Mike Up
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2002
- Messages
- 657
I have several pairs. The back to back competition was Infinity Entra Point 5, Infinity Primus p143, Polk TSI100, Polk Blackstone TL1, and the new Elacs Debut 2.0 B6.2 .
Just as I found without back to back but by memory, the Elacs B6.2s were best and the Polk Blackstone TL1s were second best. Then followed by the Infinity Primus P143, then the Polk TSI100s, and then by the Infinity Entra B6.2s.
Back to back gave these impressions:
Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 = Great imaging. Very good tonally. Consistent sound quality at loud volumes. Realistic sounding ( acoustic guitar)
Polk Blackstone TL1 = Great imaging slightly below the Elac B6.2. Tonally good but higher in middle midrange. Consistent sound quality at loud levels, surprisingly! Realistic sounding (acoustic guitar). While these are great speakers, they are very inefficient (~84/85db [email protected]) being less loud than normal size speakers by many decibels and needs a subwoofer that has a frequency range into the higher bass of around 140Hz. They do sound good with my Klipsch R-120sw and R-100sw subwoofers so they go high enough.
Infinity Primus P143 = OK imaging (sweet spot very small where slightly left or right goes to the closest speaker). Tonally a bit brighter than the Elac B6.2 and Polk TL1 but good. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Realistic sounding (acoustic guitar).
Polk TSI100 = Good imaging but breaks down off center to the closest speaker (not nearly as bad as the Infinity P143). Tonally the brightest speaker but I've heard much brighter. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Not as realistic as the above speakers, acoustic guitar didn't sound like it was in the room as the above others did.
Infinity Entra Point Five = OK imaging (sweet spot very small where slightly left or right goes to the closest speaker). Tonally the darkest speaker by far as treble is very attenuated and can sound forward in the low midrange (boxy sounding?), not very good IMO but OK for a surround speaker. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Not realistic sounding at all as acoustic guitar sounded the most reproduced out of all the speakers.
Obviously these are older speakers but many others still have them. The Infinity Entra Point Fives were bought as Back Surround speakers to go with my Denon AVR-3803 back in 2003. The Infinity Primus P143 were bought around 2013 as Side Surround speakers to to be put on the wall so my daughter and animals would not knock them over on the stands. The Polk Blackstone TL1 are still available today and were bought for my smaller media room system. The Polk TSI100 were bought 2 years ago to replace Infinity Reference 2000.4 Tower speakers. Infinity Reference RS1 old surround bookshelf speakers were used temporarily in-between the 2 for a few years. The Elacs were just bought to replace the Polk TSI100 speakers.
Just as I found without back to back but by memory, the Elacs B6.2s were best and the Polk Blackstone TL1s were second best. Then followed by the Infinity Primus P143, then the Polk TSI100s, and then by the Infinity Entra B6.2s.
Back to back gave these impressions:
Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 = Great imaging. Very good tonally. Consistent sound quality at loud volumes. Realistic sounding ( acoustic guitar)
Polk Blackstone TL1 = Great imaging slightly below the Elac B6.2. Tonally good but higher in middle midrange. Consistent sound quality at loud levels, surprisingly! Realistic sounding (acoustic guitar). While these are great speakers, they are very inefficient (~84/85db [email protected]) being less loud than normal size speakers by many decibels and needs a subwoofer that has a frequency range into the higher bass of around 140Hz. They do sound good with my Klipsch R-120sw and R-100sw subwoofers so they go high enough.
Infinity Primus P143 = OK imaging (sweet spot very small where slightly left or right goes to the closest speaker). Tonally a bit brighter than the Elac B6.2 and Polk TL1 but good. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Realistic sounding (acoustic guitar).
Polk TSI100 = Good imaging but breaks down off center to the closest speaker (not nearly as bad as the Infinity P143). Tonally the brightest speaker but I've heard much brighter. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Not as realistic as the above speakers, acoustic guitar didn't sound like it was in the room as the above others did.
Infinity Entra Point Five = OK imaging (sweet spot very small where slightly left or right goes to the closest speaker). Tonally the darkest speaker by far as treble is very attenuated and can sound forward in the low midrange (boxy sounding?), not very good IMO but OK for a surround speaker. Inconsistent sound quality at loud levels with shouty character to sound. Not realistic sounding at all as acoustic guitar sounded the most reproduced out of all the speakers.
Obviously these are older speakers but many others still have them. The Infinity Entra Point Fives were bought as Back Surround speakers to go with my Denon AVR-3803 back in 2003. The Infinity Primus P143 were bought around 2013 as Side Surround speakers to to be put on the wall so my daughter and animals would not knock them over on the stands. The Polk Blackstone TL1 are still available today and were bought for my smaller media room system. The Polk TSI100 were bought 2 years ago to replace Infinity Reference 2000.4 Tower speakers. Infinity Reference RS1 old surround bookshelf speakers were used temporarily in-between the 2 for a few years. The Elacs were just bought to replace the Polk TSI100 speakers.
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