I bought these speakers new and owned them for a few years They were very good. the soundstage was huge and the drivers blended perfectly. you could sit right in front of the speakers or at a good listening distance away and you did not hear different drivers. It was one solid sound. As far as power, I used a 25 watt per channel Bedini ss Amp and they sounded great. You don't need that much power as long as you use a high end amp. I also used a 40 watt per channel tube amp and I could blow the walls down. They are also beautiful and well made.

Overall good performers. The sound is well balanced and clear. Bass is tight. Instruments are well played. For the minus: lack of microdetails and 'charm'. They are really good but not great. I have payed 750$ for them and in this price I can't think about better overall speakers. I've listened them with nad class ab amplifier, hypex ucd400 with class a pre and single ended tube amplifier and they played almost the same. These amps have very very different sound signature but I couldn't find it with these infinitys. In the end I used them as my tv amplituner speakers and in this configuration they perform well. They are not in the same league as my fully upgraded dynaudios, that is for sure.

I bought my Kappa 8.2i series2, for 6000norwegian kroner, a couple of weeks ago. The speakers have not been used the last ten years, and is in top condition. I used a pair of Kef Q65.2 up to now, and must say that the Kappas sound so much better. I now use a Onkyo ts sx 875, in bi amp setup, and the sound is so good. The Kappas is powerhungry, so i have to ad a power amp with hi current, to boost the bass, may bee two?. I dont like to adjust the sound with any sort of eq, and now i have to ad some bass to get the sound i like. The Kappas sound so krystal clear and open, and the bass is punchy in the upper and deep in the lower end. I listen to different kinds of music, and i think the Kappas is good alrounders. They are great in surround setup,where the 12inc woofers makes good effect. I have the ported Euro modell. So happy i now own the 8.2 Kappa.

This review is for the Kappa 8. Fantastic speaker. Tremendous sound-stage, incredible low end, smooth, natural highs. You must feed these with more than 300 wpc though. Anything less and you're not getting what they're capable of. They are huge but look gorgeous in their Scandinavian Oak cabinets. These things would easily cost more than 10k nowadays. Puts most high end speakers to shame.

Strengths:
Sound-stage, low end bass, natural highs, furniture grade cabinets

Weaknesses
Extremely power hungry

The more I listen the more I really love these speakers!!! The best bang for the buck out there. The Kappa 8.2i Series II has it all in spades. High end sparkle from the excellent Kappa-R tweeters, coherent and life like mids from the Polydome midrange drivers, fast articulate midbass snap from the 6" Injection Molded Graphite driver, and great deep yet fast sounding lows from the 12" IMG woofer.

Just as good through the midrange as Thiel CS2's yet much better lows and highs. Sounds like Quads or Martin Logans with much better dynamics.

These speakers are VERY power hungry. You really need around 350 watts per channel of good clean high current power for the speakers to open up and sound their best. This is a VERY honest and revealing speaker so the best possible equipment in the signal chain is a must. Bad recording will end up in your car and good ones will sound amazing!!!

With the right equipment this speaker will rival ANY new speaker on the market under $5,000.00

Solid sound stage with good amp, Clean sound stage, clear highs and solid pounding bass. human vivid like mids.

Will work better with stronger amp. Do NOT use cheaper amp, use regular receiver output and save your money for a better amp, it will worth the money.

This speaker is THE BOMB in the casual term, and it is one of the must have speaker for your home theater and/or your music listening room.

I bought this speaker in local posting for sale, as I am start building a mid level Home theater, and this speaker's spcs caught my eyes, went to seller's home and attract by both it's appearance and sound. Solid built, stands 5+ feet weights 70+ pounds, with the look of speaker use to build back in the good 80's.

I use this speaker as my main speaker combine with other 5 infinity speakers and Sunfire TRUE SUBWOOFER SIGNATURE, 2700WATTS as my home theater set up. Powered by Monster 5150 AMP, Yamaha RX-V2500 (thinking of upgrade at this time to RX-V1800 b/c of the HDMI 1.3).

Home movie watching entertainment made enjoyable because of its solid wide range sound field; my sunfire sub produces air shaking low end for explosion and earth quake feelings, my kappa creates and fill my living room with the rest the sound field. Clear, solid and live...

I use pure direct function from both yamaha and Denon 3190 dvd player for music listening, Jazz is one of my favorite, actually my wife and mine. This speaker creates incredible sound stage that brings up to the studio monitor room, I can tell where the performer plays, with audiophile CDs it brings you to another listening level.

As a conclusion, this speaker is one of kind that you can get for both quality and price. Get it if you see one. Price $600-900 will be reasonable to me.

Every thing you could ask in a speaker. Bottom end, Mid's, Highs the Kappa's have it all.

NONE

Where do I start? I've owned the 8.1's for almost 13 yrs. I have never thought of replacing or upgrading them. These speakers give me everything I want. Soundstage, Depth, Spacing, etc....
You won't find these for sale too often because thay are keepers! If you do find a pair for sale and are in good shape I can highly recommend them.
The music I listen to is a wide variety, pop, rock, blues, easy listening, folk and the Kappa's play them all in spades. You will need to have a amplifier(s) with high current and at least 100 watts to enjoy the low level detail. You can also crank it up with these speakers. I've owned and had the following amps over the years hooked up to the Kappa's. Yamaha MX1, Adcom 555II, Adcom 5800, Adcom 5500, Adcom 5802, Anthem Amp1, Aragon 8008BB, Musical Fidelity M250's and my favorite for over a year is the PS Audio HCA-2 ! I have found my audio nirvana ! Mated with a VTL TL 2.5 tube preamp amp and Audio Alchemy DDE V1.1 DAC. The HCA-2 (150 watts per channel) drives the Kappa's with ease.

Similar Products Used:

All of the above.

Bass,clarity,polydome preformance [like in the k9] Magnificent unit

The srong point is the weakpoint at the same time sometimes to much bass [boomy bass]But thats not the speaker but room. So the need alot of spacing. Only for bassreflex models of the kappa

Dear audiofriends I have the kappa 8.2i since a few days now. I was stunned of this newer kappa series. A little year back [see review on this site] i had the kappa 9 [the old classic]the flat one..these speakers are truly a piece of art. I'm as you can understand not a stranger with the kappa sound. But the series 2 my god what a bassrepsons! I have the european model [this means basreflex on the back] The american version is closed. THis is a little weakness with the 8.2i i'ts a little to much bass for a smaller room,but easy to solve tho use a bundle of straws,yes those things you drink your coke with. And filled it up. This changes the flow of the reflex and a more better/smoother low region preformance you get. Everything is perfect..the do'nt need as much power as the classic kappa series [the 9 dips @33hz 0,8ohm!] that was a pure ampkiller the 9 this one can be driven with little less expensive amps,i use the vincent sp991 monaural 100w class A amps so power is not a issue in my setup. I bought these in mint condition k8.2i for a real LOW price 500euro!!

Similar Products Used:

Driade 103 mkII,Infinity reference 11i,Infinity Kappa 9,Visaton DSM Atlas mkII,Synthese 3,and now the Infinity Kappa 8.2i

bass, volume, clear sound with good amps

need powerful amps

I have bought the speakers in 1996 using all my money as a student for my dream: a pair of Kappas. First using a Kenwood amp I was impressed by the sound, but the bass was without any control. I asked in a hifi store and I was told the amp was bad. I bought a Rotel 980 pre and two 980 power amps! No the Kappas rock. Precise bass immense drive, absolutely clear sound. The more power they get the better they sound.

Similar Products Used:

Kappas run with 2 Rotel 980 amps, a Marantz 67 SE CD Player, Project 1 LP, and MIT 4 Cable.

This is an updated review of the Infinity Kappa 8.1. I was thinking to replace this Kappa for quite a few months. However, after going through several auditions on the Quad 988, Infinity Sigma, and Avalon Eidolon, I decided to keep the Kappa. Instead of spending thousands of dollars to upgrade the speaker, I changed the two sets of interconnect cables from Kimber Hero XLR to Granite Audio #470 XLR. The #470 cables really give a second life to the Kappa. The bass is as solid as from the Sigma - tight and clean. Its mid range is as dynamic as the Quad. Although its soundstage is not as good as the Eidolon, it is not too far behind, especially in considering the Eidolon costs over $20K/pair. I expect the quality of sound will be greatly improved after the burning in of cables. With the right system, the Kappa is as good as any speaker that costs 3 or 4 times its MSRP. If you can get the Kappa under a thousand dollars, it will be a steal.