Infinity RS1b Speaker System Complete EMIT EMIM RS1 NR! What you REALLY want 4 Christmas! Stereophile Class A Start Price USD 3,800.00 Current Price USD 4,050.00 Time Left - Bid Count 3 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 30, 2008 End Time Sunday, December 07, 2008 Location Friday Harbor, Washington See more about 'Infinity RS1b Speaker System Complete EMIT EMIM RS1 NR!' Description  Yes, you can still have the Christmas you have always wanted!INCLUDES: WOOFER TOWERS  -   MID/TWEETER TOWERS  -  CROSSOVER/SERVO CONTROL.I assume since you are looking at these you know what they are.  If not, please spend a day with Google and you will find these are considered one of the greatest speaker systems of all time....bar none...regardless of cost!  They were like $6,000 - $14,000 back in the 1980's.  Look at the solid oak construction, number of drivers and materials and you can imagine what they would cost today with inflation ($14,000 in 1985 equals $26,642 today!).  I'm not going to try to copy all the specs and reviews out there.  You will find stuff like; "..the RS-1Bs must be ranked among the very best speaker systems that money can buy..." J. Gordon Holt Stereophile April 1985.  A true classic that is still top of the line 20 years later.  Compare these to the current state of the art Infinity Prelude MTS and you see most of what has changed is about decreasing production cost and squeezing them into the space next to a LCD TV.  I own a set of Compositions Prelude and the RS1b are the superior, no compromise solution to the highest fidelity.THESE ARE THE SPEAKERS YOU DREAMED ABOUTThese have been my pride and joy for about 4 years, but with moving and downsizing I just don't have the space for them and so we must sadly part ways.  You can see from the pictures they are in my garage- which makes a nice home theater, but these speakers deserve better.  They are Stereophile A rated and are the finest speakers I have ever heard.  To fully enjoy them you will need a very large room and quality high power amps.  If you do not have a large room or quality electronics, do not buy these speakers.   I currently run a Lexicon DC-1 head unit, Bryston 4B-ST 250W for the mid/tweeters and Crown CE2000 350W for the bass columns.  I don't think you would want to power them with anything less.  I have never heard them with tube amps, so I regret I cannot reinforce what I've read that they sound great with tubes.  I don't think the Crown is a particularly good match for the woofers, but the reason is rather esoteric and relates to how the crossover feedback loop works with the woofers.  Email me if interested and I'll explain.  I have them wired with the amplifier feeding back into the crossover as they are designed to be run (but many people do not use this feature of the crossover).  Copies of the documentation will accompany the speakers. Positioning is critical with these to achieve audio nirvana.  If you don't have the proper room positioning they will sound merely amazing.  They have a low WAF so please keep this in mind.  Also, being dipole their amplitude decays 1/r2 instead of 1/r3 to they carry much further than conventional speakers (i.e. they stay louder further away).  You will notice this right away as you listen to them though out the house and can still hear them.  They are NOT good for late night home theater with the kids sleeping upstairs.CONDITION?Condition wise I would say they are excellent for their age and overall very good with only minor wear and tear scuffs.  The grill cloths have some snags and worn spots.  The cabinets have minor dings here and there.  The tops are clear and without any stains or scratches.  Send me your personal email and I can send a bunch of high res close ups, but there is almost nothing that will show up on photos.  Probably the worst is the dings on the black foot bases from scooting them around.  They are not MINT as I use the term, but with new grill cloths and some touch up polish they could probably be sold as new.   Drivers are all fully functioning and in good condition.  One woofer has a small tear in the rubber surround which has been repaired- but I don't think you would have seen it had I not brought it up.  Also, I have 4 spare woofers I will include in the auction.  I was going to use them to build a center channel but never got around to that project.  The crossover/servo unit has some scratches and the lettering worn as in the photo.  It was inspected by a technician last year and works perfectly.  These speakers have rubber surrounds that will last another 20 years and the system will still be going strong when you are throwing out the other set of speakers you are considering buying.LOCATION?  SHIPPING?-BUYER PAYS ACTUAL SHIPPING/CUSTOMS/ETC--------IGNORE EBAY SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS-------------------------- I WILL SHIP OVERSEAS, BUT YOU MUST MAKE ALL ARRANGEMENTS, PAYMENTS, ETC.  (I will deliver to a shipper as below, so if you can make all the arrangements and it is not a huge hassle for me, I will ship overseas.  Obviously,  you must pay in advance, there will be no refunds, and by the way I am not stupid....so all you Nigerian Royal Kings with bulging but impaired bank accounts....)These are located on San Juan Island in Northwest Washington State, 98250.  Yes, you must take a ferry from Anacortes to get here- but why not make a weekend of it an enjoy the island for a mini-vacation?  There are many ferries per day, but plan on at least making a day of it to visit the island.  I really don't want to try to ship these. I will work with you, but do not have a trusted contact to crate them up.  I am listing them as PICK UP ONLY.  I will deliver to the Seattle area for $100 plus $1 per mile from 98250.  They are not that heavy or hard too move,  just not easy to pack for shipping.  I can deliver to a crating company in Anacortes/Bellingham/Seattle but you have to make all the arrangements.UPDATE-------UPDATE-------------UPDATE---------I've had some interest in the mid/tweeter towers only.  If you want just the two mid/tweeter towers, I will credit/refund $1000 for the bass towers and servo crossover.  Bid as if you were taking the whole package.  I think this could reduce the shipping down to $400-$600? to lower 48.  Buyer to pay all actual shipping charges/insurance.  BTW, to help the hesitant of you with the math: 14 EMIM x $250 each =$3500 for just the EMIM at easy eBay sale prices.  + Tweeters, servo, woofer columns, spares, etc.... THIS IS A STEAL AT THE OPENING BID!WARRANTY?  PAYMENT?These are working perfectly.  However, as they are vintage I cannot offer a warranty other than they are guaranteed as described and will not be DOA.  You may check them out when you pick them up of course.  I accept PAYPAL ONLY and you must pay in advance of picking them up (like within  5 days of auction close) or I will re-list.RESERVE?  FREE SPEAKERS TO RENT!?No, I'm not going to give these away.  These are not the piles of crap, 50% blown drivers, no crossover, mis-matched versions that you see on iSoldit occasionally.  I assume if you've read this far you know these come up on eBay maybe once or twice a year at most.  Half these auctions are for junk which means you are lucky to get 1 chance per year or two to bid on  a good set of   RS1b complete with servo crossover.  You also know the individual EMIT and EMIM are readily available and sold on eBay.  This is great for 2 reasons;  1- because these same EMIT/EMIM were used in a number of Infinity speakers you can always get spares if needed (I've never needed) and 2- if after a few years you need to downsize and you cannot sell the system complete you can always part out and get your investment back.  This is my plan.  If they don't sell after a couple listings I will part them out.  I hate to commit this sin, but I will not sell them for less than the value of the parts.  14 x EMIM, 8 x EMIT, 12+4 Woofers, Crossovers, Crossover-Servo Unit, cabinets.  Starting price = $3800.  Do the research and convince yourself of the value here.MODIFIED VERSIONS OF RS1b?   100% ORIGINAL!I feel I must comment on the vocal few out there pushing their own modified versions of RS1b's.  Do these people really think they know more than the team of Infinity designers who spent years perfecting this speaker system?  Be very wary of those criticizing the crossover of the RS1b or talking up full range planar speakers.   Infinity at the time was building the worlds best speakers and pursued a cost is no object approach as evidenced by the $65,000 IRS system (the big brother to the RS1b).  Infinity knew exactly what they were doing and fully understood point source and dipole wave propagation, time alignment, phase coherence, and frequency/radiating area physics.  These were the second generation of a well proven pinnacle design concept (Infinity Reference Standard IRS & RS1).  If the RS1b's don't sound awesome, there is something wrong with the positioning, electronics, or recording.  Although I am not the original owner, I believe these are completely original and un-modified.These are classics of art and design and will provide another 20 years of pleasure to the next owner  Even the $65,000 IRS-V, and later upper end RS systems had foam woofer surrounds and do not retain the legendary status or collectible resale value of these RS1b's.You will be spending tens of thousands of dollars to find anything comparable to the quality and value of these speakers.Do some research if you are not familiar with these.  Compare the value and sound to what is currently available and you will be adding these to your watched list.Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.---------------------------------------ADDITIONSI've had some questions regarding shipping.  To keep it simple, I will deliver to "Seattle area shipper" for a flat $100.  I'm easy, but I'm not driving them to Oregon for free.  I just need a name and address.  I will take pictures and send them to you when I drop them off, but that would be the end of my responsibility.  I can not bear to stand there and watch them be packed poorly,  so please choose professionals.  I believe they are about 400#.  I guesstimate the inside crate 5'x4'x3'.  You need to take care of ALL shipping costs, details, insurance, etc......If you are thinking to pick them up later in the summer for example, I can also keep them stored (with daily exercise) depending on agreement that protects me from buyer walking away 6 months later.  Also, someone emailed me they had never seen them new for sale above $10k, so I may be wrong on the highest price they sold for.  I'm sure I saw the higher number somewhere, but I could not find the reference so I could be mistaken.   If any of you have a source for the original retail price, please let me know!Oh, and I have printouts of the owners manuals,  specs, etc...They are for sale locally and subject to prior sale.If you are interested in parts only, drop me an email and I'll keep them filed in case they don''t sell after a few tries.On Dec-06-08 at 14:56:38 PST, seller added the following information:UPDATE---Dec 6---FYI, for those of you getting ready to make that last minute bid which will hopefully make your acoustic dreams come true, I've had a few requests to end the auction early w/ BIN, shipping questions, etc....so I think these will get a bid.  Nearly 800 hits and 57 watchers so we'll see.  If they don't sell, I will most likely re-list one more time before parting them out.  I could probably get about $1000+ more than my asking price for the parts, but  I don't think I could sleep at  night knowing I  had destroyed such a set of speakers.  Good luck! 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