In the June issue of Stereophile, Robert Reina praises the Infinity Primus 360s. He writes: "Infinity's Primus 360 presents levels of dynamic drama [whatever that means] and effortlessness [?] that are unheard of at its price [$600/pair]." The cover of that issue touts the Infinities as an "extraordinary speaker value." As the owner of Ascends (340Ms, 340C, and 170s) I had to find out which speakers were better.

In my judgment, the only way to compare speakers is to actually compare them--in the same setting. So, I acquired the Infinities via Crutchfield, which has a 30-day, money-back, no-questions-asked return policy.

Using my A and B speaker outputs on a higher-end Yamaha receiver, I switched back and forth between the Ascends (340s) and the Infinities. Here are my observations.

The Infinities, while providing an extended bass (down to 38Hz, unusual for a speaker in this price range; the Ascends reach approx. 50Hz), do not, in my opinion, yield nearly as accurate sound in both the mid- and upper-ranges as do the Ascends. Moreover, the Infinities' bass reproduction suffers from a rumble, what the Stereophile reviewer calls "an overall warmth or ripeness" [again, ?]. "Warmth," I gather, is not a good thing. I concur.

After a couple of days of side-by-side comparison, I packed up the Infinities and returned them to Crutchfield (they also came with free pairs of Primus 150s, which Stereophile also loved).

By the way, I have a Hsu subwoofer (VTF-2), which I dial down to minimum output levels. Too much bass, in my opinion, detracts from the music.

A further note: I will stick my neck out to assert that the Ascends hold their own against my son's Monitor Audio Gold Reference 20s, which are $3,000/pair. I can't perform a side-by-side comparison, to be sure. But I can't see that my son receives six times the benefit, either.