Infinity Kappa 9's sound terrible...HELP

The Kappa 8's sound great no matter what amp I use. The Kappa 9's sound a little muffled and offer no imaging, presence or clarity. I first heard the 9's driven by Adcom equipment in 1987 and that is what sold me on the combination, plus the overall economics. I do understand you get what you pay for as well!

I will contact Bill @ Millersound and drop them off if needed. I assume, until I speak with Bill that he has amps that will drive the 9's even for testing purposes.
If it is an amp issue, that is an easy fix. If it's a speaker issue, I can't offer them for sale in this state and I won't part them out. I maybe stuborn, but it's my nature to find out and know what the problem is good or bad.

In the mean time, I will check the other sites some of you mentioned and see if there's any feed back or experience with the combination of Adcom and Infinity, or more particulars about driving the 9's. Really appreciate everyones help and will keep ya posted.

OK...I got this stright from Bills mouth at Miller Sound!

FIRST...Bill wanted to thank all his friends at Audiogon, for their support and recognition, especially Vinh Vu.

SECOND...Bill said the Adcom GFA-565 was more than sufficient to drive the Kappa 9's...provided they is ample line current and the ability to maintain that current.

THIRD...Bill said the Kappa 8's were...in general much superior speakers than the 9's, without all the fuss!

FOURTH...I should send Bill a digital photo of the woofers. If the foam was replaced and the proper foam was not used, that would considerably inhibit the performance of the 2 - 12" woofers in each cabinet.

FIFTH...Hold some wire leads to the binding posts, + to + and - to -, and lightly contact the + after the - is secure. The 2 woofers should move in the same direction at the same time. If not, they were wired wrong.

SIXTH...absolutely, unequivically, the woofers should be balanced!!! Due to the very narrow profile of the cabinet and it's unforgiving design, if the woofers are not balanced, the before and after sound will be noticeably different. The woofers should take a week or two after receiving to balance.

Looks like I have my homework to do now. Really appreciate everyones thoughts and comments and will post again as things develope!

The Kappa 8's are very good, but they are not in the same league with the Kappa 9....no contest. The Kappa 8's are much easier to drive. The bass, highs, midrange and dynamics of the Kappa 9 completely overwhelm the Kappa 8 if the rest of your system is up to it.

To get the best out of the Kappa 9's, you need to biamp them and have amps that are stable down to one ohm. I currently own the the Kappas 7,8 and 9, the Infinity Rennaisance 90 and the Infinity IRS Betas. I own four sets of of the Kappa 9 and will never sell them.

If you don't feed them lots of kickass power, they simply won't respond. Either something was already wrong with the speakers when you bought them or your amp doesn't have the testicular fortitude to get the job done.

I've biamped the Kappa 9 with two pair of Carver Silver 9t monoblocs (900 wpc @ 4 ohms) and they sounded great. I used a pair of Sunfire Signature amps (1200 wpc @4 ohms) to biamp them and they sounded great....and I've used two pair of Pass Labs X-600 monoblocs to power them and they sounded excellent. I used Audio Research LS-10, Reference 1, Ref 2 mk2 and Reference 3 preamps in front of them and the Kappa 9's sang like beautifully.

There is nothing wrong with the Kappa 9

Below are some links to Audiogon testimonials about how good the Kappa 9 sound to very satisfied owners.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1171199763&read&keyw&zzkappa=9

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1140795879&read&keyw&zzkappa=9

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1103047552&read&keyw&zzkappa=9

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1060960471&read&keyw&zzkappa=9

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1142533363&read&keyw&zzkappa=9

Also.......you need a big room for Kappa 9. For small to medium rooms they are overkill.

Hello

Mitch4t is correct, I had a set of Kappa 8's and then 9's years ago. I ran the 8's with Bryston 3b's bi-amped and the sounded great. Then I upgraded to the Kappa 9's with thies amp's and the speakers did not preform at all, they sounded withheld and a harsh top end. I did not know what was wrong with them, I heard and read that they need lots of power so I bought a pair of Bryston 4bST's and the speakers came to life, I had a large living room at the time so I also had to play with the positioning as well. they where definitely a superior speaker over the Kappa 8's. Then I bought a pair of Infinity Reference RS1b's and found out the same way that I had to upgrade the power again.
Before I sold my Kappa 9's I tried my Conrad Johnson Preimer 5's(200/ch-85lbs each)mono block tube amp's on the top end and my Perreaux 5150b (500/ch@8ohms-1000@4ohms-140lbs) on the bottom end, their was a big difference again in the sound from the Bryston 4bST's. The bass was aw-some out of them, the mid was smooth and the top was clear and sweet. So of course i demoed the 9's with the big amps to sell them.

I have found with these big infinity speakers, that you have to have a big rooms, position them away from the corners and form the back walls. You have to spend money on high power big current amp's, other wise you will not get the benefit's out of them.

Good luck and have fun with them,
Darin
Darin