Customer Reviews

Infinity Reference 5020cs 5.25-Inch Two-Way Component System (Silver/Black)

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HI,
I installed these in a 2007 Highlander with 45 watt per channel head unit and bass handled by a 300 watt subwoofer amp and 10 inch ED SQ10 where the third seat used to live in my HL. After dynamatting the doors inside and out, I set out on a search for the very best speakers, including the "entry level" Focal CA130. These were among the top 2 or 3 that I liked.

When you install after market speakers, you are likely to lose the seal around the speaker cone to the interior door trim panel... which does a mediocre job of keeping the back wave from the speaker cone from wrapping around through the holes in the metal panel and completely wiping out your bass. This is because the scosche mounting bracket you used is made intentionally short so it can be used in a wide number of car models. You must either (1) used dynamat or similar product to seal that inner door panel completely, or (2) use spacers to get the speaker out close enough to the panel to then seal around the cone with foam insulation tape... peel and stick stuff available from Home Depot in various thicknesses. This is marginal at best. Dynamat is a better choice, and only do the inside metal panel, not the outside of the door which installers will try to sell you. = 2x the price and little payback.

I have read many reviews complaining that after market speakers had less bass than the cheapie originals, or low bass, etc. It is my theory that they did not use dynamat or seal the juncture between the speaker and door panel, and the back wave was wiping out their bass. The industry loves selling you a $50 door kit to get back the bass you lost when you installed an expensive after market speaker to get "better bass" and ended up worse off than you started. With the back wave sealed, the amount of bass a small driver can generate in a car is quite amazing because of "cabin effect". When the long wavelength bass exceeds the longest dimension in the room, the wave wraps upon itself and below those freqs' the bass doubles.... +3db... and again when it doubles... ect. So below 100hz, heard bass increases exponentially. I have measured bass from 5.25 inch speakers below 40hz in my car.

These are clear and detailed... test flat + or - 1 dB from 100hz to 20k hz with a lab quality testing system in my shop... and sound fabulous installed. These go pretty low for small speakers, (probably around 70Hz at - 3 dB in the car), but don't expect miracles from them. The key to their flat/smooth response is the smooth and flat dust cap. The speakers that have a humped dust cap in the center, and all 2 ways with the tweeters there... will have all kinds of cancellations at various frequencies caused by reflections off the center post or cap.

Be sure to install the tweeters next to the woofers on the doors... at the same distance from your listening position as the center of the woofer. NOT ON A PILLAR OR HIGH ON THE DOOR! If you install next to the woofer, all frequencies from both tweeter and woofer will arrive at your ears at the same time.. and not cancel out at odd frequencies because of the differing wave lengths. Trust me, driling a hole to mount the tweeter or cutting a hole to flush mount it will be well worth your time.

The one caveat is that the tweeters are a bit strong. I like the -3dB position on the tweeter. This helps compensate for the fact that midrange frequencies are being heard way off axis, and hence at very reduced levels. The dome tweeter can produce almost as much sound 45 degrees off axis at all frequencies while the mids over 2000 get lost in your footwells. The -3db switch helps compensate for that.

If you have space for a sub of some kind, it will be icing on the cake, but these do surprisingly well with dynamatted doors for my ears. The 2 Ohm resistance draws extra output from your head unit, so these can play very loudly from just a head unit.

The newer version 5030cs or perhaps 5035cs? will be indistinguishable except in price. Buy the older ones if you can find them and save $$$$.

If you want your midrange a bit brighter, you can bypass the woofer crossover circuit (a coil rolling off the midrange) .. by connecting the woofer + lead to the input + lead instead of the woofer + output connection on the crossover.

Thanks Amazon for a great community!

You will not go wrong with these!

This is my third purchase of the infinity reference series over the past five years, and I am not disappointed. I would compare these to the Polk DB series of speakers because a) I feel this is there closest competitor and b) I own and use the Polk Audio DB series.
- I purchased these for 83 bucks delivered via an amazon seller (prime eligible), I don't think you can do any better with any other brand at that price point. There is a newer model of these out, but from the specs it is just a an aesthetic face-lift to the same product. Grab the 5020cs while they are still available at a "last years product" discount
- I installed the woofers in the well-dampened kickpanels of my bmw coupe, the tweeters went flushly into the doors and are perpendicular to (and in front of) the driver/passenger (not ideal)
- The system is powered by a 65w x 4 old school clarion amp with excellent parameters
- I knew the infinity silk dome tweeters would have great highs from previous models, but I was unsure about the midrange frequencies in this component setup due to poor orientation of my mounting locations. I replaced a true 3-way factory setup with these, and was not sure they were up to the task given the tweeters are mounted a full 3 feet from the woofers. Although some further attenuation was required, using the -3db tweeter wiring position on the crossovers compensated for this very nicely by allowing the more distant woofer to meet the closer-to-ear tweeters for beautiful vocals throughout the midrange (yeah!).
- Base response is what you would expect from 5.25" woofers, very tight and accurate down to about 65hz, nothing more. Power handling is very good, I have found no need to switch on the low-pass crossover to protect these from distortion. I would suggest they are fine without low frequency protection to about 40 watts rms, if you're going to make them scream (and go deaf) you might consider a protection circuit around 40hz and under.
- I would describe the sound as bright, but not metallic. I equalized the range at the head unit, attenuating down a bit at 10k and above, allowing the midrange to fill out. If you are looking for warm sweet tweeters, you probably wont appreciate infinity (try polk).
- The quality and diversity of mounting hardware is excellent if you don't mind the silver accents. I would have preferred everything be kept black, but unfortunately the infinity marketing/design team feels otherwise. The hardware is much better grade than the Polk db series, hands down.
- Build quality and fit/finish is very good. The surrounds are very durable and the spun poly cones are fairly heavy-weight but do scratch easily. Glue application is not sloppy like on some of my Polk db's.
- SPL efficiency is above average and I can confirm this qualitatively in my car.
- Ininity's +1 cone sizing is real and not a gimmick. Visually comparing polk db to infinity reference, you will find the front edge of the basket is narrower on the infinity allowing for the surround to be of a greater circumference and consequently a larger cone. Compared to my OEM nokia woofers, the actual measured cone diameter is 4.25" versus the original 3.625"; thus results in a 37.4 percent more effective driver area! I do not have a pare of 5.25 polks to measure for comparison. This can cause problems with surround contact on factory speaker grills in some cases (like mine), so have your dremel ready to make some modifications to potential points of contact.

Things to improve:
- More attenuation options in crossover network
- All tweeter mounting options should come in black please

Get the infinity reference instead of polk db if:
- you want to save a little money
- you like bright highs and tight base
- your mounting clearances will easily allow for a slightly bigger surround/cone (same size basket)
Get the polk db series if:
- you want slightly more power handling
- you like a warmer top-end of the scale
- you like your bass to have a little more boom
- you don't mind some splattered glue and junky installation hardware

I have a 2001 Tacoma extended cab, factory stereo, my front speakers were factory 6x8, I decided on the reference 5020 because they were on sale, I could've go for the 6820cs but decided not to. I made some plates out of 1/4" mdf and minor modification was required to mount the tweeters, the crossovers were installed behind the door panel.
The sound:
Having a smaller area on these 5 1/4 speakers vs the 6x8, the bass does not go that low, I played test tones from 20Hz to 20kHz, at 20Hz, the speaker does move, but because of the small footprint it does not move any air, at 50hz and up the rattling in the door frame is very noticeable. Overall, they sound is clear, I liked the highs, and I asume that after I soundproof the doors (dynamat) the mid bass will improve and avoid the rattling. The next step after the Dynamat will be to install an amp and an 8" subwoofer, I'm shooting for sound quality. I liked the speakers, I feel that is a good improvement over the stock speakers, If your looking for 50 to 100 Hz response, go with a larger size.

This was my first purchase of an actual component system. I love music again. I installed this system in my 1987 Toyota Supra. I have a Pioneer deq9200 supplying the signal which is powered by a Rockford Fosgate Prime r300 (50 watts rms)...it sounds great....I have the x-over set at -3db and its perfect. I'm picking up another set for my fiances ride.