Speakers after Infinity Kappa 9

Stepped up, waaaay up, from Kappa8's to Genesis 350's. Nepotism.

I had Kappa 7's for many years and went to Revel Performa F32's. I was looking for a different sound though. The Kappas did a lot of thing well and my first priority was the retain the detail of the Emit Tweeters, but I was always a little disapointed in the mids and the Revels seemed to bring that out in a more natural presentation. I had also considered JM Labs Electras at that time too. You don't mention a budget but the Paradigm Signatures are doing some pretty awesome things for their price range. Also the Studio Series V4 are sounding unbeleivable for their price range.

My budget is around 8K. I have demoed PSB synchrony one, PSB imagine, B&W 803D), Totem (Hawk, Arrow), Vandersteen 2CE, Theil, and Best Buys' Martin Logan, Vienna Acoustic, Paradigm. Above speakers are really good but the sounds are not special like Infinity Kappa9. Also, Genesis speakers are too large. I am looking for something around 44-45 inches high with Infinity's sounds.

i had the kappa 9's, 8's, irs sigmas,ren 90's ren 80's, overture 3's, mts preludes, can you tell i am an infinity guy, out of them all i liked the ren 90 and the kappa 9 the best, i read on a couple of infinity forums that if you where to replace the kappa 9 with a new speaker you would have to spend at least $10,000 in todays market thats how good the kappa 9's where, i had the infinity mts prelude a $10,000 speaker side by side with the ren 90's and a and b'd them for weeks, all i can say is if you listen to music get the ren 90 if you want a speaker for home theater get the prelude, the ren 90's where $3600.00 when they came out, imho they sounded so much better than the mts preludes a $10,000 speaker that it was embarrassing and they rated the prelude class A and best sounding speaker in 2000 for under $10,000, would be nice if somehow you could compare those speakers that you auditioned side by side with the 9's as those old infinitys where really nice, to bad infinity don't make em like they used too.

Glad to see this post. I own the Rennasaince 90's pushed by a Krell FPB300cx. Every once in a while I get the itch to buy new(er) speakers. I would love to hear some Eggleston Andra II's. But alas, no dealer in Calif. from what the mfg. emailed me last year. The Andra'a size seem like a good match for replacements, and they are awesome looking in the photos. BUT were talking 20-plus big ones to buy the andras. It would have to be something really special to make me swap out the 90's. Good luck with your quest.
-John

I'll have to agree with the other 2 members that for me, the Infinity R90's were the biggest and best upgrade I ever made to my system. I also tried the Mirage M1's (not Si's) but they demand space and power so, not practical for many potential owners.
Regarding an alternate speaker with similar sound, I'd have to say that a pair of new Paradigm Signature S6 (v2) speakers I'm listening to - are pretty close. The new pure-beryllium dome tweeter is open and spacious, with no hint of harshness - which is the sound I attribute to the R90's EMIT.

Seems like the VMPS R30's should be high on the list. Can be supplemented with a sub or two.

I had Kappa 9 (original version) Kappa 8.1 and the Polk SDA-SRS all at the same time. The Kappa 9 was the best with airy high and nice clear mid but no bass at all (I used 4 Denon POA-6600 mono blocks for them). The Polks got tons of bass but it was so muddy and mid and highs were no where near as good as the 9s. These were bought just to scratch the itch that I have ever since I heard them when I was a college student. They are all gone now replaced by a pair of Von Schweikert VR4 GEN III HSE and boy am I a happy camper. The bass is just amazing and the mid and high are just superb. It's close to the 9 except that it's much, much, much better. You should give them an audition, you're going to like it.

.
Jason, what amp and preamp are you using for the Kappa 9? That might be where your problem lies. The Kappa 9 demands prodigious amount of bi-amped power to sound their best. Min888 said that the Kappa 9 had no bass...the problem in his case was that the amps that he used didn't have the testicular fortitude to drive the 1 ohm load that the Kappa 9 presented to his amps. The Kappa 9 are keepers if you can afford the amplification to drive them properly.
.

mitch4t is right, put a class D for the bass and some tube for the high freq.

Behringer EP4000 2 x 2,000 Watts into 2 Ohms on the bass and Carver Sunfire Signature 2 x 4,000 watts into 1 ohm on the highs should be enough power yes?