Apogee Acoustics

We all know that changing out the caps in the Apogee Xovers makes a big change. How much change do you think would come from replacing the resistors, or replacing the inductors?

I changed out the speakers posts on my Diva Xover boxes, and it was like upgrading my cables. I will eventually probably rebuild the entire Xovers, but I was wondering about prioritizing the components so that I could make either the most change first, or least expensive change first. I also wanted to do it in stages to see how much each change effected the sound.

Any thoughts as to say a percentage of the overall change each component, caps, resistors, inductors, would have?

Thanks

Don't replace the inductors, pot them. On my D-Digs, it was a bigger difference than the caps.

Pot them??? Not sure I understand exactly what you mean.

I have completely replaced all components, internal wiring and connectors on my Duetta Signatures. Every component replacement without any exception, has made some changes in sound improvement. The caps will improve midrange and high frequency resolution. The coils will improve bass resolution and extension. I would go in the following order:

1) Caps 30% improvement
2) Coils 30 % improvement
3) Resistors / connectors 20 % improvement
4) Internal wiring 10% improvement
5) Speaker support 10% improvement

If you have spare money, do the Bybee speaker bullet mod which is worth another additional 30% improvement. That's right, 130% improvement! This is how good the Apogee speakers are when you provide them with the best audiophile grade components.It's really money well invested since I would think that you would have to pay $10K-$15K to get equivalent sound from a brand new speaker set.

Dasign

Thanks Dasign, that's exactly the info I'm looking for. What did you use, or would recommend, for the internal wiring?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

dasign wrote:This is how good the Apogee speakers are when you provide them with the best audiophile grade components.It's really money well invested since I would think that you would have to pay $10K-$15K to get equivalent sound from a brand new speaker set.

Dasign

I think that's very modest!:)

After a recent stint at the Munich Hi-Fi show, I think you can pay masses more and not get the performance of a good pair of Duettas. IMHO, of course!!!

Zardoz wrote:What did you use, or would recommend, for the internal wiring?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Zardoz, don't want to sound rude but I already answered your question in another posting of yours dated September 20th 'How to open the Diva Xover box'

Dasign

User211 wrote:

dasign wrote:This is how good the Apogee speakers are when you provide them with the best audiophile grade components.It's really money well invested since I would think that you would have to pay $10K-$15K to get equivalent sound from a brand new speaker set.

Dasign

I think that's very modest!:)

After a recent stint at the Munich Hi-Fi show, I think you can pay masses more and not get the performance of a good pair of Duettas. IMHO, of course!!!

You may be right, I have not paid real attention to newer speaker designs lately. 2 years ago I was at the FSI Audio/Video Show in Montreal. The only speaker that got close was the Martin Logan CLS to the exception of the bass department, where my DS would cream the CLX. I think the CLX are around $25K...Good forum topic that I will start.

Dasign

Thanks Dasign,

I had forgotten about that. At that time I was looking into something else and had forgotten that you had given more info.

Much appreciated

I agree on the sequence and relative values of the upgrades, with the probable exception of the Bybees (which I have not yet heard). I've potted the inductors, upgraded caps, removed or soldered most of the internal connectors, and have upgraded binding posts.

BTW, "potting" the inductors refers to soaking them in epoxy or transformer varnish to make the coil much more mechanically solid. The idea is to keep the loosely-wound Apogee coils from moving due to the magnetic field being generated - this microscopic motion causes a "hang-over" after a pulse, and diminishes the impact of bass by wasting power in the coil.

I've still got Graz' new ribbon kit on the shelf, but having a hard time with the thought of destroying perfectly-functioning speakers - it's not like soldering in a new resistor if you goof...