Apogee Duetta Signature: Optimum placement


I am setting up the Duetta Sigs in a room 16' x 15' with an 8' ceiling. I have them on the 15' wall 20" from the side walls and 36" from the rear. The distance between the left & right m/t ribbon sections are 7'. The tip back is 2.5" or 2.5 degrees. The toe in is 1/2". Listening position is 9'. What changes do I need to make to this basic configuration to acheive the best sound? I am using an ASR amp which provides 290 watts at @ 4 ohms & 520 @ 2 ohms. The speakers have a single run of speaker wire and jumpered on the back terminals. I have, but not installed the crossover upgrade kit (came with the speakers) for the caps, resistors & inductors. How much difference does the upgrade make? Is it worth the hassel of taking apart the speakers to install it??
128x128darrell
Duettas are very forgiving when it comes to placement. That is, compared to other Apogees. I had mine all over the place without noticing major sound shifts. With my Scintillas, that is another matter entirely. The position you have them now is really a good one. It's easy to experiment. I would follow Sogood's advice and move them out to four feet just to see. Your amp is perfectly adequate.

I am using one small digital Acoustic Reality eAR for my Scintillas. This amp does it all. I have a better bass than even a Krell can muster, mids the equal of the best tube amps, and highs are sweet. Detail is way beyond all conventional amps, and the leading edge is instantaneous.

Unfortunately, there is no state side support available.
My amps power suppy (The ASR Emitter One Exclusive) is enclosed in a separate chassis. It also has a pure dc battery supply that powers the preamp section. The amp can provide 2 x 700 watts at 1 ohm so I don't think it is lacking. The suggestion of moving the speaker out to 4 feet makes sense. The backwave from the panel may be bouncing off the rear wall and since it is out of phase with the front wave launch it could be partially canceling the bass energy as it meets it in the front of the speaker.

The jumpers I know have to go, It's just hard to spend another 1800 for another set of cables.

Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Darrell

Didn't mean to sound like your amp did not have enough power, My point was more of a reference to the speakers. The Ksa-250's output into one ohm load is almost three times greater than your amp..yet when the speakers were bi-amped their bass response improved right along with the mids and highs. This has led me to beleave that even a more powerful amp than the Ksa-250 (the Ksa 300s comes to mind) could improve bass response even more. Just something to keep in mind down the road as we explore these great speakers.

Dave
Darrell,
With all due respect to Sogood51, I beg to differ on one point, unless you are planning on moving to active bi-amping, I would recommend you upgrade the crossover. Since you already have the components, an afternoon's work will be handsomely rewarded by more clarity, more definition and detail, and better soundstaging. Also I found that mounting the crossover on an external panel independent of and placed behind the speaker (I use maple planks) makes a huge improvement in the sound. It is relatively easy to A/B this (once the front has been removed) by detacting the stock crossover and listening. I believe all but the inductor for the bass is mounted on one piece of hard board and this board can easily dismounted from the speaker w/o disconnecting the wiring---I think 2 screws and silicon glue are all that hold it in place. Also I found that replacing the stock pikes with stainless steel cones makes a significant improvement in the sound---this has been probably the most cost effective tweak I've come across.