Amperage for Apogees??


I just acquired a pair of Apogee Divas. Presumably, amps have come a long way since these were built. Can anyone recommend either newer or "oldie but goodie" amps and/or preamp/amp combos to really drive the most out of these full range ribbons? Thanks!
kbrannon
Find the Tandberg 3016A, this amp was designed specifically to drive the Apogee Schintillas, known for their 1ohm load!
Let's get real. The Marantz MA700 Monoblock will deliver close to 800 watts of dynamic power into 1 ohm, 830 watts into 2 ohms, and 350 watts continuous into 4 ohms. At $500 list per monoblock, for $1000 you have all you could want in an amp for the Apogee. THX certified of course. No very "in" with the tweekies but hey do you want good sound or are you going to buy a 9 watt triode tube for $10k? Go figure!
Just heard the Apogees driven by two Sony TA-N55ES stereo amps, (list $580 each) each run MONO, which gives 500 watts per amp into 4 ohms, and has enough current to drive the low impedence. Result? Grand, liquid, clean sound. But of course, it will sound equally well using any powerful, quality, solid state amplifier with a high damping factor, low distortion, and high current capability, regardless of the manufacturer. This restates the previous posting of finding a reasonably priced amplifier with high current capacity to drive the Apogees.
The Divas really aren't nearly as difficult to drive as the Apogee name seems to suggest (mostly a Scintilla related stereotype). The one problem can be the number of amps needed due to crossover configuration (can use a single stereo unit with the passive crossover...may need 6 channels with the DAX). The Diva sounds incredible with Krell amplification (Best I ever heard was with KRS series, but was also outstanding with KMA-200 and even KMA-160....would not use any Krell after the KSA-150/250/MDA-300/500 generation). Another great match was a pair of Classe DR-9 amps (which can be found at around $1k each on used market) As with Krell, not fond of newer Classe units and the DR-9 was especially good example of the breed. Briefly heard Divas with Adcom 555 amps and they did a fine job for amps on the very cheap, though I wouldn't choose them myself for such a setup.
I have the Tandberg 3016A and it`s a great. Tandberg will deliver 1,2KW power into 1 ohm. I use the Martin Logan Aerius.
in the old days, the amp to play these with was the adcom 555II. i must be running about 2 ohms with my setup and never a whimper. theyre cheeep and easy to unload. you may not want to unload. its a good inexpensive amp a guy could afford to keep around for experimenting with anyway.
Try our web forum, the best place to share information about Apogee Acoustics speakers and ancilliary equipment. The URL is: http://audioworld.com/cgibin/sw/Ultimate.cgi Matt Carnicelli Co-Founder, Apogee Acoustics Users Group