Voice Matching Infinity Speakers

[J*E*Cole]

I have all Infinity Alpha speakers now, 2 Alpha 50's, 2 Alpha 40's, and an Alpha Center as well as sub, but now I want to replace the 40's with 2 more 50's, but they are increasingly hard to find since they have been replaced with their Beta series of speakers. My question is this, since both the Alpha and Beta Series use the same CMMD drivers througout, would mixing the 2 series of speakers still be considered voice matched?

Thanks...

[davidb]

Very nearly perfect match. Same construction, same drivers, different grill, recessed tweeters. The only difference SHOULD be a bit wider of a sweet spot. It would probably be a slightly better match than your 40's, although really I'd just stick with those unless you have some good reason to upgrade. Surround speakers just plain don't do enough work to justify having a $500, 100+ lb. speaker in that position. Doesn't hurt, of course, but it's unlikely you'd notice any improvement going to the (slightly) larger surrounds. IMHO.

[Breezer88888]

If you want my suggestion since you're thinking of upgrading your speakers - btw I'm a long time Infinity fan. For a home theater that is mostly for movies, I would consider the Beta C360 center channel. If I recall correctly, the Alpha Center is the smaller center model to the Alpha 37c. I have the older Interlude 37c and can tell you that Infinity's CMMD drivers are very consistent when it comes to voice matching. I have this center with a set of 10+ year old Infinity RS5001 that had the ribbon EMit tweeters. Anyway before I go off on a tangent, the center really pulls it all together and the specs on the Beta C360 look like they'll have the bass to impress. I'm sure the larger Alpha, if you can still find it, will be a really nice addition as well. And, not only will it be perfectly voice matched, it will also be color matched as well. I just checked eBay and didn't see any right now. My point after all this, is that a beefier Infinity center will give you much more dramatic results for your hard earned dollars (I hate the phrase bang for the buck).

[mixadude]

I can't really speak to the voice matching question as I only have the Beta C360 in anything fairly current in Infinity, or anything current at all as far as speakers go.

But i can say that I'm happy with it for a center channel speaker.

I find it ample and smooth enough, but I do the old studio monitor trick with it of hanging a sheet of TP over the tweeter (and squawker in this case). I also EQd out some mid bass. I'm attempting to voice match it to some old Pioneer monitors that had "graphite modulus" Lo and Mid (very fragile) and ribbon tweeters. I haven't run Smaart on it yet, but this seemes like the most transparent compromise to me. I always take the challenge to do it by ear first before bringing out the analytical instruments. After the analyzer, I'll do the ear tests again, then analyse, ear, back and forth.

Sorry I can't be more help to the point of your question. But I'm finding it a worthy center channel.