amplifiers for Kappa 9's

The impedance of those speakers gets very low which would probably be a problem with most tube amps. I know a Parasound HCA 3500 will drive those too but many amps won't due to the very low impedance. Do a search here and you'll find more info.

I was checking out the crossovers in these speakers a couple of weeks ago at a friend's home. WOW these things have a lot of real estate inside of them! Just from the looks you need a mammoth amplifier to get the best out of them. I bet a Carver ZR1600 would spank them like a red headed step child.:-)

Good luck with finding a tube amplifier for those monsters!

Those speakers would suck a Carver Pro ZR1600 dry. You need BIG power with those if you really want to raise the roof and keep things relatively clean. Sean
>

Hey Sean how about two Carvers run as monolocks? You think it would suck them dry? I have no doubt they need some serious current. With all those parts, it's a wonder any signal ever makes it to the drivers.:-)

Or how about a Carver ZRx3200 1600 wpc into 2 ohms. Or two ZRx3200 monoblocked with 3200 wpc into 4 ohms! This model may do the trick.LOL

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.