Klipsch vs Infinity

I would choose the K Horns....  fully serviceable and can sound great with just a few watts.  IRS were a great speaker but i would be concerned with their longevity at this point in time.

And the room ?
corners vs fake wing wall corners ?

Good corners and they would be 17' apart

tough choice kinda like comparing Sushi to a banana...

but .....because you seem to have the corners and resale will be good go with K horns but power with tubes

I owned Klipschorn for 11 years, and it gets my vote. No fancy electronics to worry about, and the sound is realistic and dynamic beyond belief. Perfect?...no; but neither is the Infinity. If you have a good front end and good amp, it will be great. If you really sweat the details, it can be sublime. 

@auxinput.......Khorns are full range horns, not just the mids and tweeters. @rvito . I, too, recommend the Khorns. However, they are quite far apart ( 17 ), and based on your listening seat, you could get a " hole in the middle ". My rule would be that you sit far enough away that you can see the center of both mid horns ( the grills come off ), and then experiment, sit a little forward, sit a little back, to achieve the presentation you prefer. The Khorns do determine your listening seat, because of the corner placement. They are hard to beat, imo. I lived with a pair for over a year, but in my particular room at that time, I could not get them right. I have opted to use Lascalas, with subs, because I am no longer restricted with placement. The Khorns are better than Lascalas / subs, but again, Khorns are very room dependent. I am not looking to scare you or anything of that nature. I am just trying to help. Enjoy ! MrD.

hole in middle = single center channel Cornwall......

which is after all why it was created ;-)

Tomic601....Yes, this was when the audio was monaural. I do not agree. I do not know anyone having this " single center " today in a stereo 2 channel set up. Maybe a pair of Cornwalls, keeping the L & R independent.  Enjoy ! MrD.

1959 is firmly in the world of stereo.....

have you heard what it can do ? w 17’ seperating K horns ?
i have at now defunct Custom Stereo in Columbus, OH

As has been pointed out, these are two entirely different speakers. REALLY different.
The Klipsch are horn speakers. They can play very loud, they are very efficient, they have great dynamic range, and they sound like horns. They are colored.

The Infinities are planar speakers and as such, are dipole radiators. They won’t play as loud, they will be harder to position in the room, and they will require better amplification. On the upside, they aren’t colored because there is no horn, and they won’t sound boxy, because there is no box. And, set up correctly, they will have better imaging. They are much more accurate than the Klipsch.

I listen primarily to classical and acoustic jazz. Given the choice between the two speakers, I would take the Infinity Gammas without thinking for more than a few milliseconds. See if you can find a nearby dealer where you can listen to some Klipsch and some Magepans. That will certainly help you make up your mind.

I Recently had the chance to audition a set of Klipschorns and I was pretty impressed. The dynamic range was amazing and they seemed to play effortlessly. Even at low volumes they sounded wonderful. I know with the Infinitys which are not efficient they don't come alive until you feed them serious wattage. 

I own both the Irs Gammas and Betas. Unfortunately my new home has a smaller listening area ( 17x 23) and that is too small of an area for the Betas. The Gammas seem ok. I listen to a lot of smooth jazz and classical a lot and at lower volumes so maybe the Klipsch with tubes might work well.

I'm enjoying Klipsch Heresy IIIs with subs...no "horn coloration" at all, and a truly full range high efficiency tone fest...Corners? Don't need no stinkin' corners...

phomchick said:

"On the upside, they aren’t colored because there is no horn, and they won’t sound boxy, because there is no box."

Not all boxes sound boxy, and not all horns sound...er...well...horny!
The Infinity speakers are still colored in their own way. If they weren’t, they would be perfect, and they’re not.

never corner a Wolf....

 And with the infinities you were are using crappy solid-state amplifiers while with the klipschorns you can use low power tube amplifiers which sound infinitely better 

Just adding my experience with klipsch LaScalas and chorus speakers. The LaScalas are a lot smother than the chorus. But the chorus were louder. It’s the reason I’m selling my chorus’s, I can’t run any other speakers with the being so loud. Rated 102 decsibles, while the LaScalas at 104 and the chorus drown out the LaScalas. Btw I run two emotiva amps at 500watts. 

I would guess emotiva and klipsch to not be a great match. Klipsch begs for lower power Tubes. 

And good tubes don't really sound warm, just more like real, 3 dimensional music. 

Roxy54,
Agree all audio products have their own distinct coloration. The Infinity are no exception. We’re just selecting the particular coloration we find most tolerable long term.

We all have our unique experiences and I won’t dispute those of others but I’ve not yet found a solid state amplifier that has better or equal 3 dimensional presentation/realism as a good tube amplifier. However as Elizabeth demonstrates, surely YMMV.
Charles

As oddiofyl said, the Klipschorn is fully serviceable. Repair and parts are readily available. As far as the serviceability of the Infinity Irs Gamma, good luck with that. Besides that, I would still choose the Klipschorn. If "X" dollars buys a good amp for the Infinities, then that same amount will buy an outstanding amp for the Klipschorns.

Elizabeth, Agree to disagree.
Charles, Agree.

I owned IRS Gammas for several years.  Arguably the best speakers I have owned.  While the do not have the sensitivity of the K-horns, they will in fact play extremely loud.  The servo controlled bass is the best I have ever had in my room.   Reason for selling?  Just like everyone else has mentioned...servicing.  I had to re-cap the servo controller.  Even after that, it still drifted in and out of calibration.  I am knowledgeable to service and calibrate it myself, but still a PITA.  The coating on the EMIM magnets was starting to peel.  The L-EMIM is unobtainium (or really expensive if you can find one).

I have heard the K-horns on occasion.  They sounded ok.  I owned Klipsch Quartet for a year or so in my second system.  I never really got into the Klipsch house sound and greatly preferred my vintage ADS L710 I have owned for 35 years or so.  But if you are into horns, I think Klipsch are a very good choice.  I think 17' is too far apart.  You would probably be better served with Cornwalls or La Scallas. 

Just my $0.02 coming from a die hard planar / dipole fan.

elizabeth

Infinity just killed the entire EMIM making.

True. they haven't made any in years.

Even when great replacement diaphragms were being made in Australia, The folks who bought out Infinity stopped them with patent infringement.

Absolutely not true, as verified by Graz, who makes the diaphragms.

I jinxed myself regarding service.....  my daughters graduation party was last night and my kids were streaming to the system.... my daughter who had a few too many sangrias went over and cranked it fully clockwise.  I immediately turned  it down but I lost a midrange ......    anyway the repair is simple, the driver comes apart easy and I hope to have the new diaphram in a few days....

I owned Klipsch Lascala horns and Infinity Rennasaince  90's which are ribbon/cone hybrids. There is no comparison. The  Infinitys demand a high power/high current amp. The Klipsch were driven easily with a 2 watt ,45 ,tube amp. As for sound. The Infinitys dissapeared in the room, leaving a holographic image of the music in the room, that I never heard from any speakers that were affordable to me. I know their are better, don't flame me, but I am just a working joe. 2 grand is about as far as I can stretch for speakers, so I buy used. The Klipsch were tremendously dynamic, had that "jump" factor out the ying yang, made instruments sound "real",but did not throw the holographic image that I love and crave. It all depends on what you like The ribbon mids and highs of the Infinitys, combined with solid ,tight bass of their Watkins woofers, are what sounded best to my ears. You and others may disagree. 
Happy Listening,
Mg16

mg16

I owned Klipsch Lascala horns and Infinity Rennasaince  90's which are ribbon/cone hybrids.

Those Infinitys are great speakers. But although they are planars, they aren't ribbons.

I would not choose any of these speaker as i like depth and pinpoint imaging.Enjoy though!!

 I used to sell high end audio back in the late 70's and early 80's. It always seems to come down to preferences. There never seemed to be a perfect speaker for every one.I have heard Corner horns and they have always been impressive for dynamics and sound pressure levels. The most impressive sound I had heard back then were a pair of Infinity 4.5's biamped with a pair of Threshold Stasis 2 amplifiers playing Shadows in the rain by the Police . took my breath away on that first drum shot. The detail along with  that sweet top end was very impressive. Put a smile on everyone's face listening. I would have loved to do an A/B comparison. The one thing I knew was Infinity knew how to make bass. two very different approaches and both have their merits. tough choice. .

Diff in infinity and horn? Daylight and dark. Colorations??? Maybe minor certain area. Sound solid state? You are playing digital music. Vinyl vs digital. Again daylight and dark. Have you read reviews of the gamma and irs beta?  Agree problem with parts mainly the rectangular panel. 1k or so if you can find one. I have listened to Klipsh at dealer. A-b comparison   Infinity wins hands down. Digital music does sound brighter more forward with no instrument placement or sound stage. I play digital streaming. When I go back to analog have trouble going back to digital. Sound? No comparison. Parts ? Yes a problem. 

d2girls,
You give the exact same response on 3 different threads in one day? Talk about lo-fi...