Stereo Times Review of the Apogee Acoustics Diva


Hi folks, I found this excellent review of the Apogee Diva by Christiaan Punter for Stereotimes. Christian compares new and refurbed Duettas & also provides pics of the crossovers as well as setup advice. Highly recommended if you're an Apogee fan!
melbguy1
Can anyone who has experience with Apogee's and Infinity IRS speakers describe how refurbed Diva's stand up against the Infinity IRS-Gamma, Beta and/or IRS-V? Cheers.
Great question Melbguy1...I always remember the Apogee Stage...what a great speaker that was...and for $1K second hand, a steal imho.

I have heard the Genesis 1.1s...remarkable but boy are they BIG!

Would love hear how the big Apogees (Apogee Grand?) stack up as well.
Lloyd, another speaker I didn't mention (mainly due to its amp-killing reputation :o) is the 1 ohm Apogee Scintilla. But you need a lot of iron to drive those gorillas! :)

Given an adequate size listening room, the Genesis 1.1's would be my dream speakers, however my current listening room and budget prohibit such flights of fancy. But perhaps in 6-7 years or so I might be in a position to move house & find a good 2nd hand pair within my price range. With Vitus gear upstream, that would be a good system to retire with..
I hear you Melbguy1,

Those things are H-U-G-E. I have a good friend who owns them...he uses all-Kondo electronics...the best of their best stuff. And it sounds remarkable.

Have you heard the Rockport Arrakis? I have heard it tri-amped with VTL Siegried II monos with a Rockport Sirius III and Clearaudio Statement TT...whew!!!

Between the two, close call for me.

Would love to have heard the Scintillas or Apogee Grand...
Lloyd, those are some awesome systems you heard & amongst the best in the world. Though personally if cost was no object and I wanted to go all-out on tri-amping the Arrakis, i'd run 3 Vitus MP-S201's connected to a Vitus MP-L201 linestage.

Yeah my plan is if I buy a piece of land in future, i'll get an architect-designed house built to my specs with a dedicated listening room custom-sized to the ideal dimensions for the G1.1's, even though they may come along later. I would still choose the G1.1's over the Arrakis (even if I could afford the latter) for sentimental reasons due to how the Infinity IRS-V's blew me away. Also with the G1.1's bass amps, you only need a high current stereo amp to drive the midrange panels which obviously saves big bucks.

From my experience, the IRS-V and later G1.1/1.2 line arrays are the only speakers capable of recreating a life-like image and concert level dynamics. They are also more room friendly than normal box speakers due to their figure 8 radiation pattern. I have to smile though as i'm far from slumming it with my Magico S5's!