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Marantz 500 or 510 on infinity kappa 9?

What kinda volume are you guys listening to? i power my 9's with a single adcom 555ll
and never get to the point you guys are talking about and if came close to that im sure my neighbors would let me know. these speakers produce a big sound without killing a amp you just have to be smart with the volume control imo.
 
James Zep said:
Well I see...

Seriously, what make you love it so much?
Click to expand...

Let me see.....:scratch2:


1. The transformer
2. The wiring
3. The Caps...
4. The high capacity bridge diodes...
5. Dual Differential drive circuit...
6. Heat sink
7. The damping...
8. current output.....
9. the bla...
10. the bla bla.....
11. and the bla bla bla.....


Oh I forgot.... the sound.

With my speakers, I use a lot of power. They are not very efficient, so my system has spent hours at seemingly high power levels.

jk
 
And what do you think about the Marantz 7 (in its solid state version) as a matching preamp?

My other options are a Technics Su-9200 or any Phase Linear like a model 4000 (beautiful serie one or serie two) for example.

The cool thing about the Marantz 7, it allows bi-amplification. The others two don't.
 
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The 7T in good condition is a nice preamp but in fact any preamp in good condition wil do just fine.

The poweramplifier 510 is much easier to service then the 500.
 
Down here in South America anything is hard to service… However this 500 has been checked and they just changed the vu meters. What they use to replace them looks really cool but nothing is comparable to the original stuff…:no:
 
James Zep said:
And what do you think about the Marantz 7 (in its solid state version) as a matching preamp?

My other options are a Technics Su-9200 or any Phase Linear like a model 4000 (beautiful serie one or serie two) for example.

The cool thing about the Marantz 7, it allows bi-amplification. The others two don't.
Click to expand...

I love my 7T..... spent many hours refubing it.... It has a lot of little items that need attention after 40+ years...

For example the Head phone jack switch should be shorted to bypass the contacts... That makes big difference... Transistor sockets need cleaning...caps.... and all the other usual items....


People forget that Saul Marantz called the 7T "the work of a genius"....and that was following the 7C......may have been good marketing, but I still listen to Saul. At some point I will get a 7C, but the 7T is never leaving....



jk
 
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i don't believe there is a single Marantz i'd be comfortable with on the Kappa 9 woofers -- maybe the SM-1000 big boy? even if it doesn't die at high volume, you just won't be hearing what the speakers are capable of as the amp will be operating well outside of its general SOA. i know this is a Marantz forum, and i'd rather keep some more of their vintage amps alive.

an Adcom GFA-555 is probably the cheapest well-known amp that can drive them alright. one that "worked" for me was the Hafler DH-500, but even that could be sent into thermal overload, and in hindsight wasn't really good enough for the Kappas. it's not so much the total power output required, it's really the current being tapped near the 0.9-Ohm 30Hz resonance that's the problem, as it tends to heat up the output transistors pretty quickly. a 100Wpc amp with a very stiff power supply that's comfortable below 2 Ohms (any one of several Threshold or Levinson amps) will outperform even a beastly amp such as the Bryston 4B-ST, which runs into current limiting and lower power output below 4 Ohms.
 
Thank you for your point cdfac... But what about the Kappa 8?

And talking about cheaper stuff, have I any chance to drive the Kappa 8 with a MTX SOUNDCRAFSTMEN A-400?
 
the 8 is a little easier to drive, and both the 8 and 9 usually have hidden switches on the back that can help a bit too. i'm not familiar with that A-400 though.
 
Extended and normal mode.
In extended mode the impedance wil drop to 0,8 Ohm on two frequency's!
In normal mode this is around 1,5 to 2 Ohms.
 
On the Kappa 8 i thinks so (with a 510)
The 510 on a Kappa 9 is NO GO, i tried that.
Went wel for 5 minutes.........i did not went south but very distorted on one channel so i turned it off.

After checking the amp it was still very ok but i do not risk it anymore.

I would not risk my 500 on a Kappa 9

I would go for other speakers.
 
It would definitely be a pair of Kappa 8 if the guy doesn’t sell it to a friend of him. I want these speakers. The idea of using a Marantz 500 or 510 comes alter, just because I know I can get these and there are particularly good looking with great power.
So it will be Kappa 8 + marantz 500 and I will check the vu meter during the first week to see how it performs and shut everything down if it goes to clipping.

Thank you akers…
 
Stil some things to look after here:

1] Has that 500 still the original power Tr's?

If yes, replace them pronto / asap / now!

2] You can NOT see by looking at the VU meters if an amplifier is clipping.

3] Allway's check any old amplifier how it performs on a dummy load / scope / tone generator. (sinus + square wave)
Meassure dc offset / bias settings.
Monitor offset during power test.
Check solderings and condition of the caps.

Etc etc...................
 
James Zep said:
1. They 've been replaced

2. You're right.

3. If only I knew half you know...!
Click to expand...

I see thread is very old but James question became same actual for me now… I have pair of great Kappa 8 speakers and I am close to buy Marantz 510m. As preamp I plan to use my Marantz 1150d which I am using to drive my Kappa’s 8 now (just up to 10 o’clock on volume).
James, have you bought Kappa 8 and did you tried them finally with 500/510? And if so - how it worked?
 
The SAE 2600 will play with the Kappa, now that is not Marantz but what heck all engineers work at the same company. I love Marantz and i love SAE, the SAE big amps control better the Kappa.
 
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