Have Outlaw 950/770, Want Kappa 8.1 or 9.1's


1st: I'm a audio newb, minus one week of pouring through the net. (i.e., that means I'm only JUST learning that a high end Sony receiver is not the most important component in a system.)

2nd: It's been a lifelong dream to own a set of Infinity Kappa 8.1's or 9.1's since I first saw them at Magnolia HiFi in 1996. A salesperson talked me into some crappy "Celestion" speakers instead, and I've always been disappointed in myself for it. That's why I really, really want the Kapp's in my system, at least for my left/right fronts.

Now, after a week+ of research, a low budget, and high hopes, I've ordered the Outlaw Audio 950 pre/pro and the Outlaw 770 200w X 7 amp. What I have NOT yet determined from my late night forays into the internet is whether or not I can drive my coveted Kappas. Here are the specs for the 770 amp:

http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/770_specs.html

The reason I am worried is that I have not yet grasped the whole "ohm" thing. I see that the 770 will output either 4 or 8 ohms, but I saw somewhere else that the Kappa 8.1's accept only 6 ohms? $1,000.00+ is a LOT of money for me to throw away if I blow up my Kappas....

I thank you very much for your help, it is truly needed.

Greg
gregcagle

Showing 2 responses by edesilva

Don't worry at all.

Very few speakers have a flat impedance. While there are others that can speak to this probably better, the impedance seen by the amp changes depending upon how far the drivers are extended. I used to have Martin Logans, which were nominally rated at 4 ohms, but dipped to 1 ohm at times.

As a rule of thumb (anyone wanna shoot me down here) a good solid state amp should double the output power as you have the output impedance--an amp that does 100W into 8 ohms should be capable of 200W into 4 ohms, 400W into 2 ohms... The same is not true for tube based amps for some reason.

Oh yeah, in the practical realm, I've got a pair of Kappa 8s or 9s (I forget which they are) in my pool room and have, over the years, driven them with everything from a Yamaha integrated, an Adcom, to an ARC D240... They have not yet blown up. Speaking of which, if you are in the DC area, make me an offer. They are a little large for my room... ; )
Jesus Emil, how loud did you crank those things up? I lived in the top floor of a heavy duty concrete apartment building (built in the 50s when I guess they were worried about atomic bombs or something) and still got complaints--apparently the sound still went through two sets of steel doors between my neighbors and I. Still never had any problems tho'...