# SVS vs. Infinity Towers



## alewisdvm (Jul 8, 2010)

Hello, 
Comments on SVS STS towers vs. Infinity P362?

Thanks


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

alewisdvm said:


> Hello,
> Comments on SVS STS towers vs. Infinity P362?
> 
> Thanks


The SVS towers are twice the price of the Infinity P362. They will deliver more bass for sure, but you'd have to compare them in your room to see what you preferred.

The P362 has a better center and the midrange drivers are very low distortion. So you will get a little cleaner sound. 

Either tower pair is excellent.


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## alewisdvm (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks. 
The exact answer I was looking for. I will likely be getting a half decent sub, or even twin subs anyway.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

The SVS towers may be twice the price of the Infinity P362's but you get more than twice the quality over all. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to most speakers (except Bose) particularly with SVS speakers and subs. Dont get me wrong the Infinity's are a nice speaker but side by side comparison SVS wins. The STS towers weigh 35lbs each where the Infinity's weigh 23lbs each


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

The infinity's are a great value and, if you're on a budget, I think the money saved could be filtered somewhere else.


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## billy p (Dec 19, 2007)

Thought this could be helpful...fwiw

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=736270&postcount=1


I see your posting there as well....


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## alewisdvm (Jul 8, 2010)

Yes. Consulting a few forums. Very interested in this stuff, and the opinions of people like you and NOT Best Buy.

I was originally going to do "in-wall" which I decided against. Then "on-wall" but ran into a problem since speakers would be inside a alcove that is 2 feet deep and cause problems with reflections. Now, back to doing towers.

The infinity's are a very good deal.


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## shadyJ (Nov 4, 2009)

The Primus speakers weigh much more than 23 lbs each, I would say closer to 40 or 50 from lifting them.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Its strange because I found two sights including Amazon that say the shipping weight is 65lbs and that contradicts the individual weight of 45lbs each that I also have found so I really dont know anymore what is true. The specifications of the Infinity P362's are great but I always check the weight to make a final decision as that will really tell you what they are made of.


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## shadyJ (Nov 4, 2009)

Your comment made me curious so I just weighed one of my p362 speakers. On my scale, the p362, with the grill on, weighed 42.0 lbs. My scale might be off by a fraction of a pound though. Strange that it does not match anyone's weight spec, especially Infinity's own weight spec! I can't explain this except to say that maybe Infinity weighed them in the packaging for some reason. I don't know where Amazon came up with their number either.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> The SVS towers may be twice the price of the Infinity P362's but you get more than twice the quality over all. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to most speakers (except Bose) particularly with SVS speakers and subs. Dont get me wrong the Infinity's are a nice speaker but side by side comparison SVS wins. The STS towers weigh 35lbs each where the Infinity's weigh 23lbs each


I realize you have your favorites, but I think this is a overstating it. The P362 has an excellent F-R graph that shows excellent crossover work and driver response. In DBT it beat out several speakers costing more. I'm not saying it's for everyone because people have different preferences, but Harman has done nearly all the perceptual research we have in this hobby/industry and they've done an excellent job of maximizing that in their loudspeaker designs. Furthermore the MSRP is 500 a pair, but the engineering costs have been paid for so the price has come down. 

Weight is not a good indicator of build quality in speakers(MDF weighs more than Plywood, but plywood is stiffer and leads to a better speaker). A waterfall graph with a -40 db measurement is a much better indicator of quality. I won't argue finish quality or preference, but the P362 IMO would hold their own with the SVS towers being discussed. I'd gander the drivers in the Primus towers excluding the tweeter are higher quality than the SVS ones. 

Ultimately you'd have to decide for yourself and I don't think you would be wrong to get the SVS speakers. I just want to point out that not everyone agrees with Tony in this contest.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

lsiberian said:


> I just want to point out that not everyone agrees with Tony in this contest.


No contest at all :bigsmile: Just my opinion nothing more.:T


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## looneybomber (Sep 20, 2006)

Both would have to be heard in order to make the decision. I've heard the First gen primus towers, and wasn't too impressed with them. Later, I bought the Infinity Beta-50's. As for the SVS speakers, I've not heard any of them.

I'm willing to bet that both sound at least acceptable, and if piecing together a 5+ channel system, I would go with the towers that have the better complimentary center, followed by the surrounds. That's kind of what I am doing. The matching Beta C-360 wasn't going to work for me, so I had to find a center that would and am changing the rest of my speakers to match it.



tonyvdb said:


> Dont get me wrong the Infinity's are a nice speaker but side by side comparison SVS wins. The STS towers weigh 35lbs each where the Infinity's weigh 23lbs each


Wow, I didn't know weight was a metric involved when determining which speaker sounds better, with the lighter of the two being dismissed.



shadyJ said:


> On my scale, the p362, with the grill on, weighed 42.0 lbs.


And apparently it's not. :whistling:


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

looneybomber said:


> Wow, I didn't know weight was a metric involved when determining which speaker sounds better, with the lighter of the two being dismissed.


Weight is often a good indicator of a well braced cabinet, large/powerful drivers, or both.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

eugovector said:


> Weight is often a good indicator of a well braced cabinet, large/powerful drivers, or both.


Bracing takes a lot of effort so you will find it mostly on high-end speakers from reputable manufacturers like B&W. Lining also help make a speaker sound better especially if it's thick enough to make a big difference. 

Large voice coils will lead to heavier speakers, but that doesn't always mean quality. 

Still the ultimate test of a speaker is with an in-home audition. Some people actually like distorted sound more than clean sound. After all speaker selection is a very personal process.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

lsiberian said:


> Bracing takes a lot of effort so you will find it mostly on high-end speakers from reputable manufacturers like B&W.


Or $500/pair shipped from Elemental Designs: http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_42&products_id=96


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## looneybomber (Sep 20, 2006)

eugovector said:


> Weight is often a good indicator of a well braced cabinet, large/powerful drivers, or both.


If the difference is night and day, say 100lbs vs. 20lbs, then there's a very good chance the 5x heavier one will sound better, but when the difference is 15-20%, it's not even worth taking into consideration.


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

looneybomber said:


> If the difference is night and day, say 100lbs vs. 20lbs, then there's a very good chance the 5x heavier one will sound better, but when the difference is 15-20%, it's not even worth taking into consideration.


With respect to your opinion, my opinion would be that a 15% difference on a 30lb speaker is 5lbs. A cross brace might be 3-4lbs, and another 16oz on a magnet couldn't hurt. I'm not saying weight is everything, but I wouldn't dismiss it in the way you have suggested.

I will say that my favorite speakers have consistently weighed more than my least favorite speakers.


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## DanTheMan (Oct 12, 2009)

Generally I'm with you on this one Eugovector, but another thing to consider is material. The rare aluminum enclosure will be extremely strong, but light. Not an issue here,but just sayin.

Dan


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## looneybomber (Sep 20, 2006)

eugovector said:


> With respect to your opinion, my opinion would be that a 15% difference on a 30lb speaker is 5lbs. A cross brace might be 3-4lbs, and another 16oz on a magnet couldn't hurt.


Or the lighter one is in a smaller enclosure, uses Neo magnets instead of ferrite and thus weigh quite a few pounds less but has a stiffer, more resonant free enclosure (a smaller board of equal thickness will be more rigid and vibrate less) and has much higher quality drivers.

The point is, weight shouldn't be the deciding factor. Anyone who chooses one speaker over the other by deciding with his biceps instead of his ears is doing himself an injustice. As tonyv pointed out, he liked the sound of the SVS better and yet it was lighter.

So I agree that heavier speakers are usually of higher quality, but that's not a guarantee, and also not a good indicator on which will sound better.


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## alewisdvm (Jul 8, 2010)

Interesting debate started.

Pulled the trigger.
Picked up the Infinity's. The P362 and matching center. Never get to "truly" appreciate the sound with a 2 year old at home. The SVS was a lot more money, and despite this interesting debate, there is no way I would go with SVS over Infinity, for the cost, as a general consumer. 

Very happy. For now, to save money, I am using my polk R30's as center rears, and will use the old front R50's as my new L/R surrounds. 

You have all been helpful. 
New system:
LG 60PK550 plasma
Denon 2310
Infinity P362 and center

When I get a chance, i'll upload before and after photos.


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## JBL Fan (May 1, 2010)

> Picked up the Infinity's. The P362 and matching center


All Infinity speakers go through an intensive testing cycle that I have witnessed personally - great choice! I am biased as my handle suggest (HK international, JBL,Crown,Infinity,Revel etc) and have met the engineers at the plant as I've said here before. Infinity is the real deal becuase the engineering staff and testing facility is the real deal. HK has the funds to do the research in the first place unlike many brands commercially available.HK is a huge company thus they can buy in bulk and pass on savings to the customer.

Let us know how things are going after you set up...


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