Daedalus

I don't read BFS anymore as I lost interest when I found out Marty uses Lowes AC cable for speaker cables. However, I do own a pair of Ulysses speakers and it would be a loss for you or anyone else interested in them to not run out and listen to them. They are the best I've owned and the best I have heard and I've owned re-built dbl. stacked Quad 57's, B&W 802's, Beauhorn's, 3A De Capo's, Legacy Focus and unfortunately for my pocketbook, too many others to remember right now.

Lou's speakers, including the smaller DA-RMa model, which I heard at RMAF, are great, dynamically natural sounding loudspeakers that can be driven by SET's or high power SS.

They also have a timless beauty, which I do not tire of.

Good luck.

Frank

Just my 2 pennies...I think that the two recent reviews of Daedalus in Stereo Times and Bound For Sound offer a pretty accurate appraisal of the Daedalus 'house sound'. Obviously, Lou's aesthetic appealed more to the reviewer at Stereo Times. That's to be expected.

We all interact with music as individuals in our own unique way. I have friends who are thrilled with their planar and horn speakers, but to my ear, those particular strengths and compromises are not my personal choice. That in no way invalidates either approach. In my experience, as you move up the food chain, all of the equipment seems to converge toward a uniform 'truth'. Different designers seem to approach it in their singular way. It sure makes this hobby a lot of fun.

As I haven't read Marty's Daedalus review yet (I will- I'm a subscriber but im out of state right now so cant get to the mailbox)- Nglazer, if you have, could you tell me his 'reservations' about the Ulysses? What made the review less than 'glowing'? Since I'm getting near 'live' sounding music in my humble abode especially with smaller scale works- and my emotional involvement meter is pegged (and I've heard hundreds of speakers over the years) 'enquiring' minds want to know!! Now!!

PS- I positively hated the Lowes 6 gauge cables Marty loves. I set them up as recommended and broke them in etc and... threw them out (literally) after about two months of subbing them in to different systems. Could those cables be the problem? ;)

Abramswatch,

First, I did not intend to diss any owners of this speaker. Just reporting what I read. I have not heard any Daedelus speakers. I use a pair of similarly priced speakers - Von Schweikert VR5 HSE's (not current VR5's) -- and although I think these are among the best at anything near their price, I am sure many would differ with me on this.

MDW reported that notwithstanding two 7" woofers, they don't plumb the bass depths and the bottom octave is missing. He found the bass on the VMPS RM40's, at less than half the price, to be deeper and the VMPS having greater ambient air than the Ulysses and capturing decay better than the Ulysses.

That said, he also paid several compliments to the speaker, especially its transparaent mid-range and smooth treble. So, it was a nice review but not a glowing one.
And I too am skeptical of his use of Lowes wire as speaker cable, but he did rave about LessLoss PC's, with which I agree. He is like any other reviewer in this regard: sometimes they are on point, sometimes off-base.

Neal

Nglazer,

Thanks for your comments and I hope if you come out to the RMAF you will find time to stop in and say hi.
I would like to clarify and correct a couple of errors in the BFS article that is being quoted. First the sensitivity is 97db not 93db as written, also his assumptions about the crossover points are considerably off.

As for the bass, it is not "missing" nor did Marty say that. (the Ulysses is -2db @ 28hz with a smooth slope below that.) I have always felt that the range from 20-30hz is best handled by a sub if one really wants a flat response in that range. This is simply my design approach and I do this because I do not want to compromise the musicality of the bass range of music (30hz -200hz). Again just my approach, not saying it's the only way...

Also as a few have already mentioned his 'cables' are not the best match for a neutral speaker. I have found with these speakers that cables make a HUGE difference in the aspects of phase, air, stage and detail. I have recently changed to Cardas posts because I found they improved all these areas, the point being that the posts are in a sense a continuation of the cables and if it didn't matter we could use cheap copper posts and get the same transparency, which is clearly not the case.

All that being said I think it is a good review and he appreciated the dynamic and musical capabilities of the speaker.

Thanks,
Lou