FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
5 January 2006
WOODBURY, NY — At CES 2006, Infinity Systems is expanding its distinctively designed, high-performance Cascade loudspeaker lineup with the addition of the Model Twelve powered subwoofer. This new compact subwoofer enhances the performance of any Infinity Cascade system, and fits easily into any room and decor, while providing powerful and accurate low-frequency response.
Winner of an Innovations 2006 Design and Engineering Award from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), Cascade loudspeakers are striking in appearance, featuring uniquely elegant slim-profile styling that will enhance any living environment, and complement any of the new flat-panel-television technologies. Incorporating Infinity’s latest engineering innovations, including the company’s newly developed, patent-pending Maximum Radiating Surface (MRS) flat-panel transducer technology,
these speakers achieve extraordinary sonic accuracy and musicality.
Eli Harary, Infinity vice president of marketing, stated: “With the introduction of Cascade, Infinity redefines the state of the art in of loudspeaker design — in every respect. Cascade loudspeakers are truly works of contemporary audio art — sleek and slim, graceful and distinctively beautiful. Complementing their stunning visual appeal, Cascade loudspeakers utilize Infinity’s most advanced technologies to convey musical performances and movie soundtracks with a sense of reality and emotional involvement that is nothing less than astonishing.” Harary concluded, “By expanding the line with the addition of the Model Twelve subwoofer, Cascade now offers even greater installation options for any home entertainment application.”
Infinity Cascade models include the following:
• Model Three V on-wall/bookshelf loudspeaker (dual MRS flat-panel mid-bass drivers, 1-inch Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm [CMMD] tweeter); SRP: $849
• Model Three C center channel loudspeaker with wall-mount capability (dual MRS flat-panel mid-bass drivers, 1-inch CMMD tweeter); SRP: $799
• Model Five on-wall/bookshelf loudspeaker (MRS flat-panel mid-bass driver, 1-inch CMMD tweeter); SRP: $699
• Model Seven floorstanding loudspeaker (MRS flat-panel mid-bass driver, 1-inch CMMD tweeter); SRP: $799
• Model Nine floorstanding loudspeaker (dual MRS flat-panel mid-bass drivers, 1-inch CMMD tweeter); SRP: $999
• Model Twelve powered subwoofer (10-inch MMD woofer, dual 10-inch passive radiators, built-in 300-watt amplifier featuring Infinity’s proprietary Room Adaptive Bass Optimization System (R.A.B.O.S.); SRP: $999
• Model Fifteen powered subwoofer (quad 6-inch by 6-inch woofers, built-in 800-watt amplifier with R.A.B.O.S.); SRP: $1,499
Cascade Model Twelve Subwoofer: Compact Size, Powerful Performance
The Cascade Model Twelve subwoofer is engineered to deliver tight, articulate and extended bass response from an enclosure that is designed to fit easily into any system and room. Its 10-inch woofer is constructed using Infinity’s proprietary Metal Matrix Diaphragm (MMD) technology which utilizes MMD driver cones that are manufactured by anodizing both sides of an aluminum core, yielding an extremely light and rigid driver diaphragm with exceptional low-frequency resolution. The Model Twelve’s woofer operates in conjunction with dual 10-inch passive radiators in a precisely tuned enclosure that is compact, yet provides maximum low-frequency output.
The Model Twelve incorporates Infinity’s exclusive Room Adaptive Bass Optimization System, which allows the subwoofer to overcome the low-frequency room resonances that can detract from the bass performance of a home entertainment loudspeaker system. R.A.B.O.S. utilizes a built-in parametric equalizer, test CD, sound-pressure-level meter and other supplied materials to achieve smoother, more accurate bass response. In addition, the Model Twelve features a full complement of controls and inputs, including a line-level output that provides a connection to additional subwoofers in systems where multiple subwoofers are desired.
As are all Cascade loudspeakers, the Model Twelve is striking in appearance, featuring a sleek enclosure with curved and tapered panels that reflects the styling of the entire Cascade line, and is available in three finishes — high-gloss black, high-gloss silver and cherry-wood veneer.
The Cascade Model Twelve subwoofer will be available in late January 2006 at a suggested retail price of $999. All other Cascade models will be available in January 2006.
Infinity Cascade: Leading-Edge Engineering, Distinctive Design and Versatile Installation Flexibility
Cascade loudspeakers are unique in design, with a distinctively contemporary appearance featuring visually striking, curved front baffles, that are accented by the high-tech look of their MRS drivers and CMMD tweeters. Even the Model Twelve and Model Fifteen subwoofers are designed to integrate with the home environment, thanks to their low-profile enclosures with rounded and contoured edges, which complements the styling of the rest of the Cascade lineup.
Cascade’s slim form enables it to perfectly integrate into home theater installations based around the latest ultrathin rear-projection televisions, plasma displays or flat-panel LCDs. Cascade is adaptable to an extremely broad range of applications where the highest level of sound quality is required, yet where the loudspeakers must enhance the most refined decors and home environments. The introduction of Cascade provides interior designers, decorators and custom-installation professionals with entirely new options for creating elegant home entertainment areas in the residences of their most discerning clients.
To achieve their superlative performance, Cascade loudspeakers incorporate a number of groundbreaking engineering innovations. All Cascade models (except the Model Twelve and Model Fifteen subwoofers) feature mid-bass drivers that utilize Infinity’s newly developed, patent-pending Maximum Radiating Surface (MRS) flat-panel transducer technology. The MRS driver employs a flat-panel diaphragm that operates in conjunction with a unique dual elliptical-voice-coil arrangement, an exclusive Same-Plane Surround suspension and other refinements to offer significant performance benefits compared to conventional drivers, and provide an unprecedented level of sonic accuracy. Equally important, the thin depth of the MRS transducer allows Cascade enclosures to have a much slimmer profile than those of conventional loudspeakers, but still feature high-output capability.
The seven Cascade models offer a host of versatile placement choices, including in-wall installation, floor placement and stand-mounting, and enable a wide variety of 7.1-, 6.1- and 5.1-channel system configurations. The Model Three V loudspeaker, Model Three C center channel and Model Five loudspeaker are supplied with wall-mount brackets. In addition, the Model Three V and Model Five include shelf stands, and the Model Three C is also designed for shelf placement. The Model Seven and Model Nine floorstanding loudspeakers have a support base that is visually and structurally integrated into the design of their curved and contoured front baffles.
All Cascade loudspeakers are available in three attractive finishes: high-gloss black, high-gloss silver and cherry-wood veneer. The Model Three V, Model Three C, Model Five, Model Seven and Model Nine feature complementary, frameless silver grilles that attach magnetically to the front baffles without using a grille frame. This eliminates the possibility of unwanted sonic reflections that can occur when conventional grille frames are used. (The Model Fifteen does not have a grille, and the Model Twelve has side-mounted grilles that blend with the styling of the rest of the Cascade lineup.)
Breakthrough MRS Flat-Panel Transducer Technology Achieves a New Level of Sonic Accuracy
Infinity’s MRS drivers are constructed utilizing Infinity’s proprietary Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm (CMMD) material, which is manufactured by anodizing alumina, a ceramic compound, to both sides of a flat-panel aluminum core. This technique produces driver diaphragms of ultralow mass and ultrahigh rigidity, yielding exceptional resolution and transient response, with the inherent resonant frequency “breakup mode” of the driver moved well outside its audible range — making CMMD the ideal material for use in the MRS driver.
Further reducing the possibility of diaphragm breakup, raised ribs, as well as gussets (indentations along the edges of the panel), are incorporated into the diaphragm to increase rigidity. The ribs add stiffness across the length of the diaphragm, while the gussets reinforce the edge along its outer perimeter. Both the ribs and the gussets are strategically placed along the height of the diaphragm at non-harmonically related distances, distributing the effects of any flexural tendencies over a number of different frequencies, and attenuating unwanted sonic coloration.
The MRS transducer’s rectangular shape maximizes the sound-radiating surface area available on the front baffle of the loudspeaker, with less unused baffle space, enabling greater acoustic output from a smaller baffle area and allowing a narrow front-panel design. In addition, the “aspect ratio” of the MRS flat-panel diaphragm is small with respect to width, and large with respect to height, yielding a wide and smooth radiation pattern in the horizontal plane while minimizing floor and ceiling reflections, for extremely precise imaging and a more realistic soundstage presentation across a large listening area.
The dual elliptical voice coils and motor assembly used in the MRS driver are equally unique. The use of two larger, elliptically shaped voice coils, rather than a conventional, smaller round voice coil, places more wire in the motor structure’s magnetic field, and allows for maximum contact — more than six times that of a typical cone transducer — between the voice coils and the diaphragm, with superior coupling to the diaphragm. This configuration results in increased efficiency and dynamic capability, superior transient response and dramatically reduced distortion. The motor structure utilizes powerful, yet compact, rectangular neodymium magnets that are vertically mounted in steel rails within the MRS transducer’s frame. This design yields high magnetic-circuit efficiency while enabling a thin transducer cross section, allowing Cascade loudspeaker enclosures to have a much narrower profile than those of typical loudspeakers.
The MRS transducer also behaves more like an ideal pistonic radiator, with all points on its surface moving together and in phase, than do conventional-cone drivers. The result is more accurate time-alignment with less time-domain “smearing” of musical signals, providing extraordinary clarity, detail and image specificity.
Another key design feature of the MRS driver is its exclusive Same-Plane Surround suspension. In a conventional-cone driver, the outer edge of the cone and the surround are located on a different geometric plane than the voice coil — creating a fulcrum and lever effect that can cause the cone to rock back and forth as it moves, creating audible distortions. The MRS driver’s Same-Plane Surround technology eliminates these effects by placing the edge of the MRS diaphragm and its surround on the same plane as the driving force from the voice coil, minimizing the diaphragm’s tendency to “rock” outside its optimal operating range. The Same-Plane Surround design is so effective that the MRS transducer does not need a conventional spider to keep its voice coil centered in the voice-coil gap.
CMMD Tweeter Offers Unmatched High-Frequency Extension
All Cascade loudspeakers (except the Model Twelve and Model Fifteen subwoofers) feature a CMMD tweeter with frequency response that extends to beyond 40kHz, providing unmatched fidelity when reproducing even the most demanding high-resolution program sources such as DVD-Audio and SACD. The tweeter operates in conjunction with a patent-pending Constant Acoustic Impedance (CAI) waveguide, which utilizes a series of computer-designed, graduated curves that flare from the inside to the outside of the waveguide to provide optimal on- and off-axis high-frequency dispersion and smoothness, along with higher sensitivity and a more seamless blend with the MRS driver.
Premium Construction Quality for Maximum Sonic Refinement
Cascade loudspeakers incorporate a host of additional enhancements for maximum sound quality. Throughout, the crossover networks utilize premium parts, including audiophile-grade Mylar capacitors, metal-film resistors, air-core inductors, printed circuit boards with large copper traces, oxygen-free-copper wiring and other refinements. All Cascade loudspeakers are constructed using high-strength, acoustically inert aluminum enclosures, with strategically placed bracing and internal acoustic damping to minimize internal resonances.
All Cascade loudspeakers (except the Model Twelve and Model Fifteen) are magnetically shielded and feature heavy-duty, bi-wirable gold-plated binding posts. Cascade models employ Infinity’s room-friendly design principles, which ensures that the loudspeakers and subwoofer will provide sonically accurate performance in the widest variety of listening environments and placement positions.
Following is a brief overview of Cascade loudspeakers.
Cascade Model Nine and Model Seven: Standard-Setting Loudspeaker Performance
The elegantly proportioned Infinity Cascade Model Nine and Model Seven floorstanding loudspeakers (both measuring 47 inches high by 11 inches wide by 11-3/4 inches deep) embody all of the sonic strengths and the striking visual appeal that place Cascade at the forefront of loudspeaker design. The Model Nine includes dual MRS flat-panel transducer mid-bass drivers complemented by a 1-inch CMMD tweeter with CAI waveguide, while the Model Seven employs a single MRS driver and 1-inch CMMD tweeter with CAI waveguide. In common with all Cascade loudspeakers, both deliver an ideal combination of dynamic authority and sonic refinement, reproducing movie soundtracks and music with an exceptionally smooth tonal balance and unparalleled resolution of subtle musical detail in the mid-bass and midrange, along with extended high frequencies and an effortless sense of spaciousness and “air” over a wide listening area. The Model Nine and Model Seven offer remarkably natural vocal and instrumental reproduction, with precise image placement on an expansive soundstage.
Like all Cascade models (except the Model Twelve and Model Fifteen), the Model Nine and Model Seven include bi-wirable speaker terminals, and their slim design, compact footprint and choice of elegant finish enable them to blend into any listening environment. (Model Nine SRP: $999; Model Seven SRP: $799)
Cascade Model Three V and Model Three C: Wall-Mountable Installation Versatility
The ultraslim Cascade Model Three V vertical loudspeaker and Cascade Model Three C center channel loudspeaker are wall-mountable and measure just 5-1/2 inches in depth, facilitating their use in a broad range of multichannel home entertainment systems and custom installations. Both models utilize two MRS mid-bass drivers and a 1-inch CMMD tweeter with CAI waveguide, and both have tweeters flanked by the MRS drivers, a configuration that enables the tweeters to be located at an optimal height when wall-mounted.
Adding to their installation versatility, the Model Three V (30 inches high by 5-1/2 inches wide by 5-1/2 inches deep) is supplied with a removable shelf stand, enabling it to be placed alongside a table-top flat-panel LCD or plasma TV, and the Model Three C (5-1/2 inches high by 30 inches wide by 5-1/2 inches deep) can also be placed on a shelf. Both models deliver the extraordinary sound quality — superlative resolution; accurate tonal balance with a richly detailed midrange and smooth, open high frequencies; and clear, effortless reproduction of music, dialogue and effects — that is the hallmark of all Cascade loudspeakers. (Model Three V SRP: $849; Model Three C SRP: $799)
Cascade Model Five: Compact Size, Uncompromising Sound Quality
The Cascade Model Five offers the sonic benefits of the larger Cascade loudspeakers from a more modestly proportioned design measuring 22-1/2 inches high by 5-1/2 inches wide by 5-1/2 inches deep, making it an ideal choice when space is limited, yet when uncompromising home theater or music reproduction is desired. The Model Five can be wall-mounted or used with its supplied removable shelf stand, which raises the height of the loudspeaker to place it in an optimum listening position when placed alongside a table-top plasma display or LCD. The Model Five employs a single MRS mid-bass driver complemented by a 1-inch CMMD tweeter with CAI waveguide to provide the same remarkable level of sound quality as the larger Cascade models, and it is precisely voice-matched to blend perfectly with other Cascade loudspeakers in a multichannel system. (SRP: $699)
Model Twelve and Model Fifteen Subwoofers: Innovative Design, Exceptional Performance
The Cascade Model Twelve and Model Fifteen subwoofers are unlike any others and combine attractive styling with exceptional sound quality and high output. The Model Twelve delivers powerful bass performance from a compact enclosure measuring 20 inches high by 15 inches wide by 13-7/8 inches deep, while the Model Fifteen (13 inches high by 37 inches wide by 8-1/2 inches deep) employs four unique, advanced-technology 6-inch by 6-inch square-cone drivers and a built-in 800-watt amplifier to deliver tight, articulate and extended low-frequency response from a sleek, low-profile horizontal design. Both models are supplied with Infinity’s Room Adaptive Bass Optimization System, to achieve smooth, accurate bass performance, and feature a full complement of controls and inputs that enable them to perfectly blend with any system. Also included is a line-level output that provides a connection to additional subwoofers in systems where multiple subwoofers are desired.
The Harman Consumer Group (HCG) is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a wide range of high-fidelity loudspeakers, audio and video components, and multimedia systems for use in homes and automobiles, and with computers. The group’s brands include JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson, Revel, Audioaccess and Lexicon.
HCG is a division of Harman International Industries, Incorporated. Harman International (www.harman.com)
is a leading manufacturer of high-quality, high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HAR.”
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For additional information, contact:
Frank Doris
FM Group Public Relations
631-385-1304 ext. 402
frank.doris@fm-group.net
Infinity, Harman International, MMD and CMMD are registered trademarks, and Cascade, Maximum Radiating Surface (MRS), Room Adaptive Bass Optimization System (R.A.B.O.S.), Metal Matrix Diaphragm, Constant Acoustic Impedance and CAI are trademarks, of Harman International Industries, Incorporated.
CEA is a registered trademark of the Consumer Electronics Association.
SACD is a trademark of Sony Electronics Inc.
Mylar is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm (CMMD) patent nos. 6,327,372 and 6,404,897.
