Apogee vs Soundlab

Scousepasty, why did you have problems driving the U1's with the ARC REF 210's? Afterall the ARC's are quite high powered. What kind of sound did you get? I've always thought that with the updated Soundlab backplates they become much easier to drive.

Chris

Yes it is true, it is very difficult to get good sound of the Apogee Diva, most amplifiers will not sing beautifully(also some expensive one's), it is far more easy to drive a Soundlab.
But once you have matched your Apogee with the dedicated amplifier, then it will be unbeatable.
Apogee is the most difficult speaker to sound beautifully!

Here is a list of Apogee dealer/installers...I don't know where you are located:

http://www.apogeeacoustics.com/installers.html

In my opinion, it's always better to listen for yourself. These guys, can get you a brand new pair...or rebuild an old pair for you.

Soundlab dealers should be fairly easy to find.

Dave

Dazzdax, living in the UK its very difficult to find dealers with Sound Labs and none to listen to with different tube amps, and as I have had ARC tube amps for many years I thought that the new 210's would be a good match. I was wrong!
They don't have the reserve of output power in the new transformers to keep up with the U1's and kept clipping and the bass response was slow.
After the fact, I contacted a couple of SoundLab dealers in the USA and they suggested several different makes of amps, both SS & Tube, with which they and customers had satisfactory experiences. I don't think either one had tried the 210's with them but both thought it was not a good match.
The Apogees might - or rather should be - more reliable these days with all the improvements and mods that have come along, but back then I couldn't afford the repairs or the Krell amps to drive them.

Apogee versus soundlab is a wrong question. It all depends on what is the chain of components driving them and their synergy and finally your own taste in sound.

But big VTL? gimme a break, it is a totally medicore amp. I owned it and failed to understand the hype.