I did get a few private responses from people here that satisfied my curiosity for the nonce, and in favor of the Aps reputation. It interested me mainly from the historical perspective. I was away from the hobby for many years and missed a lot. I know of only one person in my area that owns Aps but don't wish to impose. My current enthusiasm is for Siegfried Linkwitz's DIY cone dipole designs. I'm happily using his small two-way 'prototype' passive crossover PMT1 now. My listening room and financial means are both modest, especially in this economy; not up to the demands of Apogee (let alone Perigee) ownership!
As for my friend, we enjoy good-naturedly tweaking each other now and then about our differing audio philosophies. Name withheld to protect the innocent and all that. He lurks here now and then, too, and gives me the raised eyebrow over some of my more "emphatic" pronouncements. Turn about is fair play!
I would have emailed you privately but you likely have a pretty full inbox.
[EDIT] Ah, I see you've posted elsewhere here. As you have surmised by now this forum has a strong objectivist/scientific orientation. You won't make much headway arguing for things the audible impacts of expensive cables or break-in.
Regardless of our differing orientations, I sincerly wish you luck with the new Perigee ribbon speakers. Quite striking in appearance! Tough business, and a tough time to launch a new venture. Of course, objectivist that I am my first thought was, "OK, but how will they measure?"
