Infinity Kappa 9's

you haven't said what your budget is, but I gather from your post you's shooting for closer to $500 than to $1000. I'm sure others can be more helpful than I but you'll want to specify this.

I'm not familiar with the Kappa9's, although I have a pair of B&M M200 Sonata's which I bought from a guy who was using them to drive Kappa's. I would think the M200's are a good choice for them. Do you know which B&K Model Amps he was using (ie that he burned up)? M200s are very stable to low impedance (ie <2ohms), and they can be found for <$600, and sometimes <$500 for a pair.

Further, I'm not familiar with the Parasound HCA 1200's either, but I have owned HCA1000's, HCA1203, HCA1205, and HCA2200. I prefer the B&K M200 Sonata's to all of them. The HCA2200 is the only one of them that is close to the M200s, but I sold my HCA2200 because I prefer the M200s. I still think the HCA2200 is a great amp and would also be a good choice for the Kappas. You can probably find one for $650 or so.

sorry about that. I have $1,600 right now to spare.

Kappa 9's need very high current amps. krell Ksa 250 will drive the #$%^ out of them without any strain and do so cleanly with outstanding sonics. Rated at 250 a side into 8 and 2000 into 1 ohm. The krell are cheap right now because they produce a lot of heat from Class A operation. the ksa 250 is smooth not shrill in any way the 9's will like this.

The 9's are a notorious load that dip below 1 0hm. Many amps will see that as a short and automatically shut down . For amps, consider Aragon 8008 and Palladium monos or Spectron. There is no such thing as overkill for those speakers but, as your friend will confirm, underkill is easy and more likely to be fatal.

Other than that, the Kappa 8's are an easier load, shorter, lighter, and don't sacrifice much of the bass.