Infinity, JL Audio Ship Upgraded Speaker Lines
By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 4/29/2002
WOODBURY, N.Y.— Infinity and JL Audio upgraded their speaker lines with the former debuting a re-engineered Kappa series which is shipping ahead of schedule.
Infinity originally planned to release the new .5 Kappa series in 2003 but completed development ahead of schedule and "chose not to hold them back and to release early," said director of brand marketing Chris Dragon.
The new line attaches the speaker surround to the bottom of the cone to maximize cone area and improve bass. The speakers also have an extra crimp on cone edge for increased rigidity. Other features include Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm (C.M.M.D.) drivers with the company's Plus One surround technology for 30 percent larger cone space.
Standard speakers range from a 4- inch two-way at a suggested retail price of $139.95 to a 6-by-9-inch three-way speaker with 1-inch EMIT super tweeter at $269.95. Custom Fit Integrated Speakers range from a 3.5-inch two-way at $119.95 to the 6.5-inch two-way component system with 1-inch tweeter at $349.95.
Also new are separate components including a 1-inch CMMD tweeter at $169.95.
JL Audio upgraded its component and coaxial speaker lines with new cosmetics and improved efficiency. The Evolution TR line now has "ice-blue" injection-molded, metallized polypropylene cones and a new tweeter bezel design. Efficiency and mid-range presence was also improved on the series.
In component systems, JL Audio added a new 6.5-inch system called the TR650-CSi. It has a half-inch woven-fabric component dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet and liquid cooling. It also has an in-line high-pass filter for easy installation, which eliminates the need for a separate outboard crossover network.
The Evolution VR component and coaxial loudspeaker systems have been redesigned to include injection-molded, dark silver, metallized polypropylene cones.
At the high end, JL Audio's Evolution XR (except the XR653-CS) now includes programmable crossover networks which permit a three-position mid-range presence adjustment in addition to tweeter level adjustment. Additionally, a new grille design has been added to all Evolution TR, VR and XR models that include grilles. TR models range from $69.95 to $199.95 per pair; VR models range from $179.95 to $319.95 and XR models range from $279.95 a pair to $569.95 a pair.
