True Sound Works Apogee Diva Ultimate - Any Good?

IIRC, the Apogees are a *very* difficult speaker to drive properly. My reading indicates that they can drop as low as 1 ohm at certain frequencies, thus they are very taxing for 99% of the amps out there. Also, they present a very reactive load to the amp. And not very many amps are happy with such a load.

Additionally, they are known to have a *very* small sweet spot and positioning and setup are absolutely critical if one wishes to achieve the best listening experience....

-RW-

Many thanks for everyones comments, very helpful. Re difficult load to drive, I here ya. This is why I have kept my faithful Krell KSA-250 amp; one day it will drive a pair of Apogee Divas!

Oops; hear ya, not here ya!

11-30-13: Rlwainwright
IIRC, the Apogees are a *very* difficult speaker to drive properly. My reading indicates that they can drop as low as 1 ohm at certain frequencies, thus they are very taxing for 99% of the amps out there. Also, they present a very reactive load to the amp. And not very many amps are happy with such a load.

How do you know this, Rlwainwright? Did you own Apogee Divas at any point in your ownership of various audio gear? AFAIK, the Apogee Diva is a much easier load than, say, the Apogee Scintilla 1-ohm version. Here is a review from Stereophile from 1988 that shows an impedance plot (unfortunately no phase plot) but you can see that the Diva's impedance is, for all practical purposes, flat at nearly 4 Ohms. It does dip down lower at 20KHz but the program material power at 20KHz is likely to be very little.
http://www.apogeespeakers.com/reviews/diva_stereophile_august1988.htm

Additionally, they are known to have a *very* small sweet spot and positioning and setup are absolutely critical if one wishes to achieve the best listening experience....

again, may I ask how you know this bit of info??
Thanks.

I am the proud owner of a Duetta Signature for which I rebuilt an external Xover with latest audiophile grade capacitors, resistors and coils. The upgraded Xover made a huge difference in sound quality. I still had the Apogee panel buzz common to all of those speakers who are about 20 years old. I bit the bullet and had these refurbished by Rich Murry.

These speakers are now keepers for life. Bass output is tight, midrange is to die for and imaging is 3D. The only speaker close to it is the ML CLX but lacking the bass content of my Duettas. Rich is a true Apogee artisan and I highly recommend his work. I really think that to beat a refurbished Apogee, you will have to pay at least $25K-$35K for new speakers.