Home > Consumer Reviews > Infinity BETA 40 BKS Three-Way Floorstanding Speaker, Black Finish

These are incredible loudspeakers. The sound is very detailed and opened. The soundstage is quite wide. Vocals and musical instruments are incredibly vibrant. Percussion and lower notes seem so real that I sometime feel in the presence of the musicians. I listen to all kinds of music; these speakers sound good with all types of music, but they shine with acoustic recordings. Beware! These speakers will not be bullied. Don't expect a boomy sound; these aren't party speakers. But they are not sissies. When I listened to Dream Theater's "Train of thought" it seemed I was at a rock concert, as I felt the music in my chest. When I listened MMW's "Tonic", Steve Hackett's "Bay of Kings", and Ruthie Foster's live album, I was simply captivated by the music, which sounded superb, even at very low levels. And the 1996 Titanic's soundtrack was simpy astounding. I listen to them through a modest 60 watts/channel Marantz integrated amp. See the December 2005 review in Sensible Sound magazine.

These speakers sound great! I must admit I bought them as much for the metal grills as for the sound. I didn't want cloth grills and have my cats sharpen their claws on them. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sound.

They are fairly large speakers. Sitting on the floor, the top of the tweeters is just a little below my ear-level when I'm sitting on the couch. I don't have room in my living room to set them as far apart as I'd like, but even with them a bit too close together, I get nice stereo imaging.

I listen to a lot of electronic music on both vinyl and MP3, and these speakers deliver great sound on both. I've also tried plugging my Playstation's digital output directly into my JVC receiver and playing CDs. The high frequency response from these speakers really blew me away. Although MP3s sound great on these speakers, uncompresed CD sound is breathtaking!

They don't have a tremendous amount of bass so I definitely recommend pairing them with a nice sub. I ended up choosing a JBL venue 12" sub and with a little calibration, was able to get the sound to match up nicely.

The build quality and appearance of these speakers is very good. The speakers themselves are heavy and solid and covered with a black wood veneer. They sit on solid rubber feat. I haven't noticed them wobble on my wood floor. They also ship with optional spikes if you want to plant these speakers permanently, and scratch holes in your floor. These speakers are a little top-heavy, but so far I haven't had any accidents where they've been knocked over. The speakers have two pairs of gold plated binding posts on the back so you can bi-wire them. I haven't tried bi-wiring them.

Bottom Line: Highly recommended!

These speakers sound superb by any standard; they are well worth their original $800/pair list price. At under $500 a pair on clearance they are an absolute steal, if you can still find them. The sound is beautifully detailed, balanced and transparent. Even the bass is surprisingly tight and muscular considering the smallish woofers. For most music listening the Beta 40's could stand alone without a subwoofer, although they do roll off a bit at the very bottom. (Anyone who really wants to shake the walls will probably get a subwoofer regardless.) They are also very solidly built and they look sharp with their perforated metal grilles.

These Infinity BETA 40's sound incredible as part of the front-end and rear/sides of my 7.1 Surround System. They are matched up with the Infinity Alpha 37C Center Channel Speaker for the fronts, sides are the Infinity Beta 40's, and the rears the Beta ES250 Surrounds. My subwoofers are two Pinnacle Baby Boomers sitting along side each of the front towers. All are driven by the Onkyo TX-SR805 powerful 130 Watts x 7. You simply can't go wrong with these excellent CMMD speakers. Incredible sound reproduction, tight bass...WOW what a system.

Check out this line...excellent, full sound, top notch Audiophile quality!