22 THE AUDIO CRITIC
frequency, level, and width, are on
the front of each system, accessible
with a supplied screwdriver through
small holes.
Now to the interesting part: how
did they sound? In a word, excellent!
Interestingly, their sound was ex-
tremely close to my reference system’s
on almost everything I listened to. I
often had a hard time telling which
system was playing when set up side
by side. Sometimes I couldn’t believe
my A/B switch and had to walk up
close to the systems to determine
which was playing! Bass was very ex-
tended and flat; midrange was smooth
and liquid; while the highs were quite
neutral and very revealing of whatever
I played. High-frequency response
was smooth and extended, but the
highs were slightly emphasized as
compared to the B&W’s, although
they did not lend an air of brusque-
ness to vocal sibilance, unlike many
systems. Soundstaging and imaging
were excellent, with a very stable
center image on mono vocal material.
The systems really shined when
played loud on complex orchestral
material with percussion. Even so, I
did notice a bit of upper-bass/lower-
mid congestion when I played loud
pipe organ material, as compared to
the reference systems.
The one standout sonic feature of
the Intermezzos was their excellent
bass response. They could shake the
walls and everything attached when
played at high levels with material
having sub-40-Hz content. Yeah…I
know your are supposed to track
down and eliminate all the spurious
vibrations and rattles in your listening
room, but I use them to check for the
presence of honest-to-goodness high-
level bass energy in the room. Few
systems I listen to are capable of rat-
tling the walls; the B&Ws and the In-
termezzos can easily do this.
I found myself getting out all my
favorite CDs with high-level low-bass
content to audition over the 4.1t’s.
This included Telarc’s Beethoven
“Wellington’s Victory” (Telarc CD-
80079) with the digitally recorded
canons, the bass drum on “Ein
Straussfest” (Telarc CD-80098), the
kick drum on Spies “By Way of the
World” (particularly tracks 6 and 7,
Telarc CD-83305), the low pedals on
the organ version of the Mussorgsky
“Pictures at an Exhibition” (Dorian
DOR-90117), and the jet planes and
miscellaneous sound effects on “The
Digital Domain: A Demonstration”
(Electra 9-60303-2). The excursion of
the woofers of the 4.1t was truly scary,
a full 1.2" peak-to-peak capability.
The system really came into its
own on loud rock music with heavy
kick drum and bass guitar. I promptly
turned the 4.1t’s front-mounted bass-
level control up to maximum to pro-
vide concert-level bass on this
material. The 4.1t took all I could
give it while reproducing a very stim-
ulating bass whomp that I could feel
in the pit of my stomach. There’s got
to be something humorous about an
early-sixtyish loudspeaker reviewer sit-
ting around listening to the likes of
ZZ-Top, AC-DC, and Kiss at near
concert levels to evaluate speakers. It’s
fun though! Who said you couldn’t
have fun with your hi-fi?
Onthe pink-noise stand-up/sit-
down test, the 4.1t’swere nearly per-
fect, exhibiting hardly any midrange
tonal changes when I stood up—the
full equal of the B&W 801’s in this
regard. Idid uncover a bit of a
problem with the Infinity’s upper
bass and lower midrange when I lis-
tened to my 6.5-cycle shaped tone
bursts (the same bursts I used to
measure maximum peak SPL for Fig.
8) in an A/B comparison with the
B&W’s. At 40 Hz and belowthe In-
finity Intermezzos were the equal of
the B&W systems. Between 50 to 80
Hz, the 4.1t’s could play signifi-
cantly louder and cleaner than the
B&W’s. However,from 100 Hz to
200 Hz, the B&W’s output easily
bested the Infinity’s because of the
limitations of the rather smallish 61⁄2"
cone bass/midrange used by the 4.1t.
The 4.1t’s 61⁄2" bass/midrange has
generous excursion capability but
with its smaller area could not keep
up with the air-moving capability of
the B&W’s much larger 12" bass
driver.
The4.1t’s did a particularly good
job on well-recorded female vocals,
projectinga nearly perfect, ver y real-
istic center image with no trace of
harshness or irregularities. Although
thesystems shined on large-scale com-
plex program material played loud,
theywere equally at home on intimate
material such as string quartets and
otherclassical chamber music.
’Nuff said. I was very impressed
with the Infinity Intermezzo 4.1t’s.
They performed excellently on every-
thing I listened to, and I was particu-
larly impressed with their bass
capability. Their imaging and sound-
staging was flawless, and they could
play loudly and cleanly on complex
program material that profits from
loud playback. I much liked their
adaptability to match their listening
environment, using the built-in para-
metric equalizer and the easy-to-use
setup procedure with the supplied
sound level-meter and CD. Their
thoroughly modern good looks and
top performance make them naturals
for any home theater or stereo lis-
tening setup.
To get more detailed information
on the Intermezzo 4.1t’s and other In-
finity systems, I suggest checking out
their Web site (listed above) and also
requesting copies of their quite inter-
esting and informative white papers
on their method of equalizing room
effects (R.A.B.O.S.) and the story be-
hind their ceramic metal matrix di-
aphragms (C.M.M.D.).
—Don Keele