Give them a good amp and you will be amazed with "treble"

They can't be used in small rooms. Bass is very powerful.

Unfortunately "Infinity" isn't making so good products as before. Infinity lovers are claiming for something really high-end but with a possible price.

Similar Products Used:

Kappa 7.1i, B&Ws P6 and Matrix 805

Sound, clarity, power, looks, build quality. Versatility.

None. Will reveal weaknesses in other equipment, and needs to be used in a fair-sized room, but that is not a weakness of the speaker.

I bought a pair of Kappa 70 speakers 2nd hand for R7000 (about R8 to the US dollar). They are still in excellent condition. I originally used them with a small Rotel integrated amp and they sounded pretty good, but not worth that amount of money. Next I bought a Sony STRDB930 AV amp and used them for music and Home Theater. I bi-wired the speakers and the improvement was quite dramatic. I was using them in a small room with bare walls and tiled floor, so the sound was a bit bright, probably also due to the poor cables. To cut a long story short, over time I have changed to using these purely for music, upgraded the listening area to a larger room with better acoustics. Also got hold of a decent Hi-fi stand, Audioquest Copperhead interconnects, Cable Talk speaker cable. Upgraded the source to a NAD C540 CD player, bi-amped the suckers with a Rotel RB981 (treble) and Rotel RB990 for bass, using an old Rotel RC971? pre-amp. My point is that with each upgrade I throw at these speakers, they just keep sounding better and better. I'm sure that I could spend huge amounts of money to upgrade my other equipment before I came close to reaching the limits of these fantastic speakers. The treble is clear, sweet and smooth. Mid-range is powerful but doesn't dominate, everything blends in beautifully. The bass is strong clear and punchy. I have heard better bass, but only from really expensive demo systems. Bass can be a problem in small rooms, but position them carefully and the 'problem' disappears. I recommend that these speakers be bi-amped, it really gives the Infinity's the space and power they crave. They throw a wide and deep soundstage, with excellent imaging and position. I cannot say enough good things about these speakers. Give them space, power and decent signals, and they sing!! I have really never heard anything close to them for the money. I have heard good things about the new Mission 782's etc. but can't as yet compare the two. The kappa's are a safe bet for anyone wanting to upgrade (in a big way) an entry-level system. Worth every sweat-soaked cent.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 704. Old AR bookshelf speakers. Mission 700.

Soundstage,revealing treble and powerful but not punchy bass

Does not handle Hard Rock / Heavy Metal well

I picked up this pair of Kappa's as a closeout of a "consumer" electronics store. Best deal I ever made. I have since auditioned The Thiels, and others, all in effort to have a so-called true "audiophile quality" speaker. I just can't beat the Kappa's for less than $5000. I listen mostly to analog Jazz. The sound is both rich and open with depth and clarity. Jazz seems to agree with the Kappa. Once you match it with a quality source and decent power they can truly perform. I'm running Van Alstine's power amp and Hybrid Pre-amp with a Cambridge Audio CD and Thorens turntable with Audio Technica Cartridge. The Cables are from Silver Audio and MIT. You could do a lot worst than the Kappas and for the money they can't be beat.

Similar Products Used:

Polk Audio, Ohms "H", and Thiel 2.3

Unparelled and precise bass

Mid-Range is thin

Well I am pretty happy with the speakers. I have bi-wired them with the Sony amp for the highs and the Onkyo for the low frequency. I do have an ES pre-amp but I rarely use it, because the sound stage is definetely cleaner using a direct link from CD to power amp. I have brought in more than 30 pairs of speakers for auditioning but the Kappa's bass is simply amazing. The only way to keep that bass in check and under control is to have both power amps with input controls, so that you can toggle with them to give just the perfect balance that suits you. Since all the recording studios in the world vary in their recordings, this is a superb opportunity for using separate inputs to have your way instead of boosting or cutting tone from pre-amplifier which I realized is a horrible way of listening to music, unless the pre-amplifier is exceptionally good, which is very rare.

Well if anybody can lay their hands on a Kappa just grab it. But one advise: look for two power amps of your liking with input controls, and you will just love how it sounds.

Nazim Idroos.

Tip: Clean all cable contact points periodically, RCA connectors, cinch speaker input terminals etc.

Similar Products Used:

Sony NA80ES power amp, Onkyo M502 power amp, Sony CD Player
20ES

imaging,left to right& front and back

I'm currently updating my system,considering the NAD S300 integrated amp. I do have a question for all of you who do have these speakers. The spec sheet states nominal impedence at 6 ohms,how do they sound when run through a 4ohm load,any problems?(for ex.,200 watts at 4ohms)
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Similar Products Used:

none

I found the Infinity Kappa 7.1 to ba an excellent speaker. I thought i would throw that to the fire, and see what ignites.

The Kappa 7.1's are an excellent speaker. Their most outstanding characteristicsare their soundstage and imaging. Voices and wind instruments generally sound
very natural through the Kappas, with the exception of sibilants. With strong
"S" and "P" sounds, the Emit-R tweeters do have a tendency to spit. On some
material this can become intrusive. However, the silky smooth midrange and the
awesome bass extension (with very good articulation) would still make this speaker my choice over other speakers costing considerably more. The imaging is what really clinched it for me, though. I never really knew how important a good sonic image was to my enjoyment of music until I got these speakers.

I have a Kappa 70, which is a 3 ways stand floor. I am not clear about if is similar to 7.1 that other guy talks about. In any case, I also want to give with my own comments:

First of all, I personally agrees with John Van Polen when he discuss about the comments of August 18, 1997 included in section regarding Kappa 6. Most of the things that happen to him have also happened to me. I also have the same recommendations which he made at the end of his comments. The summary of my points are:

a) Kappa 7.0 are excellent speaker, with a music image difficult to get for less than US$ 1,333 (at least in Spain). Price is very important because you cannot compare things of 1,333 with things of 2,000. This is something that usually are forgotten by the vendors when they recommend another speaker instead of Kappa. I never listened better speaker for less than 1,333. Money is allways the problem if you want to improve!
b) I am very happy with the "open" sound that you get , and I have to recognise that no big improvements are available unless you pay very significant additional amounts of money. I mean that you have to pay much money to get little improvements.
c) There is a real "problem" with the control of the bass. This is something clear to me. I was happy with the sound in the shop center, but one I listened the bass with my equipment (in my case was an old power amplifier of Cambridge Audio), I was a little frustrated; the bass was very opened and not precise. I thought that my "old cambridge" was not enough for my Kappa. The sound was still good, but the bass…… I spent more than one month to solve the problem. These were the "solutions":
n I used the spikes delivered with the speakers. The speakers came equipped with plastic feet, and I thought was OK and was not necessary to change it. I never thought that only three spikes per speaker could concrete so much the bass. I strongly recommend this.
n I changed the cable. I put the speakers in a bi-wiring . When I bought a better cable for the woofer and mid-range (Van del hul) and was a great difference with the "Heybrook" cable used before.

We can say that these two things improved satisfactorily the results. In addition, I had the opportunity to acquire an additional power amplifier of my "loved" Cambridge Audio at a very good price (these power amplifiers are no longer manufactured) Suddenly I was involved on a biamplifing my Kappa (I never thought I would use this technique). The result has been very convincing, and the sound is now very detailed and balanced. I also recommend bi-ampling, although I recognize that it is not a cheaper option

¿Conclusion? I recommend the Kappa. It is a very good option in the range of 1,400 US$. You will enjoy your music without any doubt. But I have to say that is a complicated speaker because have a powerful bass and midrange with require certain "knowledge" to obtain the better that the speaker can give you. I think that you should not buy these speakers if you don’t listen them with your own amplifier. This is really my recommendation (nothing new, I know).

Soundstage is huge, highs are clean and crisp, powerful bass, excellent imaging!!

You a powerful amp!!

In the $1800 price range, this is the best speaker I have heard. Awesome soundstage, highs, mids, and bass. You do need really good powerful amps to drive these speakers. A good powerful amp like make these speakers sing. Crystal clear sound. I love my Kappa 7.1's.

Similar Products Used:

Canton CT 920 SC, Hales Revelation 2, Infinity Intermezzo 2.6, Martin Logan Script