Calling on OWNERS of Upgraded Apogees & Sanders 10e Electrostatics

[Soothsayer]

I never heard Duettas before, so I can’t say how they compare. However, they are very stiff and I would say the build quality is probably much better than the originals. The reconditioned Scintillas which were 1 ohm, did not sound much different than the old 4 ohm pair I have. That surprised me.

 

[vucubaquix]

Interesting about the Scintillas. And not the first time I have heard that from people who have had their Apogees upgraded. Perhaps there is wisdom in the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it" saying. I am leaning towards running my Divas until they need surgery. Would be very nice to hear an upgraded pair but that seems pretty much impossible.

 

[Soothsayer]

I try to be level headed about system changes. I give it a week or two before I pass judgement and let the newness wear off. I’m amazed at how many people claim their latest purchase is leaps and bounds better than what they replaced, only to decide to sell that item shortly thereafter. If I evaluate a component with the expectation that it is inferior to what I’m already using, it’s amazing how “bad” it sounds. Last year I was switching preamps in and out of my system to see how they sounded. I had an old NAD preamp from when I was in college. I put it in and instantly determined it was awful. Fast forward a month later and I had a tube go out on the preamp I was using. All I had at the time was the NAD so I plugged it in and BAM! What do you know? It sounded really good. Of course it did. I needed it to sound good to fill in for the other one that was out of commission. I honestly don’t trust my initial reactions anymore. Haha.

 

[vucubaquix]

I try to be level headed about system changes. I give it a week or two before I pass judgement and let the newness wear off. I’m amazed at how many people claim their latest purchase is leaps and bounds better than what they replaced, only to decide to sell that item shortly thereafter. If I evaluate a component with the expectation that it is inferior to what I’m already using, it’s amazing how “bad” it sounds. Last year I was switching preamps in and out of my system to see how they sounded. I had an old NAD preamp from when I was in college. I put it in and instantly determined it was awful. Fast forward a month later and I had a tube go out on the preamp I was using. All I had at the time was the NAD so I plugged it in and BAM! What do you know? It sounded really good. Of course it did. I needed it to sound good to fill in for the other one that was out of commission. I honestly don’t trust my initial reactions anymore. Haha.

So true that is. I do need time and concentration to trust my own ears. Time to purge the snake oil, pseudo science , ad supported fake reviews and all the static from the forum jungles.

 

[Soothsayer]

I would ride out your Divas until they don’t sound good anymore. Those Scintillas I have are old and ragged out, yet they still sound great (if you can ignore the occasional buzz). I enjoy trying new things (tubes vs solid state, different speaker wire, vibration dampening, etc). However, I’m getting weary of it all. I just sold a bunch of components on Audiogon. I have too much stuff I don’t use.