Fully restored Infinity Kappa 8's in Olde Maple Piano Finish !

[xalara76]

Just became an AK Member so I hope i'm using this right.
I have fully restored this pair of vintage Infinity Kappa 8 speakers from top to bottom, inside and out. With over 100 Man hours invested I can truly say that it was damn well worth it. I'm an old soul at heart and boy, do I miss when things used to be made with pride and great craftsmanship. Thats exactly what the Kappa 8 is in my opinion. Styles and fads do change after there release in 1987 however. 32 years later, I set a standard in which I wanted Old school technology that cannot be matched today & to take something and make it match or even become a center piece for our modern day living spaces / homes .

Ive attached a few pics but would have liked to be able to add more not sure whats going on ? Let me know what you guys think ! I'd like to thank everyone reading this in advance !

 

[Belvedere2]

Beautiful speakers. Always wanted a pair. Yours are very nice

 

[xalara76]

Beautiful speakers. Always wanted a pair. Yours are very nice

Thanks ! Im a huge infinity fan. Also have rs3a’s, kappa 5’s and 2 kappa video center channels.

 

[xalara76]

More pics added ! Piano black bases, new acoustic cloth.

 

[CDELON]

Beautiful restoration!

 

[tonebells]

Nice wook!

Tony

 

[StimpyWan]

So what's the details on the upper mid? How were they restored? Also, any crossover work? Beautiful job, but we need even more info...!

 

[jazzmans]

More pics added ! Piano black bases, new acoustic cloth.

Man! those are purty!

is the mid a millersound repair, or one of the few black automobile polydomes, or ?

 

[okeeteekid]

They are nice looking! I see you have them for sale on Ebay, why would you want to sell them after putting all that hard work into them?

 

[xalara76]

Man! those are purty!

is the mid a millersound repair, or one of the few black automobile polydomes, or ?

Its not a millersound repaired unit. Its an exact drop in 4 ohm replacement manufactured right here in the United States. I have a few connections with current speaker makers and I was lucky enough to get these. They sound fantastic and I believe the dome is made out of woven kevlar from the looks of it.

 

[xalara76]

To answer all the “how was it done” replies..
1)all drivers removed.
2) original grille cloth and bases removed.
3) cleaned and sanded entire speaker up to 3000 grit in between each crack crevice and corner. Stained 7x with minwax olde maple high gloss & polyurethane mix. (This process was time consuming ( one coat ever 24hrs) then I waited a week to wet sand the entire speaker, compound - polish- then wax to achieve its current finish. In the meantime while all that was going ln. the 12” watkins woofers got refoamed. All internal wiring from the crossover received Gold terminal connectors as well as synthetic color coded rubberized surrounds to isolate each terminal (positive and negative). All drivers were checked for resistance while out ( all perfect ). The Drop in midranges are such high quality I cant stress how great they are ( very heavy, and expensive) but worth it. Acoustic cloth was cut off the original frames and new fabric was cut stretched and glued back on for a new appearance. Lastly, I sanded down the speaker bases to the raw MDF and wanted to finish off with something creative. So they were stained 5x with a high gloss ebony stain polyurethane mix. Cured. Wet sanded, compounded polished waxed. I did this solely because it gave a nice extra touch and also because these beautiful 12 AWG speaker cables i made reflect absolutely gorgeous off of them. All said and done. They are the finest creation ive done yet.

 

[jazzmans]

Just fantastic looking restore, really. do post pics of your other restores when you've time.

So, are you saying that the midranges aren't available to 'anyone'? there's been a lot of back and forth hear about the supposedly 'drop in' replacements available, and that their sound isn't quite what the damn degrading polydomes sounded like. I personally have no dog in the fight, all my 'best' infinity's use Emim or High energy Emims now, and the lack of original replacements is a big reason why I no longer own any kappas, much as I like their sound.

 

[StimpyWan]

Did you use the Midwest Speaker MM-2150 replacement dome midrange? If so, glad to hear you liked them!

Also, the woofers are injection molded graphite, IMG woofers. Very good drivers, but they aren't Watkins woofers. No dual voice-coils, that I'm aware of.

Oh, bring on the pictures of all the restores!

 

[hjames]

eBay link removed.

 

[xalara76]

Infinity RS IIIA’s resto. Entire Cabinet sanded, painted semi gloss black. Front fascia lines had paint stripped then were staine with olde maple finish for a contrasting appearance. In the mean time all the drivers were removed, a carpet like kappa 8 backing was applied from top to bottom instead of the original foam. ( i tried to photograph it.) new acoustic cloth added. All woofers refoamed. Custom bases installed. Stainless steel feet added. Im happy how these came out too.

 

[xalara76]

Infinity RS IIIA’s resto. Entire Cabinet sanded, painted semi gloss black. Front fascia lines had paint stripped then were staine with olde maple finish for a contrasting appearance. In the mean time all the drivers were removed, a carpet like kappa 8 backing was applied from top to bottom instead of the original foam. ( i tried to photograph it.) new acoustic cloth added. All woofers refoamed. Custom bases installed. Stainless steel feet added. Im happy how these came out too.

Please note first two pics are before speaker cloth was replaced. Thats the original thats held up since 86’

 

[Bahamayellow]

Really nice work on the speakers.

 

[goodolpg]

 

[Tedrick]

Stunning work, especially on the K8's

 

[Depecheduran]

Looks beautiful! I might try that on my 7 Kappas.