Daedalus Audio Apollo Speakers

Part I:

“Your cabinets are done--they look beautiful”. I wasn’t talking to the guy doing a custom kitchen in my mansion on the hill. I was talking to Lou Hinkley of Daedalus Audio. When was the last time your speaker guy said “your cabinets are done”? If you answered “never”, you may want to give Lou a call. It feels pretty cool. And based on the pictures I’d received over the past few weeks they did indeed look quite beautiful. The cabinets in question would eventually house top flight drivers, crossover components and wire, but for now they were just pretty boxes--very pretty boxes.

Fast forward several weeks and the cabinets, now cured and fully loaded, were on their way to New Jersey for the holidays. Well, it sure seemed that way--until one of them showed up without his twin brother. That was Christmas eve, and the next four days would be some of the most difficult and frustrating of my audio lifetime. Fedex, overwhelmed with holiday traffic, provided daily delivery confirmations that kept me waiting by the door, like a jilted lover left standing at the altar. At one point my little lost Apollo sat for two days in Ohio--a victim of Christmas revelry and the subsequent hangover? Once loaded on a truck he made only as far as eastern Pennsylvania, teasing me from across the Delaware River like Washington did to the Redcoats in the winter of 1776-77. Finally, on the 28th, he finally found his way home, inside a box that clearly tested the limits of Lou’s exceptional packing. Not to worry--inside was all smiles and my saga ended on a happy note.

Now those beautiful cabinets stood like sentinels flanking my equipment rack. Taking in the exceptional craftsmanship, careful selection of materials, and tasteful design elements I was completely overcome with joy. My outgoing Daedalus DA-1.1s were simply georgeous--I really hated to see them go. But the Apollo’s, impossibly, offered something even more pleasing to the eye. An ever so slightly more compressed and robust appearance--more Lawrence Taylor than Dwight Clark, for those of us who recall the football superstars of yesteryear. The proportions are so correct, and the multiple angles (only one 90 degrees in the whole box) so subtle that a week later I am still discovering (and appreciating) new bends as the sunlight moves through our living room.

Lou calls the Apollo’s his “desert island” speakers and I can see why. The size and shape of the cabinets suggest a pleasing appearance in both large and small rooms. Mine is only 13 X 17 X 8 and yet they do not dominate the space. Yet should I ever have the opportunity to place them in a much larger venue, I am sure they will project a confident presence. And then there is the wood--hand selected planks of quarter sawn white oak--including, at my request, on the baffle and rear panel to create a contiguous facade--gently stained to match our Stickley heirloom furniture and buffed to a satiny patina to reveal the complex grain structure of the wood. And finally, a simple, dramatic yet somehow understated inlay pattern on the lower half of the baffle--comprised of several exotic (yet renewable) hardwoods carefully selected and unique to this project.

The Apollo series represent the pinnacle of the Daedalus lineup, with three models that incorporate a new 10” woofer that is made to Lou’s specifications. Lou feels that this driver has a “special magic” and designed the Apollo series to take advantage of the speed, power, and smooth midbass response the ten inch woofer provides. In addition, the Apollo series loudspeakers feature extensively braced asymmetrical cabinets and deploy Duelund resistors and Mundorf EVO Gold capacitors--housed in a fully isolated and sealed crossover panel--to further increase speed, detail and refinement. Finally, the Apollo’s incorporate additional enhancements that are now featured in every Daedalus loudspeaker--trim rings for the woofers and midrange driver (a modified Fostex full range) that substantially reduce distortion, and a new tweeter from Eton that provides more speed and extension without a hint of strain or fatigue.

The Apollo’s, which represent the smallest speaker in the series, feature a clustered driver array that acts like a point source for exceptional imaging and peerless coherence, even when used in a near-field application. Also available from Daedalus are five additional models of varying sizes and driver configurations that utilize a custom 8” woofer and a subwoofer (BOW) with a passive crossover. (Not to mention a range of accessories and isolation devices that work wonders under DACs and other electronics that are sensitive to vibration). In sum, Daedalus now offers a full line of handcrafted loudspeakers that combine cutting edge crossover networks, custom drive units, and handcrafted hardwood cabinets--all brought together in the service of music by Lou Hinkley, a musician and craftsmen with over twenty-five years of accumulated wisdom in the field.

“Your cabinets are done--they look beautiful”. They sure do. And boy were they worth the wait.

To follow…..the set up and the break in process.