Kappa 8's VS new designs like goldenear triton 1's

Erik_e

New Member
Guys.

Simple question( maybe not ) ; how would you compare a set of Kappa 8's with the new designed Goldenear Triton 1? After 1 year still struggling to run the Kappa's nicely , running on a NAD M2 , so considering the Tritons.. Any thoughts???

Greets

Erik
 
Hello sorry your having some issues as the kappa 8 is a fantastic speaker. According to the specs on your Nad at 250 watts a channel it's a great intergrated. I think that would be great to run the latter kappa 8.1s series which was a lot easier to drive. I have the kappa 9s which is a big brother to the 8s and drive them with 2 amplifiers. I haven't seen to many on the forum using intergrated amps as the power source but could b wrong for the kappa 8s. There are a lot of kappa 8 owners that will be able to help you in the forum. Hope that helps. I tried using a 100 watt reciever to run the 8.1s and failed miserably. Luckily I didn't blow any tweeters. I'm currently using 2 amps in bi amp mode on them 250 watts channel so it would be 2 500 watt amps in stereo mode. If you do a search also there are others that may have posted this question.
 
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For the price they get for them they better sound better. Never heard them but they look very nice. Have you tried any other amp with your Kappa8? I would definitely borrow another amp and try to get the most out of the Kappas first than go and listen to the Tritons or better yet see if you can borrow a pair from a dealer and put them into your space and gear.
Jim
 
Hi there, Well TheNAD is the 3rd amp I am trying and still every once in a while it can't handle the need. i do think tat a Class D Amp is better for Speakers like Kappa, if you don't want to spent +$5000 on a Class A/B. Anyway , my main question was about the quality of the Old Kappa's compared to the new Speakers. Since I don't feel like spending more money on amps I have had a look at a speaker, namely the Triton 1 's. Reviews are all positive. I have not heard them yet. What are your people thought. Spend a lot of money on an old speaker or save that amp money for modern build speaker like the Triton???
 
I don't know what to say. I spend money on old speakers because I could not afford them when they were new. Old amps and preamps the same way. I have less than what the Tritons cost in my entire system. '90s Mac gear with my QLS1(those are 40 years old). I haven't heard anything I could afford sound better. My system with the RSIIb same thing. I would love to have some newer gear but to get the sound I want puts the price out of range. I suppose that's why some are fooling around with old speakers.

You could pick up big Adcom for a few hundred dollars that will drive those Kappa 8's with no trouble. If they still sound like crap than either they are not the speakers for you or there is something wrong with them.
Jim
 
I haven't heard the 8's specifically, but, have heard the 9's and had a pair of the 9.1's for several years. Also, heard the Ren 90's of which I was not impressed. I also have the 7.1s and 5's. Many more larger Infinity's as well and still have the RS1's. Each to me has their own sound while maintaining that Infinity non-fatiguing character.

Last week I went and auditioned the Golden Ear Triton Ones at a dealer. They only had the Two's on the floor and hooked up. If what the dealer tells me is true - then the One's are at least doubly as good as the Two's. They really have a spacious sound with well defined imaging. Bass wasn't too bad but if driven by a better amp I thought they would even be better. They blew away my 7.1's. Also, my 2.5's I had. Not my 4.5's though. Remember, this is just the G.E. Two's. I talked with the dealer and he is going to let me take home the One's for a week and if I like them then I'm going to buy them. I've heard too many speakers sound great in a specific room at the dealership then they sound like shit having to live in my listening room. Sans the room treatment discussion. I expect the One's to give my Genesis APM-1's a run for their money as well. They already have more soundstage.

I have been trying to listen to new speakers for the past 4 years - up to the $60k level - and frankly haven't been impressed. Those Triton's impressed me. I auditioned the B&W 800 Diamonds, KEP Blade, some Mac tower system and a few others. Haven't heard the other 95% out there. The B&W came the closest to wanting me to find a good used pair. So - there are good used speakers out there that still beat the new stuff - easily. But, there is new stuff out there as well but it seams it's higher priced and certainly tougher to get a "listen" to before you buy.
 
i do think tat a Class D Amp is better for Speakers like Kappa, if you don't want to spent +$5000 on a Class A/B. Anyway , my main question was about the quality of the Old Kappa's compared to the new Speakers.

A Class D amp will do nothing but puke out at less than 50% output on original Kappa's--the fallicy being that they need a ton of power--no-- they don't--they need a ton of current--which is a whole different animal. I have Kappa 9's--the true "amp killers", and either bi-amp them with two Aragon 4004's or quad-amp them with four Krell KMA-160 monoblocs--in any case the amps have to be stable down down to 2 ohms, or 1 ohms (optimally).
 
Funny, we're comparing a $5000.00 pair of speakers to the Kappa 8 which can be had for $500.00. I know we are not to talk value in this forum but I feel it has to be said...
when I had the ren 90's about 5 years ago I didn't think anything under 10k new came close to them when I was auditioning new speakers at the time.
 
A Class D amp will do nothing but puke out at less than 50% output on original Kappa's--the fallicy being that they need a ton of power--no-- they don't--they need a ton of current--which is a whole different animal. I have Kappa 9's--the true "amp killers", and either bi-amp them with two Aragon 4004's or quad-amp them with four Krell KMA-160 monoblocs--in any case the amps have to be stable down down to 2 ohms, or 1 ohms (optimally).

normally I would agree but the NAD M2 is a pretty worthy amp, the amp can pull nearly 30a of current under max load, It's a class D I can respect.

as for the issues with the sound OP is having,

To open up tough speakers to drive, I would try bi amping if possible, with a lesser amp pushing the woofers. worth a try, if no increase in fidelity look at auditioning other speakers to see what you like. arranging a triton 1 audition wouldn't be hard they are a popular and new unit
 
normally I would agree but the NAD M2 is a pretty worthy amp, the amp can pull nearly 30a of current under max load, It's a class D I can respect.

I agree that the NAD is a very competent amp, but there is a huge difference between power @ 8 or 4 or 2 ohms. My Krell monoblocs (and I use 4 of them on Kappa 9's) are rated at 160w each @ 8 ohms, but 1280w each @ 1 ohm and you can tweak the protection circuit to run below 1 ohm. They weigh 100lbs each, run in pure Class A, draw 8A each at idle (20A circuit recommended for each amp), and you can cook eggs on top of them after an hour of idling.
 
I had Kappa 7 and Kappa 8.1. The tweeter in the 8.1 wasn't nearly as good as the ribbon tweeter in the Kappa 7. The ribbon tweeter is one of the best tweeters I've ever heard.
 
I can't say I agree that the original Samarium Cobalt EMITS are better, I have a pair of RS4 here, and they tonally sound very similar to my Kappa 8.1, or my Crescendo 3009, or my Crescendo 3007,or my Infinitesimals, or my Ren 90s.

The difference between the original and the EMIT-R was magnets on both sides of the tweeter, type of magnet (Samarium Cobalt became too hard to source, so they started using NEodynam,) and Mylar to Kapton, and direction, the spiral instead of vertical rectangular lines.
 
BGW amps are very nice, fairly inexpensive, and will easily drive the Kappa 8's.
 
Funny, we're comparing a $5000.00 pair of speakers to the Kappa 8 which can be had for $500.00. I know we are not to talk value in this forum but I feel it has to be said
((((((( Bang Per Buck ? ))))))) If you can afford the new .. the bang per buck issue would be a non issue .. ( but everything to many classic infinity owners )
So Much Perfomance for so little $ .. Im In .
 
If you have a friend that's a disk jockey, get one of his amps to try. For the most part they are monster watt and current amps.
And when run into some "nice" speakers, some actually sound really nice.
I have several, and my favorite if I want to make my ears ring, is a Peevey CS 800 X.
Something like 600 watts a side into 2 ohms.
Be cautious w/ the volumn controll and audiophile speakers w/ these amps.

Just a thought.
my two cents Stu
 
Funny, we're comparing a $5000.00 pair of speakers to the Kappa 8 which can be had for $500.00. I know we are not to talk value in this forum but I feel it has to be said...
Adjusted for inflation they're not that far apart. The Kappa 8s originally listed at $2k/pair in 1987 (adjusts to $4250 today according to CPI calculator). At the time the Kappas were pretty technologically sophisticated (consider the amount of bass they're getting out of a relatively small cabinet - yeah, they look big, but they're very shallow - about 2 cu ft by my calculations).
 
Re Classic Infinity VS Modern Designs
Don't know if anyone is familiar with youtube video
"Infinity VS Focal" : Pits BETA against JM LAB GRAND UTOPIA
Take a listen via headphones ( or your Infinitys ) Very Interesting A beautiful vocal piece
If you go to same spot in recording with each speaker during height of vocal passage it becomes quickly apparent ( at least to my ear ) that the 2 are both great BUT The Infinity High End with planar drivers makes it no contest . ( I might have assumed the opposite )
The Utopia sounds closed in like you are in a basement while The Beta sounds like the roof came off ...
 
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