Brilliant response and balance. Lovely combination of power and grace. Very moving. Perfect for my penchant of loud and clear blues, rock, soul and folk as the AP-2's manage them flawlessly. Good to know a guy that repairs things like this and passes them along.

None so far.

I bought my AP-2s almost 20 years ago. They had decided to go factory direct so I paid $1000 for the floor model. They still sound great today. They replaced an old pair of Magnepan MMG speakers I had bought used. In fact, the other day I went and listened to a pair of Magnepan 1.7s. They were so weak in the bass and midbass that it did not sound right to me, although the sound stage was incredible. I think that I will just keep these till they fall apart.

I bought the ap-5s , had them for years...then added the ap-2s ...together ..best surround system you can get for the money. ive listened to systems that cost 10 to 15 times more than what I have invested...my system blows them all away. if you are ever in Chattanooga area..you must stop by the factory( which is now in Ooltewah..15 min from Chattanooga) hearing is believing. the owner is very helpful and is more than happy to blow your mind with the speakers....you cant go wrong for the money

I bought a pair of AP2s a few years back to use as the front channels in a video system that was housed in a seperate room from my main 2 channel audio system. During a particuarly loud listening session with another audio-wise friend in the main 2-channel room, one of my reference speakers (circa $30k worth) blew a tweeter. As we did not want to cut our listening short we dragged in the AP2s out from the video room and quickly set them up in the audio room, with expectations of a considerably lower sound quality than what we had just experienced (before smoking the tweeter that is).

How wrong we were.....everthing my 30k speakers did, these unassuming AP2s did even better. Most notably there was a vast reduction in midrange colorations and loss of some upper end glare. And the bass was firmer and more textured, even though the AP2s use only a pair of 6.5 inch woofers as compared to some 15" ones in my reference speakers.

The kicker is these AP2 are a model close to the bottom-of-the-range in a product line of maybe ten speakers, and can still hold their own against models that cost far more (15 times in my case).

As for those 30k speakers? I sold them.

I have had these speakers many years running in an AV room, quite seperate from my main 2-channel audio room. After a very loud listening session in the Audio Room, I managed to blow a tweeter in my main speaker (a top of the line $30,000 model). As I had a friend from overseas visiting and we did not wish to cut our listening session short, we schlepped in the pair of AP2s out of the main room. And what we heard blew us away...the results were better in about every way than my 30k reference speakers. Vastly more neutral and capable of a real soundstage with lots of credible depth. But the most suprising thing was the bass put out by these relatively compact floor standers was better than that coming out of the far larger speakers, even with their 15" drivers. Since that time five or six years ago, I have changed every other piece of electronics, moving from solid state to some custom built tube gear, and these speakers keep on sounding better and better. If these were some expensive top of the range models, they would be worth every penny...but these models are about second from the bottom in a range of 7 or so other speakers. Highly and unconditionally recommended.

REAL WOOD, BI WIREALBE, DEEP BASS EXTENSION, HIGHS THAT ARE JUST PLAIN GORGEOUS, AND A FAT FULL BODIED MIDRANGE THAT WILL OT DISAPOINT. THE SUBTLENESS OF THE UPPER END IS UNEXPLAINABLE FOR SPEAKERS AT THIS PRICE

NOT A DAMN ONE

NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE HEARD OF THESE SPEAKERS. THIS IS UNDERSTANDABLE SINCE THESE ARE MADE IN CHATTANOOGA BY A SMALL SELF MADE COMPANY. THE GUY WHO BUILDS THESE SPEAKERS IS AN ABSOLUTE GENIUS AND THIS IS REFLECTED IN HIS SPEAKER DESIGN. THE AP-2 CONSIST OF 2 SIX AND A HALF WOOFERS AND A SWEET TWEETER THAT THIS GUY SWEARS IS THE NEXT BIG THING. THE SOUND THAT THESE SPEAKERS PROJECT IS NOTHING LESS THAN STUNNING. I HAD THE OPPURTUNITY TO AUDITION THESE A FEW TIMES AND LET ME TELL YOU MY MUSIC NEVER SOUNDED BETTER. THE IMAGING IS SECOND TO NONE IN THIS PRICE RANGE, ACTUALLY ITS THE BEST PERIOD. STEELY DAN'S KING OF THE WORLD SOUNDED HUGE. VOCALS WERE OPEN DETAILED AND RIGHT UP FRONT. THE BEST FAGAN AND COMPANY HAS EVER SOUNDED TO ME. NEXT WAS THE BASS TEST. HE PALYED SOME DIGITAL BASS CD IM SURE ANY 16 YEAR OLD WOULD HAVE IN THEIR COLLECTION SOUNDED DEEP EXTENDED AND DID NOT MUDDLE THE MIDRANGE AND VOCLAS. IN FACT I THINK I HAD THE SAME CD BACK IN MY HIGH SCHOOL DAYS OR SOMETHING LIKE IT AND THESE BABIES EXTENDED WAY BELOW WHAT MY 2 TEN INCH SOUNDSTREAM SPLS DID WITH 300 WATTS DRIVING THEM. BUT THE BEST HAS TO BE THE THE TWEETERS. I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE MADE OF ALLOYS PLASTIC OR SILK BUT THEY BLOOM AND EXTEND AND COULD EASILY RIVAL SPEAKERS COSTING A BIT MORE. THE BOTTOM LINE HERE IS THE AP 2S COULD EALILY GO FOR AT LEAST A THOUSAND MORE. IM SURE THEY COULD HAVE SOUNDED BETTER BUT HE WAS RUNNING THESE WITH A SUB-PAR HARMON KARDON RECIEVER AND DVD PLAYER. AT THE MOST WERE SPEAKING OF 70 WATTS OF RECIEVER POWER WHICH IS, AS MOST KNOW, NOT IDEAL WHEN DRIVING A 1500 DOLAR SET OF SPEAKERS. THESE RETAIL FOR 2000, BUT YOU CAN GET THEM FACTORY DIRECT AND PAY 1500. TAKE MY ADVICE YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPOINTED THESE ARE THE BEST SPEAKERS YOU CAN BUY, IN THIS PRICE RANGE, IN THE SOUTH THAT I KNOW OF.

Similar Products Used:

DEF TECH 2004TL, 2002TL, KLIPSH, DYNAUDIO 72

I recently picked these up used off the web for $525. They are large, very heavy (80 pounds apiece) floorstanding speakers with two 6.5" woofers and a tweeter, the two woofer set up above the tweeters. I bought these sound unheard, going on some archaic reviews of sister models from Stereo Review and Audio magazine from the mid '90's. I set them in my basement in very non ideal places (they are rear ported, but I had them only 18 inches from the back wall, and one was in a corner), plugged them in (single wired, though they are biwireable), and sat down and tried to listen to the speakers. I failed. The sound wasn't coming from the speakers. My first week's listening consisted mainly of Diane Krall's 'All for you', Holly Cole Trio 'Don't smoke in bed', and The Flecktone's 'Live Art' and 'Three flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'. On the female vocals, I could distinctly place the voice, and it certainly wasn't coming either speaker. On the more complicated tracks of 'Live Art', the soundstage was very wide and very 3-D. The bass went down fairly low (rated to 35 hz. at -3 db) and, to my ears, flat. There was no mid-bass boominess (except for a little due to the fact that a speaker was in the corner). The highs weren't at all harsh to my ears. I'm not sure how much is related to the front end, but my setup is much more detailed with a better soundstage than my friends setup with a Nak receiver and Snell speakers (small floorstanders, not sure of model), and is almost in the same league as a another friends homebuilt WATT/PUPPyish homebuilt things based on Dynaudio drivers (only one woofer vs. Wilson's 2), but he spent over $1500 just on raw materials, not to mention that he has a much nicer amp (musical fidelity). So I give them five stars. I don't think I could have gotten better full range speakers for anything less than $1000. (I think you can buy these for ~ $1200 factory direct, new).
My system:
Philips CDC-875, modified by Stan Warren
adcom gtp-400 (I think that this will be the first to go)
adcom gfa 545 II
digital phase AP-2
transparent the link 200 interconnects throughout
MIT T6 speaker cable, single run
total cost...< $1250