Apogee Mini Grand Questions


I'm looking at a used pair of apogee Mini Grands locally.
They appear mint, very well taken care of. I've heard the Calipers before & I did like them a lot. My video (living)
room is 32' by 13' feet with video at one end, these will be set up in 2 channel at the other end. I'll audition them w/my Aragon 4004MKII &/or Pass Aleph 2s. I've been told these have an internal crossover. I can borrow a Pass X-350 from my friendly local dealer if I want....
Any suggestions on setting up these Apogees to get them dialed in quickly? I can audition them for a few days.

Thanks!

Daniel
danielk141
Audioworld hosts a lively forum for Apogee lovers over the world.

http://audioworld.com/cgibin/sw/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=1&SUBMIT=Go

The Pass is wonderful. The 350 is more than you need for the panels/ribbons. Krell is too ss for the Stage. I used tubes on my Stage speakers. The usual set up for Minigrands is to biamp or triamp.
I have some comments about Muralman1's comments:

1. Mini Grand's must be actively bi-amped.

2. You can NEVER have too much power.

3. If Krell "is too ss" for Stages, why did Jason Bloom of Apogee use them.
Jason Bloom was using the Krell years ago. If he were still in the business, I doubt very much he would restrict his amp choice to old favorites. I have a friend who was running his Minigrands with a Krell/Aragon. After I demonstrated my tube amp on his Stage, he sold the Krell and is now using the hybrid Llano Trinity, with the Aragon below. With such a revealing speaker, Krells and many other ss amps sound too dry and grainy.

The Stage was designed to use amps in the 100 watt range and an upper limit clearly stated of 200 watts. If you are like my friend, who is very conservative with the volume knob, you can put any mega beast on the stage, but one has to ask, why?

I did mention the Minigrand is usually biamped or triamped.
Why?

Because all else being equal, a "mega beast" even at lower volumes will peform more fluidly and effortlessly than a less powerful amp.

Like RAM in your computer and HP in your car, there is never too much power.
I appreciate all the input! I've had these set up now since last Sunday. The subs work just fine in my room, which has a bass bump at 30 hertz.
I woud say the DAX is the weakest link in the system. I'm planning to get a pair of the Vandersteen filters to roll off the Stages at 80 hertz, then the crossover will only be processing the subs.
These are the best speakers I've had in my home, they do sound better to me than my last favorite long term speaker -Magnepan MG 3.3rs. I really do like the sound of ribbons!
I haven't been on the web or watching video since I first listened to these. My living room has about 20 of my favorite CDs on the couch, I just keep saying WOW, this is excellent 2 channel!

Daniel