Best Sounding Ribbon Speakers

As one of the co-founders of the Apogee Acoustics Users Group, I may be biased...but my members tell me that a pair of vintage Divas, with proper ancillary equipment, are virtually unbeatable. I myself think that Duetta Signatures, now selling at as little as $1,200 or so (as compared to their original $5,000 list), are one hell of a real world loudspeaker, with an authority and presence that simply must be heard to be believed. Never heard the Studio Grands, but they were supposed to be more efficient and even more transparent.

The Original Apogees (the seven foot tall, 400 pound, 1 ohm amp eaters) were the best ribbons I ever heard. Utterly hair-raising reproduction of cello - all the bite and growl of the real thing. Only heard them once, about thirteen or fourteen years ago. If you find a pair for sale buy them - there are many more amplifiers capable of driving them today than there were way back when. I believe there is a place out in California that repairs Apogees.

I owned a pair of the original Apogees. I bought the speaker used five years ago and loved it ever since. Would like to find out the place that repairs or upgrades Apogees in California.

By far the finest sounding ribbon loudspeaker is the Clarisys Auditorium.  They have taken & improved what Apogee did in the 90's with the Grand by incorporating double sided ribbon drivers with much more powerful magnets that has increased the sensitivity to 90db with a flat 6 ohm impedance on the bass ribbon to a flat 4 ohm on the mid & high ribbons. No manufacturer today can compete with the astonishing sound quality they provide. The crossovers are leagues ahead of the rudimentary offerings of nearly all other loudspeaker makers.

The Apogee Diva, when it was new, was the best sounding ribbon speaker of all time. It was a maintenance disaster.

Magneplanar wins the award for the best overall ribbon tweeter. 

Ribbon speakers make no sense when there are amazing ESLs out there. They can be designed to be full range line sources and not just a segment of the range which is terrible in regards to imaging. They can be designed as full range drivers or from 100 Hz on up to 24 kHz.