I lived with a pair of Stages for almost 10 years. In all of that time and up to today I have NEVER heard a loudspeaker that could best the midrange of the Stages. The Stages are magic =period=. That doesn't mean that they were the best speaker ever made. The Innersound Isis and Eros, ML Prodigy, Soundlab and a host of other speakers were subjectively better in the context of overall sound. In my opinion the Stages were a very special product offering and way ahead of their time. For midrange realism they are the best. I sold mine 8 months ago and yes, there are times when I miss them.
Apogee Stage: Midrange Magic?
I had a pair of Apogee Stage loudspeakers for a few years before selling them and trying a pair of Martin Logan SL3s. Although I found the Stage and its image height a bit vertically challenged and I never tried the integral subs, I must say that I had some moments of midrange magic with the Apogees, using a Jadis JPL pre-amp, Mark Levinson No. 30 and a trusty old Aragon 4004. Joni Mitchell's Blue seemed particularly chilling and immediate, as I recall -- MUCH more so than my SL3s or Magneplanars which I have owned in the past. Does anyone agree that those ribbons had something special in the mids or am I imagining it? Would the midrange have been even better with the subs? Any other candidates for midrange champions? Is midrange fetish the straightest path to audio nirvana? Let's hear your thoughts.