Infinity renaissance 90

That guy is maybe a little high but still for real. I am going from memory since I couldn't find much on the web, but I remember those as being the last to use the EMIT tweeter (planar) - basically the last "high end" Infinity from the Nudell era. MSRP was $3800 (that I did learn from the interwebs).

Ron

That's the good stuff? You need to read up a little. It's not "when did they stop", it's "thank goodness they started". You could get a pair of Revel F32's for that much, or Prelude MTS's. A pair of IL40's would be better at $200 a pair, not to mention Intermezzo 4.1's or 2.6p's.

The Nudell/Christie era produced some of the best speakers ever made. Infinity took a giant backward step when Harman took over, and it was years before Infinity recovered.

The Primus line is a nice group of speakers, [I have four 162s], but no way it is as good as the EMIM and EMIT equipped high end Infinitys of yesteryear. But current Infinites are way cheaper.

Biggest and bulkiest, yes. High fidelity? Funny! Harman should have used another brand name so as not to confuse people.

More like they never left, just evolved. http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/

Ron

Karl, here is an interesting link with lots of Infinity's pre Harman history: http://www.davidsaudio.com/html/infinity_.html

Mark, your disdain for Infinity's pre Harman stuff surprises me, unless you think I was suggesting that Karl buy those speakers - I wasn't. Back in the 70s & early 80s Infinity (along with a few other companies) were at the forefront of hifi. Nobody had the science & technology back then that is available now. I listened to a lot of their speakers back then, they had few peers, and really pushed the envelope.

EDIT: I do agree about big & bulky!

Ron

I know/knew - the history of speaker design is fascinating to me too.

Ron

The Ren 90 (and smaller Ren 80's) were introduced in late 1991/early 1992 (after the Kappa series of the late 1980's). They were offered in blonde oak, black ash, and the limited edition hi gloss black lacquer. They were in the Infinity product line until 1995/96, and you probably could buy a few that remained in inventory until about '98.

I dont think Nudell had much to do with the Renaissance, it was more Cary Christie's design.

I own two pairs, one in blonde oak, and I was very fortunate to find a pair in the hi gloss piano black lacquer about two years ago- they are stunning ! (no other Infinity model was ever made in the hi gloss black, which makes them very distinctive).

I love the Renaissance 90, they are truly superb speakers with great imaging and soundstage. To surpass that in the Infinity product line, you'd have to step up to the Epsilon and spend about $7000 more than the cost of the Ren 90's, as well as spending more on heavy duty amplificaton to power them.


Back in early '95, Stereophile mag had a great issue with the Epsilon on the cover, and interviews with all three founders of Infinity. Infinity, and the Renaissance is stil very popular in Germany, and some Ren's can be seen for sale on Ebay Germany.

I'm sure there are some excellent speakers being made nowadays, but my Ren 90's are keepers for life. $2K might seem expensive, but its well worth it.

ps: I believe MSRP was about $3600 at the time. Hi gloss was more, maybe $5K.