Stereo Times Review of the Apogee Acoustics Diva

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!

Yes, the S5s are amazing. I have heard them with Constellations and ARC though never Vitus.

With Arrakis, I would probably stick with my Gryphons since that is what Andy payor uses to voice them, and I really like my Gryphon. But frankly Vitus is exceptional and I believe reasonably similar in voice/character to Gryphon as I understand.

I honestly cannot say which I would go for...I suppose with unlimited space so that Genesis/IRS don't overcrowd the room, I could see myself with those. But there is just something about how deep house sounds on the Rockport Arrakis...incredibly effortless and yet TIGHT...that is just remarkable.