Sean, only read about the Ionovac, never heard one alas.
Travis, they have a built in amp and Acapella uses them without external amplification. The user has to fine tune the tweeters to the rest of the system which is a cinch. 2.5k would indeed be a steal, but audition them first. They need an overhaul every 4-5 years or so with normal use.
Justacoder, Switzerland is tiny, less population than greater NYC. There is only one importer and a very small market and I had to twist his arm very hard to get my pair. He of course wants to sell complete Acapella systems.
Dysmalonyx, I have a separate amplification chain for them in my system, consisting of a Spectral DMC 20 Mark I preamp and a pair of ancient Spectral DMA 50s switched for mono, all wired with the apropriate MIT cabling. This makes for an excellent match. I decided for this setup, because it gave me the advantage to really fine tune for every bit of software that I play. This is especially important with SACD. The tweeters are very wideband, go far into bat territory, like the Tannoy you mention and through them you can easily discern that something is strangely amiss with SACD in the highest spectrum of the soundfield, (apart from the hiss, which with some discs is really a bitch) some strange sort of constriction, difficult for me to describe, which redbook CD's do not have....and yes, they will go with any kind of speaker. I placed them at ear level, with their opening aimed at the point of my nose, so to speak, to get the best results. That's at least what sounded and blended best with my wall of stators, putting them at the outside, at each end, right next to the walls and aimed at ye old red nose. The effect is amazing, not only the pristine and complete effortless rendering of the high end, but the improvement in the soundstage, both in width and depth, as well as instrument placements therein. These tweeters pick up so many subtle cues, which simply were not there before, that you simply have a tremdous increase in threedimensionality. But be warned, once you have heard them, it is difficult to listen to music without them. Things become unbearably veiled....and they are so fast, they merge effortlessly with the stators. Cheers,
