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New/Old Kappa 7's sound horrible

brettMc

brettMc

New Member
Last weekend I picked up an expertly refurbished pair of Infinity Kappa 7's. Midrange drivers had been upgraded/recovered by the only guy on earth that still does them and the woofers were reconned by the original designer of the woofer. The seller was great and said he took great care pulling the drivers so as not to disturb the internal dampening.

The seller and I live a couple hours apart and we agreed to meet in the middle. So these speakers did get a good 2+ hour car ride. I got them home plugged them into my ModWright Oppo>Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre amp>Conrad-Johnson amp and they just sound like mud. Dirty, messy, too much bass, midrange hardly seems to cut through and the tweeters are just audible at the upper reaches of human hearing.

What's wrong? I bought these cus so many say the Emit tweeter is amazing and I tend to like my speakers with tone controls.

I am disappointed to say the least...

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank.
 
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The EMIT tweeters are legendary for very good reason. The KAPPA series are fine speakers, clearly something is wrong with your pair, you need to get them checked out. There's a good chance that the drivers were not connected to the correct wires when they were reinstalled in the speakers.
 
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I would first make sure that the speakers are wired in phase, then start pulling things apart. Check the crossover make sure everything looks original. Test each driver with a multimeter, it sounds like one of the drivers isn't working right to me, when one is out everything sounds funny. I've heard kappa 7's and they do sound really good.
 
Ken Boyd said:
Turn the pots back and forth a few times and see if you can hear the mids and highs cut in. Those pots are old they might need cleaning.
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How dramatic is the difference between min/max? It does not seem very dramatic on these speakers.
 
bryblob said:
I would first make sure that the speakers are wired in phase, then start pulling things apart. Check the crossover make sure everything looks original. Test each driver with a multimeter, it sounds like one of the drivers isn't working right to me, when one is out everything sounds funny. I've heard kappa 7's and they do sound really good.
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My hookups were good. Guess tomorrow I'll crack them open and see what's going on inside.

My previous speakers which I have taken down for upgrades are JBL 4312a Control Monitors. I'm rebuilding the crossovers...
 
eiraved said:
There must be something wrong with your amp / preamp combo, send them to me for a proper disposal...;)

The Kappa 7 is a fine speaker and I imagine the woofers and mids been hooked up incorrectly.
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Like the mid wires are hooked to the woofers? That kinda wrong or just out of phase?

I just, using the feet, tilted them back as far as they go and pulled them forward. They got more listenable. Still feel choked...notmuch air except at really high volume.
 
brettMc said:
Like the mid wires are hooked to the woofers? That kinda wrong or just out of phase?
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I don't believe the wires from mids to woofers can be swapped due to wire length, but I could be wrong. It's more likely they're out of phase.
brettMc said:
Midrange drivers had been upgraded/recovered by the only guy on earth that still does them and the woofers were reconned by the original designer of the woofer.
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Please pass on the contact info of these experts so others may benefit from their expertise.
 
Out of phase affects the bass response, not the tweeters. Gonna have to open them up and verify. We can all sit around throwing out Scientific Wild Ass Guesses all day long but someone's going to have to get in there and see what's up.
 
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Then possibly they were both done by the gentleman who does the midranges. I will enquirer. Both midrange and woofer now have the dark foam infinity symbol.
 
brettMc said:
Last weekend I picked up an expertly refurbished pair of Infinity Kappa 7's....I got them home plugged them into my ModWright Oppo>Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre amp>Conrad-Johnson amp and they just sound like mud. Dirty, messy, too much bass, midrange hardly seems to cut through and the tweeters are just audible at the upper reaches of human hearing.
Click to expand...

When I auditioned the Kappa 7's when originally released, in comparison to the Kappa 6's and 8's, I though the 7's were a bit bass heavy too. A bit thick in the crossover region to the dome mid as well.

Also, which CJ amp? Tubed or SS? Maybe try a second amp, if possible? Something with a good damping factor, that might better control the woofers. And like the other responder's, check the wiring, since the drivers were removed and remounted. Clean the pots while in there. If none of these efforts help, the speakers may be in need of a recap? They aren't as young as they used to be.

Good luck.
 
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Those should be bright sweet and low all together so something is amiss. Can you confirm all drivers are working?
 
Ken Boyd said:
Actually I have never heard a pair of Kappa 7's, I only own Kappa 8's and Kappa 9's.
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While the 7's were good, you could definitely hear a difference, and an improvement in sound, when stepping to the 8's. Smoother, better midbass detail, with much better midrange presence. Also, the 12" woofer of the 7's, cross over to the dome mid at 800Hz. At that high up, the 12" woofer is going to get very directional. The 6's and 7's would most likely need much more toe in, compared to the 8's and 9's, with their 90Hz crossover to the midbass coupler, to image correctly.
 
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