Doctor, I used a Jolida 1000, on the four ohm tap of my Stages. The Jolida
handled the load with aplomb. Yes, it was somewhat syrupy, but that is just
byproduct of lower echelon tube gear. I ran a Pass X150 on Duettas.
Apogee hasn't made speakers in eight years. We are left to our own resources
to mate Apogees with amps. These days, there are a lot more exciting amps
to chose from without relying solely on the iron dragons of yesteryear.
I know what I am saying isn't common knowledge. It seems audiophiles are a
conservative bunch when it comes to their gear. It doesn't help that Mags, like
Stereophile, still champion huge solid state, and tube amps.
I understand the resistance. I too became defensive, when a fellow Apogee
owner told me a little cold stainless steel triangular amp worked wonders on
his Apogee. I just had a hard time believing it. Howerver, there was
something in the fellow's earnestness that won me over. I tried one of those
amps against huge solid state monoblocks, 150lbs. apiece. He was right. It
was as if someone had whisked away an army quilt from my Apogees.
Paul Speltz makes a very good autoformer. I heard one used on a Martin
Logan system. The amp was a sweet 7 watt Audio Note. It worked fine, not as
good as a Llano hybrid, or an S-H2O, but good.
