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The 1970's Infinity QLS 1...How would it compare?

How would a properly driven (worth a 500 page thesis in itself!) pair of these compare to $20,000 and under mainstays of today? These speakers have become an enigma to me...They were always two or three or a hundred and fifty steps beyond my grasp for different reasons and now they're getting hard to find and harder to find parts for so as to be forever relegated to the "one that got away" files. Anyone ever own these or otherwise spend any time with them? Closest I ever got to auditioning them was prob. late '78 at a Pacific Stereo (Unfortunately someone had underpowered them with one of the 80 lb. "monster recievers" of the day only hours before I got there so all I got was a look.) Ah, youth........
lg1
rwd
695 posts
 
From what I vaguely remember of them they were the predecessor of the famous and great Servo Static 1-A electrostatic system. This was Arnie Nudell's first venture into electro magnetic drivers and getting away for stats. They were.....in one word...."ok". The mid's and high had some promise (later truly realized in his IRS, RS1-B's and Beta's). However, the bass (Arnie always had a bit of integration problems with the bass and mid's) were big, powerful but blotted.

Rick (RWD)
gmuffley
132 posts
 
In a word: badly. The QLS had huge problems with a bloated mid-bass and integration with the much faster mid-range drivers. Run away from these. My experience is based upon a friend who owned them; he gave up after trying 6 months to make them sound right. I heard them many times in his room as we moved them around; tried different amps;different cables--all to no avail. The QLS came out after the SS-1As.
cwlondon
1,210 posts
 
Ah youth.....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bobbyshred.com/images/QLS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bobbyshred.com/infinity/QLS.html&h=414&w=315&sz=226&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=bP2cNCK3T9mepM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dinfinity%2Bqls%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

(If this link doesnt work, just search under Google images for Infinity QLS)

I also found my first pair of speakers on this site, the Infinity Qa.

I sold them to buy my first pair of Magneplanars and never looked back, but they were great at the time with my Technics SA 200 receiver and Sanyo TP 1020 turntable?!

I suspect you could do a lot better for the time and effort you would invest in an old pair of Infinitys.

But for sentimental value you could put them in a second system in a spare room with some cool 70's electronics and maybe a cassette deck.
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