Apogee vs Soundlab

Here is a list of Apogee dealer/installers...I don't know where you are located:

http://www.apogeeacoustics.com/installers.html

In my opinion, it's always better to listen for yourself. These guys, can get you a brand new pair...or rebuild an old pair for you.

Soundlab dealers should be fairly easy to find.

Dave

Dazzdax, living in the UK its very difficult to find dealers with Sound Labs and none to listen to with different tube amps, and as I have had ARC tube amps for many years I thought that the new 210's would be a good match. I was wrong!
They don't have the reserve of output power in the new transformers to keep up with the U1's and kept clipping and the bass response was slow.
After the fact, I contacted a couple of SoundLab dealers in the USA and they suggested several different makes of amps, both SS & Tube, with which they and customers had satisfactory experiences. I don't think either one had tried the 210's with them but both thought it was not a good match.
The Apogees might - or rather should be - more reliable these days with all the improvements and mods that have come along, but back then I couldn't afford the repairs or the Krell amps to drive them.

Apogee versus soundlab is a wrong question. It all depends on what is the chain of components driving them and their synergy and finally your own taste in sound.

But big VTL? gimme a break, it is a totally medicore amp. I owned it and failed to understand the hype.

You're right of course. It is the chain, not just the speakers. Interesting your unhappiness with VTL. Which amp was it? I am asking, because I might buy a pair of Siegfrieds and would value your opinion.

Lots of good points here but like many have hinted, you have to determine a price range and then do a shootout between the models by each company in that price range. To conclude that one brand here is better than another is a futile attempt for a simplistic answer.

I owned Maggie 3.3 and 3.5 for a combined 6 years. And then I heard the SoundLab U1 and A1. I ended up with the A1's.

The Maggies were NOT even close in so many ways. The Maggie series 20 was only marginally refined over the series 3.X compared to the significant improvement with the A1's. The A1's have a top-to-bottom tonal coherency the Maggies could only dream of. With the Maggies I had to really push the level up to get some serious dynamic contrasts; this is not necessary with the A1's. And I can sit anywhere in the room with the SLs and enjoy the performance vs. the rather narrow sweet spot with the Maggies. But really it is all about the low-level detail and clarity throughout the range that sets the A1's way ahead of the Maggies. Comparisons here were with both speakers in my home with Wolcott 220 monos and CAT JL-3 monos. I now run exclusively with the JL-3's into the A1's.

I also had a chance to directly compare the Maggie 3.5s to the Duetta and there were pros/cons of each. Each speaker outperformed the other at opposite ends of the frequency spectrum. And both speakers played effortlessly - no strain. Overall I preferred the 3.5s. Perhaps the top-tiered Apogee models resolve many problems with the lesser priced models, but after hearing all the praise about Apogees, I came away from this audition somewhat disappointed.

The A1's have an incredible coverage into the bottom octave. I have no doubt that other speakers out there have more punch, but what the A1's do here is truly impressive. As for depth, well, I have the A1's 6 feet into the room and to sit nearfield gives a most incredible degree of depth behind the speakers. With the JL-3s and the new Aria WV preamp, it's hard to imagine that things get much better.

I think it truly comes down to how good the amp is and the associated equipment. Even a mediocre IC in the chain could easily sway someone in one direction or another.

As for why the 200wpc ARC amp struggled with the SoundLab speakers, I am not surprised. Compare the output transformer in the ARC to that in the CAT and it should be obvious why the CAT controls these speakers and the ARC has a hard time. ARC amps are fine for flat 8-ohm loads.....not SL's or Apogees or even Maggies for that matter!

Ultimately you need to compare amp/speaker combinations rather than simply speaker to speaker. One amp could be a killer with one speaker and not so good with the other and vice versa.