Infinity Kappa Polydome vs HE-EMIM

okeeteekid

Well-Known Member
Did some quick videos so you guys & gals can hear how they compare in sound, Lol you can hear the poor recording on the first video with the emim, with the polydome you can barely hear it as it's muffled, emims will bring out all the good and bad out of recordings.
 
Last edited:
Wow thanks for sharing. The domes for sure have a warmer sound where as the Emimm have a flat and more accurate sound. The domes I recognized the sound signature right off the bat since both my speakers have them. I can listen to these for 8 hours a day no problem. I’m not sure with the emimm. Maybe others can chime in if they are more fatiguing.
 
They certainly sound very different, but it is hard to draw conclusions without knowing more about the test procedure: crossover used, level matching, etc.
 
Last edited:
They certainly sound very different, but had to draw conclusions without knowing more amount the test procedure: crossover used, level matching, etc.
Crossed over with a single cap at about 550 Hz, used a single coil that crossed them both over at about 7500 hz, didn't have a coil to cross them over lower (4500 to 5000 hz) I believe the HE-EMIM needs a steeper slope to cut out the highs like it's crossover does in the speakers that it is installed in, if you play both drivers without a coil/choke the HE-EMIM goes higher in frequency, the polydome is slightly louder but I didn't adjust the volume so you could hear the difference.
 
Last edited:
Okeeteekid thank you again for taking the time! I've never heard the emims standing alone until now! I have to say I like them so much better than the other Polydome possible replacements in your videos. The clarity is immediately apparent. I do agree with @Bahamayellow about potential fatigue since the Kappas have none it would be interesting to hear your, @okeeteekid , impressions about clarity and listening fatigue using the emim in a complete speaker. It doesn't seem too bad in harshness in the videos. I still think the polydome in its proper enclosure and with its complementary drivers is magical. I doubt I'll be able to acquire anything with an emim so PLEASE @Bobbyd38 PLEASE do the polydomes justice and help us resurrect our failing wonders.

Excellent videos!

Thanks,

Mark K.
 
Okeeteekid thank you again for taking the time! I've never heard the emims standing alone until now! I have to say I like them so much better than the other Polydome possible replacements in your videos. The clarity is immediately apparent. I do agree with @Bahamayellow about potential fatigue since the Kappas have none it would be interesting to hear your, @okeeteekid , impressions about clarity and listening fatigue using the emim in a complete speaker. It doesn't seem too bad in harshness in the videos. I still think the polydome in its proper enclosure and with its complementary drivers is magical. I doubt I'll be able to acquire anything with an emim so PLEASE @Bobbyd38 PLEASE do the polydomes justice and help us resurrect our failing wonders.

Excellent videos!

Thanks,

Mark K.
EMIM's sound incredible in the speakers that have them, if you have a good recording you're in for a treat but if the recordings are bad/poor you will hear it, the kappas are more forgiving of bad recordings.
 
Crossed over with a single cap at about 550 Hz, used a single coil that crossed them both over at about 7500 hz, didn't have a coil to cross them over lower (4500 to 5000 hz) I believe the HE-EMIM needs a steeper slope to cut out the highs like it's crossover does in the speakers that it is installed in, if you play both drivers without a coil/choke the HE-EMIM goes higher in frequency, the polydome is slightly louder but I didn't adjust the volume so you could hear the difference.

Can you compare one of the polycarbonate cone mids from the RS-II to the EMIM and polydome?

btw from the videos, the kappa mid sounds just awful .. thanks for sharing
 
I agree, the emims are amazing. It must have been solely a cost thing why they didn't 'trickle down' to the kappa series.
I thought the Polydome was the best midrange I'd ever heard, until I heard Emims.

well, emims, and magnepan's magnetic planar midrange, and of course, Magnepan's true ribbon. My pair the 2.5r are a 2 way with the ribbon taking much of the midrange frequencies.
I also adored the sound of the CLS III, that sound largely got me into this search for perfection.

Now, everything else (with the exception of electrostats and true ribbons) are an 'also ran' for me.
 
I’d take the polydome/emit-r or emit k combination over the he emim/ he emit. This is where I was having trouble on longer listening sessions. Fatigue.
 
? fatigue?

I gotta say, that's one word I've never used with infinity speakers I liked, and that especially goes for those equipped with EMIMs. something else up the chain that the EMIMs or EMITS are being fed, I can believe.

fatique?

wow, those words I never expected to hear from you, dave.
 
Thanks for the side by side compare. Kind of eye opening that they are so different but both nice in their own way. This simply reinforces my ongoing troubles passing along speakers that sound a bit different from each other, but are both nice lol. I have the Kappa domes in 6.1's but nothing with the emims.
 
Crossed over with a single cap at about 550 Hz, used a single coil that crossed them both over at about 7500 hz, didn't have a coil to cross them over lower (4500 to 5000 hz) I believe the HE-EMIM needs a steeper slope to cut out the highs like it's crossover does in the speakers that it is installed in, if you play both drivers without a coil/choke the HE-EMIM goes higher in frequency, the polydome is slightly louder but I didn't adjust the volume so you could hear the difference.
Isn't that 550hz too low of a xover point? They are typically crossed at 880hz.... It is forcing the polydome to reproduce signals that it wasn't intended... Also open versus a sealed enclosure is going to also affect the sound... The polydome is said to drop off pretty sharply after 4500 hz so it is trying to overextend at the top of its frequency range as well..Bob Douglas Who designed the replacement polydomes said when he tested his against the originals... past the crossover point of 4.5k they drop off more so than his replacements.. Thanks for sharing what I think a more fair test is probably in order
 
Isn't that 550hz too low of a xover point? They are typically crossed at 880hz.... It is forcing the polydome to reproduce signals that it wasn't intended... Also open versus a sealed enclosure is going to also affect the sound... The polydome is said to drop off pretty sharply after 4500 hz so it is trying to overextend at the top of its frequency range as well..Bob Douglas Who designed the replacement polydomes said when he tested his against the originals... past the crossover point of 4.5k they drop off more so than his replacements.. Thanks for sharing what I think a more fair test is probably in order
I know the polydomes specs but I wanted to cross them over a little lower and higher so you could more easily hear the polydome going lower in frequency and the HE emim going higher in frequency, if I were to cross them over to the polydomes crossover specs you would still hear that the HE emim goes higher in frequency but the lows would sound about the same with the polydome still sounding a tad lower in frequency, also I left them open but there is foam behind the drivers, tried to simulate the k9 and the ren 90 somewhat, I think if I had them in a chamber as each driver was designed to be used in you would hear the polydome goes deeper but with added coloration, the He emim would get a little deeper sounding as well but have less coloration, it's hard to hear the real difference between the drivers in the video as everyone is playing the video on different sounding speakers and electronics, I play the video back on a pair of Infinity rs 5001 and on the epsilon and on a pair of modified il 40's and on each speaker it sound a little different, I heard them in person and what I mentioned above about each driver is pretty much spot on
 
Last edited:
The emims struggle with mid bass, the domes handle that better…

mixing a mid bass speaker and an emim is the way to go…ren 90 got that right…IMHO
 
I know the polydomes specs but I wanted to cross them over a little lower and higher so you could more easily hear the polydome going lower in frequency and the HE emim going higher in frequency, if I were to cross them over to the polydomes crossover specs you would still hear that the HE emim goes higher in frequency but the lows would sound about the same with the polydome still sounding a tad lower in frequency, also I left them open but there is foam behind the drivers, tried to simulate the k9 and the ren 90 somewhat, I think if I had them in a chamber as each driver was designed to be used in you would hear the polydome goes deeper but with added coloration, the He emim would get a little deeper sounding as well but have less coloration, it's hard to hear the real difference between the drivers in the video as everyone is playing the video on different sounding speakers and electronics, I play the video back on a pair of Infinity rs 5001 and on the epsilon and on a pair of modified il 40's and on each speaker it sound a little different, I heard them in person and what I mentioned above about each driver is pretty much spot on
I hear you.... but I don't think you get an accurate representation forcing a speaker outside of its operating parameters.... There is no doubt in my mind the emim would sound better in any test but I'm just saying if you take a speaker outside of its design principles it's not gonna perform as it was intended to And you're not gonna get an accurate representation of what it can really do
 
Back
Top Bottom