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 upgrading the speaker, I changed the two sets of interconnect cables to Granite Audio #470 XLR. These 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.

Soundstage is enormous, looks, clarity, airy and transparent, awesome highs without being harsh, EMIT and Polydome mid bass

None

I have the Kappa 8 not the 8.1. I bought these used and I must say they are among the finest ever made at the price I paid for them. Soundstage is so enormous....playing Van Halen made me feel like I was there in a concert....so far haven''t experienced low impendance problems even with the bass boost switch on and having a bass boost on my amp turned on using a Sony STR-V939X Japanese market model home theatre receiver that pumps out 150 watts per channel into 6 ohms...but then again the max that I have ever turned up in terms of volume is a 4 on my dial..it gets so loud my landlord might kick me out! bass is an absolute killer, tight as a drum that u can feel.. I really love the midbass dome driver...I can hear the midbass drums as clear as live..highs are natural and oh so transparent with the EMITs..I have Kappa 8s for fronts and Kappa 7s for the rears with the Infinity IL36c for center. On the movie heat you can feel the bass and the bullets flying around you....I almost the Kappa 9 for use as my fronts and I was going to move the 8s as my rears but my apartment was too small for the 9s. I am also highly impressed with Infinity''s new Interlude series that uses CMMD drivers. Sound is impressive from these new drivers and Interlude series are a good match especially for center channel for the Kappas. Highly recommended

Similar Products Used:

Infinity 3 way IMG woofer/polycell tweeter bookshelf

Audiophile quality sound at a now reasonable price.

The Polygraph really is not well suited for hard rock, but this can be solved using the Renaissance 90 midbass, which is still avalable. Using both the Polygraph and Ren midbass provides even greater sound quality, but some electronic work is needed.

The Infinity Reference Standard Kappa 8 is truly a superior speaker to the newer Kappa 8.1; there are several reasons for this, mainly, the Kappa 8s utilize the EMIT tweeters on the front and back of the cabinet. The Kappa 8 also has better mid base control due to the Polygraph. My only complaint about the utilization of the Polygraph is that it lacks the dynamics of a cone driver at frequencies below 160 cycles. This problem can be remedied by either changing the crossover point internally, or by using an electronic crossover, set at 160 cycles. I have used these speakers as reference monitors and they have compared favorably with the Renaissance 90s and the Reference Standard 2.5s. Although the RS 2.5s and RS 4.5s,as well as the QLS fare better in the bass region, the low mid to high frequency is extremely smooth and accurate. I have noticed, lately, that these speakers have become available on eBay for less than a thousand dollars. I believe this is really a bargain, if you can acquire them for a moderate shipping cost.

My first experience with the Reference Standard Kappa 8s date back when these speakers first came out in 1987 whereas the Kappa x.1 and x.2 and i series came out in 1992, after Harmon had made cost effectiveness a major design issue, thus the fake emit-r. I recently procured a pair of these for a total cost of 720 dollars. I am quite amazed to find that these speakers accurately measure up to my custom Infinity designs based on the IRS 1B, RS 4.5 and 2.5 as well as the renaissance 90s. The cabinets are an attractive design, more so than the newer Kappa 8.1s. I am currently using the speakers in my main listening area. I would highly recommend these speakers for anyone who appreciates audiophile sound at a budget price.

Powered by
Forte model 44 pre-amp
Forte model 4 power amp
MIT pro line 3 XLR balanced interconnect
McIntosh model 2005 power amp, bi-amp for bass
Monster 800 series RCA interconnect
Sony XA20ES CD player
Using Monster RCA to XLR interconnect

Similar Products Used:

Most "Golden era" Infinity speakers, such as, the RS 4.5, RS1 and QLS

Good imaging; broad, deep soundstage; impressive output at low frequencies (29 Hz); Excellent home theatre loudspeaker.

Emit-R tweeters are prone to sibillance and to smearing of "S" and "P" vocals; low-bass output -- while impressive -- lacks both the punch and focus of the better sealed designs; cheap plastic binding posts.

I've owned my Kappa 8.1s since early 1994, at which time they became my first quasi-higher-end loudspeaker acquisition (replacing a pair of vintage -- heck, certifiably classic -- Acoustic Research AR-1s that I'd used and abused through most of high school and college). They're very good all purpose monitors, and if you enjoy a smattering of hard rock, folk, jazz and classical music -- and if you can find a used pair -- you might do well to consider them. At the same time, however, you can probably pick up a used pair of Vandersteen 2CEs for around the same price. Having lived with both speakers at one time or another, I'll suggest that the Vandys are better than are the Kappa 8.1s for reproducing most all types of music.

The Kappa 8.1s make excellent home theatre loudspeakers, however.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity Renaissance 90, Infinity 9 Kappa, Vandersteen 2CE/3A Signature, Thiel CS 2.2/2.3/3.6

Huge sound stage and depth

Sound not as 'refined' as some of the audiophile class speakers.

Had my Kappas now for 6 years and had no problem at all.
Amplifier used is a TRESHOLD S 200 ( 100 w per ch.) driven by an PROCEED PRE.
The combination works reasonably well, although at times I feel that the 100 watts per ch. are nowhere near enough to properly drive these big 'hungry' monsters.
At low listening levels there's no dynamics in the music, but again I attribute this to the limited power applied.
INFINITY states in the manual, "..the more power the better..", with an optimal amp of 300 watts per ch. being the ideal situation.
These are speakers that mean business, ideal for jazz and synthesized music, as well as guitar.
Classical music is not their 'forte' although they do a good job in big orchestral pieces and choral works.
Opera ( one of my favourite styles of music) is very well presented with voices having the right 'weight' and timbre.
By the way the amount of low energy (below 40 Hz) can be easily controlled by moving these speakers further away from rear walls.
I have mine well into the room, about 2 metres from the rear wall and the depth of the soundstage is out of this world, you do get a holographic picture of the music.
To conclude, these speakers will give many hours of intense musical involvment, especially to younger listeners with modern material as well as the fans of Symphonic music of a large scale.
If you get your kicks from chamber music or single instrument presentations, you better forget them, go for
something like Ruark, or Harbeth or anything else BUT the Kappas.
In fact, that is exactly what I have here...a pair of small LS 3/5a which are ideal for my listening of the Vivaldi type of stuff.
But the Kappas are there to stay, they have managed to become an integral part of my music listening and a divorce is nowhere near the horizon!

Similar Products Used:

JBL monitors, AR, KEF Reference 1 Monitor Audio etc.

bass

It is one of the better speakers for jazz and the kind of music that my 16 years old likes. This speaker is not for classical music. It is the weakest of my whole system. However, for the price that I paid for it, I will give it a 5 stars.

My system consists of:

Accuphase Pro-5
Accuphase C280L
Accuphase DP70V
Granite Audio sure silver inteconnect cable
Audioquest sterling Plus speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

JBL L112, Kappa 5.1

Just spent a year (!) dealing with the Legacy Focus which seems to be just too big for my room (22x14x8.5); they "boom" (10dB) between 100h-160h. Only way to decent performance (after discarding 5 equalizers) was bi-amping at a xover point of about 100h-125h, which depresses the "boom" area.Recently picked up a pair of (discontinued and heavily discounted) Kappa 8.1s, thinking that with only 1/3rd the woofers, they might "fit" the room. Lo and behold, you can not tell the two brands apart from the frequency response curves! The self same "room boom" at 100h-160h. Although they measure the same, the raw Kappas are much more "listenable"; the boom is not so pronounced to the ear. I can not imagine why this should be, but it is. Anyway, switching to the biamp setup cures the problem just like it did with the Foci. Of course, they do not have the mid range clarity of the far more expensive speaker, but the sound stage is bigger; a trade off?
For the money, this is a wonderful product.

Nice Tight Bass For Music and Movie Uses

Ive Owned a pair of Kappa 8.1's for about a year and a half. The speaker is being used for both movies and music. i have not had any problem with the speaker. It fullfills any average audio enthusiast need in a wonderful speaker.

Have owened a pair of 8.1 Kappas since 96" and have thourghly enjoyed them.I use them for music as well as movies. I also use 3 Kappa center speakers
for center, R- rear and L-rear for surrond. I also Have 2 SSW210 Kappa powered
subs but rarely use them as the base from the 8.1s is so tight and strong.
I have freinds who have spent 5 to 10 times the money and like the sound of my
Kappas better.

I have used these speakers for 2 years. I have always been very pleased with the sound even when I was driving them with underpowered sony receiver. Recently I got an amplifier and decided to biamp these speakers and the result is amazing. Everything improved greatly, especially the dynamic range which brings me a step closer to live performance. As a classical music listener image and soundstage are very important. I have yet heard another pair of speakers under $4000 that could reproduce the sound stage and precise image that my Kappas could.