Is Apogee in a class by itself among planars?


As a former owner of Apogee Stages, after listening to a number of popular planars, I still feel that Apogee produced an uncanny feeling of live music better than anything else IMHO all these years later. Although they weren't the most detailed, didn't have very well defined bass, and didn't have a very holistic soundstage, there was just something undefineable to me that sounded real (even when listening from the another room), along with unsurpassed vocals, that makes me say "There's something about Apogees." Am I hallucinating? If not, how was this achieved?
rgs92

Showing 4 responses by eldartford

Trelja...How do you create a strong magnetic field across the gap of a wide ribbon? Can you please describe how the magnetics of the Apogee are set up.
Kr4...I have always found it easy to distinguish a ribbon from planar. A ribbon is very long and narrow...like 3/4 inch wide and 50 inches long. A planar speaker, like a Magnepanar will be more like 12 inches wide and 50 inches long. I would not take into account whether the drive is electrostatic or magnetic.
Kr4...I guess the narrow ribbon dimension is a necessary condition to use a magnetic field across its surface.
Muralman1...This sounds the same as Maggies, except the magnets run in horizontal rows instead of vertical rows.

Sogood51...Having magnets only on one side (front or back)of the panel does theoretically give an asymmetrical drive, but, because the panel excursion is so small this effect is also small. Also, keeping excursion small by using a subwoofer minimizes the asymmetrical drive situation. This would logically improve midrange performance...more so than with a cone driver where assymetrical drive is not an issue.

As I understand it (correct me if I am wrong) the magnets of a ribbon are located IN THE PLANE of the ribbon, to the left and right. This only is possible if the ribbon is narrow.