Primus P162 Set-up and Measurements

The Infinity P162s were fairly easy to place. Even with no toe-in (pointed straight ahead) I got a very clear center image. Turning the speakers toward me, I found that the imaging tightened slightly but at the expense of soundstage width. On my 30" Studio Tech stands, my ears were just about between the port and the woofer (a little higher or lower depending on my level of slouch) - lower than the generally recommended tweeter height. As you'll see later in the measurements section, this is actually the sweetspot for the speaker response so it worked out well. I wired the speakers up with Blue Jeans Canare 4S11 Cable. Source was a Denon DVD-3910 universal player through a Denon AVR-2307CI pushing two Seymour AV Ice Block 5001 monoblock amplifiers. I was sitting about 8 feet from the speakers with the pair about 6 feet apart. The speakers were no closer (and in most cases quite a bit farther away) than 2 feet from any boundary.

Measurements & Testing

For laboratory measurements I used the Sencore SP395A FFT Audio Analyzer and a Sherbourn 2/75B amp. I measured the Infinity P162's in room on and off-axis frequency response with 1/12th octave resolution. The first thing I discovered is that the sweetspot for this speaker is quite a bit lower than the generally recommended tweeter level. Many speakers measure best between the tweeter and woofer but the P162s measured best at woofer level or a bit lower. From about 4" away, dead center on the woofer was the flattest response with tweeter level showing a huge bump in the high frequency range. From a farther out, the flattest response was lower - about the level of the port or a touch higher. It seemed apparent to me that Infinity was putting a lot of sizzle into this speaker based on market demands at this price point and the typical sales channels they are offered to. Aside from the hot top end response above 10kHz, the speaker measured fairly linear and displayed good bass extension given the enclosure and woofer size.

P162 1 Meter Frequency Response (1/12th Octave) On Axis
Note: this is NOT a 1 watt measurement

P162 1/2 Meter Frequency Response (1/12th Octave)
Pink - On axis, Orange - 15 degrees off axis, Yellow - 30 degrees off axis

As you can see, the response of the speaker is fairly uniform with a bit of a bump in the higher register - especially on axis. This is a speaker that should be positioned with a minimum of toe-in with the ear height no higher than the middle of the woofer.

P162 Impedance

The Sencore consistently measures impedance one ohm low. I measured 5.5ohms at the terminals which lines up pretty well with the Sencore. Infinity claims 8 ohms and while not technically true, the benign impedance profile should match up well with most any receiver on the market. In conversations that Gene DellaSala (Audioholics President) has had with Dr. Floyd Toole of Harman, he stated that it’s a Harman requirement to have no speakers dip much below 4 ohms which is clearly evident in the design of this system.