The only amp that I can think of that can drive them well, I don't think will sound particularly good with the Kappa 9's. That is an old Sumo Andromeda. The Original, Not the II or III. I've driven that very loudly years ago into 3 ohms without issue. It is a bit dry in the mid range and High end. I doubt your emits will like it. |
As I said before the Original Sumo Andromeda is not a great match
Sonically, but you are flat wrong the about
The a Andromeda being able to drive them.
I don't mind any difference of opinion, but
In this case it is fact, I've seen it done. |
I agree, lets keep this a neysayer free zone. I don't know that the comment from Driver was even meant toward me, but Nothing should be discouraging about quoting a fact. I do not own an Andromeda, I used to sell them years ago. The discouragement would be giving incorrect information. We should always try to distinguish fact from opinion.
Again, in my Opinion, not a good choice for these speakers. I really recommend to replace them if good amplification cannot be afforded. |
I copied this from Audio Review. I hope this helps.
He drives them with an Upper end Hafler.
I am still using them in my living room, in a stereo system, fed with a Hafler XL-600 or (alternatively) a Hafler 9500 Series THX Power Amplifier and a Classe CP-50 stereo preamplifier. Sources are: a Sony SCSD-XA777ES SACD/CD player and a VPI 19W Jr turntable with an Alphason HR-100 Tone Arm and an Ortofon Cartridge.
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Thanks Driver, I appreciate it. I understand, I'm getting old, I have been in or around this business for 32 years.
Sometimes I bite a bit too fast in my old age.
As far as the Ampzilla above? As I stated in other area's, I used to sell Sumo. Jim B. has told me that the Andromeda is nearly an arch welder, that it will run nearly to a dead short. I've never tested the Ampzilla, but I hear that it sounds a bit better than the Andromeda, but a bit more tempermental. I'd be surprised if it would run the Kappa's if you ran it hard at all. |
Jtiesel2
One last thought. You might contact a few people known for mods. My thinking is that you take something like an Adcom
565, double its filter capacitance, double the voltage capacity of the bridge rectifiers, possibly have to change the transformer, but you take a solid amp, maybe not an adcom, but a solid amp and make something capaple of handling the current needed to run the 1 ohm load that those babies throw at you. A 500 to 600.00 amp and a few mods an you would be on your way. I bet you will find that it is out there. A few phone calls is cheap. good luck. Tim |
The problem isn't power, its current capability. The Kappa 9's drob at one point down to .8 ohms. Most amplifiers will crap on themselves trying to drive a 1 ohm load. I have heard Kappa 9's sound decent on a 50 watt amp. Dave Cofin of the old Marcof lable made it by hand. It had a power supply that would put most 400 watt amps to shame and doubled its power down to 2 ohms. This amp might not play the party levels that you are talking about, but it could drive Kappa 9's without dying. Of course Power is nice and I would get what I could, but you need current capability. Find something that is at least 2 ohm stable and a ton of power and you will get a decent job until you push the amp into clipping. |
I do not have them, but if anyone can get proper driver specs a impedance compensation circuit could be added. I worked at SpeakerCraft/Marcof Electronics in the early 80's we used this circuitry then, we had great computer programs, but it was still a guessing game. Today, we can model exactly how a speaker will behave. Unfortunately, I doubt the information is available on the infinity's. As far as Phase data, You'd have to have the original crossover design and crossover points along with impedance curves to figure that out. I remember measuring one of these and it dropped to .8 ohms at one point.
The car audio idea is not crazy. The old Orion HCCA or SoundStream Reference amps were capable of 1/2 ohm loads. We actually ran a few speakers in living rooms with surprisingly good results, but these amps require big current. You would need 14+ volts and you wouldn't get away with a cheap power supply. |
As far as the Andromeda comment vs the Aragon. The Andromeda II or III would not drive this either, only original Andromeda, if that is what they compared the Aragon with, I still understand it. The Aragon had better midrange than the Andromeda. The Andromeda was so controlled that an under damped speaker sounded week on bass and it was a lean dry sound which the emit tweeters would sound very fast, but very dry. I wouldn' like the Andromeda on these speakers. If they thought the Aragon might drive them and were a Aragon dealer, I can see them sending you that way. The original Andromeda was stopped being manufactured in either 82 or 83. You were probably looking at one of the non Bongiorno amps. The sounded quite nice, but did not have the current capability.
The original Andromeda ran on 50 volt rails. Jim himself called it an arc welder. |
http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/sumo_andromeda_power_amplifier/
Stereophile review on the original Andromeda. Stereophile says to use a impedance compensation circuit on certain electrostatics, because they can show a dead short to the amp, but the don't have any record of Andromeda's not handling it. Its all in the article above.
Jtiesel2. You can hunt one of these down for around $350.00 or so. I'd park here on Audiogon and on Ebay. One will come around. Give it a try. You can sell it easy enough. If it works out. I can suggest some people to mod it. A few parts in the right places will take away the dryness I was describing. Good luck, Tim |
Jtiesel2,
Do the surrounds actually have holes in them or are they just becoming weak?
I've posted it on Audiogon before. If you have some old latex paint sitting around, open it being careful not to shake it at all. The latex and pigment will be seperated. Several small coats of latex will bring those surrounds back fairly well as long as there are no holes to deal with. Make sure that you use only the clear latex that typically seperates itself from the pigment. I've done this at least 100 times. It works very well. Also,
There are a couple of old threads on audiogon where people had success with Kappa 9's. Here you go:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1184547409&read&keyw&zzinfinity |
Hi Jtiesel2,
I ran SpeakerCraft/Marcof electronics, back in the early 80's. I had my own Stereo Store a few years in the late 80's,early 90's in St. Louis called Sounds Right. I've been a manufacter's rep for high end audio and 12v. I've built and repaired more speakers than I care to mention. I'm glad that it worked out for you. Tim |
Hifihvn,
Nice article, this as good as advice as one could give knowing the difficult load of the Kappa's. These are all nice sounding amps and some are even affordable. |
Those Kenwoods have alot of power, 300 for the L09 and 150 for the L07, but they will not produce the current needed to drive the Kappas.
New amp or new speakers, or listen at low levels.
Back to Jtiesel... I believe the Coda amps will drive these quite well and are nice sounding amps. Call Doug @ Coda, they will shoot you straight. Tim |
