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Anyone heard the new Daber Audio Monitor 3?

I won my first A-gon auction recently, and it was a pair of the Daber Audio Monitor 3, three way speakers. I had no previous knowledge of Daber Audio or these speakers, but I could do the math in my head and knew I was getting a good deal pricewise, so I took the chance.

I am really impressed with these speakers. Firstly, I'm all about imaging and soundstage, and have been known to sacrifice some bass response in favor of both. The Monitor 3 images like a good two way, has great soundstage and I get bass too! Nice tight bass. They also look fantastic... I opted for the Piano Black finish, and it's gorgeous.

I probably sound like a shill, but actually I'm just an audio geek happy with his latest purchase, and I just wanted to pass it on. You can find me on other audio forums under the same user name to confirm this. Mostly the two most well known headphone sites. I think Daber has some other speaker offerings planned for the near future, and I think they're worth a look. I had been planning on building my own speakers, as I'm a woodworker, but the idea of designing and building crossovers had me pausing.
128x128swt61
glenfihi
525 posts
 
You beat me out on the auction for the speakers. Thanks for posting your impressions. The plannar tweeter peeked my interest in the speakers. For the price I was willing to take the chance on these unknown speakers. What other speakers have you compared them too. Hope to acquire a pair soon.
Good luck with your new monitors.
swt61's avatar
swt61 OP
1 posts
 
No side by side comparisons yet, but other speakers I've owned include Paradigm Reference Active 20 monitors, ESS AMT 1D with the Heil air motion transformer and Omega Grande 6 to name a few of the more recent ones. These compare quite favorably. I loved the Heil tweeter/midrange unit of the ESS speakers, but the bass was a bit loose and wooly. The Omega was awesome on female vocals, but not as dynamic as I'm used to. And the paradigm was fantastic at imaging and soundstage, and probably my favorite speaker up until the Daber's. The Monitor 3 imaging and soundstage is on par with the Paradigms, but with a little deeper low end, and overall better midrange purity. I'm a big fan of Orthodynamic/Isodynamic headphones, and the tweeter definitely has some of that signature I love. Dispersion is fantastic. The aluminum domed mids are what I think really give the speakers the edge over a good two way design, without sacrificing imaging, and they allow the woofer to be freed up from high mid reproduction.
daber_audio
28 posts
 
Thanks for the feedback!
glenfihi
525 posts
 
Have now been using my new Daber Audio Monitor 3 speaker for a few weeks. Out the box they look terrific inthe cherry finish and sound they much better. Wow! Having a chance to break them in a bit my initial impression has been confirmed over again and again. Comparing them to my other speakers in my primary and secondary system. They fall in the middle, but much closer to the goodness of my main system VSA MK 4Jr's. which cost much more than the Daber's. As much as I liked the Paradigm Studio 20 v3 in my family room system I could not wait to get back to the Daber's. They have better bass by a good margin which I expected as they are in a bigger box but outclass them in the mid and highs as well. They don't have the bottom end of my primary speakers but the planar tweeter really sings. The music brings to mind how be it on a smaller scale of the listening experience at Overtrue audio debut of the Magico Q5 speakers. The Magico's seem to have a real weight or anchor on the music. Giving the music a solid foundation to play from. That same sense I find coming from the Daber's. The Daber's are a very musical and enjoyable speaker.
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