Infinity Kappa 9 vs Kappa 8...Pros and Cons?

My Carver TFM-35 drives the 8" woofers in my Kappa 6.1's effortlessly and are always "cool as a cucumber". I'm a 'lil surprised that it might run 'hot' in mono mode but, after listening to my JBL 'Century' 100s for 35-ish years, 'boomy' might be OK. :eek: Thanks for the heads-up. :)

I wonder which vintage McIntosh amp might drive K8s efficiently? :idea:

I would love to have a couple of Mac amps but it's just not in the budget. I heard from one of the members that the sunfire amps do pretty well so that's the ones I'm kind of looking at. I would like to get a pair of sunfires the 300 x 2 models. I heard a vintage Mac on a pair of theils not sure what model but sounded fantastic.
 
yup, IMO the carver amps sound better NOT switched to mono..
Better to either drive each speaker with one amp both channels or one amp drives the bass on each speaker and the other amp drives the highs.

Dunno why, but that's my opinion and the opinion of most on the Carver forums. The manuals also say on my pm1.5,pm3.5s, and m1.5t that the amps are only stable to a 4 ohm load when bridged
 
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Anyone out there know who can upgrade the capacitors on Kappa 8 and Kappa 9 crossovers? Is there a vintage infinity specialist out there somewhere? Please be in touch.

Thanks!
Brett
www.brettmc.com
 
Anyone out there know who can upgrade the capacitors on Kappa 8 and Kappa 9 crossovers? Is there a vintage infinity specialist out there somewhere?

Those crossovers are a sandwich of boards, caps and glue. They are hard to work on and the components (caps) are quite large (read as big enough values to be expensive even with cheap brands), so be prepared for high price tag when you do find someone to do it. This is what I discovered when I looked into recapping my Kappa 8's.
 
Also it's my understanding that Infinity used pretty high quality parts and that they're not prone to deterioration, at least not at this age.
 
@nailzgun.

My friend had the opportunity to listen to the PS Audio AN3 loudspeaker at Axpona 2019. When he came back, he took his TEAC UD-501 Direct Stream DAC, we connected it to my Oppo Universal Player and pressed play.
Before I say WOW the associated equipment at my friends house was.

Infinity Kappa 9 from early 1987( a prototype K0055221, K0052324) recapped only in the mids and highs with Monacors and MKPs.
The rest of the crossover was okay, however we felt to remove the Polyswitches becouse they tend to take something away in the sound making a slitghy metallic eddy high end.
The Wonder Caps, Rels and Culvers were left in there and their specs were okay.

Preamp: Audio Research SP-11 fist version, updated Rels, more switched in series to increase speed, net filter included against dirty power and hum from outside
Power Amp: Threshold SA2e with standard caps, one cap switched before to increase speed.
Cabeling: G58U, Emotiva RCA, Neutrik connectors to loudspeakers
CD Player: Oppo - 93
DAC: TEAC UD-501

He told me the following becouse I was not able to attend the show.

I gotta tell you folks this combo easily blew away the AN-3. He told me that the transparency and dimensional sound was going far more beyond the speakers revealing more details. The highs you felt the space, breath of the singer causging you to get goose bumps and the midrange contrabass was something that really giggled on your stomach - a prickeling taste you felt on your skin and the woofers came out in that amazingly musical way that you almost heard the walls vibrating with the countours.

To sum it up and what I can tell you as well is that DSD Dacs have made a huge progress and that might the reason the AN-3 sounded better for most.
I have had similar experiences experimenting with new DACs that I almost outperformed any new loudspeaker when it came to experimenting with my Kappa 9s.

However, so far my friend believes the AN-3 is not currently able to outperform Arnies Kappa 9s and I assume this is why many people go with vintage stuff, becouse most of the developments I see is in high qualties DACs and loudspeakers over the years have not really become that much better.

Any experiences from other members are highly appreciated.
 
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@Newk_Yuler

Fun. Probably Yes, but it shows the truth.

In order to give my opinion I will ran off the next dealer when the AN-3 is available and compare it to my setup at home which is similar to my friends setup.
Cheers!
 
It's very difficult to compare two different speakers when you're not listening to one right after the other, the environment is different, equipment is different, etc. While I don't doubt that your friend thinks the Kappa 9 is better than the AN-3 (and it very well could be), this comparison isn't particularly helpful. And it's well known that audio shows are some of the worst places to get in a good listening session.
 
On another site... most people that went to the show to get a listen to the AN-3 said they were very disappointed in the sound quality from the AN-3, most felt that Paul hyped them up so much and they were nowhere near what they thought they were supposed to sound like, I think the magic is gone, nobody designs them like Arnie did.
 
Ask yourself, why does a great Krell weigh like 140lbs and an Adcom say 40lbs? But both can say they are 200 or 250wpc. Do I like the fact the capable amps are so expensive? Of course not. But it takes what it takes on certain speakers; and that is a fact...

Yeah. One is wildly inefficient and almost all heatsink as a result.
 
@swechsler

I will definately report back when I have personally listened to them at the local dealer. There is one that will order the AN-3 when availabale and he is just about 80 miles away.

I agree with your statement, but keep in mind that many were fascinated when the Kappa 9s were released at shows.
You also have to examine that parts including the prolyprolene caps have gotten better over years and to my point of view some rebuilts have shown that the Kappa 9s can easily hold on against newer designs.

Funny is that all designers tend to sound it neutral and the beauty and warmth of the sound is missing as itis not for example with the IRS Gamma or the lower priced model RS2b.
Some colorations are not neutral, but they do add intimacy and natrualness to the sound that is missing. This is not the case with the Kappa 9, however, I felt it important to give a point of view.

I think some might have different opinions as usual.
 
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Paul pointed out he had some problems when designing them and the midbass was not alive, so he used a jentzen standard caps and genesis in series and the entry point for the lower midrange was about 2-5 db lower.
Well that all being said they are still protoypes.

On the other hand the space, goose bumps and details could be also rearranged by lowering the impedance where most eletrical energy is needed. In his design he is looking to energy repsonse in correlation to the senivity of the driver. Probably he should try with phase angels and dips to get more current to the diapharagm.

That is what Arnie did. However, I am not really sure how it is supposed to be done with these high sensivity drivers as he wanted the speaker to be easy to drive.

Probably he has to rethink as the midrange is a Bohlender Gaebener and it is no longer available, he would have to do redesign work.
 
From Paul in Ask Paul videos.
I am not sure where we are going either, becouse David Gaebener passed away. I am not sure who owns the patentet rights for the drivers and he has a view pieces left.

But he must somehow realize he cannot get the magic like with Arnies design when he pushes the impedance up. Thats just a physical fact.
 
Christie owns the rights to the BG drivers and they've been selling a few models to Parts Express, others they reserve for their own speakers or possibly sell to OEMs. Either way, the death of David Gaebener shouldn't affect that.
 
I have never designed a speaker but assume its probably harder than it looks. At the RMAF I heard the Bryston speakers 2 years in a row and for the price they were asking they did not sound good at all. Like swesh said not the best environment for them to sound their best but I wanted to tell them Stick to making amps. Lol. Also to the person that controls the music can you play something that I’ve heard with some guts and please stop changing the music every 15 seconds.
 
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