Apogee Scintilla Signature specifications

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Tech nical data

Special features

The Scintilla is or was the second so-called ribbon speaker - after the Apogee debut with the spectacular "full range"- that Apogee has released. The pair was offered in the USA in the later 80s for the amazingly low price of 3.500,- USD. This is a full-range dipole magnetostat, designed as a three-way system with four(!) approx. 12 mm narrow aluminium tweeter ribbon: two in front and two in antiphase (!)working at the rear, as a result, the high-frequency range is radiated by a kind of pulsating, slender cylinder. Furthermore, an approximately 45mm wide aluminum midrange ribbon, all five transducers in A common, very strong magnetic gap. Both systems consist exclusively of corrupted (corrugated profiling) alumium foil without Kapton or Mylar foil for amplification, the length is about 1350 mm. Due to this design, these ribbons have an extremely low resistance, which was difficult for most amplifiers of that time, but above all they are also very light. In contrast to almost all later mid-tweeters, these bands are designed to be "single-ended", which is why the low impedance, but also the excellent sound, because only this design makes it possible to do without the plastic carrier film, which can bridge the otherwise unavoidable conductor track gaps. The entire "membrane" here is at the same time the driven conductor, hanging completely freely in the magnetic field. As with all other full-range "ribbons" Apogee s, the low-mid range was / is reproduced with a foil-reinforced "quasi-ribbon". The conductor tracks are designed in a meandering shape, behind the conductor tracks there is a perforated plate with - hopefully (unfortunately not always the case) - correctly glued rows of magnets in relation to the direction of current flow in the conductor tracks. There were two meander cuts: about 34 mm wide traces for the famous 1-ohm version and about 16.5 mm narrow ones for a pure 4 ohm and a version that can be clamped from 1 to 4 ohm. A very early version had a transformer to increase the impedance, but only a few of them were built. According to estimates, a total of about 1000 pairs of scintillas were produced in the USA during Apogee 's "lifetime", of which about 40 pairs are said to have been delivered to Germany. The extremely good, high-resolution and at the same time always extremely musical sound is primarily said to be the medium and high bands, especially in the 1 ohm or the switchable version operated in 1 ohm. The tight 1 ohm impedance is a problem for all those power amplifiers that require a higher internal operating voltage (over +/ -63 volts DC) and relatively few output transistors, e.g. 4...6 per side) to rather higher load resistances (4...8Ohm ) are designed. Power amplifiers with lower internal operating voltages (40 to +/-56V DC) and at least 6 or 8 output transistors per channel have no problem with this. The same applies to tube output stages, provided that the output transformers can be switched or soldered to 2 or better 1 ohm, and at least 6, better 8 power end pentodes are available per side. Especially the treble tapes, but also the wide midrange tapes of the scintilla are mechanically VERY sensitive. Incorrect storage, draft or careless transport movements overstretch the corruption of these tapes, so that the elements then sag too far and have to be replaced. As with all Apogee full-range ribbons, the problem with the low-mid tone foil is the edge clamping made of a PVC-based foam similar to Tesa minor. This crumbles after about 15 years due to loss of plasticizer. This damping foam is not replaceable without destroying the bass foil. A decomposed edge clamping manifests itself in snoring accompanying noises, which are particularly excited by upper to middle basses (75 / 150Hz) and have a very disturbing effect. In the case of a used copy with original foils or ribbons, it is THEREFORE ALWAYS to be assumed that they must be completely replaced. This is possible with restorers in Holland, Switzerland, England, USA and Australia, who use the CNC-manufactured Australian films from the company. Install Graz. Not a cheap pleasure, but if everything is right, this speaker is at the top of the league of the current 20- 30T € class in terms of musicality and ultra-fine resolution - but not in sound pressure. Many connoisseurs of the scene are of the opinion that this speaker - especially in the 1Ohm version - was also the overall best apogee ever built. But it was precisely this version that also earned Apogee the reputation of the "Ampkiller", although only this one model in the range had this very low impedance.

Regenerations of a decomposed edge clamping have already been successfully carried out by means of very low-viscosity, neutral-curing silicone rubber. This is then carefully introduced into the foam only from the front and, after curing, at least partially restores the desired properties again. In addition to the considerable cost savings, the advantage is that the original films, which are superior to the replicas in several respects, can be preserved, provided that they are undamaged.

A serious disadvantage of ALL Apogee full-range speakers should not go unmentioned: the bass foil tends to excite or self-produce various background noises. These can be: the already mentioned "buzz" due to defective edge damping of the bass foil, snoring / rattling due to too loose upper / lower foil clamps ("upper / lower clamps", rel. easy to fix). Furthermore, due to parasitic vibrations, e.g. of the front mask or of crossover components (can be remedied with some effort). Much worse is a wah-wah-like noise (internal name at Apogee USA), or also called "foil flicker", which is created by swinging the bass foil at certain frequencies, usually very narrowband with center frequencies in the range of 200 to 400Hz. In this case, the film no longer swings in phase, but parts of the film move forward, while others swing backwards. Since this happens with slightly different frequency due to the constantly changing film width over the height, there are fluctuations, i.e. erasures and sometimes amplifications, hence the "flicker" or "wah-wah". This problem is very difficult or impossible to solve at all, at least with the installed film. Although this phenomenon can occur strongly in pure sine tones even at the lowest levels (below up to a volt terminal voltage), it is surprisingly and fortunately rarely heard in music. If so, then usually with longer notes of individually torn strings of acoustic guitar or solo vocals. Apogee has been fighting this problem quite successfully since the early 90s with sinusoidal instead of straight horzizontal conductor cuts of the bass foil. These slides were used at the Stage, Studio Grand and Grand. Measurements by the author have shown that the Graz films, which are very meticulously executed by hand, are particularly susceptible to this problem. It is assumed that the random irregularities in the more or less wide overlaps of the Kapton carrier film of the original membranes, which is composed of several transverse strips, had an anti-vibration effect. Interestingly, this topic is rarely or never covered in discussion forums. Only in tests of various apogees in 1988 in the magazine "Audio Critic" the problem was mentioned by name. Therefore, before buying: be sure to connect a sine wave generator and tune from 30 Hz to up to 10 kHz at a low to moderate level. Prices: There were times when you could get a used and almost always broken pair of "Scinnies" for 500€/$ or less, but that's over. Defective copies bring 1000 to 1500€/$, for an overhauled pair 5 to 8T€ and more are to be invested. For an overhaul, 4 to 8T € should be planned, depending on the effort that goes beyond a pure film exchange, e.g. for a paint job or a new construction of the elaborate crossovers. A self-exchange of the bass foils is extremely difficult and will certainly go wrong. Even the experts do not always succeed in this action right away.

Note: The author owns several apogees, including scintillas and has written these lines to the best of his knowledge.