Centaur Minor room placement

[lencoloony]

Hi. I'm a newby to this forum and I was hoping someone might be able to help me. I collect vintage hifi and Classical music on vynil, early stereo pressings from Decca and Columbia mostly. My main system comprises a Linn LP12 with a Linn Basik and K9. I have a Primaire CD/DVD player and amplification is by way of two modified Quad 11 valve monoblocks run by a Luxman C1000 preamp. I have just added the Centaur Minors to the system and they do sound nice. But I'm thinking they could sound nicer! The Quads push out about 35w class A. I thought perhaps this was a little light on for powering the Centaurs so switched the Quads for a Murray Amplifiers dual 100 w power amp but the result was disappointing. I've read a bit about room placement for the speakers but can't really put them four feet from a wall, they have to be about a foot or so away. Can anyone suggest a tweak to get the best from these speakers? By the way, I'm in Canberra Australia.

Many thanks.

[Vansloneker]

Hello lencoloony, welcome to the forum and to the world of Apogee.

The distance to the wall has to do with reflecting the sound coming from the rear of the ribbon. However Apogee did made 'wall speakers' that had a wooden back at the ribbon. They do imho not what a free radiating ribbon can do.

The ribbons on your Minors may be old and worn. They may look alright but after many years are not on top of their capabilities anymore. And the Apogee owners as it turns out are always going for that top edge.
New ribbons can be had from well.... Apogee!

35watts of valve power can sound heavenly on Apogees, but it does not go very loud, in my experience.
Apogees like current.

Recently I suggested a Minor owner to upgrade his crossover, but it turned his x/o was fitted rock solid inside the speaker during production and could only be accessed through a small opening. But upgrading he crossover will pay off big.

[lencoloony]

Thanks for the reply. I will try the Minors with a couple of high end Sansui solid state amps next week (AU 9900 is one I think) and see if there is a diffference. I will also try moving them around the room. I'll post the results afterwards.

Cheers.