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Infinity Kappa 9 pros and cons

kjello

kjello

Super Member
A set of Infinity Kappa 9's appeared on my local Cl along with two Adcom GFA 555's
Asking price is 10.000 NOK which is around 1200 dollars for the lot.
I've long been curious about these speakers, previously owned a set of Kappa 7's which I Replaced with Mirage OM-8 and later Klipsch RF-83, both small step upwards sound quality wise IMO.
Now people say there is a step up from Kappa 7 to 8 and another big step from 8 to 9.
Speakers need an all four LF driver recone and one of the polydome midranges is dented.

https://www.finn.no/bap/forsale/ad.html?finnkode=119881299&fks=119881299

Anybody with experience from the Kappa series who can describe their sonic footprint, qualitys and strong sides?
Any weak side?
Any known problems with them I should check? Recone is possible?
I heard they load the amps hard with sub 2 ohm impedance. Are the two GFA 555's a good match?


Best regards
KO
 
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You've already covered the two major cons.
Polydomes age and fail.
And they DEMAND high current amplification.

You say the LF drivers need 'recone"....did you mean reFOAM?
Big difference.
 
goodolpg said:
You've already covered the two major cons.
Polydomes age and fail.
And they DEMAND high current amplification.

You say the LF drivers need 'recone"....did you mean reFOAM?
Big difference.
Click to expand...

Refoam was my intention to write. Thanks :thumbsup:
Now I just started to think if both recone and refoam is possible ? as in parts supply :)
 
For reference: Infinity Kappa 9

6007-4.jpg
 
If they are the second series with the extended LF switch on the crossover, they will not be hard to drive with the switch the other way. Polydomes don't dent, they deteriorate/rot. The emit tweeters are relatively fragile. Even though there are polyswitches/breakers to protect them, abuse over time shows up with pin hole burns which eventually join together and tear it apart. However, they are not hard to find. Polydomes in good condition otoh are next to impossible to find. Rebuild services are available but probably not to original spec. Foams for the woofers are tricky in that most available are much heavier and less compliant than oem. Rick Cobb aka Loonietunes at Lansing Heritage or ebay has nice light compliant ones for that. You will not find actual cone kits. I would not substitute something that fits as the originals are graphite impregnated composite and rather high tech.
 
Kappa 9's are great speakers!

and in more then thirty years of Emit drivers (I currently have on hand at least 10 pair in various speakers) I've only ever seen ONE fail.

You will need good amplification for them to sound their best, and they like a larger room.

That's my opinion, anyway.
 
Someone please correct me if I am wrong

the Adcoms DO NOT have speaker protection.

This could be a concern with many speakers, I would think it might be a major concern with the known amp killing Kappa 9 speakers.

You could try it but I'd proceed carefully, especially if the Adcoms have not been upgraded/serviced/had speaker protection circuitry added.

Hopefully someone more experienced than me will offer some insight and help.
 
yes, series 2 and on had speaker protection,and imo, they'd do a stellar job of driving the infinties.


I would get them checked out first, they are over thirty years old (adcoms)
 
jazzmans said:
Kappa 9's are great speakers!

and in more then thirty years of Emit drivers (I currently have on hand at least 10 pair in various speakers) I've only ever seen ONE fail.

You will need good amplification for them to sound their best, and they like a larger room.

That's my opinion, anyway.
Click to expand...
I have K9s. They are great speakers. But I did burn up a pair of Emits over a 4 year period. Mind you I play them loud.:)
 
If the GFA-555s are in good shape they're worth at least $300 each, $500 each if they've been recapped. (At least here in the US)

The Kappas in good shape sell for $1500++. So not a bad deal.
 
Hi Kjello, don't know if you've made up you mind yet, but I would not try to recone the woofers, refoaming should be fine. These woofers are well built but parts (other than foam) are hard to come by. One thing I would do is ensure you have a way of getting the midranges repaired (there aren't any good drop-in replacements yet available on the market; although several different suggestions have been made, all have been found lacking in some regard). There is a company in the US, Millersound, that will do the repair for about $100 per unit, but I don't know if they'll handle international shipping (not do I know if the costs involved will make it worthwhile).
 
A friend of mine runs some K9s on a pair of recapped Adcom 555s and it's working pretty well for him. He fabricated housings with PC case fans that he mounted on the amps. They seem able to play the Inifinitys well enough without blowing up.
 
Zonker92 said:
A friend of mine runs some K9s on a pair of recapped Adcom 555s and it's working pretty well for him. He fabricated housings with PC case fans that he mounted on the amps. They seem able to play the Inifinitys well enough without blowing up.
Click to expand...

Surprised the fans are needed -- I guess the K9s are really that hard to drive? My 555 barely gets warm driving the MLs.
 
Crossover concerns??? Know of some Kappa 8 issues at this age.
Beautiful speakers. Just saw a pair of 8's today at a thrift that they wanted real money for.
To many variables for me, if I found some at a reasonable price..... yes.
And they are an amp killer. I don't need that.
 
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