Need pre-amp help for Kappa 9 & Adcom GFA-555mkii

They are both right its the amp but they are also wrong to get the best out of a Kappa 9 you need a good overpowered amp not a new pre. Get an amp with some midrange boost the harshness is probablty the amp desperately trying to drive the low end if you could rig a bi-amp that would be ideal with a sweet tube amp on top. $save your money and get some speakers that have the sound you want. Try big used Paradigms etc.

You might be able to find a used Carver c-19 tube preamp in your price range. The Carver C-16 solid state will be a good choice for you also. I currently own both of these preamps, but I am not using either of them right now (they are not for sale). Both of them have tone controls. At one time, they served as my main preamps with my Kappa 9's and performed well for the money spent and no bright sound.

I currently use the Kappa 9's with an Audio Research Ref 2 Mk2 preamp and Carver Silver 9t monoblocs and there is none of the bright sound you are experiencing.

Josh, maybe I am simply repeating what some have already mentioned, but the brightness that comes from the Kappas has EVERYTHING to do with amplification issues rather than the preamp. What I have read from some owners, about the harshness issue is that it is often the product of the amp being underpowered from current and wattage standpoint...I have to respectfully disagree with someone who stated that the Adcom produces enough power or about a Carver amplifier with 200 watts.... I own a pair of Kappa 9s and I have to say that you have to avoid Carvers like the plague, had two Mt 4.0 as monos, running close to 600+ watts per channel and they are realistic watts...Be very carefully at shopping for the best # of watts for $$$.

From the practical standpoint, it is expensive to bi amp these beasts with tube amps on top and SS in the bottom

But

Remember that the Infinity Kappa line, until around 1993-4 was designed by Andy Nudel, who went on to found Genesis Loudspeaker technologies (cost $$$$$.) You have a keeper that will beat the pants down ANY PARADIGM, anytime.

Recommendations:

Buy a very heavy current amplifier that can hold on to the Kappas as they attempt to give you slamming bass at 30 hz...Their impedance dips somewhere between 1 and 2 ohms. There are very few amplifiers that are designed to work at that impedance....Not the Adcom or any low amplifier as stated above.

Check out

ARAGON 8008B
ARAGON 400...forgot the designation
SUNFIRE SIGNATURE which gives out 600 watts per channel with up to 2000 watts on demand for short bursts(you can biamp with these, because it has two pairs of speaker outputs)
MACINTOSH SS (heavy, 100 LBS beasts)...can be old, but these output massive amperage to keep the Kappas happy.
PARASOUND Monos.

For the time being, I would be careful overdriving the Kappas with the Adcom. the Emit tweeters WILL be damaged if not given enough juice.

Do not be disincouraged...You have a great pair of speakers, but they need excellent amplification. You can hunt for a preamp later.

An excellent preamp for used prices is the Sumo Athena I or II that can be had for about $150-300.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Sunfire Signature a Bob Carver design? I used the the Rsb 3 speakers with The Reciever by Carver (200 a side) and it sounded very nice. No harshness in the upper end. But you are right Bemopti maybe more than 200 hundred a side is needed because The Reciever never gave me the slam in the bottom end that I wanted. I remember hearing the Kappa 9 at a CES stereo show in Santa Monica and they were using Denon amps. Very clean sound but no image of any kind because they had the speakers at least and I'm not kidding you 25 feet apart. Who picks these people who set up their equipment. I would hazard a guess that they call their boss Uncle Ralph?

There are few amps that can deal with the Kappa 9's vicious load. I believe it dips to under 2 ohms. I'm actually impressed the Adcom keeps running as that says alot for the Adcom. Two amps I know that will drive that speaker well, my choice would be an Innersound ESL, it's going to drive anything and sound relaxed doing so, it will drive 1/2 ohm!
Another amp is the Parasound HCA 3500. Do a search here on Audiogon as this has been brought up before. It seems like one guy was having most amps he tried shut down. That speaker is one of the most difficult loads I'm aware of.