The Apex Club

Thanks for your kind comments RickyDeg! Right now I'm almost decided to try the 4520/3313 combo at home very soon. I'll let you know about it. 

Thanks again!!

I am slowly working my way through the 1300 posts on this thread but I cant find anything comparing the RW12 and AW12.  I am sure its there.

I am looking to buy 7.1 Apex with 3x A40 at tge front and the rest on A10.  I could do with a steer on the difference in the two subs.  Sorry if this has been debated greatly already.

Hey jcshutts PHEW! Gotta take a whole lot of patience going through all 1300 posts of this thread... which, incidentally "celebrates" it's 2 year active run on this forum today. All thanks to our fellow buddy gosahl who started it 2011-01-11. It's partly due to this thread that I got hooked on demoing these, and I'm glad I did.

In terms of the differences between the SIlver RXW-12 and Apex AW-12, there has been some debate about it. Although I believe they are identical on paper Monitor audio themselves wrote the following in their press-release: "In order to extend the performance of it's lifestyle speaker systems, Monitor Audio has created a wholly new sub-bass engine for the AW-12, designed to contribute a seismic blend of deep bass frequencies and high output with low distortion. Every component has been developed specifically for the AW-12, including the massively engineered front-firing 12" C-CAM driver and 500 watt Class D amplifier."

Also, the AW-12 has a die cast alloy cabinet, whereas the older RXW-12 has an MDF cabinet. To me the Apex AW-12 sub not only looks the part, it will naturally blend in seamlessly with the Apex speakers. If these two beasts perform differently from each other I cannot really say. Sorry.

just the job, AW12 it is then!  easy as that!

thanks

just trying to source the set up

at a good price and one web site states the apex are now discontinued .... Is this true? Are MA about to stop making these?

Hi all, I'm willing to build my 1st 5.1 home cinema set up based on the MA apex speakers. Initially I'm going to get a pair of A10s and when I have the budget get another pair, a sub and a front. 

I'm going to use it 70% for music 30% movies. After searching for AV receivers I concluded to the following:

1. Denon 3313, £640

2. Yamaha a1010, £590

3. Onlyo nr717, £590

Does anyone have experience with any of these? Unfortunately I can't arrange a demo as there aren't any stores near me to do that. 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

The Apex are not discontinued. In fact th retail price has just gone up in the UK to £300 each. 

I used to have a Denon 3310 which I ran with the Apex and it was very good for both movies and music.  I can't comment on the other receivers though. 

If your going to use your system for 70% music get the sub before more speakers, same time if you can squeeze your budget - good as the Apex are the bass performance is limited due to their size upper bass great, lower bass not there.

you will recommended in this thread to get the matching sub which is fine, however there are subs easy as good if not better from elsewhere. 

BK Electronics subs are much cheaper but they perform as good as subs much more expensive

There is a lot online about them, just not on this forum.

if its your first system either receiver will likely really impress you - if you can't demo read the reviews and go for whichever sounds the best to you if you have no preconception of what you like I.e no previous system then you are working off a blank canvas anyway

+1 to that re the sub. 

Just on that issue of cheaper but equal subs, this would enable my budget to upgrade from a10's to a40's - presumably a good step forward. 

Which sub models are good to look at?

i realise this is the Apex club but ..... are the Shadow range better than Apex?

@jcshutts:

To be honest, the Apex sub is one of the nicest looking subs if you intend to put the sub in a very visible location.

If you intend to use the sub to put something on it (plant, lamp, ...), there are a number of subs that should appeal.

I personally have purchased the BK XXLS400 in gloss white, which matches the Apex speakers in white perfectly.

Mine is a DownFire model because my wife didn't realy like the fact that there would be a big black cloth facing her and we also have a baby,

so touching stuff is in their nature. A downfire sub ensures that you get a nice (in my case) glossy white block which can be used to put a plant (at the moment) or lamp on top of it.

The build quality of the BK sub is excellent and performance wise it is at least up to the level of the Apex sub, in my opinion even better.

Do keep in mind that a sealed sub can never go as low as a ported one, so if deep bass is what you are looking for,

and you have the room to put it, I would go for the monolith+

It can be had with the same finishes as the XXLS400 but it has a bigger cabinet and is ported, so the impact in movies will be a lot higher (or deeper if you know what I mean).

Both are will under the price of the Apex sub, so should suit your plans to buy A40's.

Alternatively you could have a look at the new or existing SVS subs. They also sport good value for money but lack the many finishing options of the BK subs. They have just launched 2 new subs (SB1000 & PB1000) which, on paper at least, show to be some serious contenders for the "best bang for the buck" titel, but no official reviews at this point.

Thanks

Thanks for your reply!

> gunny calling on gunny!

I been wanting to ask you if you've had any more experience listening to Apex with NAD? I just re-read your posts on your thoughts from a number of months ago. Do you still use your Marantz receiver or have you gotten something new since? I'm still reading up on the T787 and talking to current owners and getting so much positive feedback about the machine it's bordering on ridiculous. Apart from a couple other alternatives I still wanna test-drive this beast at home, despite only having XT and not XT32. Speaking of that, I was just intouch with NAD support and yet again they claim to not even have plans to embrace XT32. Something I find truly odd, considering it could be a deal-breaker for many.