On Tuesday, my gf and I went to a Mahler 2 concert at the royal festival hall.
On Thursday, we watched Simon rattle conduct Bruckner 8 at the barbican (which was boring except for the second movement)
On Friday, Ron and I heard the Renaissance and the Neolith and air force 3 at KJ, London.
On Saturday my gf, her mum and I went to Amsterdam. I took off from the airport to compare koda k10 and AR Ref 10 with a koda power amp on Rockport aviors, then met them at the botanical gardens where we saw exotic acoustical diffusors from tropical, sub tropical and desert regions that my gf explained to me are commonly referred to as plants.
Saturday evening we saw Handel arias at concertgebouw, first time I have been here, and this was one of the best concerts I have seen.
On Sunday, they went to the Hague to see an exhibition on acoustical treatments by Dutch masters (Rembrandt, van Gogh, etc)...while I went to meet apogee restorer Henk.
His system is a 1000 kilo system of Apogee Grands, plinius amps on bass ribbons, Stax amps on mids, active crossovers (he said there were 2.5 kw going through the system). To cut to the chase, these are now my final dream speakers, one I will never have because of the room constraints. People who have the room, just buy the full range restored by Henk. Much less money than the grands but same size requirements. You are not going to get anything better. All IMO, of course.
Want Gustav Holst dynamics to sound like musical carpet bombing? Best tones for woodwinds? Flute and French horn floating up magically in the air? Rubinstein on the Emperor? Violins of Oistrakh playing Scottish fantasia? Bass waves? Drums not from the woofer or from a section of the speaker but all 7 feet pounding at you? With large soundstage? Ah, and organ music? Real sounds that make other hifi seem plasticky? These speakers do it all.
And all this not on vinyl, but digital. The full range had a cheap lyngdorf dac, today we had the Phasure. All with cheap throwaway cables. Doesn't matter. What is required is good amplifier control. Of course this guy is a champion restorer, and he has had years to tweak the speakers. We don't have that luxury.
But you really don't need valves in the amps. Add a Lampi at the source. Job done. On shun mooks. If you have more money, a TT.
I have asked him to introduce me to a client who has his divas. If his divas have anywhere near this midrange, I am just going to ask him to build me one. I will try to meet the Texas guy who owns apogee divas as well.
If Henk's divas sound anywhere near as good, my search has ended. And the crossovers can be replaced forever, so you can keep upgrading them. Or go active. His stock crossovers are Mundorf, but Duelund is possible.
Apogee Grand pics here http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?19104-Apogee-Full-range&p=390630&viewfull=1#post390630
On Thursday, we watched Simon rattle conduct Bruckner 8 at the barbican (which was boring except for the second movement)
On Friday, Ron and I heard the Renaissance and the Neolith and air force 3 at KJ, London.
On Saturday my gf, her mum and I went to Amsterdam. I took off from the airport to compare koda k10 and AR Ref 10 with a koda power amp on Rockport aviors, then met them at the botanical gardens where we saw exotic acoustical diffusors from tropical, sub tropical and desert regions that my gf explained to me are commonly referred to as plants.
Saturday evening we saw Handel arias at concertgebouw, first time I have been here, and this was one of the best concerts I have seen.
On Sunday, they went to the Hague to see an exhibition on acoustical treatments by Dutch masters (Rembrandt, van Gogh, etc)...while I went to meet apogee restorer Henk.
His system is a 1000 kilo system of Apogee Grands, plinius amps on bass ribbons, Stax amps on mids, active crossovers (he said there were 2.5 kw going through the system). To cut to the chase, these are now my final dream speakers, one I will never have because of the room constraints. People who have the room, just buy the full range restored by Henk. Much less money than the grands but same size requirements. You are not going to get anything better. All IMO, of course.
Want Gustav Holst dynamics to sound like musical carpet bombing? Best tones for woodwinds? Flute and French horn floating up magically in the air? Rubinstein on the Emperor? Violins of Oistrakh playing Scottish fantasia? Bass waves? Drums not from the woofer or from a section of the speaker but all 7 feet pounding at you? With large soundstage? Ah, and organ music? Real sounds that make other hifi seem plasticky? These speakers do it all.
And all this not on vinyl, but digital. The full range had a cheap lyngdorf dac, today we had the Phasure. All with cheap throwaway cables. Doesn't matter. What is required is good amplifier control. Of course this guy is a champion restorer, and he has had years to tweak the speakers. We don't have that luxury.
But you really don't need valves in the amps. Add a Lampi at the source. Job done. On shun mooks. If you have more money, a TT.
I have asked him to introduce me to a client who has his divas. If his divas have anywhere near this midrange, I am just going to ask him to build me one. I will try to meet the Texas guy who owns apogee divas as well.
If Henk's divas sound anywhere near as good, my search has ended. And the crossovers can be replaced forever, so you can keep upgrading them. Or go active. His stock crossovers are Mundorf, but Duelund is possible.
Apogee Grand pics here http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?19104-Apogee-Full-range&p=390630&viewfull=1#post390630
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I'm really pleased they didn't turn out to be a croc of sh*te.
