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Infinity Kappa 9 - Central MO - $200

The cabinets need some serious and delicate work. The ribs on the sides popped loose (probably during moving or dragging around on carpet) and there are pieces missing.
side 1.jpg side 2.jpg side 3.jpg

This will take some serious consideration as to how to fix it. I might have to page Dr. Biggles and rest of the AK cabinet magicians.

The drivers are all playing though!
Close front 1.jpg close front 2.jpg
The left one has a pretty deformed Polydome and the Polygraph below it has some of the gray fiber coming off. I've never worked with these drivers so I'll need some advice on these. No grille covers so I'll either have to fabricate or find a pair from parted out speakers.

I'll post a new thread over in Speakers for the restoration.

Seller literally rescued these from the jaws of death. He lives in a mobile home with a number of cats - pretty cool cats actually - and did not have room for them at all, or the watts to drive them.

Sad that a pair of speakers this nice have sunk so low. I suspect they went to college with someone when Dad upgraded, and went downhill from there.
 
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BTW my Harbor Freight inflatable tire dolly is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I've had it for probably 15 yrs and it's going strong. I think it was about $30 then, they're about $40 now, and I can't recommend one highly enough. I even move my SX-1250 around with it.
 
Oh, while researching these I learned from other threads that the online Infinity spec sheet is most likely wrong on the sensitivity. It lists 102 db but these speakers are known to be power hogs and all the other Kappas are more like 89. I sent a msg from their website about it and you won't believe what I got back!

***
Hi Chris,

Good day!

Thank you for contacting Infinity Speakers Customer Support.

You are 100% correct about the Sensitivity Rating of the RS9 Kappa. It should be 89dB and the specs sheet is incorrect. We are now working to have it replaced with a spec sheet that has the correct information.

We appreciate your concern and we would like to offer your a 20% discount code that you may use for next purchase. Please be informed that this code is only applicable in our website www.harmanaudio.com for Headphones, Portable Speakers, Home Audio and Car Audio categories.

  • [discount code deleted, I know you AK Visigoths would steal it LOL]
For questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this and I will be glad to assist you further.

Best regards,

Customer Support
Harman Lifestyle Division
***

They get big points from me for not only getting back to me in 1-2 days, but they actually cared about the spec sheet for a 30 year old speaker! :thumbsup:
 
@toxcrusadr, join the Infinity subforum, we discuss stuff like this all the time. If the polydomes aren't torn, you can remove them from the cabinets, then cut (don't unsolder) the wires holding them in (leave enough wire on the midrange so you can strip and crimp them back together later). Disassemble them, then you can reform the screen and the domes by hand. Be careful as they are very fragile. BTW, those don't look like the original Polydomes, the original Kappa speakers didn't have those screens behind the domes. The Kappa x.1 series did. Sonically they are the same, so don't worry about that.

The Polygraphs are a little more difficult; they're usually pretty durable but can be damaged by impact, as you've seen. They come up on eBay occasionally, though, and are generally less expensive than good Polydomes. When replacing them, you should again not unsolder them but cut and crimp. But if they play without distortion you could probably leave them as-is for the time being. The grey fiber coming off them is actually graphite (Polygraph = Polymer + Graphite) and is used to stiffen the dome. I think Infinity saw the error in their ways in creating this driver, since in the later Kappa x.1 series it was replaced with a standard cone, and was never used in any other speakers besides the Kappa 8 and 9. There was an automotive version called the RSDS Polygraph, but it used IMG (Injection Molded Graphite) like many other Infinity drivers.

Luckily you got the original woofers, they're worth at least $400 on their own.

Lastly, these are supposed to have wood bases that tilt them back at about an 11 degree angle. If you didn't get those you can fabricate your own, or keep them vertical, but then I'd add some outriggers front and back to keep them from tipping over.
 
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Cool, thanks for the info!

I found a single grille on the bay for $84, yikes. I have a shop, probably make em.

Will deffly get on over to the Infinity forum.
 
:thumbsup:

I was surprised how THIN they are front to back and was concerned about tipping. Did not know there were originally bases. I'll have to get some dimensions from another owner and fabricate them.
 
toxcrusadr said:
I'll have to get some dimensions from another owner and fabricate them.
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My Kappa 8s' bases were basically a square of wood (MDF, I think) with a wedge glued on top for the tilt. They don't stick out much in front, and in back basically go back as far as the top of the tilted speaker.
 
Yup bases would have protected those wooden side ribs when being moved about. I think you can use some maggie bases too...
 
Maggie bases bolt to the sides, the Infinity bases attach on the bottom with large T nuts. It's unlikely you'd want to drill holes in these.
 
Swechsler your info is incorrect. I have bases from an old set of mg II That are flat with holes to attach to bottom of speakers.
 

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nolasally said:
Swechsler your info is incorrect. I have bases from an old set of mg II That are flat with holes to attach to bottom of speakers.
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I was thinking of the later metal stands.

mag_12.jpg
 
Well Well Tox was a great man and answered my search add for a nice pair of Kappa 9s
He offered me this pair for a far price and my little brother made the road trip to Tox's place with cash in hand.
I got them plugged in to test and the polygraphs were toast (both) but other drivers all seemed to play well.
I then went to ebay to search for stands and grills.... after a coulpe of weeks waiting and searching i decided to text the guy with the single grill....Nice guy...replied right back and said he actually has 2 but was wanting to save some parts back for his good pair of kappa 9s...but after hearing my story of trying to get mine up and running he offered to sale me both grills and both stands and 9 of the wooden strips that go up the sides!!!! I paid the man and he sent me them via california.
There is another guy in Tenn. that does repairs through ebay and also sales repaired speakers as well. I was able to get 1 rebuilt/new from him (polygraph)
Then contacted the new friend in cal. to see if he would give up one of his spare polygraphs...he said yes!
Soooo I got them together and am getting a rattle noise from one woofer (bottom) .... Switched the bottom woofer from the other speaker and still makes the noise. I also took all four woofers out to take to Splice Speaker Service and he tested all 4 (tested Good) I had that backwards.. Slice first then swapped.
Called Slice last friday and he said to bring the whole speaker up to his shop and he will go through crossover.... That I did today so the wait begins.... They sound fantastic but the rattle shows up during heavy base are playing loud. I want them right on so figured this is best

Tim
 
I used to have a rattle, down at the woofer, in one of my Kappa 8's. Replaced the woofer and it was still there.
Decided to take out the woofer and look around...
What I found was one of the inductors had come loose on one connection point of the inductor... where it was connected to the crossover board.
Glued it down, BAM... rattle was gone.
 
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