help buying irs beta

Be sure to check the Emim’s diaphragms for ripples and burnt or broken traces (the traces are the aluminium strips running down the ribbon); excessive ripples and any damage to the traces is a sign of wear or abuse. Similarly, check the Emit ribbons for the same issues. The Emims of that era were the most prone to going out of spec & the magnets can start to become delaminated and oxidated, however the good news is Graeme "Graz" Keet from Apogee Acoustics can refurb the Emims and Emits with new magnets and diaphragms if you later wanted to go down that road. However the L-Emims are pretty much unobtanium & cannot be refurbed, hence check them over carefully.

Next, make sure all 8 Watkins Woofers have been re-foamed and checked for correct spec in the last 5 years, preferably by Watkins Stereo (http://www.watkinsstereo.com/refoaming.html) who do a much more thorough refurb being the manufacturer. They also provide a 5yr warranty. The foam on the original woofers over 18+ years could start to rot & eventually crumble.

Make sure the speakers come complete with the original Infinity grills (there are 4) & that the grill cloth is in good shape, servo control units + servo cables & owners manual. Also check the speaker binding posts & connections on the scu for any signs of oxidization.

One-owner pairs are rare, but i’d try to find a pair which hasn’t changed hands too many times. The more changes of ownership...the more chance of damage & ’frankin’ speakers. I’d also recommend buying Betas from sellers in Texas (have had a bad experience).

The cabinets will show signs of wear/tear for their age, but try to find a pair without obvious sun damage/bleaching and deep chips in the wood.

Finally an audition is recommended where possible. What you should listen for is firstly to make sure all the drivers are working and are in phase (ie: sound coherent). Another thing to listen for is ’panel buzz’ in the mid/high panels. Distortion or ’buzz’ in the mid/high panels could indicate an issue with the panels, driver connections, or the drivers themselves. If you do all those checks, you should be rewarded with great sound!

Regarding amps, Arnie Nudell liked the ARC Ref 300 mono’s & an ARC preamp with the Betas. Another popular combo is the big Threshold S/500Mk2 with optical bias paired with an ARC preamp such as a refurbed SP11 Mk2 or later LS26. SS Class A muscle to drive the bass panels & some tubes up top. Arnie’s now drives his IRS-V’s with a pair of PS Audio BHK300 mono’s & the BHK preamp.

If you plan to keep the speakers for the long haul, the 3 things I would consider getting done (if not already done by the previous owner(s)) are;
- Graz refurbed Emim & Emits
- Re-foam/refurb the Watkins woofers by Watkins Stereo
- Refurb the crossovers and scu, and replace the internal wiring & speaker binding posts with Cardas.
That said, the above upgrade path would not be exactly cheap, but much cheaper than a pair of high end speakers. Good luck!

cleeds422 posts11-12-2016 7:12am melbguy1
... make sure all 8 Watkins Woofers have been re-foamed ...

The IRS Beta does not use Watkins woofers, although I do know that he’ll work on them. Watkins woofers have dual voicecoils, and were used in the RS 2.5 and 4.5 models - and probably some others - but not the IRS Beta or RS1 models

My bad, though I would trust Watkins to do a great job refurbing the drivers, as I would Bill Legall at Millersound.

The later High Energy Emit and Emim drivers used in the Infinity IRS speakers such as the IRS Sigma and Epsilon were quite a bit better than the previous generation, as were the IMG bass drivers vs the old polypro bass drivers. Even the Infinity Renaissance 90’s were better sounding in many respects than the old RS-1b. I can’t speak for the Eminent Technology speakers, though I note from the TAS review they are very insensitive and not completely coherent.

The ET speakers might be a good value option, though I would take a pair of mint Infinity IRS Omega's over the ET's 5 times out of 5, but then again I am an Infinity lover. The IRS Omegas were the last Infinity IRS speakers released in Infinity's heyday in 1998 & were heavily upgraded with new Auricaps, coils, DH Labs cables etc, but are very rare in the US as they were only sold in Europe and Japan.

@okeeteekid, You've owned some classic Infinities. I previously owned a pair of Reference 60's and Ren 90's. As good as the Rens were, technology moves on. My current Magico S5 Mk2's have all the magic the Rens had, but taking it much further. I've got a friend who thinks the Legacy Audio Focus SE speakers are the heir apparent to the Ren 90's...i'm not so sure.

I was curious about the comparison between the Ren 90’s and Focus SE’s. The Rens are a demanding load & don’t move as much air, or go as low as the Focus SE’s. Though I was amazed by the sound of the Ren 90’s at their price point, so I can only imagine how much better the IRS Omega and Epsilon sound. They are remarkable speakers. And given the similar cabinet design of the R90’s compared to the S5 Mk2’s (ie: wide, flat front baffle with a curved cabinet), their speed, staging & excellent off-axis response, I thought the S5 Mk2’s were fair game. I don’t know how Magico manage to achieve the stellar speed, staging and off-axis response of the Rens with ’conventional’ drivers, but they do. But overall, the Magicos leave the old Infinities for dead. A side by side comparison with the IRS Epsilons would be interesting though.

I wouldn't waste my money Mitch. The Ren 90's have a couple of achilles heels. Firstly, the acoustic foam in the transmission line midrange enclosure in most examples is rotting by now & would need replacement. And there are no NOS spare parts any more for these speakers. Also, if the grilles (which are an essential part of the acoustics of the speakers similar to Avalon) are damaged and ill-fitting due to damaged or broken pegs, or a broken frame. Good luck finding a replacement as they are basically non existent. I bought a 2nd hand pair of Ren 90's from a snake in Texas called Larry Schwartz ('lwschwarz' on forums) who sold me a pair with 'textor' repairs and a damaged grill with cigarette burns on the grille cloth. As the grills were unobtanium, I ended up selling the speakers at a heavy loss. Even if you did have a pair in decent shape. Why spend as much on the speakers for a pair of subs when you can just buy a better and much newer pair of speakers?

Yes if you accept all the caveats above, agreed you would be hard-pressed to find a better speaker under $10k.