Digging Grndpas Barn - Infinity CS-3800

[Ludogg81]

I found some speakers in my Grndpas barn, Infinity, with the model CS-3800.
Not to familiar with these. Hooked them up and got some sound from the speakers, but not quite sure how to activate all of them.
Looks like there is a Sub-Woofer in the cabinets.
Do i have a capable Receiver to get the sound out of them right????
I can not find any information about these speakers over the internet.....

Anyone with an idea about these speakers???

[Leo_Gnardo]

I'd inquire at Audio Asylum. MEF concentrates mostly on MI gear, not so much home stereo stuff.

But you never know - someone here may have an answer.

[Jazz P Bass]

That is not a Subwoofer.
It is a simple low to mid frequency woofer.

[The Dude]

Welcome to the place!

There's nothing different about the wiring of those speakers compared to any others, as far as I know. If you have drivers that are not working, either they are bad or you have a crossover problem. Pull any non-working drivers and hook them directly to an amp to see if they work and/or check them with a meter.

[oc disorder]

There is a user manual here CS = Crescendo Series I think you mean CS 3008 not CS 3800 !

http://manuals.harman.com/INF/HOM/Ow...eries%20om.pdf

If your rich enough you can run the woofers from a second amplifier, the first one driving the tweeters and midrange.

So consequently they have 4 terminals on the outside which connect together (red to red ~ black to black) for when you only
have one stereo amplifier. They come with short straps already connected .. if they are missing just use some wire to connect
the terminals on the back of the speaker so you only need the one cable (with two wires as normal) to connect to one speaker.

And a schematic for the CS 3009 which has 2 x 10" woofers compared to the CS3008 which has 1.

Some components may be different but should work as a rough guide.

[Ludogg81]

Ok that sounds like some good stuff. Seems like they have not been used since he put them in the barn. Looks like I have the right stuff to get them going. My Stereo now is preety good, do you think if i tune them up they would be a worthy addition?

[Leo_Gnardo]

My Stereo now is preety good, do you think if i tune them up they would be a worthy addition?

Infinity had an excellent reputation for stereo speakers, so yes.

It may be a good idea to examine the cab interiors, considering they were barn stored. Make sure no critters were nesting inside, perhaps chewing on wires. Also have a close look at the crossovers. Some used electrolytic capacitors. By now any of those would be way past their replacement date, and you could improve performance by swapping in film caps instead. If you need to freshen up the xo's Parts Express is an excellent place to shop for crossover parts, and their in-house Dayton caps are perfectly good.

Once your gems are in ready to go mode, start out at low volume, listen for any voice coil rubs or other distortion that may indicate speaker drivers are damaged. If everything sounds good, terrific! You might consider rubbing the wood finish down with lemon oil before parking them in your house, to get that "barn smell" off them plus making the wood look as good as they sound. Enjoy!

[Ludogg81]

My Grndpas barn was his office before it piled up and just starting storing things. Surprisingly enough there is no moist, sour smell, other than dust. I looked inside for the most park, no critters. The condition is on the up side, other then the sound coming from the electronics. Im in Cal. Trying to find some local Stero store to get an esstimate.

[Jazz P Bass]

Hah!

And I thought "My Grndpas barn" was a web page.

[olddawg]

Back in the day I was an authorized tech for Infinity. A couple of things. Many amps didn't like them because their load would drop way down at low frequencies. The fix is to simply put a big 2 ohm resistor in series with the positive terminal if it kills your amp. They particularly didn't like Yamahas. Also they fused the tweeters a lot. If it has ribbon tweeters, those were very sensitive. If you test the tweeters with a signal, put a 2uf cap in series with it so you don't blow it out. There isn't a lot to go wrong. Old caps in the crossover (I doubt it), bad connections, open fuses, or open drivers. If you have some bad drivers, look for something compatible from MCM.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Back in the day I was an authorized tech for Infinity. A couple of things. Many amps didn't like them because their load would drop way down at low frequencies. The fix is to simply put a big 2 ohm resistor in series with the positive terminal if it kills your amp. They particularly didn't like Yamahas. Also they fused the tweeters a lot. If it has ribbon tweeters, those were very sensitive. If you test the tweeters with a signal, put a 2uf cap in series with it so you don't blow it out..

That's the kind of advice I expected Ludogg would have to go to Audio Asylum to find - thanks for putting this up.

Now where's the guy with the Krell amps - that's the sort of thing you need to keep Infinitys happy. A good PA power amp I'm sure would also do the job, a nice hefty Crest for instance.