I am puzzled by Bard Kuvaas of Norway's assertion that for "some CDs" the bass of the Kappa Infinity 6.1 Series II speakers sounded uncontrollable des
pite optimal placement and the use of spikes.

Getting to heart of the matter, although I have owned a pair of Kappa Infinity 6.1 Series I speakers since September of 1994, I
have not experienced the same bass problem with mine. On the contrary, I have found the bass of by Kappas 6.1s to be seamless,
lively, articulate, taut, authoritative and weighty, but never uncontrollable. On some CD s (e.g., Cut #11, "Restless" on Gary Taylor's, " Square One" release, the bass is extremely authoritative, energetic,lively and weighty, seeming to
explode sound waves against the insides of the speaker panels. But at no time have I perceived that the bass is intruding into or trespassing the midrange region. Maybe the fact I biwire the speakers using the transparent Tara Labs TFA/Phase II cables (which have added some significant midrange clarity and smoothness) to reduce, if not eliminate intermodualation distortion and Tara Labs Quantum IV interconnects have negated to some degree appreciable agree the potential the for unregulated bass crossover that you awere encountering. One other thought, the Infinity Kappa Series is legendary with repect to music playback, particularly the well-regarded Kappa 9. The 6.1. according to Kappa technician I spoke to over the phone two years ago, stated that it is designed also to handle the home theater/video applications. Therefore, it is a design that has been compromised to appease both videophiles and audiophiles. Consequently, in my opinion, the sound is more aggressive, less precise and decidely more foward-sounding than previous Kappa models. In repsonse to this, you must adjust the level controls located on lower rear of these speakers, to slice the forwardness and optimze the sound that without this at times feels like it is impairing the integrity of your ears. Given my room acoutics, shape and size coupled with and my near-field seating preference (I sit 8ft from the speakers to neutralize wall reflections) setting the midrange and tweeter controls to 10 and 9 o'clock suits me fine. It took a year of experimenting though to figure this out. Also spikes are a must, rigidifying the cabinet to produce better sound.
In closing, at its price point, it is a fine, well-made speaker that you must coddle, pamper and adjustto sqeeze that elegant sound that resides within it guts.

My current rig that I use with the Kappas 6.1 in my bedroom:

Onkyo Integra A-809 Integrated Amp (105 watts into 8 ohms, 165 watts into 4ohms at 1khz)
Onkyo Integra DXC-909 6-Disc CD Changer (Great player for the money)
Onkyo Integra 9090 II FM Tuner (Excellent Benchmark Tuner)
Magnum/Dynalab) Indoor FM Antenna (Has improved signal strength)
Power Wedge Power Pack II Line Conditioner ( used only w/cd player and tuner)
Audio Alchemy DTI Plus Jitter Device
Audio Alchemy 3.0 DAC
Kimber Kable Toslink Cable
Tara Labs Digital Cable
Tara Labs TFA/Phase II Speaker Cables
Tara Labs Qunatum IV Interconnects

Smooth, good bass, excellent highs, good soundstage

none

Best little speaker in this price range I have ever heard. Super bass fro a speaker with a 8" woofer, the highs are Infinity highs-clear like crystal. Smooth midrange. beautifully made. If you see them, get them.

Similar Products Used:

jbl, kef, b&w

I have a pair of Kappa 7.1 (first series) I bought 5 years ago that totally rock. I have a Sony ES amp(200 watts channel in 8 ohms) that does a prett good job. When I first bought these speakers my roomate liked them so much that he went out and bought a pair also. So we had 4 Kappa 7.1 in our dorm room. He bough an Adcom amp that was a display... and it totally sucked the fat one for some reason. So he got the same amp as I had. But what really kicked was bi-amping my speakers with the 2 amps. Having nearly 500 watts going to EACH speaker created highs so clean and crisp that it caused my eyes to blink. These speakers really do deserve to be bi-amped with quality power. I no longer have the same roomate and am desperate need of another good power amp for my mids and tweeters so I can be in bi-amp heaven again.

Somewhere below, I write in some (too much) detail about my experiences with the Infinity Kappa 6.2i, in particular about efforts to get rid of some bass-domination problems. Well, after all, I did not succeed completely. Some money came my way, and I have upgraded to a rather high-end set up, the Thiel CS 2.3 and the Classe CA-200 being key-components. The Thiels are less colored and far more clean, and they should be, as in the Netherlands they costs five times the Infinity Kappa 6.2i. The comparison is not fair. For the price, I still think the Kappa's are great speakers, but they definitely put some emphasis on the bass and low-mids, in other words: produce a more or less colored sound. It will get better using better amps and cables, and paying attention to positioning, but it will not go away completely. But is there a speaker without flaws in that price-region ? The Infinity Kappa 6.2i is a lot of speaker for the money. Although in the Thiels, I have found -so to speak- better Infinity's, I still give the Infinity Kappa 6.2i five stars.

I'm relatively new to the science and art of hi-fi, but have more than 15 years of experience in performing music and even more so in listeningto music. About 6 months ago I was convinced that investing some money in better audio equipment could be worth trying. In part because
of the price reduction I was offered, I ended up with a pair of Kappa Infinity 6.2.i (I paid NOK 9.000 (about £ 900)). Compared to my old
JAMO-speakers, the Kappa's opened up a new world of musical pleasure to me. The open sound and the discovery of previously hidden
details in the music made me extremely satisfied. However, after a playing a wide range of musical styles, from heavy rock to classical music,
I discovered that the bass sounded uncontrollable. For some CDs, the bass displaced midrange and treble even on low volume levels.
Because of a fairly optimal placement of the speakers (and with the use spikes), I concluded that my Kenwood amp. (2x110 w.) was be the
problem. I then visited another hi-fi store that promised to help me. They brought with them several different amps (along with different signal
and speaker cables) that I tested for 3-4 weeks, but the bass problem didn't disappear, even though it varied from terrible to less terrible.
Apart from the bass problem, I was happy with my new speakers so I didn't want to try out any other speakers (for me, they were pretty
expensive - I could get a Gibson Les Paul for the same price). So, I tried to live with the problem, but not for long. Finally, I tried out KEF
Reference model two (and a Sugden Optima 200 amp.)and the bass problem didn't only disappaer, I got almost more bass but in
controllable terms. Furthermore, the upper and mid range sound better too. Of course I bought both the KEFs and the Optima 200. So, for
the time beeing, and again, I extremely happy. However, the wisdom is that together with subjective preferences, it all boils down to
comparison. Thus, from my limited expereience with hi-fi, the argument goes as follows: Since Kappa 6.2.i is almost as expensive as the
KEF speakers (in Norway) and are far from able to compete with the KEFs in terms of performance, they deserve nothing more than 2
diffuse stars.

KAPPA 8.1 Excellent speaker, treble does not fatigue, nice and airy, with
plenty of detail. Am bi amping these speakers, CARVER TFM 35, with
CARVER TCB 15... Have noticed a great improvement since I started doing
this.
These speakers can be bass heavy, so on my Lexicon DC-1, I set
the HPF at 80, and am using a Paradigm PS 1000 sub... Great improvement
in overall sound once I did that.