Infinity EMIT-R

Name: Infinity EMIT-R
Brand: Infinity

The EMIT-R is a replacement ribbon tweeter Infinity made to service its own speakers. It was built after production of the original EMIT line had finished, to keep the 1978-1981 range of Infinity speakers going as their original tweeters began to fail. And they did fail. The original EMIT tweeters are known to die, and delamination of the foil is a common failure mode. Replacing them was "absolutely necessary" for many owners. The EMIT-R came mounted in a rectangular plate, with the tweeter in a metal housing and the rest covered by a black plastic cover. Both the internal and grille surfaces of the magnetic circuit are painted.

Technically, it's a ribbon design in the EMIT (Electromagnetic Induction Tweeter) family. Infinity's marketing called the EMIT series "the best ribbon tweeter in the world," a claim the company repeated across its lineup in period advertising. HiFI-Stereo (November 1980, p.13) ran that same campaign, saying the EMIT tweeter had made cone and dome tweeters obsolete. The known specs are modest for a replacement part: a 1-inch voice coil, 4-ohm impedance, 50-watt power handling, and a frequency response of 2,500 Hz to 25,000 Hz. One owner reported crossing theirs over at 2,500 or 3,000 Hz, and noted that being "extremely efficient" was a requirement for the replacement to work properly.

Surviving documentation is thin. No production years, original price, or dimensions have surfaced. The record does show that the EMIT-R is a practical, parts-bin fix for a real problem: original tweeters that gave out. The ribbon material is delicate and hard to work with if you need to repair one, and 40+ years of use can work-harden the foil and cause cracking. Owners give simple advice for anyone looking at a pair: if it measures fine, the ribbon is probably fine.

Known specs: