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Help power pair of Infinity Kappa 9's please

Hi all!
I have a pair of Infinity Kappa 9's:
Nominal Impedance: 4 to 6 ohm
Power Rating: 60-340 watts RMS
Efficiency: 102 dB SPL @1 watt, 1 meter
Crossover Frequencies: 80Hz, 800Hz, 4500Hz
Frequency Response: 29Hz-45kHz +/-3dB
Physical Attributes:
1x - SEMIT Supertweeter
1x - EMIT Tweeter
1x - 3" Edgewound Voice Coil Polydome Midrange Driver
1x - 5" Polypropylene/graphite Diaphram Polygraph
2x - 12" Cast Frame , L/C Tuned Woofers
Dimensions: 59.5"H x 21.5"W" x 8"D

My room is 12'x12', I have $2500 budget and would like to play music off my computer. I need amp(s), a preamp, and a DAC i guess (is the DAC necessary at my low of a budget range?). I know my budget is low so I will be shopping for very used/old equipment. If anyone has any experience, suggestions, or words of wisdom, they would be very much so appreciated.
Thanks,
JT
jtiesel2
rrog
1,958 posts
 
Infinity Kappa 9 is not 102db. Not even close. The Technical Manual has a misprint.
theo's avatar
theo
2,665 posts
 
I had Kappa Sevens and as mentioned they are amp killers. The only amp that really seemed to power them and bring them to the best performance in my ownership period was a Mcintosh MC352. I would creit the autoformers as acting as a buffer to absorb the changing impedance without causing damage to either. For the 9's I would use at least a MC402 or a MC602 if you can swing it. All my humble opinion of course.
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,603 posts
 
.
Your budget is waayy too low to power the Kappa 9. They need more power than you are willing to spend. The kappas will play extremely loud, you just need to bi-amp them. I have four pair of Kappa 9. I bi-amp them with Carver Silver 9t monoblocs and they sing their hearts out. If you can't afford to bi-amp them, there's no point in owning them. Kappa 8.1 or Kappa 7.1 will be a better fit and they will sound really good in a room your size and won't be nearly as difficult to power as the Kappa 9. On resale, you won't get the $2k you mentioned, it will be more like $1200.
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ngjockey
1,042 posts
 
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1288188965&/Aragon-4004-MKll-solid-state-s

Old but Palladiums not listed right now. No relation. What the manual doesn't mention is the below 1 ohm minimum impedance @ 90 Hz and severe phase angles. The early Levinsons were some of the amps Kappa9's could melt.
jtiesel2 OP
11 posts
 
Thanks for the input guys, I will look for some Mcintosh's and Carvers as well. What do y'all think about running the Kappa 9's with a pair of Krell MDA 300 Monoblocs?
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