Virtually identical to the original Duetta, the Duetta II was more fine tuning than a new speaker, Ron Maynard has kindly supplied me with this information:

DUETTA: The original Duetta was based upon the technology of the Full Range and Scintilla.  It was Apogees first attempt to provide a smaller, less expensive speaker.  Like the Scintilla, it provided a very detailed sound, not universally admired.

According to Alvin Gold, writing in Stereophile (Vol 10 no. 2), Leo Spiegel said that one of the purposes of the II's revisions was to make the Duettas more sonically compatible with compact disc.  The II is, therefore, softer and less detailed which was not necessarily to everyone's preference.

Specific changes included:

(1) Top part of the M/T ribbon was canted back about 5 degrees to improve vertical dispersion (still a weakness in the II, IMO)
(2) Cross over became a compound circuit, starting at 6 db/octave increasing to 12 db/octave once well clear of the cross-over region.  This approach, of course, was used on several models to come, including the Diva.

There were at least two different  Duetta II.  The early ones (I had this one) had an efficiency 4 db lower than the later (106 db vs. 110 with 100 watt amp).  The later one also had considerably extended high end response.  The early one was IMO too limited on the top end.

Martin Colloms, writing in Stereophile (Vol. 10 no. 1) complained about this point.  Other writers using the later version found no such problem, eg George Graves, Stereophile Vol. 11 no. 5.

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