The Apex Club

Pity if Apex didn't float your boat. Maybe you're simply a B&W guy? Are you sure it's not your current Marantz holding em back? If I'm not mistaken you mentioned something about that earlier on?

Fascinating experience with your Audyssey EQ. As mentioned before I get exactly the opposite result.

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Pity if Apex didn't float your boat. Maybe you're simply a B&W guy? Are you sure it's not your current Marantz holding em back? If I'm not mistaken you mentioned something about that earlier on?

Fascinating experience with your Audyssey EQ. As mentioned before I get exactly the opposite result.

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Maybe my ears do just prefer the B&W sound. I've not read a bad review regarding my Marantz. The review it was given from HOME CINEMA CHOICE was very encoraging. I auditioned the CM 8's with my Marantz and sound was anything but held back or restrained. I guess the only way to know for sure is to do to a direct comparison with some films which I'll probably do tomorrow evening. 

Atkins - what don't you like about the Apex and what B&W are you comparing them to?

Also where are they placed - are they on the wall or on dedicated stands?

Hi ellis, 

How to explain the sound......

When watching movies the sound is very flat and boring, I don't feel engrossed in the sound. I have had Auddyssey turned off today and to be honest it does sound much better. I'll be watching a film tonight with Audyssey off to see if Auddyssey is the problem.

The centre is directly under my tv on the wall and the L/R channel are also on the wall approximately 6in from the tv. I'm goin to move the L/R channel further apart to see if that helps open up the sound.

any suggestions welcomed. 

Hi Atkins

I am surpised you think that - I doubt many people would think the Apex are boring speakers - if anything they go the other way, must be something wrong somewhere with the setup.

I think because they are small speakers and can be wall mounted - dont be fooled into thinking you can place them anywhere, different to normal speakers and expect them to sound great.  The standard rules apply

You want them the same distance apart as you sit away from them - isoceles triangle.  I would toe them in so that they are pointing at you so that they would  both meet/ cross just behind where you sit / your head

You want them the same height they would be on their dedicated stands, which will put the tweeter at ear height or just above - that is best and Ideally the centre should be the same height as well and poiting at you on its bracket.

How does that compare to how you have it now?

> Atkins, I feel that ellisdj is giving you very good advice above.

Even though in my own livingspace I have far from the 'ideal' speaker placements and/or acoustic conditions I've been lucky to acchieve very thrilling results from Apex. One that all my friends have favorably commented on. As it stands I attribute much of that to Denon and Audyssey (as declared earlier). I believe it can only get better (by upgrade of electronics and possible acoustic treatments). Apex do however 'deserve' really great care in set-up and what drives them in order for them to bloom in the first place. Still, you might simply just love B&W in your current situation because they 'work', and perhaps they've become your point of reference, which would not be a strange thing at all.

My advice would be two fold - 1) try experiment as much as is reasonable with your room and speaker placements etc and then all the settings in your Marantz/Audyssey to go along with that (which you may already have done?) 2) if possible, test/loan another receiver solution that interests you just to see if you can steer this in a different direction. You did in fact mention a concern of the Marantz as a "weaker link" in earlier posts. If this won't work going back to B&W wouldn't be a bad thing, would it? 

Evening Ellis,

I've moved the L&R channels down a few inches so they now sit inline with the A40, at ear height. I've alo moved them out to form a 10ft equilateral triangle. The sound is much much better, more spread out and tons of detail which i previoulsy never heard. It's the complete opposite to how i described it in earlier posts, very exciting, thrilling and engulfing. I just watched a blu ray with Audyssey set to off and Dynamic EQ also turned off due to not having chance to re-run Audyssey which I'll possibly run tomorrow out of pure curiosity. 

Hi Atkins 

Your very welcome matey - glad that's helped you get more out of your system.

When you run Audessey again try it without Dynamic EQ on. While RicDeg loves it I feel a lot of others will prefer it off - one of those settings. Especially if you prefer Audessey off all together.

one benefit of using Audessey is that it will put some eq on your sub which is a good thing.  Don't know how much freedom you have with the receiver but if you can maybe try adjusting the eq for your speakers so that there is none I.e reducing all the filters to 0ATT but leaving the sub as is. If that is possible might be on to the winner ;) 

Guys,

It has been a pleasure owning the Apex and posting on this thread,but the time has come to part with my Apex. 

They are now for sale in the classified section of AVForums. 

I will still be watching/posting on this thread as I need to see what RickyDeg finally replaces his Denon with. 

Gosalh thank you for starting this.

MK here I come

Ah, damn! I knew the time would come!  hahaha

Congrats on your up-coming new speakers! Which M&K system have you picked?

I've heard really favorable things about M&K. For movies, in particular.

Glad you'll stick around though to see my next upgrade. Might happen in the coming months.

I'll see you around. ENJOY!!!

Hey Ricky. Yes I will be sticking around to see  what you do. 

Im going for 3 x MK S150 MK2's across the front. 

I won't run any rears for a while as will have to save for the MK SS150 surrounds. May get a second hand cheap pair of MK's to stand in,then use them as heights in the future. 

I can't praise the Apex enough but I know I can get more from my Statement A5 amp. The new MK2's are very good with music too. 

Guys if anyone is interested in my piano gloss white Apex in mint condition please let me know. 4 x A10 and 1 x A40. 

Man, if you were closer by I'd probably take a couple of those of your hands,

but I'm in Belgium so shipping might get a bit expensive...

It might not be that bad. But selling as a set only I'm afraid. 

Apex have gone up in price £300 per A10 and £500 per A40

Ah, didn't stop to think that you'd sell them as a set.

Prices in Belgium are still at the same level as they have always been: 350€ for the A10 and 550€ for the A40 (so 299£ and 469£).

Good luck with the sale; I'm sure you'll get them a nice new home soon!