New Infinity Kappa

veedubb8 · 04-01-2008, 08:10 PM

The new infinity Kappa line just launched. Looks like pretty nice stuff. I noticed they went back to a 4-ohm driver rather than a 2-ohm. I was really happy with last year's stuff, looking forward to hearing the new.

Check It

AWehmeyer · 04-03-2008, 07:20 AM

No, they're still 2-ohm speakers and they sound MUCH better than last year's Kappa.

Sonicxtacy02 · 04-03-2008, 09:06 AM

i've always been a fan of infinity speakers for there outstanding clarity. They are the perfect component set IF you have a sub providing the bass.

scott_fx · 04-03-2008, 11:24 AM

Quote:

tweeter that plays all the way to 35KHz

well that's useless :-)

emperorjj1 · 04-03-2008, 12:07 PM

lol ^^^^^^^^^^^

veedubb8 · 04-03-2008, 12:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by scott_fx

well that's useless :-)

Not entirely. Depends on how much you believe in the effects of harmonics. Your Dyn tweets play all the way up to 22K, but human ears don't hear above 20K, and most adult males don't hear much above 18K.

Also, I realized after I wrote the post that they are 2-ohm speakers, but Infinity uses some sort of marketing hoopla "True Four Ohm" to describe the two-ohm components. I think it has to do something with what the speakers actually measure at when measured at the headunit through the speaker wire - it comes out closer to 4-ohm than the speaker's rated two-ohm. sheesh.

emperorjj1 · 04-03-2008, 12:45 PM

that is marketing bull****... the reason for 2 ohm speakers is maxing out the power out of your class ab amp. but 2 ohm speakers will fry head units. I bet infinity busted a jl and built 3 ohm speakers and came up with "true four ohm" or just bull****ed and have 4 ohm speakers.

veedubb8 · 04-03-2008, 01:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by emperorjj1

that is marketing bull****... the reason for 2 ohm speakers is maxing out the power out of your class ab amp. but 2 ohm speakers will fry head units. I bet infinity busted a jl and built 3 ohm speakers and came up with "true four ohm" or just bull****ed and have 4 ohm speakers.

No, this actually isn't true. Most car stereo amps are Class A/B amps and can actually handle the two ohm stereo load with no problem. And then take the resistance added to into the signal path from the tiny inefficient 20 gauge factory speaker wire, and you essentially have a 3.5-4 ohm load by the time it reaches the factory radio.

bes51659 · 04-03-2008, 02:13 PM

About marketing bull and talk about speaker impedance I would like to show two pictures. The later one in a ported box. Now, tell me, what impedance has this unit? (And how can impedance be specified without a box?)

Answer: spec says nom. 8ohms!

One more thing. Because of this unlinear speaker load he "tiny factory speaker cable" influence is frequency dependant! The fun never stops!

And more; Even if poweramp survives the dampingfactor is proportional to impedance. In a bad way with low Z. I've never understood these 1-2 ohm guys... and the cables you need with them!

veedubb8 · 04-03-2008, 09:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by bes51659

About marketing bull and talk about speaker impedance I would like to show two pictures. The later one in a ported box. Now, tell me, what impedance has this unit? (And how can impedance be specified without a box?)

Answer: spec says nom. 8ohms!

One more thing. Because of this unlinear speaker load he "tiny factory speaker cable" influence is frequency dependant! The fun never stops!

And more; Even if poweramp survives the dampingfactor is proportional to impedance. In a bad way with low Z. I've never understood these 1-2 ohm guys... and the cables you need with them!

Whoa, you win.

I understand there's a difference between the nominal impedance when the speaker's at rest and when the it's actually playing content, and that lots of other factors influence the speakers "active" impedance. However, all I'm saying is that a radio will have no problem with 2-ohm nominal impedance.

FordNoMore · 04-03-2008, 11:16 PM

I generally like Infinity too, but I was at a store comparing speakers and came up with my theory of why they'd go 2 ohm and make up a BS story to justify it: In a typical store display you push a button to instantly switch between sets of speakers. When you do this, the 2 ohm speakers will (generally) sound WAY louder than the 4 ohm speakers at a given volume setting, as they did for me. So to Mr. Doesn't Know Better, these speakers are louder and even sound artificially "better" and "clearer" because of the higher volume.

Given their reputation, I'd be surprised to see them stoop to this level (and I'd love to be proven wrong). If it works well, we might sadly see other brands follow suit just to compete in the in-store displays. Reminds me of the pop music loudness war.

I hunted down an older 4 ohm set on eBay and am happy with my purchase.

diamondgoldsilv · 04-05-2008, 11:48 AM

I have always been a fan of infinity speakers for there outstanding clarity.

veedubb8 · 04-07-2008, 01:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by FordNoMore

I generally like Infinity too, but I was at a store comparing speakers and came up with my theory of why they'd go 2 ohm and make up a BS story to justify it: In a typical store display you push a button to instantly switch between sets of speakers. When you do this, the 2 ohm speakers will (generally) sound WAY louder than the 4 ohm speakers at a given volume setting, as they did for me. So to Mr. Doesn't Know Better, these speakers are louder and even sound artificially "better" and "clearer" because of the higher volume.

Given their reputation, I'd be surprised to see them stoop to this level (and I'd love to be proven wrong). If it works well, we might sadly see other brands follow suit just to compete in the in-store displays. Reminds me of the pop music loudness war.

I hunted down an older 4 ohm set on eBay and am happy with my purchase.

But why does this have to be a bad thing? They sound better because they're getting more power? Um... sounds more like a benefit than a drawback to me. I'm not sure I buy your conspiracy theory here.... Speakers with a higher sensitivity sound louder as well. Is this a marketing gimic or a design to get better sound?

emperorjj1 · 04-07-2008, 04:00 AM

i agree with you as well veedubb but in the end theres no such thing as "true four ohm" Im going to be straight up and say i havent read the infinity explanation but i dont have to. Either they have a 4 ohm nominal load and its a 4 ohm speaker or they have a 2 ohm nominal load and its a 2 ohm speaker. Yes there is changes having to do with install and every driver has different impendances not only when its playing but even sitting its not a straight up number (usually slightly off)

Im not talking about actual impendance because thats not what the topic on hand.

And head units arent ment to handle 2 ohms. Yes they do it and often for quite some time (ive done such setups) but in the end they arent rated for that and the extra heat that can be created can blow the HU amp

FordNoMore · 04-07-2008, 04:17 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by veedubb8

Um... sounds more like a benefit than a drawback to me. I'm not sure I buy your conspiracy theory here....

Not quite... At a given volume knob setting, yes, the speakers are louder. But a better test would be to turn each one up until it starts to sound bad and compare how loud they CAN get. If you have a 200W amplifier, you're not magically going to get 400 Watts from it by giving it lower impedence speakers (just like you wouldn't magically get 400 Horsepower from your 200HP car engine by putting on different sized tires.) It's just going to crap out at a lower volume knob setting, more-or-less at its same rated 200 Watts of output in the best case. (Worst case is you get much less power output and the amp overheats.)

If the actual speaker efficiency is greater, then that's a different story. But while some speakers are more efficient than others at transferring electrical power in to audible power out, being lower impedence does NOT automatically make it more efficient. In fact, as far as I can tell, you actually have two strikes against you:

1. First, an amp designed for 4 ohm speakers will run most efficiently with 4 ohm speakers, so you're already forcing the amp to run away from its peak efficiency.

2. Even with the SAME power output through a lower impedence speaker, you need higher current (P = I^2 R) so your line losses from wiring and connections is going to be greater.

And incidentally, "conspiracy" would imply that the entire industry and/or audio professionals and/or spys on this very thread are trying to dupe us. I'm just questioning whether one company is pulling a marketing gimmick, which is pretty common practice. But like I said, please, somebody prove me wrong. I'd like to retain more respect for Infinity.