You're in the hands of a master craftsman who builds with 100% passion resulting in 100% perfection. Be patient and you will be rewarded with arguably the finest sounding speaker there is. The Duetta Ultimates he built for me are the ones Ked came to listen to and if you recall from his resulting post, he was "gob-smacked". The Full Ranges are as great as it gets.I've known Rich for many many years... He will exceed your highest expectations. Lucky you and my sincere congratulations in your brilliant choice. Best regards
Apogee Full range
- Thread starter bonzo75
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Rich are you running CAT monos in a 'full range' crossover configuration of sorts or are you bi or tri amping? If so what will be other amp(s) and where ...?
I believe the answer is the former. I will be driving each speaker with only one amp, Rich knows, and that is how he is setting up the speakers. He says the amps will drive the Full Ranges better than they drove the 1-ohm Scintillas, and they drove them very, very well, so I can't imagine what I am in for.
I think your nod towards a single coherent source of amplifier power is a good one. The 'one voice' concept is tough to argue against if the obvious prerequisite of AMPLE power is available and I know your Cat monos have a 'take no prisoners' reputation so I'm certain you're going to love it. You're in my ultimate dream situation which I'm as close to as possible but am hampered only by my moderate room size which is more 'fitting' ( pun intended ) to the Duettas than the FR's. Apogees + high power tube amps are what "Bliss" is made of... Enjoy
This is one of the reasons i changed the standard amplifier configuration on my Grands. Instead of Subwoofer and Tweeter amplification with the built in Krells, i now use them for the Subwoofer and Woofer. Now the midrange (Starts at 220Hz (0db)) and the tweeter (10Khz (0db) are driven by my NAT Transmitters. Quite a bit better actually! - Congrats on the FR Richard!
Because I could not fit both of them in my music toom. I tried to convince my wife that I can put the Grands in music room and the Ushers in the living room but that was a no go. The D2 MK2 is a fantastic speaker, but you have to toss out the rubbish crossover.
Florian, makes sense using your SS at low end together where they can do what they do best and at less "perceptible" frequencies...( I use that term loosely because certainly the perceptibility is obvious but the range itself is limited and entirely appropriate for their strengths). As for the Midrange starting at 220hz I find that both remarkable and exciting... To think your Nat's can basically run the vast majority of the frequency spectrum with the "grunt work" end of it being already satisfied is such a plus...I bet they sound tremendous... open ... and blooming with life. Excellent!
Here's a lousy old picture of my Full Ranges. You can see the two Krell KMA-160 monoblocks that drove each speaker and the white Symo speaker cable that Jason Bloom sent me.
Lee
Lee
Yes it is quite a bit better. I did have to play with the settings a bit but despite whats posted here, the Grand crossover is dead simple and the changes are easy. I changed my seating and speaker position towards the preassure zones. Its a lot of fun when you know your room and settings
27x14x8. A bit narrow, but they worked extremely well. The egg-crate foam was an experiment to tame various frequencies of the back wave. The ASC tube trap in the center helped greatly with soundstage volume. The speakers were 7 ft from the wall behind them.
Lee
Lee
Physically that is a demanding speaker to work on. It's huge, and full of heavy magnet arrays. Let's hope his back makes it through the challenge!
You'll end up with some speakers right on the pinnacle of world's best, I am sure. The wait is frustrating... but it'll be worth it.
Respect and congrats.
It IS a huge heavy speaker ( approximately 140 kg+) but Rich is a big guy and has a lot of experience with them. Ironically the size factor was rwofold with me when I started giving serious thought to pursuing FR's. Aside from questionable room dimensions ( my 13'x18'x9' room is ideal with Duettas and didn't like Divas) the weight and fragile handling character of Apogees was another concern. As a Superstorm Sandy victim/ survivor my house and listening room was flooded with almost 2 feet of seawater and the rebuilding took over a year to complete. Moving 130+ pound Duetta is tough enough but a 300+ poind FR? I just can't see it ( I was crazy trying the Divas!). So, fortunately my Duettas continue to appreciate every/ any improvements upstream whether large scale via electronics or smaller scale such as cabling, isolation devices or room trearments...they are the most discerning speakets I've ever known ( a double edged sword of course , but well worth it). Ahhh Apogees. Treat em right and they pay you back tenfold. Keep us in the loop. Happy Lissn'n
My room is a little irregular, but largest dimensions are 23' x 19'. Cathedral ceiling ranges from 9' - 13'. To make it more complicated, I have three windows which are 6' x 8', 7' x 8', and 5' x 7'. I have a great view and like to leave two of the windows uncovered, which might entail some sonic compromises, but nothing too terrible.
Are the walls behind the panels flat? How far do you intend to keep the panels from the wall, and how far do you plan to sit?
FWIW, Leo Spiegel helped design a room for a friend's Full Ranges. It was 27x17 with a peaked ceiling. The peak ran from front to bavk and was offset to one side, such that the peak was not along the room's center line. The room sounded great.
Lee
Lee
I apologize for going so long without a post about my Fullranges, but the last thing I want to do is hurry the guy working on my speakers. I just spoke with Rich Murry, the speakers themselves are completed. The following pictures are from his house, where he is listening to them now. The tweeter / midrange units have new walnut cabinetry. 
Someone earlier asked how I was going to drive them with one amp each. Spoke with Rich Murry about that today, he confirmed that they were never sold except in bi-amp configuration, in fact the tweeter ribbon by itself is 0.2 ohms. However, he is building an interface so they can each be driven with one amp. He said the total load should be about as bad as 1-ohm Scintillas, but no worse. I spoke with Ken Stevens at CAT this week, my Statement monoblocks Black Path upgrade is completed, they should get here before the Fullranges do. My impression from talking with Ken over the years is that he will take it as a personal affront if the Statements do anything except drive the Fullranges splendidly, I told him I'd let him know.
Richard
Someone earlier asked how I was going to drive them with one amp each. Spoke with Rich Murry about that today, he confirmed that they were never sold except in bi-amp configuration, in fact the tweeter ribbon by itself is 0.2 ohms. However, he is building an interface so they can each be driven with one amp. He said the total load should be about as bad as 1-ohm Scintillas, but no worse. I spoke with Ken Stevens at CAT this week, my Statement monoblocks Black Path upgrade is completed, they should get here before the Fullranges do. My impression from talking with Ken over the years is that he will take it as a personal affront if the Statements do anything except drive the Fullranges splendidly, I told him I'd let him know.
Richard
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