Apogee Scintilla Power

Sure would have loved to have heard those 2 VHC's on Scintillas. The ultimate match. 

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the Sunfires will stay in the collection for now. There is a 600 as well. I think the 300 is 1200w at 1ohm. Quite remarkable. Will check out Magnus and TNT. 

I tried a McIntosh MC7270 and it did not get close to the Sunfires. The Mc has a 1ohm connection terminal that is achieved through the autoformer. Ran fine, cool, etc. but did not have the punch of the SF.

Scintilla’s for $900 a deal for sure. But most likely would have required some work. Could have cost you 5-6K in the end, without a fancy finish. Based on what i have heard (which may be limited) worth it. Of course my Dynaco A25’s i picked up at goodwill for $35 sound pretty sweet...:). 

Thanks for the additional input. DR-3’s definitely on the list.

Great thought on the autoformers. What is interesting is that my Mc MC7270 has autoformers and a 1 ohm connection did not sound great with the, Scintilla’s. Sounds great with many other speakers. Would love to try the Zeros. Not cheap. 

Thanks for the Wolcott tip! While i am certainly a tube fan with some really great sounding older CJ tube amps i am going to try to make SS work for the Scintillas. Certainly much debate around which is better and attributes for each i value. The apogee ribbons really do respond to control which is why the H2O class D of Henry Ho’s is so highly regarded. I read somewhere that Bob Carver has some new tube designs set up for hard loads (like 1 ohm Scintilla). Something tells me this could be a really good option if within reach financially. 

Good point on the Class D. Whatever Henry Ho created with his H2O amplifiers he definitely designed them to work with 1 ohm Scintillas. Cannot speak to the exact design elements. 

Control, was the wrong term regarding tubes on the ribbons.  I can say that when I biamp my Apogee Duetta signatures I use my CJ Premier 11a on the high end and it is an unbelievable combination. I wish the Premier 11A sounded as good on my, Scintillas. The Scintillas have a more complex ribbon for the high end which includes additional ribbons for midrange. Maybe just not enough power at 70wpc. Still have not given up with this approach for, Scintillas. Obviously with biamping with passive crossovers everything has to be gain matched.

Thanks for the advice and there is quite a bit of old discussion around Krell, etc. Looking for reliability and more modern approach. SS or tubes. Maybe Pass Labs. Great but expensive. 

Sorry, as noted in the opening of this thread the Scintillas are not for sale (or the subs I needed before the Scintillas that have been repurposed in friends systems) or my Duetta Signatures, or my Dynaco A25’s or my Polk SDA’s or my Klipsch LaScala’s and old BGW and Crown stuff and.....a long list of audio brilliance in its own way....what a great hobby.....or should i say great affliction. 

 Actually maybe I do have a problem should have a sale.....:).

The only thing i “bet” is that some people may like my stereo system and some may not...and depending on my mood and the barometric pressure i can tend to vary on my satisfaction level as well......:)

Great feedback. Confirmation as well as some new thoughts.

For my Apogee Duetta Signatures the Mc MC7270 (with autoformer) works pretty well but my CJ MF2500a (bipolar) is fantastic. Using it in a bi-wire configuration is most coherent. Using it with my CJ Premier 11a on high end in gain matched (26db), passive bi-amp set up is also VERY good with tube magic on the MRTW ribbons just a bit lagging with some attack transients (ie.guitar strings, piano, etc.).

For my Apogee Scintilla's the Mcintosh MC7270 runs out of gas. It can definitely handle the load fine with autoformers. The CJ MF2500a works well on the high end MRTW ribbons but does heat up. The CJ Premier 11a cannot play anywhere with the, Scintillas. The Sunfire 300's with Scintilla mod speak for themselves. I have recently picked up a Plinius SA250 MkIV that is being refreshed and turned into a Reference. Has proven to operate steady at 1ohm load handling scintilla dips down to .85ohms with high power and current. Operates in class A and class AB for some flexibility and energy savings. We shall see how it goes. Plinius, will be done in a month but Scintilla rework is a few months out for the ultimate test. When that happens I will get some feedback out for anyone that may be interested. Thanks again for  all the feedback.