ribbon or electrostatic speakers

Hey Seadog,

Don't you have Advents, and it was a friend on the West Coast you were getting Scintillas for?

Well, I have Scintillas powered by X600. These will give impact down to 20Hz. The mids are incomparable except for Quads. The highs are perfect beyond hearing. They produce the music as was recorded. When the recording is first rate, the Scintilla sounds seamlessly natural from 20Hz to 20KHz.

Scintillas give full performance even at low volume.

I have never heard another speaker that can do this. The Apogee Diva and Duetta are wonderful too.

I'm not a dealer, nor have never been, but I don't mind when a dealer waxes eloquently over a product they represent. It was Keith Yates of home theater fame who showed me the way to the Scintilla. I'd hate to think what a large Soundlab will cost plus the amps that are needed to run them. I hear they rival the Scintilla in amp requirements. The Apogee is audio's best cheap treasure.

Seadog, Except for perhaps the largest Soundlabs, your friend is never going to replace the Scintillas sonically. Well experienced listeners rate my system best ever.

There are two avenues of repair available.

1) All of the factory tools and supplies are in the hands of a fourteen year Apogee veteran. He has successfully refurbished several that I know of.

2) Graz out of Australia makes better than new replacement ribbon kits for all models. The ribbons come with easy to understand instructions. Scores of people have taken this path.

I know from my own experience the Scintilla is tricky to get perfect - but it can do perfect. They need to be moved around into a lot of positions, for and aft, side to side, and toe in. When Scintillas have arrived, your friend will know. The Scintillas will be seamless from very low bass to highs beyond hearing and will sound true to nature throughout the audible range.

I placed mine on masonite so they could be slid easily around, carefully measuring to all walls. I power them with Pass Labs X600 monos. These can be picked up mint off Audiogon for 7K.

I live on the west coast. Maybe I can be of help to your friend. I would be pleased if your friend would contact me privately.

I looked up Gilmore and found nothing. I looked up Glacier and found Apogee not mentioned. That strikes me as funny, because the speaker described sounds suspiciously like an Apogee Duetta.

Glacier's description of the Gilmore leads readers to believe all ribbon and electrostatics are dynamic whimps. I can't speak for the others, but the Apogee Scintilla is rated conservatively at 110 db. I know for a fact it does more. They just didn't have the amps in the mid eighties that could explore the Scintilla's limits. The newer Apogee Diva is rated at 120 db. In other words, bring on Mahler!

It is my sincerest belief the Gilmore will be a very expensive redo of the Apogee, with a bass panel twist. Hopefully it is an improvement. Loving the realness of the music I listen to through my Scintillas, I can't see there is any room for improvement, except efficiency.

That is great news! How much are they? I have heard complaints about their looks. Of course, that is a personal bias. I bet they are very costly. This is why I treasure the Scintilla. It's cheap. It is a son of a gun to power, but that isn't the problem it was before, now with the advent of capable class D amps. I have one eAR2 doing magic on my Scinnys. By the way, the Scintilla does 20Hz at even db. It's bass planar panel is as fast as the ribbons. FYI there is a ribbon producer Down Under, Graz, who is building his first cost is no object full range ribbon speakers using rare earth magnets. His hybrid, the Perigee, has been well received.