Infinity Beta 50 vS PRIMUS 360

if you search around, you can find an entire Beta 50 system (c360 center, beta 50 mains, surrounds, and 500 watt sub) for just under $2000


i have it, and for the money it's a very nice home theater setup.


there's ALWAYS something better...the question is for the price, are you getting the best performance..some recent reviewers feel the beta 50 system is excellent at that price point.


yes, i wish i had a 5.1 system comprised entirely of nautilus speakers, but the i'd need a like twenty amps to run them, a new floor to handle the weight, and a divorce lawyer to deal with my wife.


that's a little beyond my budget.

The bill of materials for the Beta series was higher at every price point and for every configuration than that of the Primus. The Primus line was the first designed by Bill D., a brilliant designer who was severely cost constrained with his parts choices. The Primus line is built by a Harman subcontractor in China while the Beta's are built in Harman's own Tijuana factory. The Primus' 3/4", China built tweeter is quite a bit more variable frequency-wise than the 1" tweeter of the Beta's which were built by a German subcontractor. In a similar vain Bill had to use iron rod inductors for the woofer sections while I was able to use laminated steel-core inductors. In the high end of the Beta's I was able to use mylar caps on the tweeter whereas Bill was cost constrained to 5%DF electrolytics. The wood baffles of the Beta speakers are considerably thicker than those of the Primus and as hinted at above the CMMD mid and woofer drivers are a bit higher quality than those in the Primus line.

Having said all this I do need to point out that the both Primus and Beta speaker lines went through Harman's in-house double-blind Multichannel Listening Lab testing against competitive models that had been identified by Harman's Sales and Marketing. Both emerged victorious in each of their respective price categories/configurations against (typically) the three other closest competitive models.

Bill completed the Primus line around three years and I essentially finished the Beta's just over two years ago. By the way Brian CA. designed two of the Beta models, the CA-250 and the bipole-dipole surround model.

The Northridge E series is about 4 years old. It is my understanding that most models were designed by Matt N who I've heard moved over to the Multimedia division a few months back.


In general the Es have lower price points than the Primus series and use larger cabinets (if comparing specific configurations) with thin 5/8" MDF even in the large cabinets. The speakers are less expensive, older JBL technology and the crossovers also use less expensive parts. The Es were originally intended to appeal more to less sophisticated mass market retailers and customers. When you get down to these price points it becomes very difficult to design for a flat, wide band response because many times the systems engineer is given the exact drivers that must be used (for cost reasons) as well as the exact cabinet dimensions (and whether or not you can even specify an internal brace).


The largest Northridge E cabinets were made in Tijuana because shipping costs would have been prohibitive. I believe the remaining models were made in China. It should be noted that most competitors to the Northridge E series must also use exactly the same type of cost cutting tricks to compete at these price points and that in the Es did beat these competitors in double-blind testing in Harman's Multichannel Listening Lab. That's the Harman corporate madate for any Harman Kardon, JBL, Infinity or Revel speaker to make it to market.

This is what i call.."Right off the horse's mouth". When i started this thread I was not anticipating this level of response. THANKS A MILLION for the details. I could not have asked for a well considered opinion. I guess it pays to ask.


Thanks again

Regards

QwikM


PS: I went to the circuit city store and (finally) got a pair of Beta 50's today. They look gorgeous in the 'music room'..a dream come true.Although I am still to buy a matching AV Receiver (Denon 3806 ???) !!!






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