floorstanders to bookshelves...downgrade?

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From the midrange up, I do not consider the Cambridge a down grade,
compared to the Infinity Primus. I have always preferred Cambridge S30
over the Primus series. As good as the NHT Super Zero's are, I still like
the Cambridge over them.
I would think about getting another pair of the S30 speakers, and use
one as a center - not much difference in price.

If the room is not real big, then I favor the Energy sub. However, you
could be happy with the Klipsch sub. The S30 speakers can be crossed
over at 80hz.

you could buy cambridge audio s30 on crutchfield.com. if you don't like it just pay the 7 bucks for shipping label to return it. that's what they told me if I buy a amp and don't like it. this guy has s30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEPXorKk9Qg I like floorstanding speakers,
but your neighbors in apartment might complain about the vibration from them. I have heard some pretty good sounding book shelf speakers also though.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779S30N...er-reviews-tab

I would suggest that you get four of the Cambridge S30 speakers and the S50 center. That will be a very nice system, with the right subwoofer.

I suggest that you get a 12" subwoofer; most 10" subs are not able to go low enough to do a good job.

The Rythmic FV-12 is what I would recommend, but if you don't want to spend that much, the Klipsch RW-12 is fairly good.

Excellent suggestion. Strangely, according to the S50's specs it only goes down to 80 Hz (-3 dB, I presume), which is not really sufficient for crossing over to the sub at 80 Hz with a ported design, in my opinion. It also appears to be less efficient as well as less capable of handling power than the S30 at the same time, which is not good for a center speaker. So as far as I can tell, at least, the S50 doesn't offer any clear advantages (just slightly greater cone area) to offset the disadvantages of its horizontal MTM configuration. I'd opt for a third S30, too, even if I didn't get an extra speaker effectively for free.


This series appears to use fairly low midwoofer-tweeter crossover frequencies, which means that much of the upper midrange is being reproduced by the 1" tweeter, but that's hardly all of the dialogue. While this definitely helps mitigate the horizontal comb filtering issue inherent to all conventional horizontal MTM center speakers, in my view it is best to avoid this issue altogether whenever possible. Besides, having three identical front speakers (all vertically oriented if possible, by the way) is the ideal configuration for imaging and a consistent soundstage.

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Rober Cook, gave you a good answer.