Need pre-amp help for Kappa 9 & Adcom GFA-555mkii

Josh, maybe I am simply repeating what some have already mentioned, but the brightness that comes from the Kappas has EVERYTHING to do with amplification issues rather than the preamp. What I have read from some owners, about the harshness issue is that it is often the product of the amp being underpowered from current and wattage standpoint...I have to respectfully disagree with someone who stated that the Adcom produces enough power or about a Carver amplifier with 200 watts.... I own a pair of Kappa 9s and I have to say that you have to avoid Carvers like the plague, had two Mt 4.0 as monos, running close to 600+ watts per channel and they are realistic watts...Be very carefully at shopping for the best # of watts for $$$.

From the practical standpoint, it is expensive to bi amp these beasts with tube amps on top and SS in the bottom

But

Remember that the Infinity Kappa line, until around 1993-4 was designed by Andy Nudel, who went on to found Genesis Loudspeaker technologies (cost $$$$$.) You have a keeper that will beat the pants down ANY PARADIGM, anytime.

Recommendations:

Buy a very heavy current amplifier that can hold on to the Kappas as they attempt to give you slamming bass at 30 hz...Their impedance dips somewhere between 1 and 2 ohms. There are very few amplifiers that are designed to work at that impedance....Not the Adcom or any low amplifier as stated above.

Check out

ARAGON 8008B
ARAGON 400...forgot the designation
SUNFIRE SIGNATURE which gives out 600 watts per channel with up to 2000 watts on demand for short bursts(you can biamp with these, because it has two pairs of speaker outputs)
MACINTOSH SS (heavy, 100 LBS beasts)...can be old, but these output massive amperage to keep the Kappas happy.
PARASOUND Monos.

For the time being, I would be careful overdriving the Kappas with the Adcom. the Emit tweeters WILL be damaged if not given enough juice.

Do not be disincouraged...You have a great pair of speakers, but they need excellent amplification. You can hunt for a preamp later.

An excellent preamp for used prices is the Sumo Athena I or II that can be had for about $150-300.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Sunfire Signature a Bob Carver design? I used the the Rsb 3 speakers with The Reciever by Carver (200 a side) and it sounded very nice. No harshness in the upper end. But you are right Bemopti maybe more than 200 hundred a side is needed because The Reciever never gave me the slam in the bottom end that I wanted. I remember hearing the Kappa 9 at a CES stereo show in Santa Monica and they were using Denon amps. Very clean sound but no image of any kind because they had the speakers at least and I'm not kidding you 25 feet apart. Who picks these people who set up their equipment. I would hazard a guess that they call their boss Uncle Ralph?

There are few amps that can deal with the Kappa 9's vicious load. I believe it dips to under 2 ohms. I'm actually impressed the Adcom keeps running as that says alot for the Adcom. Two amps I know that will drive that speaker well, my choice would be an Innersound ESL, it's going to drive anything and sound relaxed doing so, it will drive 1/2 ohm!
Another amp is the Parasound HCA 3500. Do a search here on Audiogon as this has been brought up before. It seems like one guy was having most amps he tried shut down. That speaker is one of the most difficult loads I'm aware of.

Bemopti123, you had the wrong Carver Amps. The bridged as monos Mt 4.0 amps don't like loads below 8 ohms, which is why they didn't sound good for you. The Silver 9t is head and shoulders above the Mt 4.0. The Silver 9t monoblocs bring my Kappas under tight control with no brightness.

I forgot to mention that I biamped the Kappa 9's using four Carver Silver 9t monoblocs. One pair of them did fine, but two pair of them made them sing. I tried vertical biamping them with a pair of Sunfire Signature amps, and they just didn't have the muscle that the four monoblocs provided. The Sunfires were good, but the Carver Monoblocs were markedly better. The Sunfires just didn't hve the slam on the bottom like the Carver's did. I still own the Sunfire Amps to power my Infinity Rennaisance 90's, they do an excellent job there. I hear that Sunfire does a modification on the Sunfire Signature for owners of low impedance, amp killing Apogee speakers for about three or four hundred bucks.

I am taking delivery next week on a pair of Pass Labs X-600 monoblocs to see how they fare with the Kappas.

Damn, that sounds like an overkill, 4 mono Silver 9Ts to control the Kappa 9s. But, I guess if that is what it truly takes, it must sound freaking incredible with those 4 12" woofer hitting you in the chest.

I have a question for you, Mitch, how do the speaker components hold through time and use? Did you have them since the late 1980s or bought them used later? Did the surrounds or any components go bad? I have mines boxed, parked in my mother's garage since the early 1990s and I wonder whether surrounds or what not go bad, even without use.

The Pass Monos will most likely sound amazing...but I wonder whether they will surpass the Silvers.

Yes, I knew that I had the wrong Carver amps, the 4.0s...because they DID indeed overrate their power specs...it was a cheap amp after all, about $799 each, new, but the Silvers, they were different amplifiers all on their own...I cannot remember how much they went for in the late 1980s.

Most Carver corp amps were rubbish in my point of view, except with their reference models. Their advertisement, through seemed very credible. Another amp that makes me think will do a good job running these beasts might be some Sim Audio amplifiers, like the W-5 or W-10 monos. Once again, costly designs.