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To get really good images you don't necessarily need massive aperture for APO imaging. There are literally thousands of excellent images on the net from 106mm and smaller scopes.
The term APO gets thrown around in the marketing world. For practical purposes APO is really a triplet or quadruplet (like the Tak FSQ or TV NP101). Doublets vary from highend semi APO like Tak FS series to lower end semiAPO. Then you go lower from there. I have not seen decent images from Achros and would advise you see actual good images before you buy.
More likely you would get images where the stars have heavy blue halos around them or worse.
There seems to be a lot of choice in the 102mm bracket now and it is heavily competitive. I haven't used one but I would be interested in the Stellarvue 102mm or the Orion Eon 102mm. The Orion EON is made by Pern Lang (spelling) from Taiwan. Most known for the scopes it made for William Optics so these EONs should look familiar.
Also others would know better than me, but there is a 127mm triplet being used by I believe Hughy which may be pretty nice. Aperture rules ultimately but not at the cost of out of focus semi-APO optics.
14 inch SCT with super long focal length is great for visual but really that sort of focal length requires a high end mount to make it work. You will be severely limited by the mount and I have rarely seen people get on top of it although there have been exceptions.
Long focal imaging is an upper step best done after mastering shorter focal length imaging which is less demanding and more likely to result in an excellent image.
The choice in this price and aperture range has really opened up in the last few years so you are lucky.
I'd also have my doubts (others could correct me) about an EQ6 handling a 6 inch APO. Same problem. Imaging starts with the mount. A poor mount with an AP scope on it will produce lousy images!
Greg.
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