home audio gurus...

[SteveB]

I've owned a pair of Infinity Kappa 8.1's for years that I picked up at a garage sale ($75 bucks for the pair plus an M&K power sub, hah!), but I've never had an amplifier that can power them properly. I've been using an old Sony receiver that just isn't that great and is incapable of providing tight bass with these speakers.

According to scuttlebutt the Kappa's seem to need an amp that can provide a high current. They definitely are not particularly efficient. I don't want to spend a buttload of money on extreme audiophile, but I need to provide sufficient power to these bad boys. I could go with a receiver, or a pure poweramp, either a stereo version or even a couple of monoblocks. Might even be tempted to bi-amp if it makes sense. Any suggestions if I want to keep the price south of $1000? I've thought about pressing a QSC PA amp into service, but my guess is thats not particularly designed for hi fidelity audio. If I go the poweramp route, then I'd have to look for a control preamp of some sort I suppose as well.

[JohnnyB]

I have one of these, and they are fabulous. It should be an excellent match for your speakers and these amps are way better than the prices they fetch. My Heathkit AA-1600 anchors my 2-channel LP-based system. Hey--I just noticed that the vendor is our own Alpep. Maybe you could negotiate the shipping cost a bit.

that is one great sounding amp and one heavy mofo

if interested let me know

I got mine last June for about what Alpep's asking. In my experience it may be the best-kept secret in US home audio. It weighs 40 lbs. and Heathkit only claimed 120 wpc on it. The word from the engineers is that the amps in this series (AA-1600 and AA-1800) were about 40% more powerful than claimed because they were kits and not easily subject to verification on a test bench. The 250-watt rated AA-1800 is pretty well known to actually put out 350 watts, and my AA-1600 (claimed 120 wpc) has the heft and dynamics of a 180 wpc amp. It's a great balance among speed, bandwidth, clarity, and musicality without sounding electronic, harsh, or edgy.

Its sound most reminds me of the Jeff Rowland amps from the early '90s, and those still sell for several thousand dollars.

[LostArt]

I also have an 1800 for sale

[SteveB]

I also have an 1800 for sale

I might get back to you on those... I basically only asked about my friends amps because I could have borrowed those indefinitely for free.

I'm currently using a QSC poweramp with my Infinities which is working well enough at the moment and is certainly an improvement over the grossly underpowered Sony receiver I was using before.

[Armitage]

Just like I recommended to ecnal, I'd be looking at a Emotiva USP-1 stereo preamp, http://emotiva.com/usp1.shtm and XPA-2 300 watt per channel power amp (75 lbs!). http://emotiva.com/xpa2.shtm I've got a couple thousand watts worth of Emotiva gear here, and it's killer stuff. They do the "Direct Internet" business model and are ridiculously inexpensive for what you're getting. It's just over $1200 but really worth considering.