Daedalus

My DA-RMa's are now a few months 'old' and I comfortable that they are completely broken in. As we all know, everyone's tastes are different and of course sound is so much room and associated equipment dependent. But I wanted to chime in one more time on my opinion/preference for these speakers.

Over the years I've owned a number of very good speakers in my opinion: Thiel 2.2's, Thiel 3.6's, Wilson Benesch Act Ones (I think I had one of the 1st pairs in the US), Sonus Faber Electa Amator II's, JM Lab Micro Utopia's....IMHO the DA-RMa's are easily the most enjoyable of any speaker I've owned. They give me the detail & dynamics of the Thiels, the resolution and coherence of the Wilson Benesch Act Ones, and the absolute non-fatiguing, enjoyable listening experience of the EA II's!! After 25 years in this hobby, this may the 1st purchase/upgrade that I've been completely satisfied that indeed its an upgrade and worth the investment.

Lou has a great product and is great to deal with. I urge anyone that has a chance to give his speakers a listen. I'd love to hear the Ulysses (but cost and room size make those babies a non-starter for me anyway).

No, I have no affiliation with Daedalus other than being a very happy customer. And I don't often post my evaluations of equipment, but given that I'm so pleased with this purchase, I wanted to sing some praises :)!

Rrsclyde--glad to hear you are enjoying the DA-RMa's. I've had my DA-1.1's for over a year now and the love affair continues. Lou--I was intrigued by your comparison of the different models since I did not get a chance to comparison shop within the line prior to purchase. Your remarks about the DA-1.1 being (ever so slightly) warmer than the other models is particularly noteworthy, as is your comparison to the "Harbeth" sound with which I am very familiar. What led me to the original DA-1 and now to the upgraded DA-1.1 was the likeness of your designs to my Harbeth Compact 7's across the midrange--an area where this speaker excels like no other. That you have managed to produce a full range floorstanding speaker that can compete with the Harbeth in this critical area but which is much more dynamic and capable of recreating a lifelike presentation of the recorded experience is why, I believe, your designs are receiving such unanimous critical acclaim. I am grateful to have found a speaker with which I can enjoy for a lifetime. Thanks again!

Rrsclyde and others, Thanks much!! After seventeen years at this I'm still touched by the generous appreciation my customers have for what I do. It really is the people that make it worthwhile!
Thanks,
Lou

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have found two highly effective 'tweaks' to the Ulysses that work well separately but even better in combination.

Lou can make up a layered maple slab that sits between the speaker and the stand. (I also removed the plinth that came with the stand.) This is very effective at resonance control and in my system, lowered the noise floor and low level distortion. An additional benefit was improved low frequency extension. This costs ~$200-$250 and is a 'no brainer' upgrade.

After discussion with Lou, I ordered EquaRack low profile footers. I was already familiar with EquaRack's products as an extremely happy owner of two EquaRack equipment stands.

After trying multiple permutations, the best sound comes with the following combination: speaker-maple slab-footers-stand. This was another significant improvement, primarily in image focus and detail retrieval. I would ascribe the improvement more to improved isolation of the speaker. A buddy of mine commented that "the speakers have a better grip on the music" which is a good descriptor. And yes, there was definite synergy with both the footers and maple slab. Low frequency extension and authority was improved. The bass is now visceral. High frequency sibilance has been eliminated. The EquaRack system is not cheap (~$900) but well worth the expense. I have not tried other similar isolation products, so here's hoping someone else will try and report their results.

The improvements do not compromise the fundamental Daedalus 'house sound'. It sounds like a Daedalus, only better! Here's my rationalization for giving this a try (and as Woody Allen says, we all need one good rationalization to make it through the day), if I had auditioned the base Ulysses system and the 'tweaked' Ulysses, I would have happily paid the difference.

Ooops! The maple block is ~$300...sorry for any confusion.