Introduction

The Slant 8 is a black monolith with a 60" x 16" face having a 40" ribbon located vertically along the inner edge. (One is encouraged to experiment with positioning the ribbons on the outer edges by switching L and R speakers.) An 8" Danish VIFA woofer is positioned 39" from the floor but hidden behind a grille cloth that covers the entire front face (and the grille cloth is not easily removed without a special service tool). The woofer's slot-loaded box is built in a tapered configuration that looks like a black concrete support for the front panel. The Slant 8 feels like it is made of solid granite, both in weight and in lack of resonance when you rap the box with your knuckles. This is the most rigid speaker structure I have ever encountered.

Center Channel

Upon unpacking and setting up the Slant 8s, I discovered that the woofer in one had been damaged in shipping. Apogee promptly shipped me a replacement woofer along with detailed instructions and a special tool (a large flattened crowbar) for prying loose the grille cloth. It was simple to pop the grille, unscrew the woofer from the front, disconnect the wires, and insert the replacement.

After some months of auditioning the Slant 8s, I made the mistake of playing a 0 dB digital test tone through the left speaker. Smoke came out of the ribbon midrange-tweeter before I could shut down the signal. After that the ribbon sagged physically and produced rattles and buzzes. It was with a saddened heart that I called Apogee, but they assured me that the ribbon replacement kit they would ship out was easy for the user to install. I am happy to report that it was. The instructions are well-written and detailed. The kit comes with everything you need including a jig and lead weights for tensioning the new ribbon. Anyone with a modicom of mechanical skill can perform the procedure.

In my initial comparisons of the Scintillas and the Slant 8's, using the Krell KSA-100, I listened for controlled yet lively sound of a plucked string bass. My favorite recording for this is Norman Blake on vinyl (Flying Fish HDS-701). Indeed it was the Scintillas' performance on this recording which first endeared them to me. The sound of the plucked bass was coherent, with a deep bass naturalness. Wire brushes, cymbals, and triangles also sounded natural. The Slant 8's bettered the Scintillas in every test I could throw at them from this vinyl treasure. They had more bass punch without boominess.

I also listened to the CD of Amanda McBroom and Lincoln Mayorga's Growing Up in Hollywood Town (Sheffield Lab CD-13), especially track 3, "The Rose." (I have auditioned this much-loved recording on a variety of systems since it was first released on a direct-to-disk vinyl many years ago.) In addition to the well controlled bass, there was an incredible depth and width to the soundstage. Subtle details of triangle, wire brush, breathing, and small room noises, evident on the Slant 8's, were lost on the Scintillas.

I have lived with this Apogee system for more than two years as a variety of amps and surround sound decoders have visted chez Cruce. I've listened to vinyl containing many types of acoustic music --classical symphonic, classical chamber group, jazz, blues, country, and folk. From CD, I use all of the above plus a variety of modern and popular music, including everything from Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, and U2 to Enya, Enigma, Sara Mclaughlin, and Hootie and the Blowfish. This system can do justice to such extremely different sounds as acoustic jazz (e.g., Jazz at the Pawnshop [Proprius-Audio Source CDP 7778/9]), classical full-symphonic (e.g., Maazel & The Cleveland Orchestra doing Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet [London 417510-2] or Fedoseev and The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra doing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring [MGM MCD 10029]), and the movie laserdiscs of Jurrassic Park [MCA/Universal 41830] and The Last of the Mohicans [Fox Video 1986-85] (a particularly revealing soundtrack). For music only, I sometimes switch off the subs, though, when adjusted correctly, they are unobtrusive on music and explode into action on video soundtracks.

Like music, video soundtracks deserve the best audio system that you can can afford to play them on. The Last of the Mohicans, my favorite test for subtle, detailed sounds, shows up differences in decoders, amps, speakers, and cables. This is true on the front channels as well as the rear. The ambiance created by the echoes and reverberations of gun/cannon fire in the forest can sound different with changes in the audio system. (Listen to the opening hunt scene for the full range, from crackling twigs to a full musket blast in the face, followed by echo.) In chapter 4, 9.23-9.39, there is a dog faintly barking in the distant background. I first heard this most distinctly on a Fosgate Four in 70mm mode. It is simply lost on many surround sound processors and speaker systems. After careful setup of the Apogee Columns in the rear with appropriate tweaking of the Sony TA-E2000ESD processor my system passes this test as well. (See the discussion of digital parametric equalization in the review of the Sony TA-E2000ESD processor.)

Nothing beats The Surround Spectacular CD [Delos DE 3179] for the straightforward test tones and pink noise essential for setting up a surround sound system. Using its various pans across the front two channels and three channels, as well as full surround pans that employ all four channels (the rear being, of course, a single mono channel in Dolby Pro Logic), I have done some fine-tuning of the rear and center channel (both by ear and with a sound level meter and spectrum analyzer). My favorite surround sound processor, the all digital Sony TA-E2000ESD, can insert digital domain equalization in any channel. But it also lacks buffers on the center and rear channel outputs which causes a slight high frequency rolloff in these channels with the relatively long (5 meter) cables I use. The Apogee Ribbon LCR speaker sounds remarkably close in timbre to the Slant 8's, more so than any other speaker I have auditioned. It is so similar, in fact, that the slight roll off of the extreme highs in the center channel of the Sony TA-E2000ESD is readily evident with the Delos disk. Judicious application of digital parametric equalization to the center channel (+3 dB, 6.85 kHz, Q 0.7) has remedied this. After doing extensive comparisons with a Fosgate Four surround sound processor, I found that a moderate high frequency boost (+6 dB, 10 kHz, Q 0.7) overcomes some of the dullness of Pro Logic's standard surround channel response which is down 6 dB at 10 kHz (as well as some additional contribution from the long cables used with the Sony TA-E2000ESD) and makes my system sound much more like the famous Fosgate 70mm mode. Pans of sound between any combination of channels are now incredibly smooth. The Delos torture test (track 34, which sweeps a descending band of noise from 13 kHz to 100 Hz in a position halfway between the center and the left or right front speaker) is now rock stable except for slight head diffraction effects. Care in correct phasing of the speakers pays off here too.

Positioning of the center speaker with respect to the forward/backward location of the front left and right speakers also deserves careful attention. Much has been written of the importance of positioning the center speaker on the arc of a circle containing the left and right speakers on the circumference and the listener at the center. That is, conventionally, the center speaker should be the same distance from the listener as are the main stereo speakers. This usually means placing it slightly behind a line drawn between the left and right speakers. However, some listeners have found that the center speaker sounds even better if placed farther back. Using the Lexicon CP-3+, which has a variable delay for the center as well as the rear speakers, I found that a 3 to 4 millisecond delay was optimal. This translates into a position about three to four feet behind the main speakers, if no delay is used! Since most surround processors, the Sony TA-E2000ESD included, do not have the ability to adjust center channel delay, I now have the Ribbon LCR positioned three feet back. As it turns out this places it on top of my Mitsubishi monitor. Since the LCR is well shielded, this doesn't affect the monitor. The Slant 8's, however, are not shielded --quite the opposite. They generate such an intense magnetic field that they must be a minimum of three feet from the Mitsubishi, and their exact position is critical to aim the lobes of the magnetic field away from the TV. (Listeners who need to place their speakers closer to a direct-view monitor should be aware that the Apogee Slant 6's, but not the Slant 8's, can be ordered with magnetic shielding.) Thus, in my small room, when the all the constraints of speaker positioning are taken into account (distance from rear and side walls, from each other, from listener, from monitor) there is only one perfect spot for the L & R speakers. And they sound marvelous there.

For now, loving the sound of big ribbon speakers as I do, the combination of the Apogee Ribbon LCR and the Slant 8's works remarkably well for the front. The Columns are a full-bandwidth rear channel pair that can be easily positioned in most rooms (either against the wall or not). The M&K subs provide heft and substance in the bottom octave without boom or smear. It is a system of uncompromising sound that is so good it is revealing of subtleties in every component in front of it.

Acknowledgements

Apogee Product Information