 Infinity
TSS-750 Home-Theater Speaker System
There’s a point in the life
cycle of any hobby when the early adopters begin to decry the "dilution" of
their passion and make dire predictions that the end of the hobby’s golden age is in
sight. This usually coincides with the introduction of a product that is either affordable
or convenient for the public at large. To the true devotee, going mainstream is his
hobby’s death knell.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with convenience or
affordability, of course. But the true hobbyist would rather toil in obscurity. He sees
suffering as the price he pays for being one of the elect.
The true hobbyist will hate Infinity’s TSS-750
home-theater speaker system. At $749 USD, it is certainly affordable, and it is undeniably
compact and convenient. But what will really tick off the true hobbyist is that the
TSS-750 is really good. Bad news for him, good news for the rest of us.
To succeed, we must first believe that we can
The TSS-750 system consists of four tiny (6" x 4"
x 4.5") two-way satellite speakers containing a 3.5" woofer and 0.75"
tweeter, a center-channel speaker with two 3.5" woofers and a 0.75" tweeter, and
subwoofer containing a 10" woofer driven by a 150W amplifier. The satellites and
center-channel enclosures are extruded aluminum with an anodized finish (available in
platinum or charcoal). The heavy aluminum enclosure and its curved shape help minimize
internal standing waves and resonances, Infinity claims. Its curved contours require that
the center-channel speaker, which lies on its side, be held in a plastic cradle -- a
feature, not a bug, that allows you to aim the speaker at the proper angle to focus the
sound toward your comfy chair (okay, that’s synecdoche -- I mean toward your ears).
All of the drivers -- even the subwoofer -- incorporate
Infinity’s proprietary Metal Matrix Design (MMD) technology, which produces rigid,
lightweight drivers by anodizing both sides of thin aluminum diaphragms with a ceramic
skin in order to reduce distortion and breakup. The crossover point between the midrange
drivers and tweeter is 3.5kHz and the satellite speakers are rated at 88dB sensitivity,
while the center-channel speaker is rated slightly higher, at 89dB. And the speakers are
shielded and sport solid gold-plated binding posts, an unusual but welcome feature at this
price.
The subwoofer houses its 10" driver in a ported
enclosure of MDF. The 150W RMS amplifier module features right and left line-level inputs,
a gain control, a phase-adjustment knob, and an adjustable crossover (range: 50-150Hz). It
also has a feature more common in specialty high-end designs: a switch that removes the
sub’s internal crossover from the signal path, allowing you to use your
receiver’s bass management instead.
Two other extras make life even more convenient: You can
buy individual speakers for $109/each, if you want a 6.1- or 7.1-channel surround setup,
and you can buy very handsome (and very solid) speaker stands that match the
TSS-750’s modern aesthetic for $179/pair. I tried these and liked ’em -- they
looked great, and their heavy bases made them extremely stable.
Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who
find it
I auditioned the TSS-750s with several home-theater
systems, beginning with the very reasonably priced combo of Harman Kardon’s AVM 330
receiver and Arcam DV88 Plus DVD player, and moving on to higher-end fare such as the T+A
M-System and Linn Classik Movie Di. Speaker cables were Kimber 4TC.
Although I found Infinity’s dedicated stands useful
and practical, the small size of the TSS-750’s satellites will encourage many
consumers to mount them on the wall. I thought the speakers opened up a lot with about
18" of space behind them, but many people value floor space more than airiness;
Infinity ought to consider providing wall-mounts for the satellites.
More important, however, is the need to blend the subwoofer
to the satellites for full-range sound. The TSS-750 satellites are very small; you need to
cross over the 750’s sub at the top of its range (or higher, perhaps, if your bass
management will let you) if you don’t wish to have a midrange suckout. Because, at
its price, the TSS-750’s sub is fairly robust compared to most of the
home-theater-in-a-box competition, this is not a big deal -- but if you don’t spend
time getting the setup right, you won’t hear how good this little system can sound.
(And because most retailers don’t spend any time setting up $750 HTIBs,
don’t expect the TSS-750 to blow you away in the store.)
A last caveat -- the TSS-750 probably won’t sound as
good as it can when you first get it home, either. I found it closed-down and a trifle
cool when I first set it up, so I played some Led Zeppelin and Bruckner through the system
at high volume for a day or so before settling down and listening critically.
Belief is passive. Faith is active.
Actually, Led Zep and Bruckner played quite nicely to one
of the TSS-750’s strengths: This is one dynamic loudspeaker system. Esa-Pekka
Salonen’s recording of Bruckner’s mighty Symphony 4 [CD, Sony 63301] sounded huge.
It took me a while to cotton to this performance, having cut my teeth on Herbert von
Karajan’s version, but the orchestra simply smolders under Salonen, giving the work
an emotional mass that perfectly matches its instrumental density.
All that from a handful of 6" x 4" x 4"
loudspeakers? Well, that 10" subwoofer surely helps, but you have to admit that
Bruckner isn’t what you normally associate with a budget HTIB.
I was even more impressed when I ratcheted down the
instrumental forces to the small acoustic ensemble Pentangle. On Solomon’s Seal
[CD, Castle Music CMQCD555], "Willy O’Winsbury" was projected into my
listening room with such holographic intensity that it took me a few minutes to realize
that I was listening in only two channels. Actually, I realized it only when I attempted
to turn off the processing that wasn’t being applied -- silly me. Well, stereo
does mean solid. And I was lulled by the emotional truth of the reproduction as
much as by its tonal purity.
But the point of an HTIB is that’s it’s a home
theater. I moved on to movies.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was
huge and open, as always. The TSS-750 enveloped me in all of the creaks, moans, and sighs
of the water-bound world of the HMS Surprise. If you’re watching on a small
screen, the TSS-750 will take the sound "out of the box" very effectively; if
you’re using a large display, the system will scale the sound to match.
As dynamic as I found the Infinity system with music,
however, it didn’t quite match the heft of a separates-based system with a
substantial subwoofer such as the Hsu STF-3. Not surprising, really -- the Hsu sub costs
almost as much as the whole Infinity system, and it sports a 12" woofer and a 300W
amp.
I’m more concerned with re-creating the sonic world of
a film than I am with having my fillings shaken loose by its special effects, but some
people would like to have both. I suspect that there isn’t any sub-$1000 HTIB
that will satisfy those folks.
Which is not to call it wimpy -- as I discovered when I
screened The Butterfly Effect. TBE uses surround phenomenally well -- and
the DTS soundtrack on the Director’s Cut edition has a rousing intensity that
the TSS-750s exploited to my great delight. Yes, the $1496 Hsu-Magnepan combo of STF-3,
MMG W, and MMG C had more low-end heft, but the TSS-750 acquitted itself very nicely.
Believing requires action
A fairer comparison might be the Athena Technologies Micra
System, an HTIB costing $599. That system also features compact satellites and a powered
subwoofer, albeit one sporting an 8" driver and a 75W amplifier. With music, the
Infinity system gave more midbass body to large-scale orchestral pieces like the Bruckner.
This manifested itself primarily as presence -- the Athenas did a great job of
sketching out the scale and showing me the architecture of the big Bruckner chords, but
the Infinitys put the orchestra in my room. This was also true with Jacqui McShee’s
voice on "Willy O’Winsbury." She didn’t sound bigger through the
Infinity system, just more there -- I mean here. Realer.
That sense of presence was much more noticeable in movie
soundtracks, much to my surprise. My buddy Gord came by the house last week with a new DVD
of really extreme surfing videos -- hardcore stuff I’d never seen the likes of
before (some shot as recently as October). Over a score that combined the sounds of
hovering helicopters, ten-story breakers crashing, and tracks by the likes of the Chemical
Brothers, we watched some of the bravest (or most foolish) surfers on the planet attack
monster surf. The TSS-750 put me in the midst of all that madness, while the Athena got me
only 80% of the way there.
To be fair, I connected the Infinity subwoofer to the
Athena satellites, and that got me about 95% of the way toward the TSS-750’s overall
effect, so a lot of credit has to go to Infinity’s subwoofer. But that got me
wondering. I connected the Hsu STF-3 to the Infinity satellites and, sure enough,
everything got bigger, fuller, more dynamic. I won’t go so far as to say that the
subwoofer is the key to great home theater, but when you’re dealing with a
constrained budget and small satellite speakers, it does appear that differences in sub
size and power make a bigger difference in system performance than do relatively minor
changes in satellite size and driver complement. And subwoofering is an area in which the
Infinity TSS-750 is particularly well endowed.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it,
doesn’t go away
Sorry, home-theater true believers, but the golden age
wasn’t the period when you guys were pioneers -- it’s now. That’s
because products such as the Infinity TSS-750 deliver real home-theater performance at
such an affordable price that none of us has to settle for crap just because we
can’t spend a fortune on home entertainment.
If you’re looking for solid performance and a system
that will deliver the musical goods without sacrificing HT thrills, you’re in luck;
the TSS-750 delivers.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Infinity TSS-750 Home-Theater Speaker System
Price: $749 USD.
Warranty: Five years parts and labor.
Infinity Systems, Inc.
250 Crossways Park Drive
Woodbury, NY 11797
Phone: (800) 553-3332, (818) 407-0228
Fax: (818) 993-7614
Website: www.infinitysystems.com
|
