New Class-D Amps - Infinity Kappa

[Babs]

Ok, so I promise I did search but didn't see anything so Andy can probably tell us all about these, but they certainly look promising. Nice classy chassis, I'd say.. Discuss....




Infinity Kappa Four 4-channel amplifier — 125 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield.com

Infinity - Car Audio

... Andy shall we say the Infinity site attempts to stay "light"? hehe.. shooo! Well, it works! Can't say that for some shmancy fancy big-name sites sometimes.

But gooooood lookin' amps I think.

[AAAAAAA]

It does look good, but it seems prety big for a FR class D.

[tyroneshoes]

same size as the kenwood and about an inch bigger than the pdx

[DS-21]

Nice to see Harman back in the game. They had the first class D car amps of which I was aware.

[unpredictableacts]

Why not elminate the infinity line all together and create a High end Harman line? Just saying.

One thing( everyone has always gotta put their two cents in) I wished manufactors would put the RCAs in put next to each other to help clean up wiring and installs.

[SSSnake]

Unfortunately not really stackable (IMO a big plus for the PDX and HD)

[gunn234]

RJ-45 jacks for balanced inputs?

[BeatsDownLow]

Originally Posted by DS-21

Nice to see Harman back in the game. They had the first class D car amps of which I was aware.

US AMPS had the first d class amp I believe

[Babs]

Originally Posted by gunn234

RJ-45 jacks for balanced inputs?

Yeah I just noticed that.. That's an odd one.. Or the first I've noticed on amps.
Can't find any mention of those inputs.. I dunno, that might accomodate some kind of supplied harness into an RJ45 plug of possibly? hmmm

[el_chupo_]

Originally Posted by AAAAAAA

It does look good, but it seems prety big for a FR class D.

aren't PDX amps ~8.5x10.5?

and these are ~7x13 so an almost identical area taken up by the amp, just a little different shape.

But the all one side connections of the PDX help a bit with size.

[Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX]

Originally Posted by unpredictableacts

Why not elminate the infinity line all together and create a High end Harman line? Just saying.

One thing( everyone has always gotta put their two cents in) I wished manufactors would put the RCAs in put next to each other to help clean up wiring and installs.

They would lose brand recognition, obviously it does a LOT for infinity, cause people keep buying there crappy ass speakers..

[Babs]

ooops double post

[Babs]

Awe but man, for less than two bills for comps, they served me well in my old un-deadened trooper for a loooooow budget setup that was certainly better than stock..

Yeah by higher golden-ear standards the older kappa tweets were ear-bleeders, but hey, they're sub $200 comps for super-budget installs and the new ones are supposed to be a good bit improved. No certainly not SEAS, Vifa, Scan-speak DIY drivers for sure, but for a kid doing his first install on a shoe-string budget, you could do worse I'd think.

Back in the day (early-mid 90's), HK had a line of hand-rubbed piano finish BIIIIIG floorstanders that were surpassed by no other speaker CCity sold.. Weren't bad at all for mid-fi for sure. Sure wish I could find anything online about them. Can't remember the model#.

[imjustjason]

Originally Posted by DS-21

Nice to see Harman back in the game. They had the first class D car amps of which I was aware.

Why yes, yes they did. The DPA-275 & the DPA-250. Just traded the last ones I had . Great little amps, about 6"x8"... 200w mono on the 275, the 250 wasn't bridgeable.

[BeatsDownLow]

Originally Posted by imjustjason

Why yes, yes they did. The DPA-275 & the DPA-250. Just traded the last ones I had . Great little amps, about 6"x8"... 200w mono on the 275, the 250 wasn't bridgeable.

When were these made? US amps showed the forst class d amp at the 1992 IASCA final, it was 100 watts

"Founded in 1986, U.S. Amps have always been at the forefront of Car Audio design and technology. Some of their achievements and industry firsts include the first amplifier with no negative feedback, the first half-ohm stable amplifier and Magnetic Loop Regulation amplifier protection back in 1988, the worlds first dual board strapped power amplifiers in 1991, the world's first class D amplifier shown at the 1992 IASCA finals, and the worlds first dual torroid “master-slave” power supply in 1996"

[imjustjason]

Originally Posted by BeatsDownLow

When were these made? US amps showed the forst class d amp at the 1992 IASCA final, it was 100 watts

"Founded in 1986, U.S. Amps have always been at the forefront of Car Audio design and technology. Some of their achievements and industry firsts include the first amplifier with no negative feedback, the first half-ohm stable amplifier and Magnetic Loop Regulation amplifier protection back in 1988, the worlds first dual board strapped power amplifiers in 1991, the world's first class D amplifier shown at the 1992 IASCA finals, and the worlds first dual torroid “master-slave” power supply in 1996"

Hmmm... same timeframe 92ish. I have an article from CSR reviewing the DPA-275 and it states that it is the first class D. I think the article was in a 93 CSR... I'll dig it out this evening and see when it came out. Sounds like they debuted them around the same time. I wonder whose really was first.

[Andy Wehmeyer]

Originally Posted by BeatsDownLow

US AMPS had the first d class amp I believe

Yamaha YPA-800 was the first one I remember--1980-something. Sony had one around the same time. Infinity's first was the SWAMP--that was a home ampo and the first Infinity Class-D car amp was the DPA-275.

[Babs]

So Andy, What's the story with the RJ45 inputs on these new ones? And of course any other great niceties you wanna share about 'em.

[BeatsDownLow]

Originally Posted by imjustjason

Hmmm... same timeframe 92ish. I have an article from CSR reviewing the DPA-275 and it states that it is the first class D. I think the article was in a 93 CSR... I'll dig it out this evening and see when it came out. Sounds like they debuted them around the same time. I wonder whose really was first.

I guess it would be hard to tell, I was kinda thinking either one of the 2 were toting their own horn by saying they had the first, ya I probably should have put car amp in there also since I have no clue about home audio

[BeatsDownLow]

Originally Posted by Andy Wehmeyer

Yamaha YPA-800 was the first one I remember--1980-something. Sony had one around the same time. Infinity's first was the SWAMP--that was a home ampo and the first Infinity Class-D car amp was the DPA-275.

Do you know when that was fisrt in production?, just curiouis as to really had the first class d amp, not that it really matters

[imjustjason]

Originally Posted by BeatsDownLow

I guess it would be hard to tell, I was kinda thinking either one of the 2 were toting their own horn by saying they had the first, ya I probably should have put car amp in there also since I have no clue about home audio

I believe that's the answer. Could be either one. The Infinity is the first I remember... because it was soooo small.

[kevin k.]

John Ulrick, formerly of Infinity, had been using Class D's since the early 70's. When I met first him he had recently started a company named 'Spectron' and they displayed their car audio line of speakers, regular amps reminiscent of AudioMobile, and their new 'digital' amps, as they were called, at the 1981 CES Show. The d's could be held in the palm of your hand. Those amps never made it to production and Spectron dropped car audio shortly thereafter and has since gone on to do rather well in home audio with their amplifiers.

[Andy Wehmeyer]

Infinity SWAMP was 1975. DPA 275/250 was 1992.

[WLDock]

The amps are not bad looking at all. By looking at the side pictures there are no speaker level input plugs shown so the RJ-45 must be for the "differential balanced speaker level inputs" that are listed in the features. They just got clever with RJ-45 terminals.

[Babs]

I was thinking the RCA inputs themselves are differential-balanced ins, correct?