Infinity Prelude Composition P-FR
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I would spend the extra money and at least get the Intermezzo 4.1ts (which, coincidentally, is exactly what I did). I've never heard P-FRs but from what I've read there is a substantial increase in performance when you go to the Intermezzos (or better yet, the Prelude MTS).
I'm not sure what P-FRs generally go for though. I've seen Intermezzos as cheap as 900ish a pair (although 1500ish might be more the norm) so if they're significantly cheaper than that they may be a better bang for the buck choice.
I'm not sure what P-FRs generally go for though. I've seen Intermezzos as cheap as 900ish a pair (although 1500ish might be more the norm) so if they're significantly cheaper than that they may be a better bang for the buck choice.
I've had the opportunity to listen to the Intermezzos and they're pretty good speakers. They definitely put out more bass than the PF-Rs and they dig a lot deeper as well due to the improved woofer and larger cabinet. However, looking at the Prelude MTS, they seem to be plagued with problems with poorly built midrange speakers and tweeters which tend to blow. So i am quite hesitant to get rid of my PF-Rs in favor for those.
Due to the sheer array of drivers the PF-Rs had I noticed one subtle difference, mids and highs sound slightly tighter than the Intermezzos to my liking with a slight brightness. Of course this is all my subjective tastes. The great sensitivity on the PFR is another reason it drew me to them, little wattage to make it go loud, as I prefer to spend more on speakers than amps. Maybe i'll give the Intermezzos another listen, but honestly I've never found the cabinetry too attractive and i prefer the sleek black of the PF-Rs even though it slightly looks older.
I haven't had the opportunity to try the Rabos, I wonder the effect it would have in my room though, could be a drastic difference and i've been ignorant all this time! I would love to see some pics of your setup Nicholas and thank you for your response.
Due to the sheer array of drivers the PF-Rs had I noticed one subtle difference, mids and highs sound slightly tighter than the Intermezzos to my liking with a slight brightness. Of course this is all my subjective tastes. The great sensitivity on the PFR is another reason it drew me to them, little wattage to make it go loud, as I prefer to spend more on speakers than amps. Maybe i'll give the Intermezzos another listen, but honestly I've never found the cabinetry too attractive and i prefer the sleek black of the PF-Rs even though it slightly looks older.
I haven't had the opportunity to try the Rabos, I wonder the effect it would have in my room though, could be a drastic difference and i've been ignorant all this time! I would love to see some pics of your setup Nicholas and thank you for your response.
I recently purchased another pair of PFRs just because it was too good of a price to give up. It only makes me think i got an even better bang for my buck. But one thing i hate about older speakers is that they use foam surrounds which need to replaced every so often, a problem you don't get with the Intermezzo or MTS.
The Intermezzos are definitely kind of an ugly duckling. I love the look of the MTS but when I bought my Intermezzos the MTS cost a heck of a lot more.
RABOS is nice but it's not the best substitute for a more advanced separate bass control unit, and setup becomes a PITA when you have three different RABOS woofers and the powered 5.25s in the center. Thank god I have the passive 2.6p surrounds instead of the powered 2.6.
Currrently my system is in a boxes in my basement, waiting for me to get off my keister and finish the sheetrock ceiling. Moved into a new house recently and the basement was divided into a 9x17 bedroom and 14x17 family room by a hideous poorly installed wood panel wall topped by an old, ugly drop ceiling. Within literally 20 minutes of getting the keys I was tearing the wall apart with a sledge and pulling down the ceiling.
So now I've got a 23x17 family room, HDMI and power wired into the ceiling for a projector, nine new recessed lights installed, wiring run through the walls into a closet for 7.1 sound, etc. Just need to finish the sheetrock, but have been sidelined by about a million other projects that were deemed more important by the wife.
Here's some pics of the system in my old rental though:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
And the woofer from when I had it out for an amp problem, it's pretty beefy:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...10882Large.jpg
Sold the 61" Samsung DLP (which I actually ended up getting for free due to it developing a problem and having bought an extended BB warranty) and replaced it with a 55" LCD upstairs and will end up with probably 120" projector downstairs.
I agree that the P-FR, intermezzo, and MTS are definitely overlooked which causes them to be spectacular bargains. Seems like very frequently the type of audiophile that is willing to spend thousands of dollars on a pair of speakers doesn't like them to come from a company that also makes 39 dollar car speakers, and would prefer they came from some esoteric company that no one has every heard of and is manufactured out of a storage garage. If any of these speakers were made today they'd be sold as Revels rather than Infinitys I would guess. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but whatever.
Electronics are kind of wonky in my Intermezzos at least, as well. I bought them from a used dealer in Canada and one of them showed up with amp problems in one woofer. He paid for the repairs, ended up costing about 150 bucks. Bought the center later from someone in California and it had an intermittant amp problem as well. Would work fine and then if it lost power it wouldn't turn on for at first a couple days, then a week, then a couple weeks, and then eventually at all. I'm guessing the guy knew about it when he sold it, but don't know for sure. Ended up just buying another used one, shipping the center two ways to a repair place would have cost almost as much as another one (I live in Juneau, AK).
Any pics of your setup?
The Intermezzos are definitely kind of an ugly duckling. I love the look of the MTS but when I bought my Intermezzos the MTS cost a heck of a lot more.
RABOS is nice but it's not the best substitute for a more advanced separate bass control unit, and setup becomes a PITA when you have three different RABOS woofers and the powered 5.25s in the center. Thank god I have the passive 2.6p surrounds instead of the powered 2.6.
Currrently my system is in a boxes in my basement, waiting for me to get off my keister and finish the sheetrock ceiling. Moved into a new house recently and the basement was divided into a 9x17 bedroom and 14x17 family room by a hideous poorly installed wood panel wall topped by an old, ugly drop ceiling. Within literally 20 minutes of getting the keys I was tearing the wall apart with a sledge and pulling down the ceiling.
So now I've got a 23x17 family room, HDMI and power wired into the ceiling for a projector, nine new recessed lights installed, wiring run through the walls into a closet for 7.1 sound, etc. Just need to finish the sheetrock, but have been sidelined by about a million other projects that were deemed more important by the wife.
Here's some pics of the system in my old rental though:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...01600x1200.jpg
And the woofer from when I had it out for an amp problem, it's pretty beefy:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...10882Large.jpg
Sold the 61" Samsung DLP (which I actually ended up getting for free due to it developing a problem and having bought an extended BB warranty) and replaced it with a 55" LCD upstairs and will end up with probably 120" projector downstairs.
I agree that the P-FR, intermezzo, and MTS are definitely overlooked which causes them to be spectacular bargains. Seems like very frequently the type of audiophile that is willing to spend thousands of dollars on a pair of speakers doesn't like them to come from a company that also makes 39 dollar car speakers, and would prefer they came from some esoteric company that no one has every heard of and is manufactured out of a storage garage. If any of these speakers were made today they'd be sold as Revels rather than Infinitys I would guess. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but whatever.
Electronics are kind of wonky in my Intermezzos at least, as well. I bought them from a used dealer in Canada and one of them showed up with amp problems in one woofer. He paid for the repairs, ended up costing about 150 bucks. Bought the center later from someone in California and it had an intermittant amp problem as well. Would work fine and then if it lost power it wouldn't turn on for at first a couple days, then a week, then a couple weeks, and then eventually at all. I'm guessing the guy knew about it when he sold it, but don't know for sure. Ended up just buying another used one, shipping the center two ways to a repair place would have cost almost as much as another one (I live in Juneau, AK).
Any pics of your setup?
Hope to see the finished project once you're done. Currently, I'm away from my setup and won't be back until another week or two. I'll be sure to snap a couple of pictures when i return. I'm currently running just 5.1 with four Infinity PFRs and a PCC center with 2 svs subs. I really didn't know I was missing out on the surrounds until i installed the PFRs for surround duty which some might deem overkill but surround effects are all more immersive and plain satisfying.
I might actually buy another PFR chop the tower off and use it as a horizontal center, and i received some advice from another fella who actually did this on the Emotiva forum. But as you said, these items are really jewels you can for on the cheap just because Infinity doesn't carry the same reputation as they did, but i'd be more than happy to buy up their older speakers on the cheap. My only complaint is that I bought the Preludes used and it cost a quite a bit of change to refoam the large array of speakers.
I might actually buy another PFR chop the tower off and use it as a horizontal center, and i received some advice from another fella who actually did this on the Emotiva forum. But as you said, these items are really jewels you can for on the cheap just because Infinity doesn't carry the same reputation as they did, but i'd be more than happy to buy up their older speakers on the cheap. My only complaint is that I bought the Preludes used and it cost a quite a bit of change to refoam the large array of speakers.
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I still own my original pair and still love them! When the time comes, I will have them refoamed.
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I know this thread is a little old but has anyone compared compared the Intermezzos to a Cascade set up? Trying to decide whether it's worth the Shenanigans in trying to sell my Cascades to buy an Intermezzo set up. Or to just get the Intermezzos and use the Cascades 9's and 7's as surround speakers. Although I'm anal about matching speakers unfortunately.
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I have a pr of PFR's I had to reform the 12" drivers last year and I'm getting ready to refoam the 5" drivers next week, I do it myself, cost $26 a Pr for the 5" drivers, they sound Great! I've had them since I bought them new in 1998! I would buy another pr in a second if they ever came up for sale by me here in Long Island. I use them in a 2 channel system, I use JBL Synthesis for my HT Setup in my ManCave/HT. Once you refoam the drivers they sound just like new! Great Speakers.
Yeap, luckily for me Orange Speaker is located right near Garden Grove, so I can just drop by and have it done professionally. Unfortunately they don't stock the 5" driver version so there's an extra step in cutting the 5.25" foam so I rather have them do it and not have to mess up one of my drivers, which I might add Infinity no longer carries.
I actually acquired 5 that's right 5 Infinity P-FRs and i'm using them in a 5ch setup. It's great so far, but unfortunately most of them drivers need to be refoamed over time and it's getting quite expensive.
If anyone ever needs a replacement midrange driver, I have 6-7 extra 4" drivers, which I really don't need.
Post some pictures up man! Love to see em'.
Yeap, luckily for me Orange Speaker is located right near Garden Grove, so I can just drop by and have it done professionally. Unfortunately they don't stock the 5" driver version so there's an extra step in cutting the 5.25" foam so I rather have them do it and not have to mess up one of my drivers, which I might add Infinity no longer carries.
I actually acquired 5 that's right 5 Infinity P-FRs and i'm using them in a 5ch setup. It's great so far, but unfortunately most of them drivers need to be refoamed over time and it's getting quite expensive.
If anyone ever needs a replacement midrange driver, I have 6-7 extra 4" drivers, which I really don't need.
Post some pictures up man! Love to see em'.
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Thought it wouldn't be fair to ask for pics and not put some more of the very nice looking PFRs. These are actually old pics and my setup has changed quite a bit.
You can see in the last pic, I converted a tower to being a center as I got this idea from a fellow member on the Emotiva forum. It's a great center!
Thought it wouldn't be fair to ask for pics and not put some more of the very nice looking PFRs. These are actually old pics and my setup has changed quite a bit.
You can see in the last pic, I converted a tower to being a center as I got this idea from a fellow member on the Emotiva forum. It's a great center!
I know this is late in reply to the other comments about the Infinity Compositions, but I own a 7 speaker system (4 - P-FR - 2 front and 2 rear; 2 - Quadrapoles for sides; and the P-CC center channel). Love 'em! Enjoyed and will continue to enjoy all types of music from them. Just moved into a larger place and in the process of setting them up. Will forward photos when set up is complete.
Sounds great! I must comment on those quadrapoles however. While the PFRs are fantastic speakers I've always heard the quadrapoles were always lacking in general. I've tried some of the Infinity Reference speakers as surrounds with great results.
If you can find another pair of the PFRs and try using it as a center. You can see in the first pic of my previous post, that I did have a PCC as well, but using a sideways PFR was a significant improvement.
Always nice to hear another PFR owner chime in. Looking forward to those pics!
Sounds great! I must comment on those quadrapoles however. While the PFRs are fantastic speakers I've always heard the quadrapoles were always lacking in general. I've tried some of the Infinity Reference speakers as surrounds with great results.
If you can find another pair of the PFRs and try using it as a center. You can see in the first pic of my previous post, that I did have a PCC as well, but using a sideways PFR was a significant improvement.
Always nice to hear another PFR owner chime in. Looking forward to those pics!
Fortunately for me I live right near Orange County speaker and they do a fantastic job of refoaming my speakers for me. I'm a little hesitant to do it myself just because if i ever screw up there aren't any spare drivers around! Having 5 PFRs means constantly refoaming one after another since they haven't been refoamed in over 10 years! However when they come back all brand new, it makes it all worth it.
The hard thing about these drivers is that foam surrounds usually come in 5.25" now and for those drivers, the surround is actually glued to the back and it's thus necessary to bead some glue around the surrounds on the face of the driver. I'll try and post a picture of what I'm talking about as soon as I can.
Fortunately for me I live right near Orange County speaker and they do a fantastic job of refoaming my speakers for me. I'm a little hesitant to do it myself just because if i ever screw up there aren't any spare drivers around! Having 5 PFRs means constantly refoaming one after another since they haven't been refoamed in over 10 years! However when they come back all brand new, it makes it all worth it.
The hard thing about these drivers is that foam surrounds usually come in 5.25" now and for those drivers, the surround is actually glued to the back and it's thus necessary to bead some glue around the surrounds on the face of the driver. I'll try and post a picture of what I'm talking about as soon as I can.
Yeah, they seem to degrade at different times. I'd often have to change out 1 4" mid and the other would last for a year longer. You could probably tell which driver is the next one to go just by looking and feeling it.
Sounds good though, take some pics while you're at it!
Yeah, they seem to degrade at different times. I'd often have to change out 1 4" mid and the other would last for a year longer. You could probably tell which driver is the next one to go just by looking and feeling it.
Sounds good though, take some pics while you're at it!
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