A review- The Infinity WTLC Towers

[thedelihaus]

Infinity's WTLC columns.

The WTLCs, a very rare Infinity tower speaker model,were offered in the early/mid 70s. One of the unique features of this speaker are the top-mounted Ohm-Walsh tweaters in their design- factory equipped. Others are the rear-firing tweeter (I suspect it's possibly hooked up out-of-phase) and twin woofers- one a forward facing woofer, one a downward firing woofer. i suspect the front firing is a bass-midbass driver, while the bottom is most likely voiced for more deep thump. Total driver count is 5- three tweeters, two woofers. Ports are twin- one rear, one upwards-mounted (at least on some models).

These Infinitys sound simply amazing, possessing a three dimensional and very accurate sound, and are very easy to position in a room, very adaptive and very forgiving of room abnormalitys.

The first time I heard these speakers, I was hooked. I immediately decided that I'd give up a good amount of my collection if offered these- the others would no longer cut it.

How'd they sound to me? I found the rich tight bass from the front-firing and bottom-firing woofers to be exactly to my liking- incredibly good, fast, accurate, but not at all boomy or muddy, never uncomfortably forward or overpowering, not a trace of sloppiness. The rear-mounted/firing tweeter really made these feel full-bodied and lively- they helped fill in the sound (reminiscent of the large DCM Timeframe 600s I've recently heard do), and the midrange and vocals, with that 8" front-firing woofer and tweeter (no midrange), really suprised me- very natural and coherent, no need for a midrange.

That top-mounted tweeter, looking like someone stuck a trumpet in the top of the box really did a great job with filling in the sound too- this addition qualified them to be a top-notch performer- easily put them in the league of the Allison CD-8s I also recently witnessed, played off approx. 65wpc of Sansui power at a 4 ohm load.

The room they were in- they were placed on a wood-laminate floor that's on top of a concrete slab, in a room with a mix of concrete and wood-framed walls with plaster on them, 4 waist-height windows, 2 high-mount windows, and a room length of approx 15" by 40" (studio apartment).the room, obviously, is a bit lively. The room was damped only by the 10 other soft-bodied visitors at my house- human torsos and denim and cotton clothing the only real damping around.

Now, I really liked the Allison CD 8s I recently heard, and the DCM Timewindows and Timeframe 600s. I'd be hard-pressed to choose any of them over the Infinitys however. I'm sure I liked the Infinitys better, much to my suprise.

Why so impressive? I'm guessing the monster Pioneer receiver's 120wpc behind them got them really singing. But there was more to it than just healthy amplification. The speaker itself was well designed.

I'd say these had all the benefits of a west coast speaker with none of the downsides- at least what I percieve as downsides.

Follow all the stereotypes, the generalities about the "east" vs. "west" coast sound, and disregard them when listening to these Infinitys. Yes, they are a ported speaker, and maybe they lean more to a west coaster, at least in design, but I never felt the WTLCs sounded like either category- they sounded like both- but only the good parts.

West-coast speakers are fun- crank 'em up and enjoy 'em like a good roller-coaster or a joy ride in a stolen car. But after a while, that ride becomes tiresome, physically taxing. suddenly, my ear finds that fun element to grow weary after extended listening. And I never feel the typical west coast sound is natural sounding- it always sounds heavily "produced" to me. Ray Charles doesn't sound soulful, Carmen McRae doesn't sound honest, Hank Williams doesn't ache. But David Lee Roth sounds coke-fueled and adrenalized.

As for the east coast speakers, speaking in general terms, I find them easy to listen to all day, and very natural and realistic in sound (as much as a box speaker can be). But although the tears may flow during beautiful passages sung by Nina Samone, while the smile may crack across my face during a joke in the banter of a Tom waits song, while my heart heaves and sighs at the ache in Lou Reed's anguished words of "Heroin", the blood doesn't start pumping wildly and excitedly when Lords of Acid, play, the brow and upper lip doesn't bead with sweat when Sonic Youth comes on, the pulse doesn't race when the Swans hit the turntable.

The Infinitys covered all of this beleivably however. Vocals were natural, real, honest. Instruments were "alive". Rocking tunes, well, outright ROCKED.

They sound like a well-behaved, yet robust, athletic, healthy and strong East-Coaster. An East coaster with cajones and machismo.

Infinitys are an iron fist in a velvet glove. Bruce Lee in a linen/viscous shirt and tweed smoking jacket. Ultimate yin and yang. Jeckyl and Hyde. Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk. Both personalities, without losing composure (or shredding the clothing).

The speakers in my collection I'd keep? My Boston Acoustics A150s and A200s, ADS L630s, of course my Dahlquist DQ-10s, but the rest could be let go- I'd miss them, but I could let them go.

As for other speakers I'd still persue? At one point I was looking for Polk SDAs, but no longer- I liked them very much, but didn't love them- good speakers for sure, and I admire Polks, but there's others I'd choose over them now. Which? I'd still pick up some ADS L1230s gladly, and of course AR 9s or 90s, if I had the room. Same for some Electrostats. DCM Timewindows are still being considered, so are Timeframes.

And now, I'd like these Infinitys as well. They were that impressive, that damn good.

This post has been edited by thedelihaus on December 03, 2006 10:16 pm

[Charivari]

Great review, Paul.

You've discovered the Infinity sound. It's surprising how well these three decade old speakers would fit right in with new offerings. The sound you described is due largely to Arnie Nudell's philosophy of building speakers capable of broad frequency range with a fairly flat response. In the case of the WTLC, 35Hz to 28kHz +/-4dB. This really set the bigger Infinities apart from most other speakers of their vintage that instead sought to create particular frequency peaks to impress for the sale. If you think you like the WTLC, you should try the bigger models with the Watkins woofers, EMITs (planar tweeter), and even the EMIMs (planar midrange) preferably in a dipole line array. Those are true full range (typically ~20Hz to 32kHz) speakers that are very accurate (low distortion and tight tolerances [+/-2dB]).

The rear "midrange" (sub-tweeter) is connected out of phase according to the crossover schematic making for a dipole effect.

- JP