 Harman International Company is the worlds biggest company dealing with the production of audio equipment. It holds that position in both the professional and home world. The company holds the following brands: Harman/Kardon, Infinity, JBL, AKG, dbx, Soudcraft, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel and many, many more. I keep repeating this formula from time to time, but these are the facts, and even if we do not see it immediately, this American giant, together with its French headquarters, is able to design and manufacture any loudspeaker system, any electronics needed for recording, processing and reproduction of sound – and this in stereo and multichannel. A very broad palette of products and lots of choice. It turned out, that similar to another specialist – the company KEF - we cannot arrange for testing of the company products. I’ll just mention, that during our three and a half year history we have tested only one – yes, ONE! – loudspeaker system, the very nice loudspeakers Beta 20. The reason for this is actually quite simple: Harman went fully for home cinema a few years ago, and under the name Infinity and JBL proposed an uncountable amount of complete 5.1 systems, starting with tiny ones and ending with gigantic systems for wealthy music lovers. But it came to a kind of disproportionate development: the sister company JBL offers, besides home cinema, brilliant tube speakers, in many variants and sizes, loved in Japan and Asia, among those the exceptional, designed for the 60th anniversary, model Project Everest DD660, costing around 150000zł (or something like that – in Japan it costs 6000000 yen). Compared to that, Infinity remains a medium or low shelf company. And some time ago, Infinity had some mighty loudspeakers regulated by a digital DSP and has set trends. Most probably we have a situation here as in the GP Acoustics company, where also two loudspeaker brands are present: KEF and Celestion, and where is no clear idea what to do with the second brand and it is kept in a spore state. Similar to England, in USA Infinity offers something not available elsewhere: a technological infrastructure and background offering solutions for much more expensive products from JBL and – even more - Revel, and this for an incredibly low price. Let us take as an example the tested bookshelf speakers Primus 150II (this II stands for a second version, prepared to adhere to RoHS regulations): it is cheap, designed evidently for the role of surrounds in home cinema – mounting elements on the back plate – but the diaphragms for both drivers are made from an expensive, complicated material named MMD – Metal Matrix Diaphragm. This is a special technology based on anodizing a metal background. This is the source for the specific, milk-matte color of the membranes, that although are made from metal, do not look as if they are made from it. Let us only mention, that in more expensive models, an even more advanced process is used, CMMD, where the anodized metal is being sintered with ceramics. Taking into account the almost negligible price of the Primus, we have to admit, that this impresses much. SOUND )
Price aside, there is no leniency for anybody. For control I listened to those speakers with the inexpensive amplifier from NAD, but the main sessions were done with my standard equipment and other tested devices: Luxman M-800A and Nagra PSA amplifiers, with the signal supplied from the Ancient Audio Prime and the Nagra CDC, as well as with the integrated Leben CS-300 paired with the multiformat player Luxman DU-50. A strong case, but I do recall those names not to impress anybody, because that is something I would like to avoid, but remind of our testing methods, used in all tests done at “HIGH Fidelity OnLine”. We always try to listen to a component in a surrounding that allows for maximum transparency – so that the accompanying elements would not have an influence on the final effect. Only then, when the absolute reference scale is known, we perform listening tests with devices from a similar price level, but this is only to find out the best combinations, and not for checking the character of the sound. Because if we would use given products with electronics/loudspeakers from the same price range, that what we would hear would not be the sound of the tested component, but a combination of the sound of all the components in the sound path. And even if we would exchange the tested component to another one, and looked for the changes in the sound, that is what we would hear – changes, and not the sound of the component. But this is just a reminder. )
The listening test of the Primus was a refreshing experience for me. Actually the whole issue of HFOL (No 42), with cheap and very cheap loudspeakers, is an important experience for me. Due to the initial listening tests of many dozens of speakers and choosing the nine for the test, which – in my opinion – are worth it, I gained an unique experience: I know now – or at least I think I know – how the basis of hi-fi looks like, I know where it starts. Against appearances low price level does not mean unification, washing out of the differences – nothing like that! All the tested speakers have their own character, their own set of characteristics, and each one sounds differently from the other. The most important thing is – for me – that they sound better than ever before. I know that this is a very delicate matter, there are a lot of people that think the world is going down, and everything gets worse. But this was also the idea of the classic Greeks, and if this would be true, the world would look a bit different now, I think… I base my opinion partially on the listening sessions of the Primus 150. Those are really cheap loudspeakers, splendidly manufactured, nicely looking, that play with a phenomenal – in the price performance ratio – sound. In inexpensive constructions the main rule is: “don’t harm”. This rule Infinity mastered perfectly: the sound is full, saturated, without a trace of glassy treble and brightening. When compared to the KEF iQ3 or the 686 B&W, then we must say, that the treble is rounded. The same thing I heard while listening to the Beta 20, and this is probably a derivative from the diaphragm material. The cymbals are sparkling, delicate, but have a visibly rounded attack. It could even be said, that we have no attack, but directly a nice sustain. This gives an absolutely non-fatiguing sound. And this is absolutely not a pensioner’s way of sounding, not a wet cloth like smacking. The treble is sparkling, it has a “golden” character, the feeling is like listening to a bell. There is no depth, but there is some kind of “substance” in the sound, that does not exist in worse tweeters at all. This does not lead to slowing of the sound. The Primus are very quick and dynamic loudspeakers. )
And the most important frequency range is the midrange. It would seem that this is natural – small speakers should play mostly with the midrange, but in reality this is not a common thing. In constructions like this, companies tend to emphasize the bass and cut the treble, hoping that this would cover up the shortcomings of the applied drivers and impress the buyer in a short demo. The Primus 150 impress, but with a splendid midrange. Let us listen to the piece Abwoon from the last disc of Lisa Gerrard The Silver Tree (Sonic Records, SON212, CCD?), where the vocalist sings in long phrases, with deep incantations. Infinity played this fragment incredibly clean, without putting the voice in the background, and expressive. The same happened with the splendid disc of Ida Sand Meet Me Around Midnight from the editors house ACT (ACT 9716-2, CD), where the same situation repeated: strong, clean voice, with a very good, dynamically presented band. And finally - Blues Breakout (Polskie Nagrania, PNCD 940, mini-LP, CD), where the voice of Nalepa is often put below the instruments. Infinity showed it as well as the voices of the women earlier, without stretching it, and in a very natural way. Also the guitars sounded very vivid. This joy of playing repeated with recordings from the disc Red King Crimson (Universal [Japan], UICE-9058, HDCD), where the mighty entrance of the synthesizers almost lifted the speakers from the stands. These are really splendid loudspeakers. )
But nothing, even such good reception, is not able to mask the flaws and the low price. Fortunately, the designers did not even try to deceive us and just left the weaker elements as they were, concentrating on the assets. One of the flaws of the Primus 150 is the sound stage. The speakers almost do not distinguish the instruments in depth of the stage, presenting them as one big family. The first plane is clear, what makes the voices and guitars sound very convincing, but everything else is for those speakers terra incognita, given as one whole. This is the reason, that old recordings sounded very bad, like those from the disc of Mel Tormé The Legend of Mel Tormé (Going For a Song, GFS360, CD), everything was flat and emotionless. On the other hand jazz from the 50ties and 60ties, like the splendid disc The Route of the duo Chet Baker and Art Pepper (Pacific Jazz/Capitol /EMI, 92931, SBM CD) sounded very well – with a strong trumpet and saxophone. Only their location was not especially defined. Reproducing mono recordings (like the title song The Route, wrongly annotated as stereo) showed that pairing of the speakers in not top notch – the sound image was not coherent, not exactly in the middle, but went to the sides. And finally the bass. It sounds splendid here, but, similar to the KEF iQ3, a big role of the bass-reflex can be felt here (in this case more a loss hole). It is enough to place our hand there to feel the air flowing. This means a coloration of the upper bass and lower midrange. You can experiment with a foam plug (not supplied) but we loose some vitality there. The coloration is not big, and the dynamics is splendid due to that kind of sounding, so I would suggest to leave this as it is. We can go on pointing out the flaws, there are no perfect things, but I have no heart to do it. I think, that this would cover up that what is most important here: this are really very nice loudspeakers. Their midrange is so vivid, that I think there is more life in it than in the Dobermann from Harpii Acoustics I use on a daily basis. Together with a delicate treble we get real music for little money. Bravo! DESCRIPTION )
The loudspeakers Primus 150 from Infinity are small stand mount speakers, two way, with a 19mm tweeter, placed in a small tube, and a 133mm mid-woofer. Both diaphragms are made from anodized metal and named MMD. In front of the tweeter two crossbars are placed, protecting from small curious fingers, of our little beloved home terrorists. The front is plastic, and the small magnet is made from neodymium. In an effort to bring the acoustic centers of the transducers closer together, what is always a good move, the mid-woofer spider cover was cut-off and the speaker itself is placed a bit deeper. This makes the spider of the tweeter cover the spider of the mid-woofer significantly. The 133mm transducer received a spider from pressed metal and a massive, shielded drive section. The enclosure made from MDF is vented by something resembling a bass-reflex tunnel. But it is more a loss hole, as the length is only… 15mm. Anyway, it composes well with the silver front and the rounded edges. The cross-over is placed on the back panel – we have an air and a core coil and electrolytic capacitors. The cables are attached by means of connectors. On the back, besides the wall mounting elements and rubber mats, we have single wire terminals. Let us add, that the loudspeakers have a nice grille, resembling a solution used in Mission loudspeakers, that clip to the sides of the enclosure. For listening it is better to take them off.
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