2. speakers
  3. 1265929018

Best Amp to drive my Apogee Stages?

Greetings all.
I am wondering if I might get some good suggestions from anyone who might be firmiliar with the Apogee Stages. I have owned them for quite awhile, but due to blowing up my Krell (300i)intergrated amplifier more than once now (a $400 bill to fix it each time) I beleive that it is time to buy the right amplifier for the job. I need more power for sure, but my wallet is light these days. This means that I must minimize my purchase to something definitly under $2K and even more like $1200 price range. This seems to limit me quite a bit in my findings, but I am wondering if I might have missed something with my research so far? I have reviewed Krell, Levinson, Pass Labs and Threshold to date. Each have older options in my price range, but I am not certain if any will work better with my speakers?

Any thoughts out there?

Thank you in advance.

-LoveItLoud
loveitloud
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
I ran my Stage for a while as a Stage-etta...Stage/Duetta. The Stage reproducing highs and mids, along with upper bass...and the Duetta bass panel handling bass from around 80hz-25hz. (The mix of the two sounded outstanding!).

My Stage are the MiniGrands...but the Duetta Signature bass, is better sounding than the MiniGrand subwoofers.

Sadly, one of my Stage now has the dreaded Apogee bass panal BUZZZZZZZ...so the good one is now working as my center channel speaker.

Dave
loveitloud OP
8 posts
 
Hello Dave/All,
Are there any sound differences between the original Apogee stages vs. the mini-grand (top portion) speakers? Besides age of course. I do know that the build is slightly different. Is that as far as it goes or it there more to it?
-LitL
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
The latter built Stage, and MiniGrand Stage are pretty much the same...the MiniGrand with a nicer looking cover, AFAIK. (and of course the expensive dedicated crossover, and two subwoofers)

The MiniGrand bass extends to around 25hz with the subwoofers...right there with the Duetta Signature.

Dave
gallant_diva
143 posts
 
LitL:

If you or your dad are in DFW area, drop me an email and we will setup a listening session at my place. I think I have a good collection of CD and Vinyl but bring your own too.

Krell KSA-100 is a good amp. I am not sure if re-capping is necessary. May be 20 more years later or it is just a hype
gallant_diva
143 posts
 
LitL:

In earlier version there was no difference. The original Stage stand was replaced by the subwoofer panel for the Minigrand. The Stage would just atop the subwoofer panel just like it did on the stand. My Minigrand Stages were no different from the other subwoofer-less Stages that I owned. personally, I do not care about the subwoofer panel so much.

However, I have seen slighlt different look of the Stage that came with later versions of the Minigrand. I do not know if there was any sonic difference though. Probably not.
More to discover