Apogee Duetta II Signature Crossover Caps Recommendations

I too will be getting my Apogee's Duetta 2 Sig's rebuilt as well, I have found from friends that the sprague caps are good caps and have been around for many years, but the Auracaps are better and are much smoother in the mid-range, I don't know much about the Multicap PPMFX
but the Spragues and the Multicap's are priced about the same on Parts Express, But the Auracaps are much more, Now lets talk about sound, well The Apogee Ribbons will NEED POWER so I have two Hafler Transnova's on my ribbons in a mono block config, because I don't want to worry about my amps taking a dive when that impedance dips, I also have Acoustats 2+2 , 6600, and spectra's and I have bought many amps to there knees, Because of the dip, so you will have to factor in the burn in time for your caps. Now if you are ok with building your own stand alone crossover boxs with the caps that you are thinking about using you can't go wrong with that approach, just stay on the same value as the original caps are rated for. that would give you the joy of changing out you caps to what type of music you are listening to at the moment, you have to keep in mind that we have a pair of speakers that are many years old and what happens if the suppler of the ribbons stops making them, That is ALWAYS on the back of my mind like my Acoustats which all of the internal transformers and not labeled with part numbers, I hope that you are not paying a Hefty price for this refresh. you can reach out to me in a Email- Mosleygerald11@yahoo.com and I can provide more information you may need.

Thanks for the info. I’m actually getting mine completely redone by one of Graz’s two U.S trained/authorized shops in the U.S. - Music Technology in Virginia. The other shop is True Sound Works in Nevada. Bill Thalmann @ Music Technology is very skilled and has been refreshing Apogees for over 20 years. Prior to that he was the lead designer at Conrad Johnson and #3 in the company behind the two founders during what many would say is there golden age. These Duettas were originally bought by my dad. He started out with a Counterpoint SA2020 (as I recall) that just didn’t have the needed juice. The base model kept blowing and even the upgraded version wasn’t cutting it. So he moved to a BAT VK-500 with bat pack solid state amp and BAT VK-3i tube preamp with excellent results until I got the speakers from him about 3 years ago. I grew up loving the setup. So, I upgraded and am now running it with a BAT VK-600 with bat pack solid state amp and a BAT VK-6i tube preamp (has more tubes than the VK-3i). It’s a great match with plenty of headroom. Graz recommends the Auracaps while Bill recommends the Multicaps. Bill has installed both over the years and he doesn’t hear much difference between the two. Graz has been not only creating super high quality replacement ribbons for the Apogees since 2001, but he also has been making his own designs improving over the originals for many, many years now (coming out with new models periodically). They get up to $116k and his workshop is in Australia with all of his CNC equipment. I wouldn’t source the parts anywhere else. Apparently there are Asian sources, but they are shady and he has had all kinds of problems with them trying to steal info from him. The rebuild isn’t going to be cheap, but I want it done right and the best quality possible for a lifetime of listening. I’ve got all sorts of information I’ve collected around the speakers since UPS damaged the left channel bass panel (has a buzz at a particular bass frequency) that I’m glad to share as well. Graz links as well as several excellent reviews comparing originals with Graz rebuilds. Cheers!

I’ll add as well that I’ve never detected any midrange graininess. They have always sounded great throughout the frequency range. I’m listening to Bob Seger at the moment and I’m still astounded by how lively and energetic they sound with incredible imaging and tone/timbre without even a hint of ear fatigue. Hence why I’m so hesitant to recap them. I don’t know if you are aware, but the Duettas are extremely fussy about which speaker cables are used. If you haven’t tried them I recommend finding a pair of Swiss Symo LS4X translucent ribbon, bi-wired speaker cables. They are quite affordable if you can track them down.  From what I understand Jason Bloom collaborated with Symo to create cables that were optimal for these speakers. My dad had many conversations directly with Jason in the late 80’s/early 90’s. At one point Jason even asked him to be their marketing manager. He declined because he anticipated they were unfortunately drifting towards insolvency. Once I soon have them refreshed I believe without a doubt they can hold there own with virtually any speakers on the market (current or past) at most any price point.

Hey that is great!! so it seems like you know what direction you want to go in with your Duettas, I have read great things about Mr Graz and the
improvements to the Duettas. Yeah UPS damages eveything they touch
i would not send such a great speaker through them to be shipped, plus they don’t like to pay insurance claims, Like the old saying go’s " WHEN YOU DEFINITELY HAVE TO GET IT THEIR "DAMAGED" UPS CAN DO IT!!! . I have been trying to find the Swiss Symo LS4X translucent ribbon, bi-wire speaker Cables, but has not had luck and I have heard about them being fussy with other cables, BAT audio is very nice gear and it must have sweet Synergy with the Duettas! I live in the San Francisco so
and there are a lot of audio gathering’s out here (b4 COVID) and sometimes I hear of guys getting rid amps, But it is great to hear you have a history with these beautiful speakers. the pair that I have was at a flea-market and had came from a storage locker sale, and the guy that had them at his stall said they are room dividers!! and people kept walking by them saying how nice of a room divider they were. I don’t know much more about them, But if you can share some info you may have that would be great, How much are you going to invest in your rebuild? b4 you stop. I included my email if you what to send me some info, I want to rebuild the WHOLE SPEAKER. when I got them one of the bass panels had a rip in it and the tweeter on the right side would not play, so they need a full rebuild for shure,I have heard of the guys in Nevada and may send them another email, they did not respond to the first one I sent, I need to know who they use for a shipper and then what are there procedures for sending the set to them, I will build wooden shipping boxes for them. take care my friend :)