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AR9 vs Infinity Kappa 9


DavidR

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With the recent threads on speaker comparisons I thought I'd ask about the mighty AR9 and the 'amp killer' Kappa 9.

Has anyone heard the two?

Attached is an impedance curve for the Kappa 9. It dips below 1 ohm in the LF and MR region.

Kappa9Impedance.jpg

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Yup - very low impedance. I would think very few amps of the day would survive driving these.

The Kappa 9 was built around the time of the AR9. I was wondering if it was Infinity's answer to Acoustic Research AR9.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the Infinity RS 9 Kappa came around 1987-88, about ten years later than the AR9; in any event, it was somewhat typical of Arnie Nudell's efforts at speaker design.  These speakers (about $3k for the pair, I think) were bright and somewhat "in your face," but some Infinity designs were good if a bit over the top, such as the IRS Beta.  I don't think Infinity (back in those days at least) used much in the way of objective-measurement techniques when designing loudspeakers, as it was mostly "seat-of-the-pants" listening, tweaking and adjusting to suit tastes, which sometimes works pretty well (Large Advent).  I heard the RS 9s when they were introduced, and to me the sound was brassy and punchy.  An AR9, in comparison, would sound very polite.

Infinity wasn't aiming at the AR9.  AR's goals at the time were to build a loudspeaker of uncompromising quality, smoothness and low distortion, representing a flagship loudspeaker design for Teledyne Acoustic Research.  Infinity's goals in the marketplace were more towards the very high-end, somewhat non-technical golden-eared audiophiles of the day.  For example, the RS 9 sported two of Infinity's "Emit" tweeters, a bipolar planar design, and there was wide-spread use of polypropylene plastic for woofer cones and some midrange-cone drivers, etc.  Mostly for bragging rights, as there were no technical breakthroughs going on with those drivers.  Total acoustic accuracy was not particularly the goal, as most buyers were more interested in the "tweak" element of these speakers.  High-end Infinity speakers did have handsome cabinets if the grills were in place.  These speakers were designed to be pulled out into the room and toed-in towards the listener, located just a few feet back into the room.  The off-axis performance wasn't outstanding -- but it wasn't the goal -- the idea was to attain good "imaging" and "sound-stage" and so forth.

To hear an impressive Infinity loudspeaker, the best was probably the IRS Beta.  This was an over-the-top, all-in design in the cost-is-not-a-factor category.  It also required a forklift to move into and out of a room.  If nothing else, it was one a very handsome loudspeaker system. 

--Tom Tyson

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3 hours ago, DavidR said:

Very nice write up Tom. I was hoping to hear from you.

Thanks, David.  I should add that many of Infinity's high-end models were specifically designed to be bi- or tri-amped, and this diminished the low-impedance problem somewhat.  Steve F might also have some insight into the Infinity speakers.  I've seen some references on the internet to problems encountered by users of the RS 9, but some of that might be related to amplifiers not compatible with the speaker.  I'm also not sure about the cabinet-loading configuration for the RS 9 woofers.  

--Tom Tyson

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Hi Tom,

I was just curious what people thought of them as I've read online comments by a few owners about the Kappa. How could you enjoy them when about the only amp that wouldn't die back then was a Krell.  I'm an AR guy to the grave - however, my experiences are only with the Teledyne era models.

Perhaps a thread on AR9 vs AR9LSi vs TSW910 ? In overall SQ, I'm betting the AR9 wins. I've read 2 comments online that people liked the 910 better (one was an eBay sale by the same owner for both the 9 and 910 models). The LSi was probably easier to place in a room.

Regards, David

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1 hour ago, DavidDru said:

I have the AR9's and Infinity RSii's and I really like them both.  The 9's better.  The RSii's surprisingly are not biampable.  But boy, strong bass nonetheless.

You got a GREAT deal on your 9s.

I'm jelly........

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