I used to have monster KLH 300 watt, 4-way speakers which had tremendous bass with their 15" woofer and they sounded good. But, when I hooked up these 5's, man was I impressed. The sound clarity is unmatched. The highs and mids are awesome and although the bass isn't as thunderous as the KLH's, I am at the point where quality is much more important how deep your bass is. These are great speakers and I picked them up from reading a review about the 5's right here off of AR.com!!!

Similar Products Used:

jbl, klh