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Seriously!! 20W for infamous amp killer Kappa 9 in extended bass mode

I'm inspired.
I've got a Conrad Johnson Premier 11a (PP, two 6550's per channel) rated 70 wpc into 8, 4 or 2 ohms - just sitting on a shelf collecting dust.
So I'll be setting it up for an electron dance with my Kappa 7's.
 
Oh come on, Kappa 7's are no test, send them here and I will throw them on a pair of Kappa 9's and will let you know how they do.
 
Odysseous said:
I have ran my Kappa 9s with Bob Carver's new 305 watts tube mono blocks and they sound amazing! I've also ran then with 50 watts solid state McIntosh receiver from 1975 and they sound great too.
Click to expand...

Is that a set of Bobs Amazing Line Source in your avatar?:drool:

What/where is he with those now? kinda dropped off the map.

In no way is it a fair comparison, but my Crescendo 3009's are very efficient, I don't doubt that I could drive them at any realistic (to me) level with a tiny amp, maybe I'll wire them into one of my lepei's for giggles and shits.
Again, I know it is in no way a fair comparison to the original Kappa series for load seen by amp.

jaz
 
Hi Jazzmans, indeed, those are Bob Carver's ALS speakers in my avatar. As I understand he still making them perfect, and I'm sure the sell of his LLC to Emotiva have kept him busy with other things. They do sound amazing, hopefully he'll finish them soon and get them out for the world to enjoy.
 
Wow.
A teeny-weeny amp for the K9s...something new to me - but am quite intrigued with this thread and the post:jawdrop:

I have plans to bi-amp my K9s but am still researching what 'other amp' to use and 'how' to do it without destroying anything.

So, CCheung, would you kindly give some details in 'how' you bi-amped your systems? Was it simply separating the High & the Low using the built-in passive xover or are you using an active external xover?

Since this speaker came out here in the Philippines - some 20+ years ago - I cannot remember somebody driving them with 'low-power' tube amps in any form: stereo, monos, and more so, bi-amped... I've seen them driven with humongous SS (Krells, ML) or McIntoshes with autoformers.

I need to understand more of your strategy/scheme so I will gain more courage to try it myself - but for bi-amp only :scratch2:

Thanks & keep it coming!

Best!

Egay
.e.
 
Trying to revive an old thread here, have a pair of Kappa 9s that I biamped with 350wpc for the woofers and a chinese Tube (60wpc) (Bewitch 6650) for the tops.
Just the other day tested running the speakers with only the tube amp, and they sound really good. Maybe not as well controlled oumph in the lower bass, but blown away by the fact that it can take the loads and deliver. Anyone has more info on how and why this works, and if something will break in the long run?

http://www.china-hifi-audio.com/en/...ia-tube-hi-fi-integrated-amplifier-kt88-p-186
 
HMMM, kappa 9's with tubes....

I have a Macintosh MC240 that sounds great paired with Infinity Preludes PF-R's. I also have a pair of Kappa 9's bi-amped with a high current SS amp. It produces house shaking music.

I'm wondering if I can hook up the Mac to the Kappa 9's without harming the tube amp? Your thoughts, thanks
 
Arnie used Audio Research equipment for quite a while. I believe the RS series and the Kappa's, and the Beta/Gamma's used ARC tubes. But, what would have been available, at 500 watts, in 1976 for use in the Quantum designs? Did ARC or cj have anything that powerful back then? Truly curious! :idea:
 
I have my Kappa 9a bi amped with 2 Carver Tfm-25s at 225 watts a channel. its sounded pretty amazing considering the low end equipment that was hooked to it. Recently one of the amps was starting to go so I disconnected it from the system. I am now running it with just of the amps and I can tell you it's a totally different animal. Although it's sounds good it' doesn't sound as great as it did. Just doesn't have juice to run them. I am going to send it to Hitech audio for a full rebuild. If I could find a small tube amp to run them I may try it.
 
StimpyWan said:
Arnie used Audio Research equipment for quite a while. I believe the RS series and the Kappa's, and the Beta/Gamma's used ARC tubes. But, what would have been available, at 500 watts, in 1976 for use in the Quantum designs? Did ARC or cj have anything that powerful back then? Truly curious! :idea:
Click to expand...
Audio Research d250 is a massive tube amp came out in 1983. 250rms, 8 matched pairs of 6550's hot stuff...there's a German review of the RSIIb pictured with my arc tube amp d115 (circa early '80's) Only wish I knew what it said...only high power arc tube amp in the 1970's would be the d150 at 150rms with 5pair 6550. Maybe I'm missing one.
Jim
 
Tube amps aren't very sensitive.

You can't do much to break them as they have DC coupled outputs via the output transformers.

On top of this tubes are fine with plate impedance swings well over or under specification. They will lose output power if driving a 1ohm load through a 4ohm tap but it would be very unlikely to cause damage.

Only thing I could think of is the 4ohm output winding of the OPT would not be using wire with good ampacity for 1ohm loads but the wire is usually significantly overbuilt for the sake of simplicity.

For example my KLH Model Nines when put in parallel have a DC resistance of 0.1ohms or less. This will kill any SS amps that have poor DC offset but tube amps are immune to their effects.

Kappa 9s may be amp killers, but they sure aren't tube amp killers. Only thing that tends to kill tube amps is running them with no load at all.
 
I would love to use my altec lansing 353a 3 channel tube amp with my kappas, especially if I find one of the kappa center channel speakers that Ive seen for HT use. Its a monster of an integrated tube amp with three very heavy peerless transformers. I just want to confirm with you guys that I wont destroy my kappas, or the amp in experimenting with it. sounds like from the last post here that I shouldnt be worried. Should I run my Denon POA1500 on the bottom end or just use the altec for everything?
 
That is correct. Tubes are coupled generally to an output transformer to match low impedanes. You can suck out a lot of current without getting them too crazy, so yes it does work very well.
Arnie designed all his loudspeakers with vacuum tube eletronics. The reason for this is that is that they are more musical and when it comes to sounding the low impedance dips generally makes you to loose something in that frequency range, getting more arier and spacious. You can do this with the woofers too, but many tube amps are not happy about that as it might stress the tubes.
Tubes coupled to an output transformer damp the cone and mass of the loudspeaker differently by having a direct connect through with the various loads and impedances.
If you use a tube amp on your Kappa 9s you would have to make sure that the output transformer has an ultra wide bandith to make sure they are congrument on all various frequency ranges.

To my knowlege when the Kappa 9s came on the market they were intensivley sounded with Audio Research M-300 mono amps and Classic 150 amps.
I am not sure if Arnie has made expections. He told me once that it is optional to use a high current solid state amp for the woofers, add a second gain controller after your preamp and connect a tube amp on the mid and high tweetwe panel. You can then turn the volume up and adjust the gain of both amplifiers. If you intend to do this, I have heard from many that a McIntosh MC275 works very well on the top end followed by a SPARK 810 that is at least more affordable.

Anthony Cordesman also pointed out that he used a Mark Levinson No.23 full range and applied an Audio Research SP-11 MK2 as a preamplifier with good results.

I am on the other hand having a pair of Threshold SA2 e monos on them, followed by a FET 11 preamp and an Audible Illusions Modulus 3, but I am upgrading soon with an Audio Research SP11.
I have all tubes expect for the power amp as re-tubing is not really inexpensive.
Well, there are dozens of amps out there and many reported also a Perreaux 5150b paired with a pair fo Conrad Johnson Premier Fives sounded execllent on them.

If you do not have the space, I would go ahead re-built the crossover on necessary areas and buy old electronics and rebuilt them.

I am out of space as well, so biamplyfing is not an option.

I have heard the Polsywitches put a mist and metallic edgy sound on the top amp, so my Kappa 9s ran without them and sound sweet and smooth.


I hope that helps.

I would like to hear more about different and various tube amps tested on Kappa 9s.
Can anyone report having tried a variety of different tube amps.
 
I have said it before and I will say it again...kappa's are only amp killers when you are using the wrong amp to drive them. Kappa's are not meant for receivers, put a worthy amp on those speakers and they will never disappoint.....
 
Yup, I have tried those SET amps as well full range on a pair of RS2bs, however my question was refering more to the Kappa 9s.

Anyone out there have tested if McIntosh 58 or McIntosh 60 tube amps did work well. I would have a pair here, but I am not sure how they are with these. The MC-275 works superbly with the Kappa 9s.

Ah and by the way can you make a Youtube video with Alisson Kraus singing. Hey your system looks interessting

Let see folks.
 
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So what you're saying is, you got great sound from only a 20w amp? And this statement flies in the face of all the people on here that say stuff like "these speakers need at least 100w to sound good".

I've driven some notoriously difficult speakers with the little 20w NAD 3020 amps that I restore. NAD used to do it themselves, they used to connect 4 pairs of speakers in parallel without problems.

Lee.
 
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