amplifiers for Kappa 9's


I have seen some feedback in here about the use of Bryston Amps for driving Infinity Kappa 9's, and agree that these are not the best amps to be using for these speakers. This is how my current system is set up, using 2 4B-NRB's, 10B Crossover and 12B Preamp... and MIT Cables throughout. I do find my Kappa 9's are very bright, but do not lag in the bottom end with the use of my Bryston amps. I am thinking about going to a tube amp for the top end, such as an Audio Research VS-110. I feel this will compliment my system quite nicely, however, any input or feedback about my idea would be appreciated.
kjak67

Showing 2 responses by bemopti123

Unless you get an amp that can provide massive amperage, you will fry your Kappas. The best seem to be old Aragons, I think the 4004 or was it the 8008BB, my memory fails....they were designed by Krell. They continue doubling down to less than 1 ohm...very few amps can do this.

I am a little apprehensive of the Parasound 3500...some owners reported problems with humming transformers.

No digital amp, especially those with questionable power supplies will ever, NEVER, drive these beasts. It was commented to me by Rick Schutz from EVS, that digital amps have terrible power supply sections, they are overrated in the specs.

Go with the heaviest hitting SS, preferably Class A or similar that is heavy, especially to power the bottom.

The top, I would also recommend decent power.

Finally, make sure you can committ to spend some money in dedicated powerlines for the amps to run the Kappas. The harshness that you hear has a lot to do with current starved amps.

There are some mods you can do on those Amp Killers, cabling seem to be common to be exchanged and some people also talk about better stands than those pathetic slabs of MDF or something.

Decent, massive power and enough current is the key.

BTW, I have a pair of parked Kappa 9s that have been in my mother's garage for the past 16 years...mint, boxed sets.

The Kappas are amazing for what they do, and something similar to them today would go for $$$$$ more. Once you get them set up properly, very few speakers out there can do what they can. The last batch of speakers designed by Nuddel? who went on to found Genesis...see what the Genesis cost, ouch.
Gmood, I do not dispute your info on the Carvers, but then, why isn't there a Kappa 9 owner out there that is driving these ampeaters with the latest holy grail in audio amplification? I trust that these owners have been experimenting with older SS behemots as most Kappa 9 owners will try. I personally do not believe that I would ever try to let them run fullrange with an amp like the Carver Pro.

One word on caution: play with underbuilt amplifiers and the Kappa 9 and you are risking massive failure of either the amp or the Kappas, I would not risk the Kappas with inadequate amplification.

Remember another word: dedicated power supplies!

The last time I remember running the Kappas, it really juiced up the electricity of my outlets....could even see the lights pulsating with the volume going up and down.

hehehehe.