Red Dragon's new S500 Class D Amp

Since my last post on this I acquired a pair of Infinity Kappa 9's. The Kappa 9's require lots of current from amps capable of delivering high current into very low impedance as it has an impedance curve that drops below 1 ohms resistance at two frequencies and stays near or below 3 ohms much of the curve.

My Kappa 8's also are low impedance speakers but not as hard to drive as the K9's. My Adcom does an ok job with the K8's but the K9's are too much speaker for it alone. Both speakers are reported to do much better bi-amped and this is my eventual target configuration for both.

At some point I will purchase a high current class A amp for the K9’s to use bi-amped on the high end. The S500 may fit into this plan as I could use it on the low end bi-amped on either the k8 or k9, which ever sounds best. Or the Adcom’s on the low end and s500 up top. I plan on keeping both K8's and K9's long term.

The S500 is rated at 250w/8ohms, 500w/4ohms, 750w/2.7ohms and is reported as "stable" at 2ohms. Those are specs you normally don't see unless you are looking at a Class A amp. But specs are one thing and real life sound is another.

My AdCom is rated at 250w/8ohms, 350w/4ohms with no measurements reported below 4ohms.

I know you are probably thinking “why doesn’t this guy just order an S500 and try it for the 45 day trail” and that is what I will likely do but I don’t take returning amps lightly and wanted to hear some feedback if my direction / plans seem sound?

1extreme

"I know you are probably thinking “why doesn’t this guy just order an S500 and try it for the 45 day trail” and that is what I will likely do but I don’t take returning amps lightly and wanted to hear some feedback if my direction / plans seem sound?"

I commend you on doing your homework first and respecting the manufacturer's needs as well as your own. Good luck.

You are right about the Kappa nines and eights needing a lot of power. I tend to think of power as high current power, I am not sure if the new amp modules fill that general requirement. We can talk about it forever and never know. The only way you can be sure at this point is to try the amps out. It is, for better or worse, the new business paradigm, now that we have killed off our brick and mortar establishments.

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The Kappa 9 need to be bi-amped to get the best out of them. They also deserve a great preamp. Bi-amp them with two pairs of monoblocks and get yourself a great preamp, you will really have something special.
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Mechans - "I tend to think of power as high current power, I am not sure if the new amp modules fill that general requirement." I agree with your power is high current premise and have to keep repeating to myself that "it's not the watts it's the current". Still old ways of thinking are hard to break and I still am wowed when I see phenomenal high watt ratings on Class D amps like the D-Sonic M3-1500M. And I am also not sure if the new Class D modules provide sustained high current.

Honestly I am not really sure what amp spec one can look at to determine if it is a higher current amp. I think if an amp "doubles down" at each watt/ohm rating form 8 to 4 to 2 that is a good sign but does that also hold true for Class D amps. I don't know.