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Kappa 9. Parasound HCA-3500 WILL NOT power them

I purchased a pair of Infinity Kappa 9's a few weeks ago. I had the Infinity RS3A's and decided to sell them and upgrade to the Kappa's. I first hooked them to one of my Denon POA-2400 200wpc amps. Not enough power. So posted this problem on here and after some research I decided on the Parasound HCA-3500 350wpc dual mono amp. So I bought one from a real nice guy here on audiogon. I hooked it up last night and this thing won't power them! The amp gets real hot fast. It clips when turned up and the speakers sound like crap. We hooked up a pair of Infinity SM-152's to a Denon POA-1500 150wpc amp next to all this and it sounds better! Also, I think I blew one of the soft poly mid-ranges. The yellowish white rubber on the mids turned clear around the outter edges after listening to moderatly loud music. I'm really frusterated. Three thousand dollars later my stereo sounds way worse and I can't turn it up as loud as I used to. Does anyone have any advise? Could there be a short in the speakers? Why did my midrange blow? What amp should I buy now?
400bill

Showing 2 responses by stefanovitch

stefanovitch
64 posts
 
From what you described it sounds more like the loudspeaker. Call Bill at Millersoud. He repairs your speakers to the original specs. The crossover should be checked too.

If you experience a knacking sound in the midrange and tweeter it can also be the polyswicthes. Those protection circuits need to be removed. They don't work well within the age.

On the other hand a Parasound HCA 3500 can drive a Kappa 9 very good. I have had them to my Kappa 9's and it really sounds like your crossover is defective.
stefanovitch
64 posts
 
Well sometimes i have to read twice. Why selling such good speakers. They are pretty close to the Genesis 5 in terms of preformance, sometiemes even better.
I

I would suggest you contact Bill at Millersound and let your speakers built up like new. You can't believe how the Kappa's can sound when you power them right.

Look for an Audio Research SP-10 or SP-11 as preamp and power the whole speaker with the Parasound HCA3500 and tell me one loudspeaker that sounds better in the 20,000$ range.

I assume you might have it hard then to find anything that can cope on that level
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