This section will cover projects to improve the sound of your Apogee's. You might think that is impossible, but I have found out for a relatively small cost you can improve the sound to a surprising degree.

Upgrading the crossover provides an across the board improvement to the sound of Apogees. This is simply because the original components used were not of that high a quality and they severely compromise the sound of the speakers.

The reason for this is simple, for example, a pair Divas which sold for $8000 in 1989 would have cost about 10% of that to build, so Apogee could not afford to use the best components as it would have consumed a high percentage of the build cost.
The components which improve the sound the most are the capacitors and inductors, admittedly about the only parts left would be resistors and the wiring, but these can be upgraded also.

The Sprague capacitors in the crossover are partly responsible for the occasional rattles/buzz you can get from certain powerful sustained vocal sounds, upgrading them can help greatly in this respect..

I would say that doing modifications like this void your warranty, but as nobody has a warranty anymore, I will restrict my comment to "All modifications done at you own risk" and be careful with tools when near the speakers.

The work requires some soldering experience on your part, or having a friend who is useful with a soldering iron would be handy.

If you are uneasy about doing these modifications I suggest you modify one speaker at a time as you will then still have the other one for reference. Also you will clearly be able to hear the improvement, direct proof that you aren't imagining the difference!

Apart from ordinary tools like screwdrivers and a socket set, you will need a soldering iron, solder (preferably silver-loaded solder) wire cutters, Allen keys (the ones supplied with the speakers will do) silicone sealant, or PVA type glue, some additional wire (more on that later).

Replacing Capacitors

Upgrading the standard grade Sprague capacitors on the mid/tweeter and bass section of the crossover will result in a much cleaner, three dimensional portrayal of music.

Originally I was a bit dubious about the possible improvements myself, but the effect is NOT subtle. Changing one side first, the difference was obvious, more perceived dynamic range, more relaxed with no tendency to "shoutiness" at higher levels. Grain and edge (which did not seem apparent before) disappeared from vocals and the depth and three dimensionality of the midrange was so much better that I started hearing parts of recordings that I had never heard before. It becomes difficult to tell that the sound is coming from the speaker at all, even my room filling Divas almost manage a disappearing act!

I suggest you buy some good quality solder at the same time, the 2% or 4% silver-loaded solder is worth buying for three reasons - it conducts better, melts at a lower temperature and the flux residue is less.

Replacing Inductors

The original inductors are pretty nasty unevenly hand-wound items made at Apogee to fit in the available space.
Think about it this way, if a few meters of speaker cable can make such a big difference to the sound of your system, imagine what harm the many meters of non oxygen-free wire in the inductors are doing.

I know comments like this are likely to keep die-hard audiophiles up at night, but I had to say it!

Upgrading the inductors increases the midrange depth, detail and timbre. The imaging is more pin-point accurate, and there is a much better layering effect to the depth perspective across the whole image width. The definition and control of the bass is much improved. Also the extension seems greater, this is probably just a side effect of the bass being clearer, overall there is a sense of greater coherency, with the sound being more dynamic and realistic than before.
The downside, if you could call it one, is the sound also becomes smoother, I personally don't find this a negative trait at all, and if your regular sound is a bit forceful then it would probably have a very positive benefit.

Note: Interestingly Magneplanar owners are fond of upgrading there crossovers, look at this page on the Maggie Users Group. The improvements they talk about are very similar to what I found with Apogees.

Getting Started

The first step for crossover upgrading is being able to get to it, so here are instruction for removing the front cover from Scintilla, Caliper, Caliper Signature, Duetta (I & II), Duetta Signature and Stage (includes Stage portion of Minigrand also). I have no direct experience of the Studio Ribbon Array, but I think the crossover is in the bottom section so cover removal may not be necessary.
Note: The front cover removal procedure is the same for Divas, but not necessary as the entire crossover is in the external box

The hybrid speakers - Centaurus, Slant and Cepheus due to their different construction, make it hard to reach the crossovers. I have been told it is virtually impossible to get into them without the danger of damaging the speaker cabinet in some way. If anyone out there has managed it please let me know.

Apogee front cover removal procedure

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