Infinity Kappa 9 S EMIT not functioning or Hearing Loss?


First post after lurking for a couple years, so please be gentle.

I recently acquired a set of Kappa 9s. I know, I know, "amp killers," "poor design," etc. I'm having fun with them for now, so I'm willfully overlooking that part. Currently bi-amped with Audio Research Dual 75 running the top end. A more "budget" 2 channel solid state amp I pillaged from my home theater setup is temporarily running the bottom end with the bass extension of the 9s switched to off.

Question. Is it possible the frequency range of the S EMIT up top is out of my hearing range? I play test tones and the top of my range is somewhere between the 14kHz and 15kHz, but I don't think it's coming from them, rather the EMIT below. This is the case with the S EMIT on BOTH speakers. 

I used my 8 year old as a test subject and he said he can definitely hear sound emanating from the top S EMIT, starting around 19kHz. Being the skeptic I am, can I trust that he's hearing from the S EMIT and not the EMIT below?

I thought the S EMITs were crossed over around 10kHz, so I should hear something from them. I'm really far from a technical wizard or electrical expert. Physically digging into and testing crossovers and whatnot is a bit over my head.

There's another forum that has seems to have a more Infinity focused following, but I can't seem to create an account or search the site for whatever reason, so I'm turning to the experts here.

Richard

P.S. I've learned SO MUCH from you all, reading most of the top discussions delivered to my inbox every night for the last 2+ years.  

 

 

richardt9000

Showing 5 responses by richardt9000

@roxy54 i didn't see your post until now. Thank you for the insight, that's actually very comforting! They sound great, so I was quite curious about what I could possibly be missing.

Thanks for the tip @russ69. Don't know why I didn't think of that simple approach. I think I can sort of hear something, definitely not pronounced out of one. Nothing out of the other. I ran some test tones on each speaker individually and used a frequency measuring app on my phone. The speakers both play between 10kHz and 21kHz at more or less identical levels.

As an aside, it's weird to watch an instrument measure something you cannot hear. Nevertheless, I can see it's producing the frequencies (whether it's emanating from the S EMIT or not), so I'm just going to roll with it and enjoy the show!

I feel like I'm blowing through my music library toying with these, need to find some new tunes to enjoy!

Thanks again.

Wow, so much activity since I last visited.

To hit a few quick points first. I’m 43 and only real possible environmental damage I can think of is that I was a teen in the late 90s with a couple 12" subs in my car, which I rocked until the late ’00s. I definitely didn’t go as a hard as others I know who actually did damage their hearing - I actually cared about sound quality over quantity. I’m also a corporate accountant, so nothing work related. Only been to a few concerts/shows that left my ears ringing for a few hours after - one of them was definitely worth it. ;-)

To at @bpoletti post, I actually had already done exactly what you are referring to using the Spectroid app, zoomed in to ~10kHz to 35kHz, playing the High Frequency Response Test by myNoise via Tidal on each speaker. I should figure out how to post those screen shots. That’s how I know for sure each speaker is reproducing frequencies approaching 22kHz. I just can’t hear anything above 14 to 15kHz. I guess my question related to that would be, are the regular EMITs able to produce those frequencies, or does it more or less have to be coming from the S-EMIT if it’s that high?

Regarding removal to inspect the board/crossover/pots (I’m not a technical guy, forgive me if that’s the wrong terminology), how do I do that? I took the rear bezel off, but it appears sealed in there somehow. I took off the lower front woofer and moved the fill away to see the board. I didn’t have the lluevos to push or pull it out.

I’ve seen Bob Douglas referenced on other threads and on other sites, so I may do that at some point, just to see what his thoughts are.

This is all very welcomed discussion - thank you!

 

 

My wife had been out of town and just confirmed something is not right. Slight buzz/rattle out of one when bass hits (not playing loud) and muted jumble out of the other - certainly nothing resembling "sparkle" @ervikingo described. Strangely, I can now hear it, but I was listening to actual music this time, not test tones.

Not fun, but I guess it's part of the vintage game. I stopped modding cars not long ago because I was tired of working on them when stuff inevitably met their limit. At least that I could do that myself. Time to start learning/tinkering with audio.

That is some sage advice, @ervikingo, Thank you! Hopefully I can get back to playing with my toys before next weekend.