True Sound Works Apogee Diva Ultimate - Any Good?

Mgattmch,

I can't comment on Divas, but I have a pair of 1-ohm Scintillas which I bought secondhand, and I'm pretty sure they were refurbished by TSW. I drive them with Ken Stevens' JL-3 Statement monoblock tube amps, and I am one happy camper. I never thought anything would surpass my Acoustat Spectra 66s, but the Apogees are so clean, they make the Acoustats sound "veiled" in comparison. BTW, the tubes drive them to crescendo leevls, even at 1 ohm.

I auditioned the Divas with Krell stuff back in '88, it was one of the best auditions I have had to date. Which leads me to believe that audio hasn't really progressed all that much since that time. Anyway, I picked up a pair of Stages a little while later, and I had tons of problems with them; blowing tweeters and woofer panels. I had enough juice via a Mark Levinson No. 23 amp. Then the frames managed to come apart when I was moving them around. I ended up throwing the damn things out. Due to this bad experience with Apogee product, I'll never bother with them again. But, I'll never forget that time with the Divas...they were truly awesome!

Interesting discussion. What are the TSW Full Ranges? I looked at their website and saw 2 Apogee speakers...Diva Ultimate and Duetta.

Do people drive them in parallel with subs or solo? (Note: i play classical, jazz, blues, solo...but also deep house, Hans Zimmer soundtracks with a lot of very very deep propulsive bass that is very powerful as well.)

I have modified my big Wilson X1s over the years, and enjoy them...but would be curious to learn more about these speakers. I really really liked Apogee Stages when i heard them many years ago...and nearly bought them second hand that day.

Thanks for any feedback on its ability to deliver propulsive power across the mids and of course deep bass. (sub 40hz)

Hello Lloydelee21, The Apogee full ranges are Apogee's flagship speaker. Some may argue that the Scintilla model competes with it but most agree that the Full Range is unquestionably the best save for the very limited production Grand model [which is in a whole other league as it integrates dedicated subs and extremely sophisticated and extensive "support" components including multiple amps to perform at their best].
The Full Ranges are made akin to the "regular" Diva/Duetta 'format/design' but do so at its very best. They require a serious room, serious power, top notch electronics and serious dedicated attention to perform at their best but will essentially take on any loudspeaker I have ever heard...(No, of course I haven't heard ALL the best/latest & greatest but the Full Ranges will make music reproduction in front of you "uncanny").

Thanks Lissnr!!! Sounds amazing. I have looked into the Apogee Grand...that much 25-year old electronics, 6 amps, etc...whew! that's a bit too much 'stuff' even for me.

I currently use the Zanden 4-box, CJ GAT and Gryphon Colosseum (160 watt dual-mono, pure Class A, doubling down to 0.5ohms with a doubling at peak) and drive a 'slightly' modified Wilson X1/Grand Slamm and Velodyne DD18.

If you had to pick one...would you go for TSW Full Range or the Analysis Audio Amphytron? I have heard excellent things about both (of course, there is the 4-panel Analysis Audio Orion too!).