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Further reading concerning Perigee speakers. "Definitive is faced in Corian"....
These are my soon-to-be-released PERIGEE DEFINITIVE 3-way planar ribbon speakers. The design brief was simple – a list of deficiencies of all planar/electrostatic dipolar speakers I have ever heard was made – and in this design I have attempted with my own solutions to fix them! As people here will notice, even with a single brand such as Apogee, their individual types exhibit a very different character, whilst sharing that dipolar “flavour” with a few other brands also. And for those that have heard several if not all of the noteworthy dipoles out there, they would have made a list of their favourites, and what they liked about them. As with all things – there are reasons why things sound good or bad – and the DEFINITIVE is about that, my attempt to work out why things work well and implement the “reasons” into a single design. That’s why I called it DEFINITIVE, as it defines what I think a planar style speaker should sound like, nothing more, nothing less.Such a project was inevitably going to take a while to research and design, and cost quite a lot of time, energy and money to work through. The speaker you see pictured is not a prototype, but the first production example, with all tooling in place to manufacture them to order. They will never be a mass production unit, as they take a long time to manufacture and will always be exclusive. These speakers are for the most demanding of planar audiophile, that have enjoyed their various dipolar speakers over time and are searching for a design that takes the theme a long way. A speaker to keep, and certainly made with a view to ending the upgrade cycle. For that reason they are a considerable investment – and do not compare to the second hand ebay planar offerings!The speakers employ an all new ribbon system, not sharing any dimensions or circuit parts with any Apogee speaker, but as a manufacturer of replacement/upgrade ribbons for owners of Apogee speakers you would expect a similarly styled planar product, which it certainly is. The visual “glimpse” resemblance is only skin deep…Design featuresMRTW SECTIONThe faces are magnet-latched, and damper-latched by height as well as at the ends.Returns are field encapsulated, set solid.MRTW’s range between 4 and 3.2 ohms.MRTW's are almost (99.2%TW, 99.5%MR) clear path to the backMRTW's are smooth conductive sidedBoth MR & TW ribbons use a non-kapton, non-mylar, non-kaladex single "trade secret" ribbon, considerably exceeding all Kapton's ribbon friendly properties.Bass-wave deflectors are used on the faces, combined with mini-hornloadingBASS SECTIONAll clamping is in low energy polymers and plasticsAll ribbon adhesives are VERY high dielectric, twice exceeding siliconeRibbon attachments are molecular bonding pressure clamps, with no tightening device in the audio circuit – unique and made for DEFINITIVEBass magnets are focussed tightly for better rangeBack-wave air resistance is low due to full dimension aperture size, and spaces around all magnetsBass Ribbons use a non-kapton single sheet construction, way lower in mass than any Apogee design. Resistance is a true 4 ohm load Tuning is multipoint/sweep rather than area defined tri-pointAll ribbons are meridian-mappedAll damping is a new Graz style system, not susceptible to foam rot!COMMON TO BASS AND MRTWFull frame is 3D laser machined to 0.3mm accuracy.Wiring is all silver plated six 9's copper strands, air sealed in teflon, copper terminated, silver soldered, earth screened, direct ribbon to amplifier connectionsPlinth is solid steel, Corian faced, and available in most Corian or rival material colours, see http://www.corian.comWeight of the panels is suspended on two hardened encapsulated points per speakerMagnets are rare earth, and field focussed, with coercive fields being (for example) roughly 7x that of the Apogee GrandClamp fastenings are all non magneticRibbons share a common mid-point.Plinths spiked for carpet use, can be flat or spike/cupped for hard flooring.Ribbon thickness tolerance 5 microns, flat dimension tolerances +/- 0.5mm nominalNo MDF or wood is used in the construction.All ribbons made in house using the same CNC machinery as I produce Apogee upgrades with, using different materials and construction for the DEFINITIVE.REQUIREMENTSCrossover is active, digital. The PERIGEE DEFINITIVE requires 6 channels of very high purity/quality amplification, either TUBE, DIGITAL or TRANSISTOR and as an efficient design can use as little as 20 watts per channel. The room pictured is all I have available as a demonstration room. Ideal rooms would have a 5m width, 8m length and 3m height as a target requirement.Installation requires 3 strong, sensible people. System weight is over 500 kgs.STYLINGThis pair is faced in BLACK/BLACK and WHITE/WHITE marble composite, with my intended theme being “Piano Keys”. As the PLINTH, BASS, and MRTW units are completely separate many colour schemes can be used to taste.Bass ribbon limits. The DEFINITIVE is much more sensitive than any Apogee, and preliminary tests indicate lifelike orchestral climaxes can be reproduced in rooms with relatively modest amplifiers, 20w tube amps with a 4 ohm tap being a reality for normal use. I have this week returned my DEQX unit for sensitivity modifications - as when the volume is set to a low pleasant background level the DEQX's electonics can be heard, the volume is so close to zero!!! Volume settings of -25dB on the DEQX scale equals full acoustic output for the speakers! Rather revealing...Bass output limits have been hard to test due to the sheer massive volume obtained - but the bass ribbon is under lateral multipoint suspension, and can just touch the magnets at the limit of it's excurion (more than any Apogee). They go delicate, deep, hard and VERY dynamicTake care - Graz
