Apogee stage with VTL MB250 sig

I have a pair of MiniGrands.... my Rogue 120 Magnums drive the Stage panel just fine. I would think the VTL's would be even better at it.

Some people who buy Apogees (and Maggies too) dearly miss the bass slam that they can get from point source box speakers...they think that the fix for this is more power.

Truth is, this only works to a small degree with the dipole panels (they don't have unlimited flex)...and they will still not be point source.

I also have another pair of Apogees (Duetta Signatures) that I use in my room. The Rogue tube amps drive these just fine also....the Rogues replaced my long time Krell Ksa-250 around 3 years ago.

Truth is, the Rogues won't play the Apogees nearly as loud as the big Krell could....but I don't care, because I don't listen loud... (75db on average-90db peaks is plenty for me) and the Rogues can do that without any problems.

All that said, I to want a little bass thump sometimes (rock music/movies)....my fix, subwoofers.

Dave

It is not the power output but the amplifier's ability to handle low impedances that is so critical with Apogees (and many other fine loudspeakers).

I learned this lesson the hard way with, coincidentally, Apogee Stages. Way back in 1990 when the Stages were first introduced, I heard a pair at a local dealer and instantly fell in love with them. At that time I had a Carver amp, one that used some type of switching power supply gimmick to generate large power ratings (it was a TFM-45 I think). This same dealer also carried Carver and assured me that my amp would drive the Stages fine. I bought the Stages on the spot and hurried home to hook them up to my Carver system. Boy was he wrong. Less than five minutes after powering up the amp with the new Stages, wickedly bright blue-white arcs of light shot out of both tweeter ribbons simultaneously while playing at low volume. No more ribbons!

Turns out, the Carver amp, with its switching power supply, became unstable and dumped pure DC to the Stages. The dealer was promptly required to replace the Stages with new ones due to his bumm advice and the Carver amp was replaced by a Classe' Audio DR-25, which worked beautifully will all of my Apogees over the years.

Be careful about what amplifier(s) you use with the Stages. Amplifiers with good power sections can be either tube or SS, its just that tube amps that can handle low impedances are usually very expensive. My guess is the VTL will do a great job. I would make sure to consult with VTL about the low impedance thing before hooking them up...

Enjoy your Stages, you lucky dog!

According to the spec sheet on the VTLs, you should be in good shape with the Stages impedance wise:

http://www.vtl.com/pages/mb250specifications.html

Output Power
20 Hz – 25 kHz ± 0.1dB < 3% THD
(Stable to 2 Ohms)

I imagine the tubes would sound wonderful with the Stages. They are very sensitive to speaker wires so make sure the you do your homework there. I always used Straightwire Maestro/Crescendo back in the 90's (I liked them better than the famed Symo cables), but there are likely better alternatives available today.

Good luck.

The 250 sigs should be good. I ran my Mini Grands full range with the VTL MB-125s in tetrode (w/out the subs) and they were fine but couldn't handle them in triode (60WPC = N/G). You can always run a fast sub like a Rel through an external crossover like a Paradigm X-30 or an NHT X-2 and lighten up the bottom end of the woofer panel somewhere between 50 - 80hz or so but be sure you're at least 12-18 db per octave [as these crossovers are] and this will relieve the VTL's hardest job. Careful speaker AND subwoofer placement and integration is key but results become phenomenal. Good luck. BTW: Hi Dave, Grant