Infinity Kappa 9 S EMIT not functioning or Hearing Loss?


First post after lurking for a couple years, so please be gentle.

I recently acquired a set of Kappa 9s. I know, I know, "amp killers," "poor design," etc. I'm having fun with them for now, so I'm willfully overlooking that part. Currently bi-amped with Audio Research Dual 75 running the top end. A more "budget" 2 channel solid state amp I pillaged from my home theater setup is temporarily running the bottom end with the bass extension of the 9s switched to off.

Question. Is it possible the frequency range of the S EMIT up top is out of my hearing range? I play test tones and the top of my range is somewhere between the 14kHz and 15kHz, but I don't think it's coming from them, rather the EMIT below. This is the case with the S EMIT on BOTH speakers. 

I used my 8 year old as a test subject and he said he can definitely hear sound emanating from the top S EMIT, starting around 19kHz. Being the skeptic I am, can I trust that he's hearing from the S EMIT and not the EMIT below?

I thought the S EMITs were crossed over around 10kHz, so I should hear something from them. I'm really far from a technical wizard or electrical expert. Physically digging into and testing crossovers and whatnot is a bit over my head.

There's another forum that has seems to have a more Infinity focused following, but I can't seem to create an account or search the site for whatever reason, so I'm turning to the experts here.

Richard

P.S. I've learned SO MUCH from you all, reading most of the top discussions delivered to my inbox every night for the last 2+ years.  

 

 

richardt9000

fyi- It’s a cheap (almost) free process to measure a speaker’s frequency response to see if something is "broken". RTA apps are free (or cheap) for phone/tablet and you can burn test tones (including pink noise) onto a CD Rom (useful) only if you have a CD player).

Play pink noise from your player and place the microphone about 3’ away from each speaker. In the case of tweeters, make sure the mic is placed on axis with the tweeter in that the sounds are pretty directional. This will tell you right away if a chunk of the signal is missing, or attenuated. If you don't have a CD player, and have a spare phone/tablet you can use it as a source. Just use a direct connection to the inputs.

There is also a "no desoldering needed" method to see if you have a bad driver vs crossover issues.

Download a frequency measurement app like Spectroid onto your phone and check the suspect speaker using a classical music selection that has a lot of high frequency. Maybe Rhespighi’s first movement of "The Pines." Test the speakers against each other by switching the balance between them with the signal set to mono.

OR

Get a copy of the Stereophile Text Disc CD and run the high frequency track switching between the channels.

That should tell you whether that EMIT is functioning or not.

Wow, so much activity since I last visited.

To hit a few quick points first. I’m 43 and only real possible environmental damage I can think of is that I was a teen in the late 90s with a couple 12" subs in my car, which I rocked until the late ’00s. I definitely didn’t go as a hard as others I know who actually did damage their hearing - I actually cared about sound quality over quantity. I’m also a corporate accountant, so nothing work related. Only been to a few concerts/shows that left my ears ringing for a few hours after - one of them was definitely worth it. ;-)

To at @bpoletti post, I actually had already done exactly what you are referring to using the Spectroid app, zoomed in to ~10kHz to 35kHz, playing the High Frequency Response Test by myNoise via Tidal on each speaker. I should figure out how to post those screen shots. That’s how I know for sure each speaker is reproducing frequencies approaching 22kHz. I just can’t hear anything above 14 to 15kHz. I guess my question related to that would be, are the regular EMITs able to produce those frequencies, or does it more or less have to be coming from the S-EMIT if it’s that high?

Regarding removal to inspect the board/crossover/pots (I’m not a technical guy, forgive me if that’s the wrong terminology), how do I do that? I took the rear bezel off, but it appears sealed in there somehow. I took off the lower front woofer and moved the fill away to see the board. I didn’t have the lluevos to push or pull it out.

I’ve seen Bob Douglas referenced on other threads and on other sites, so I may do that at some point, just to see what his thoughts are.

This is all very welcomed discussion - thank you!