Kappa 9 adoption

BrianLW

Cheers!
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I just brought this pair home because the dealer made me an offer I could not refuse.
It took two trips :)

The cabinets are in excellent condition, with just a couple small rub marks on the top back edges.
A little cleaning and some wax and they will look nearly showroom new.

All drivers are good, except for one polydome for which I have a replacement on the way, and of course the woofers all need foam. I am aware they have a rep for being hard to drive. I will be using the Belles 450 I found on Bartertown earlier this year. I'm looking forward to hearing what they sound like.

GrillsOn.jpg Naked.jpg
 
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Wow... Congrats man! Once you get everything fixed up, you will love them. If I were you, I would fix/replace the other polydome while you are at it (as it's probably close to needing some repair). That way you dont have to worry about it later. Congrats on a great pair of speakers! :rockon:
 
The damaged polydome is not brittle, just torn, and I believe it was damaged by impact from an accident in storage.
I believe this because on further inspection, the polygraph just below it is jammed inward. Looking from the back, the voice coil form where it connects to the front hemisphere, is crumpled. Has anyone here had a polygraph apart?

PS I'm glad I only paid $200 for em.
 
I had the same problem with a polygraph in one of my K8s. Best bet would be to find one on ebay, they show up every now and then. Theoretically it's possible to repair, but I suspect that it will cost a lot more than buying a replacement. When I looked into getting mine repaired several years ago I couldn't find anyone who had worked with one.

$200 is a steal for these, even in this condition. The woofers alone are worth at least $300.
 
They come apart easy. Hardest thing to do is unsolder the wires from the terminals without breaking the little plastic things the vc wires are soldered to. Just remove the screws and the frame comes apart from the magnet assembly. Unclip the wire holders and remove the roll and dome with a knife.image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
The polydome picture is still useful info to me. I have a used, intact, polydome on the way and if it works out I will have a spare to try rebuilding. If it doesn't work out then I have two to learn on I guess.

As to the polyGRAPH, there is a guy on ebay who offers a rebuild service for $83.44, but charges $30.05 for shipping. Has anybody used him? His name is Michael A Marks, in TN. From his picture, below, it looks like he knows what he is doing, but I've exchanged a few messages and it appears he misses much of what I write. Also, from his picture, I am encouraged to rebuild it myself.

polyGraphApart.jpg
 
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Several people here have done business with Dr. Marks, although I'm not sure if anyone has had a polygraph rebuilt. He is also a user here (MagicMarksy) but looks like he hasn't been on in a while.
 
That's a polydome. The polygraph construction is completely different.
Whoops, read the post wrong sorry...thought it said polydome. There is a thread here somewhere about a rebuild of one of those. He somehow made new material to place on the polygraphs dome. It was several years ago.
 
I read that page several years ago. Some of his work is questionable (although given what's probably available in Pakistan, it's probably the best he could have done). For example, he replaced the graphite "spider" overlay with paper and then felt, soaked in black wood polish (possibly he meant wood stain). I suspect this mixture is significantly higher in mass than the original graphite.

Also consider how much time he must have spent on that, when you can have yours fixed for about $120.
 
That's the thread. Labor of love for sure. Maybe just get Marksy to fix them. The 30 bucks shipping is a little high but if the packing is bullet proof...Millersound would be another option. Not sure if Bill fixes the polygraph though. Could just email him. Usually gets back to you in a couple hours.
Jim
 
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I'm 90% confident that once apart, I could fix the problem and reassemble the polyGraph.
I'm only 10% confident that I could take it apart without further damage :(
It is headed to Millersound.

I bought a polyDome on eBay and it arrived today and is working just fine.
This way I can listen to what original (albeit aged) polyDomes sound like before they eventually need rebuilding.

Woofer surrounds are due to arrive tomorrow and I have one woofer cleaned and ready for new foam. What will slow me down a little is a deep paper cut on my right index finger. From now on I will always use a letter opener!
 
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They said they can usually be repaired through the magnet vent hole for $55 plus $15 shipping. What we haven't discussed is what they charge if it needs to be disassembled.
 
I obtained a replacement PolyGraph on eBay, so the damaged one is on the back burner for now. I haven't finished the woofers, so I am temporarily enjoying the Kappas with a NHT subwoofer filling in the bass from 90 Hz down. Sounds really good so far.
 
I hope you aren't rolling off the bass to the kappas, they will MOST DEFINITELY go down lower and louder then the NHT sub does, as long as you have proper amplification.
My brother powers his with a pair of ps one monoblock class A tube monsters, somewhere around 200-300 wpc.
I power my Crescendos 3009s and my Ren 90s with Carver PM 350s pushing 400 wpc rms.

I'm a fan of NHT, so take that into consideration.
 
I'm listening to the Kappas only from the PolyGraph on up, thus the subwoofer.
I haven't fixed any of the Kappa woofers yet.
I was going to do shim-less re-foaming, till I saw that the dust-caps were crumbling. They are covered in the same foam as the surrounds.
Now I may as well use shims. Just waiting for the dustcaps to arrive.
 
Functional restoration is done. Here they are both naked and clothed, in their initial placement. Everything you see in between is for the TV/PC system, not the audio system. They are currently being driven very nicely by the Belles. Ultimately, they will be bi-amped, mostly so I can exercise some fine tuning and equalization on the woofers. I will likely play with moving them forward into the room a little at a time.

FinishedReadyToBeGrilled.jpg DoneInitialPlacement.jpg
 
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