Thanks a million to all the audiogoners who took the trouble let me know I'm not alone in my thoughts here and provide all this fascinating background info. I appreciate it.
I now have Kharma 3.2s because they also are among speakers that can often drop the 4th wall away as my Stages did (to my ears, at least). And, like the Stages, the 1-word review of the Kharmas is Clarity. But of course, it is a completely different experience from the Stages.
It was noted above that someone used an Aragon 4004 amp (I used an Aragon 8008)--it was amazing how realistic the Stages could sound with a $2500 amp.
I did listen to Quad 988s and did appreciate their wonderful purity and the way they could isolate each image in its own envelope, but felt that the overall sound was a bit foggy, not like the open-air, distortionless feeling of Apogee. I had a similar feeling of distance, of hearing the music through a glass window, with Martin Logans. There was nothing really wrong with these speakers, but felt like I wanted to open up that window and hear real, live sounds.
I think the closest thing I ever heard to having equivalent vocal reproduction was a pair of Dynaudio Evidence towers. The Apogee vocals were LARGE, actually larger than life, so they they were not really spatially accurate, but boy was it compelling.
I remember putting my ear right up to the ribbon and not being able to hear where the music was coming from. It was the ultimate driverless sound, I think.
I finally moved on from the Stages because the left woofer began to buzz, and 3 trips back to Apogee failed to fix it.
Thanks again, everbody.
I now have Kharma 3.2s because they also are among speakers that can often drop the 4th wall away as my Stages did (to my ears, at least). And, like the Stages, the 1-word review of the Kharmas is Clarity. But of course, it is a completely different experience from the Stages.
It was noted above that someone used an Aragon 4004 amp (I used an Aragon 8008)--it was amazing how realistic the Stages could sound with a $2500 amp.
I did listen to Quad 988s and did appreciate their wonderful purity and the way they could isolate each image in its own envelope, but felt that the overall sound was a bit foggy, not like the open-air, distortionless feeling of Apogee. I had a similar feeling of distance, of hearing the music through a glass window, with Martin Logans. There was nothing really wrong with these speakers, but felt like I wanted to open up that window and hear real, live sounds.
I think the closest thing I ever heard to having equivalent vocal reproduction was a pair of Dynaudio Evidence towers. The Apogee vocals were LARGE, actually larger than life, so they they were not really spatially accurate, but boy was it compelling.
I remember putting my ear right up to the ribbon and not being able to hear where the music was coming from. It was the ultimate driverless sound, I think.
I finally moved on from the Stages because the left woofer began to buzz, and 3 trips back to Apogee failed to fix it.
Thanks again, everbody.