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Review: Daedalus DA-1 Speaker

Category: Speakers

The Daedalus DA-1 is a medium size floorstanding speaker that is
exceedingly musical and a joy to behold. I recently had the
opportunity to audition this loudspeaker at Response Audio in upstate
New York. Bill Baker, who owns Response, is a tube and two-channel
audio enthusiast who designs and builds his own amplifiers and
demonstrates the DA-1's with enthusiasm and integrity. I recommend
his shop to anyone in the Northeast as a source of off-the-beaten
track gear and honest, helpful service.

The DA-1 is made from solid hardwood, using old world handcrafted
techniques such as dovetail joinery. The speakers come in oak, cherry
and black walnut, with the baffles made of the latter material
regardless of finish. They are simply stunning to look at--I found
myself rubbing my hands upon the surface as I would a fine piece of
furniture. The speakers are also "proportionally correct" in that,
while clearly a large and full range floorstander, they do not and
will not dominate the room by their sheer physical presence. Lou
Hinckey, who designs and builds the speakers, has also incorporated
some interesting geometry by making the inside panel narrower than the
outside one and sloping the baffle slightly to time align the drivers.
The result is a unique and attractive package that is said to
minimize standing waves inside the cabinet.
Lou is a musician who builds acoustic amplification PA systems and
therefore entered the world of high end speaker design via a side
door. He brings his musicians ear and determination to reproduce
acoustic instruments faithfully--and this he has surely done. In
fact, this is perhaps the most attractive aspect of the DA-1's sound.
Obeos, violins, guitars, cellos, etc. are reproduced with flesh and
body. The ability to distinguish between clarinet, oboe and basson is
as easy as when you are sitting in front of an orchestra. This, I
have found, is a rare quality in many audiophile designs. Instruments
tend to sound thin and homogenous, with much of their communicative
cues lost. This, for me, strips away much of the emotional quality of
the listening experience. The DA-1's are fully engaging, drawing you
into the performance in a way few speakers are able to do.
Lou also talks a lot about listener fatigue and has designed the
speaker to be a winner over long listening sessions. I can confirm
this having spent about 4 hours at Bill's shop. The DA-1's are highly
listenable, with a slightly recessed midrange similar to the BBC dip
found in brands like Harbeth and Spendor. The DA-1's don't dump the
music in your lap, they draw you into the performance without
sacrificing detail and clarity. How Lou was able to design and build
a high resolution speaker that does not offend over long term
listening, I don't know--but he has. While the DA-1's may not be as
revealing as some speakers, they are fast, dynamic and highly
resolving.
The DA-1's do not image as precisely as some speakers. The soundfield
is not huge despite the size and multiple drive units. Images are
somewhat diffuse (due, perhaps, to his use of two tweeters slightly
offset to enlarge dispersion). This did not bother me in the least,
as I am not "into" soundstaging and imaging per se. However, some may
be disappointed in how the speakers localize instruments if that is
your cup of tea. Rather, the DA-1's sound like live music in that the
presentation is bold, dynamic and the sound like that you would hear
at a live concert.
High frequency response is good, not great. The tweeters do not spit
or misbehave but the speakers lack the last bit of air and definition
that some comparably priced speakers produce. This may have been due
to inadequate break in time. The speakers do have a two position
adjustment for the tweeter output and this was set at "high" during my
listening sessions.
The bass response was also not to my liking. There was good authority
but in Bill's room (which is very large and not really well designed
for music reproduction--he is in the process of renovations which
should yield better results) I found the bass lacking pace and timing.
It also seemed as though part of the lower regions was being
emphasize over others. My discussions/correspondence with DA-1 owners
suggests to me that the room was the culprit but I am reserving
judgement. Anyone care to weigh in here?
In the end, the DA-1's are, for the money, one of the best (if not
best) loudspeakers I have heard in my search thus far (and some of you
know how long I've been looking). With the exception of the bass,
which I believe may be room incurred, and the slight lack of air and
extension in the treble, you would be hard pressed to find a more
musical and enjoyable loudspeaker. I strongly urge anyone who is in
the market for a beautiful floorstander that is easy to drive (96db)
and fun and involving to listen to to give Bill a shout and check them
out. If you do, please post your thoughts and keep the dialogue going
about a relatively unknown product of serious merit.

Here is the Daedalus website:

http://www.daedalusaudio.com/design%20notes2.html

Associated gear
Audio Research 150.2

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128x128dodgealum
mdhoover
695 posts
 
Fig:
You said
"I would be happy to copy and paste to the original thread, if I only knew how to do this...Any instructions would be appreciated.."

To cut and paste:
1. Right click on the review and highlight the whole thing in blue with your mouse.
2. Select "copy"
3. Open up the response box where you want to "paste" the material you've just copied.
4. Left click where you want the cursor to start pasting the text.
5. Right click again and select "paste".
6. That should do it.

Bill
mdhoover
695 posts
 
CORRECTION TO THE ABOVE POST:

For the first two steps I wrongly said:
"To cut and paste:
1. Right click on the review and highlight the whole thing in blue with your mouse.
2. Select "copy"

Here's a corrected version of the instructions to cut and paste text:

-->Before starting, it's helpful to have two separate windows open on your desktop, one with the text you want to copy, and the other with the place you want to copy it to. This can be done by minimizing the one web page, then opening up your browser from your desktop AGAIN, and going to the other web page. Once this is done, you can move between the two pages just by using the little minus button in the upper right hand corner to minimize, and then clicking on the minimized window at the bottom of the screen to maximize it again.

1. LEFT click with your mouse on the text you want to move and highlight it in blue, by dragging the cursor across the portion you want to copy with your mouse.

2. Make sure that the little white arrow that now represents the cursor is somewhere in the highlighted blue area.

(NOTE: If you don't have the little white arrow in the highlighted part, the highlighting disappears when you right click the mouse, and the wrong drop down menu appears).

3. THEN right click on the highlighted portion and select "Copy" from the drop down menu.

4. Minimize the copied window and maximize the page which contains the place you want to copy it to.

The rest of the instructions were basically okay, except that the numbers are now changed, as follows:

5. Open up the response box where you want to "paste" the material you've just copied.
6. Left click where you want the cursor to start pasting the text.
7. Right click again and select "paste".
8. That should do it.

I'm pretty sure that's correct (no guarantees though...).

Bill
transl
156 posts
 
I'll include them in my short list comprising the AZ Adagio and Silverline Sonatina-III speakers. I suspect that the DA-1 are better. I am using the Cary SLI-80 integrated. We don't have dealers of the aforementioned companies here, so buying any of these without prior auditioning involves certain risk...
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