Infinity Kappa

[GALLA_4]

Guys

Ireturned the yellow Pioneer Emotion speakers today as I was told that the Infinity Kappa were the way to go!

I need to replace rear 6x9's and front door speakers. Who else is running infinity at the moment???

[RichardMD]

Had some a few years ago in a previous car. They were only small 6" 3ways but packed a punch and were very clear. Think they were rated at 55w which isnt particular powerful but beat higher wattage speakers hands down. They were very pricey at the time but worth it.

Hope thats not too vague!

Guys

Ireturned the yellow Pioneer Emotion speakers today as I was told that the Infinity Kappa were the way to go!

I need to replace rear 6x9's and front door speakers. Who else is running infinity at the moment???

←

[MrADeveci]

The Kappa's are good speakers ......... so I have been told !

[LennyLexus]

me & zee are running kappa 6.5" comps at the front.

but remember every chain is as strong as the weakest link.. (i'm reffering to amps and wiring here). I've spent a packet on speakers and wiring, but skimpt on the amp for time being, and can hear the difference between mine and zees from miles.

when cashflow gets better i'll get a decent amp or 2 and set of kappa 6*9s in the rear to use as subs. I've still got some dynamat to it, doubt i'll get around to putting in it til next year now.

[GALLA_4]

me & zee are running kappa 6.5" comps at the front.

but remember every chain is as strong as the weakest link.. (i'm reffering to amps and wiring here). I've spent a packet on speakers and wiring, but skimpt on the amp for time being, and can hear the difference between mine and zees from miles.

when cashflow gets better i'll get a decent amp or 2 and set of kappa 6*9s in the rear to use as subs. I've still got some dynamat to it, doubt i'll get around to putting in it til next year now.

←

Raz are you saying that you'd have an amp to run the rear 6x9 Infinitys?

Is rewiring really that important? Whats wrong with OEM speaker wiring?

What Infintiy range of speakers should I use for the front doors?

[LennyLexus]

Owen, I'm not sure how your system is wired up at the moment,

But these are my recomendations.

Head Unit with decent pre outs (3Vs+, 2 or 3 sets depending on if you want a sub or not, i'm sure your HU is fully capable of this)

Mine have 3 sets of 5V outputs,(front, rears and sub)

Front Speakers

These ARE a must, your sound stage will be coming from the front, this where you want to give your budget the SECOND priority.

Kappa 6.5" components fit perfectly, the max output on there are around 110WRMS, your headunit (if 4*50W) will only give 25Wrms.. this underpowering wont make the speakers sound any better then stock, I ran mine like these for a while (when i had a blown amp), think it sounded inferior to stock, and it can even cause damage to speakers. I'm currently borrowing a small 2x35Wrms amp from a mate, for a semi decent sound and to protect the speakers.

REAR SPEAKERS/SUBS

This is a matter of opinion and discussed to death on audio forums. Most people advise for true audiophile sound to only have subs at the back. But some people like a bit of rear fill (Fargo).

I'm going for the space saving option (as I think Colin P has). I have decided it doesnt make sense spending 1k+ on a big amp, subs, boxes, dynamat, and high preformance Battery, when it could be spent on/and will be drowned by performance upgrades ;)

So I'm going for Kappa 6*9s to be used in sub mode, all Infinity 6*9s are coaxial, Fargo has installed the Ref range 6*9 (below Kappa) in his with alpine amps, sounds Kriss!! I think these are rated at 100WRms

Again 6*9s will be def needs a decent powerful amp.

AMPs for Speakers

This is where is MOST money should be spent, decent amp will make inferior speakers sound much better then vice versa. I'll probably be going for two little Alpines as they seem to very conservative with there ratings and within my budget. If I had the money, I would go for genesis amps, they are the dogs. And another thing to note is, if you can afford it, its best in the long run to get AMPS rated above the speakers, so the amps dont have to do much work.

WIRING,

Yes this is very important, you need a minimum of 4G power/earth cables. decent gold plated RCA leads, and 12-16g speaker wire. should be between £40-80 for a set. You will completely bypass the OEM wiring and it will be useless for this setup.

OPTIONALS

Dynamat, i've yet to do mine, its brought, but just not installed. So I cant give any 1st hand advice

Battery, you will probably find the LEX Battery is quite strained when sitting in traffic (hang on you dont have traffic in ireland:P).. so you might have invest some serious dough again in a high performance Battery. This will most likely be case if you have double 12"s pushing out some serious wattage.

Hope that helps.

Lenny

[GALLA_4]

Owen, I'm not sure how your system is wired up at the moment,

But these are my recomendations.

Head Unit with decent pre outs (3Vs+, 2 or 3 sets depending on if you want a sub or not, i'm sure your HU is fully capable of this)

Mine have 3 sets of 5V outputs,(front, rears and sub)

Front Speakers

These ARE a must, your sound stage will be coming from the front, this where you want to give your budget the SECOND priority.

Kappa 6.5" components fit perfectly, the max output on there are around 110WRMS, your headunit (if 4*50W) will only give 25Wrms.. this underpowering wont make the speakers sound any better then stock, I ran mine like these for a while (when i had a blown amp), think it sounded inferior to stock, and it can even cause damage to speakers. I'm currently borrowing a small 2x35Wrms amp from a mate, for a semi decent sound and to protect the speakers.

REAR SPEAKERS/SUBS

This is a matter of opinion and discussed to death on audio forums. Most people advise for true audiophile sound to only have subs at the back. But some people like a bit of rear fill (Fargo).

I'm going for the space saving option (as I think Colin P has). I have decided it doesnt make sense spending 1k+ on a big amp, subs, boxes, dynamat, and high preformance battery, when it could be spent on/and will be drowned by performance upgrades ;)

So I'm going for Kappa 6*9s to be used in sub mode, all Infinity 6*9s are coaxial, Fargo has installed the Ref range 6*9 (below Kappa) in his with alpine amps, sounds Kriss!! I think these are rated at 100WRms

Again 6*9s will be def needs a decent powerful amp.

AMPs for Speakers

This is where is MOST money should be spent, decent amp will make inferior speakers sound much better then vice versa. I'll probably be going for two little Alpines as they seem to very conservative with there ratings and within my budget. If I had the money, I would go for genesis amps, they are the dogs. And another thing to note is, if you can afford it, its best in the long run to get AMPS rated above the speakers, so the amps dont have to do much work.

WIRING,

Yes this is very important, you need a minimum of 4G power/earth cables. decent gold plated RCA leads, and 12-16g speaker wire. should be between £40-80 for a set. You will completely bypass the OEM wiring and it will be useless for this setup.

OPTIONALS

Dynamat, i've yet to do mine, its brought, but just not installed. So I cant give any 1st hand advice

Battery, you will probably find the LEX battery is quite strained when sitting in traffic (hang on you dont have traffic in ireland:P).. so you might have invest some serious dough again in a high performance battery. This will most likely be case if you have double 12"s pushing out some serious wattage.

Hope that helps.

Lenny

←

Raz

When you mention Amps are you saying I'd need more than 1?

Or a multichannel amp?

Forgive my ignorance but does one channel on an amp go to one speaker, and another channel to another speaker and so on?

How does this sound

A 4 channel amp -

2 of the 4 channels to the front speakers

and 2 of the channels to the rear 6x9's

Then a mono amp to a subwooder in the boot

???????

[LennyLexus]

Yep your setup sounds absolutley fine.

Only reason why i suggested 2x 2channel amps, is because they tend to be cheaper with more powerful outputs (probably to due a higher volume of production/sales)

A Mono D Class amp is perfect for running sub(s)

[Mr Singh]

Owen, I'm not sure how your system is wired up at the moment,

But these are my recomendations.

Head Unit with decent pre outs (3Vs+, 2 or 3 sets depending on if you want a sub or not, i'm sure your HU is fully capable of this)

Mine have 3 sets of 5V outputs,(front, rears and sub)

Voltage isn't too important, if it is, check out the r.m.s. value, thats the figure which counts, not the '4v', '6v' plastered on the front face by most manufactuers... those are merely 'peak' figures.

Your 5v will be 3-3.5v in real terms.

Front Speakers

These ARE a must, your sound stage will be coming from the front, this where you want to give your budget the SECOND priority.

Kappa 6.5" components fit perfectly, the max output on there are around 110WRMS, your headunit (if 4*50W) will only give 25Wrms.. this underpowering wont make the speakers sound any better then stock, I ran mine like these for a while (when i had a blown amp), think it sounded inferior to stock, and it can even cause damage to speakers. I'm currently borrowing a small 2x35Wrms amp from a mate, for a semi decent sound and to protect the speakers.

tonalty wise they should be better, there response is totally different. You can't damage your speakers with less than its 'rated' power handling :) its myth. Even heavily clipped signal would take a while to burn the speaker out. Theres nothing to a speaker to wear it out except if you take it beyond the limits and surround, spider, cone break which is very very rare!!!

You can't beat a dedicated power amp however to power components. There less sensitive that OE speakers due to manufactuer requirements.. Power amp increase dynamic headroom, thats pretty much it!

REAR SPEAKERS/SUBS

This is a matter of opinion and discussed to death on audio forums. Most people advise for true audiophile sound to only have subs at the back. But some people like a bit of rear fill (Fargo).

I'm going for the space saving option (as I think Colin P has). I have decided it doesnt make sense spending 1k+ on a big amp, subs, boxes, dynamat, and high preformance battery, when it could be spent on/and will be drowned by performance upgrades ;)

So I'm going for Kappa 6*9s to be used in sub mode, all Infinity 6*9s are coaxial, Fargo has installed the Ref range 6*9 (below Kappa) in his with alpine amps, sounds Kriss!! I think these are rated at 100WRms

Again 6*9s will be def needs a decent powerful amp.

Does,'t need to be heavy.... Use easy to obtain materials such as - Fibreglass, Resin, Fleece, Birch Ply and light weight subs (neo motors) and it won't weigh much at all.

AMPs for Speakers

This is where is MOST money should be spent, decent amp will make inferior speakers sound much better then vice versa. I'll probably be going for two little Alpines as they seem to very conservative with there ratings and within my budget. If I had the money, I would go for genesis amps, they are the dogs. And another thing to note is, if you can afford it, its best in the long run to get AMPS rated above the speakers, so the amps dont have to do much work.

Wouldn't say most money, i'd say the most power, in r.m.s. is what you should look for. Unless your a sound geek there are exspensive amps, solid state, hybrid tube and all tube amps... 99% of todays car amps are Solid state... You do get what you pay for.

Genesis is a good brand, but there are better :winky:

Amps with less output than the speakers is not an issue. 1600wrms sub with 1000wrms up it ***** will still sing like no tomorrow. 100wrms set of components with 70wrms will still perform exceptionally well. Theres 2 things to understand, Electrical limits and mechnical limits of a speaker. I can make a 1600wrms speaker reach mechanical limits with less than half its rated power handling, very easily... So in the wrong hands with poor setup you can damage the softparts. More power is not a bad thing, Dynamic headroom is all good :winky:

WIRING,

Yes this is very important, you need a minimum of 4G power/earth cables. decent gold plated RCA leads, and 12-16g speaker wire. should be between £40-80 for a set. You will completely bypass the OEM wiring and it will be useless for this setup.

Very important indeed...the ground is very important, so rub down of some paint and a fat bolt and some washers will get that sorted... We sell ALOT of this :winky:

OPTIONALS

Dynamat, i've yet to do mine, its brought, but just not installed. So I cant give any 1st hand advice

Battery, you will probably find the LEX battery is quite strained when sitting in traffic (hang on you dont have traffic in ireland:P).. so you might have invest some serious dough again in a high performance battery. This will most likely be case if you have double 12"s pushing out some serious wattage.

deep cycle batterys are about £120-£150 these days... well worth the money IF you are drawing more than 30A, otherwise stock battery should be okay providing you run the car when the systems on

Hope that helps.

Lenny

←

I hope that helps :P

:winky:

[Mr Singh]

Yep your setup sounds absolutley fine.

Only reason why i suggested 2x 2channel amps, is because they tend to be cheaper with more powerful outputs (probably to due a higher volume of production/sales)

A Mono D Class amp is perfect for running sub(s)

←

Todays 4ch amps are very much upto the job of powering fronts and rears (6x9s)

70-80wrms per channel is AMPLE for full range... Remember look at r.m.s. values, not PEAK!

Sub wise 300-400wrms of class a/b is AMPLE. Class d's should be left to SPL boys, not impressed with the 200-500w class d's on the market... not the cleanest sounding.

[Ellz]

Just to be annoying, can you run new front and rear speakers off the stock headunit, run that threw an amp then to your speakers. I say this because A. i dont have the money for a new HU. B. I like the way the interior looks (dont think aftermarket HU look good in a lexus, part from the flip up screen ones ££££££).

Cheers Elliott

[Mr Singh]

Just to be annoying, can you run new front and rear speakers off the stock headunit, run that threw an amp then to your speakers. I say this because A. i dont have the money for a new HU. B. I like the way the interior looks (dont think aftermarket HU look good in a lexus, part from the flip up screen ones ££££££).

Cheers Elliott

←

Yes, you can use Stock HU, with Aftermarket amp on Aftermarket speakers :)

You simple require a Pre-out convertor....

Prolex sell those if i'm not mistaken?

[LennyLexus]

^^

With Stock HU and amp

Front Comps are an easy and good upgrade. (Going by what I have read on this forum, I'm running them with aftermarket amps, so I have no 1st hand expereince of the sound is like with the stock HU, but check some 02 threads on installing front speakers)

Rears you will need to install a seperate amp!!

I can get the fronts installed for ya at the Cheltenham meet if you like?

Am thanks for the info (from someone in the bizz, instead of talkaudio bods i think you've saved a me a bit of dough too ;)

[GALLA_4]

Guys what would you think of this setup below

This is my current headunit

Max. output power (watts) MOSFET 4 x 60 Watt

DIN output power (DIN45324, +B=14.4 V) 4 x 36 Watt

Max. preout voltage (V / Ohms) 6.5 V

RCA Preout 3 (F + R + S/W)

AMP

PRODUCT INFO

Detail

4x100W RMS at 4 Ohms

4x250W MAX at 4 Ohms

2x400W MAX at 4 Ohms Bridged

4x150W RMS at 2 Ohms

Electronic Crossover Network

Bass Boost Circuit

Bridgeable at 4 Ohms

2 Ohm Stereo Stable

Tri-Mode Capable

Gold Plated RCA Inputs

Line Outs for 1 and 2 Channel

Low Pass Filter Control

High Pass Filter Control

Remote Bass Level Control

Power and Protection LED Indicators

Red Lighting Illumination

Side Leg Mounting

THD: <0.04%.

S/N Ratio: >90dB

Input Sensitivity : 100mV ~4V

Channel Separation : >65dB

Freq. Response : 10Hz ~ 30KHz

Patent Pending

Soft Turn-on/Turn-off

Dimensions : 8.6''(W) x 2.74''(H) x 11.4''(L)

REAR

FRONT

[Mr Singh]

That will be fine.

Whats your budget?

Can probably sort you out something better

PM me if you wish...