True Sound Works Apogee Diva Ultimate - Any Good?

The Divas certainly have "a sound". They are along the road of impressionist, especially lower midrange and into the bass, than literal sounding.

They have that "airiness" of open back speakers, but a softening on transients that is just there no matter what. Since they have highs, and play sine waves nicely, folks like to argue the softening, but it's in the transients that they don't have the speed that some other speakers do have.

If you play mostly the music they are good at, and don't need the ultimate "truth" from a speaker, they can be very enjoyable, musical, easy on the ears. If you need a cymbal to have the snap of the real thing, a high hat to sizzle, a snare to POP, you may be disappointed.

This is no knock, they are better than most speakers made today.

I did not stick to the OP well, in comparing the Divas to only those you listed. I would pick the Divas. The Divas have more "substance" (not talking about tonality, talking about density of sound) than the Soundlabs, and the dynamics you list are hardly the best in the dynamic worlds.

After hearing various Maggies in the 80's, I was determined to own planar speakers. I finally bought Duetta Signatures in 1990.

In about 2000 I bought Apogee Diva's, and kept the Duetta's. A couple years later I replaced all the ribbons and foam, with Graz's direct guidance: picture and video exchange with telephone assistance. That was when he still sold bass panels to the public. Given the time he spent with me, no wonder he changed his bass panel sales policy.

The repanelled Diva's were magical speakers. I won't try to describe what everyone else has said above. The magic of great planers can't be beat. Except in one area.

Pure dynamic loud LOUD music, with deep loud bass. The Diva's go loud, but not LOUD. Not like cones can. The only time I need that is for parties and dancing and so on, which happens quite a bit. And, when playing something like The Wall at concert level after a few adult beverages. The Diva's can't do those things like cones.

The first cone speaker I have heard that has most of the planar/electrostatic magic is the Wilson Sasha, which also does LOUD and BASS, like only cones can.

The only way I could afford the Sasha was to sell the Duetta's and Divas. I now have the Sasha's.

So, if you can live without the really LOUD dynamics cones can deliver, and just bask in the planar heaven Diva's reproduce through every other aspect of the absolute sound, get the Divas. Especially if professionally reconstructed with Graz ribbons.

I sure miss mine, although I am not willing to go back. But, I have not heard the True Sound Works Diva's :)

Tom

Hello all, just my two cents from almost 40 years as an audio- fool ( always chasing the holy grail system). When i heard my first " high end" system it was early Maggies which were actually being bi-amped with pure class A SS on top and A/ AB on the bottom through a tubed pre and damn good vinyl. It was an instant aural addiction. I bought the pair of Maggies and much of that system from my friend... Later moved up the Maggie chain... Always loved planars since then, and especially Maggies. Dabbled with some very good cone/ dynamics for awhile but then heard a pair of Apogee Divas once ( all SOTA Threshold electronics at the time) and was again pulled back to planars with - A - VENGEANCE and found a great pair of Mini Grands... Very happy.... Kept a good long while... Moved my home and had more / bigger room so swapped them out for Duetta Sigs. GREAT speakers... Loved em to death. Sent them to Rich at TSW for full upgrades.... " Absolutely Fantastic!!!"... Finally decided on the " Ultimates" [Literally] as I traded those for Rich's TSW Diva Ultimates. They are the finest speakers I've ever known. Period. Using all tube everything... Mono amps, pre-amp, Dac, and phono stage... They are simply superb. My advice: don't hesitate, just do it. They ARE everything you ever wanted....

Lissnr, I'm glad to hear about another Diva owner using tubes. I think Apogees and tubes are the most magical combination possible, yet so many people parrot the claim that you have to use Krells with Apogees.

Tomb11, One thing I've noticed with the Divas (albeit driven by 1000 watts of tubes) is that they don't give you the usual cues of excessive loudness that other speakers do. Most speakers will sound LOUD because of "cone cry", non-linear distortion products and thermal effects on magnetics (as well as amp clipping). Many times with the Divas, I've realized just how loud they are playing as the volume level has crept up and up. Someone will walk into the room and have to shout to me over the volume levels. That's not necessarily a good thing for my ears. The Divas keep their composure and continue to sound pure and clean, which can fool you into thinking they are not as loud as they really are. Jason Bloom claimed that the last version of the Divas with the stronger magnets could hit 118 dB SPL with 100 watts per channel. I am sure that I have momentarily gotten into the 120s of dBs, but I do not need, nor want, to go there out of concern for saving what's left of my hearing. At reasonable or slightly loud levels the dynamic punch and purity can be really pretty astounding.