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Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Thu Oct 10, 2013 5:30 pm
by TinyTim
Hello everyone,

many many years ago i started in this (the original one) forum. 7 years ago i bought a troubled Grand which needed some loving. After 7 years, she is finally done and here is the result. List of equipment and pics. Enjoy

Apogee Acoustics Grand (New TW, MRT, BASS Ribbons)
NAT Utopia Single Ended Triode Preamp; No Feedback
Custom Developed CAP Coupler
Monarchy Audio NM24 Tube DAC (Tesla 6922)
Monarchy Audio DIP (Jitter Killer & Masterclock)
PS Audio P1000 Powerstation
NAT Phono Signature (Battery Powered; Single Ended Triode; No Feedback)
SME 20/2A (SME V Gold ARM; All NEW Suspension and OIL)
Ortofon Statement (Low output MC System)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE3 Midrange AMP (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based; 54 Watt Class A)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE2 Midbass AMP (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based, 52 Watt Class A)
2 Mono NAT Audio SE1 Tweeter Amp (Single Ended Triode; VT4C Based, 15.4 Watt Class A)
Six Custom Developed DC and Distortion Watchers with Emergency driver shut off function
Virtual Dynamics cabling for electronics (power and interconnects)
Behringer Ultracurve DSP (Digital only) adjustment to lower subwoofer output
Hales Transcendence 8 (With Beryllium Tweeters) for Movies

PS: I want to thank the following people:

Frank from the HI-FI Burg Zürich for the on-site ribbon installation until late in the night

Mr. Bill Orner- for finding the schematics for the Apogee Grand. Without that it would have been much harder to get this beauty back up

Jason Bloom, Leo Spiegel, Gary Walker, Andy Lewis, Mike Daniels and Todd Eichbaum for building, what is to me, the best loudspeaker ever designed.

Graz - For providing me the new ribbons for my speaker, without him it would be just a pile of steel and magnets

Brad (Morricab) - For his patience and not giving up on me even tough i went back to Krell twice ;-)

W&W Audio in Holland - For letting me try tons of electronics and offering me not only good service but also great human interaction and guidence

Dipl. Ing. Ralf Kassel (Germany) for fixing my Grand electronics and for developing custom DC protection boxes.

My Girlfriend - For not killing me as i spent weeks in the basement trying to fix the speaker and lifting hundreds of pounds of amplifiers with me up the stairs :-)

PS: In case images dont show

http://fcdn.audioreview.com/attachments ... c01271.jpg
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http://fcdn.audioreview.com/attachments ... c01277.jpg
http://fcdn.audioreview.com/attachments ... c01284.jpg
http://fcdn.audioreview.com/attachments ... c01256.jpg

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Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:43 am
by apogee_admin
No images showing Flo?

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:47 am
by TinyTim
Hi Jon,

strange. I added the direct links in my post.

Thanks ;)

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 2:49 pm
by Al^
I see them fine, now that I'm sitting down, what's those tube amps worth? :) Al

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 11, 2013 5:48 pm
by TinyTim
Hi Al,

about 50k US and another 10k to make them deliver what the advertisement promised :-)

Cheers

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:38 am
by Al^
Hi Flo, Are you running the bass ribbon , mr, and t active? also what are these dc protection boxes? do they connect between the amp and driver? ex: xo, amp, DC , driver. I presume it's nothing more than dc filter.
Thanks Al
PS what are they worth?

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:29 am
by TinyTim
Hi Al,

i run every driver actively. In total its 8 monoblocks. My Grand comes with 4 mono amplifiers but i disconnected the tweeter amps. The DC protection boxes are custom developed active solutions with external powersupplies. They measure for DC and incomming sine wave distortion patterns. As soon as there is over 500mV of offset a relay cuts the signal to the ribbon. They are also remote controlled and allow me to turn on the signal to the Grand after the tube amps stabilize. They cost 700$ each. I have six of them.

Cheers

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 4:59 pm
by narkotic
Flo,

Very cool man - have been watching your system transform over the years and glad you stuck it out with the Grands.

I still have my Scintillas and they're doing well.

I have the same phono-stage! It's quite nice. I've coupled it with a Triangle Art Signature turntable / 12" Osiris tone-arm:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/102798179@ ... 6219825206

Paul Hales is a local friend of mine, pretty cool you have a pair of his speakers.

Pete

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:58 pm
by TinyTim
Hello Pete,

thank you very much! You have a great looking table there and a great phono stage ;)
I am getting mine slightly modified next week to increase the output level of my very low output MC system. I use an Ortofon Statement MC Cartridge.

How very cool that you know Paul Hales. Even if he does not know me at all, please let him know that his Transcendence Eights are the finest box speaker i know and that it has a fix place next to the Grands. His Hales Revelation Three's (smaller model) was the reason why i was interested in High End in the first place well over 13 years ago.

All the best to you

Flo

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:15 pm
by steve_pan
Flo

Does this mean they are not for sale anymore?

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:56 pm
by TinyTim
Hello Steve,

currently not anymore. I do know of one other pair for sale in original condition and black if your interested.

Cheers

Flo

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:26 am
by steve_pan
TinyTim wrote:Hello Steve,

currently not anymore. I do know of one other pair for sale in original condition and black if your interested.

Cheers

Flo


Yes please, much appreciated if you could send me the information.

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:41 pm
by christoph
hi flo

i'm very happy for you 8-)

after all the hassle you went through, you are truly a worthy owner of that speaker monument :lol:

cheers, christoph

ps: i would love to hear them sometime. the sooner the better :mrgreen:

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:06 pm
by RuedigerC
And I would like to join... ;)

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 5:10 pm
by christoph
das wäre klasse 8-)

ich würde mich sehr freuen, dich wieder mal zu sehen :mrgreen:


gruss christoph

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:29 pm
by RuedigerC
Latürnich...
;)
I would like to join in Liechtenstein, Frankfurt or somewhere else... :D

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 7:13 pm
by TinyTim
Naja, dann schickt mal Terminvorschläge für Ende November und unter der Woche an f.wiegand@mac.com

PS: Hoffen wir mal das alles bis dahin noch funktioniert :-)

VG

PPS: Und bringt Vinyl und Digital mit, aber wehe einer bringt so eine HIFI Messe Scheisse mit Diana Krall mit. Der zahlt dann Bier ;-)

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 7:17 pm
by TinyTim
Ach ja, und kurze Hosen!! Kein Witz, ich habe schon 36C gemessen!!!!
Es sind 14x 211 Senderöhren....insgesamt 52 Röhren und ein paar Class A Krells am Subwooferchen. Mir läuft das Wasser am Bein runter.

Re: Apogee GRAND System Fully Working as intended

PostPosted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:37 pm
by narkotic
TinyTim wrote:
How very cool that you know Paul Hales. Even if he does not know me at all, please let him know that his Transcendence Eights are the finest box speaker i know and that it has a fix place next to the Grands. His Hales Revelation Three's (smaller model) was the reason why i was interested in High End in the first place well over 13 years ago.

Flo


Hey Flo I drank some scotch last night with Paul and sent him your regards. I forwarded him your post and pictures of your system. He was flattered. Very humble guy. Just got a really cool Porsche Carrerra!