The Davone Ray-S Speaker--A unique speaker that is worthy of your attention and audition
At the outset I wish
to state I am not a professional reviewer of audio equipment. Nevertheless, I have been an unabashed
audiophile for more than thirty years. I
have a passion for music and for audio equipment/components that have the
capacity to bring beguiling and life-like music into my home. I have been blessed with opportunities to
audition and/or own audio equipment ranging from the modest end of the
affordability scale to the middle reaches of the high end. Although I am at a point in my life where I
could afford to spend whatever I desire to acquire audio equipment that is capable
of providing superlative sound, I am wise enough and parsimonious enough to
recognize there is a point of diminishing returns and I let that recognition
govern my purchases. My love for this
hobby leads me to write about a speaker that every audiophile should find an
opportunity to audition--regardless of his/her budget. I want to share with you my experience with a
superlative speaker that the audio scriveners thus far have failed to review. It is only due my good fortune in knowing
Galen Carol of Galen Carol Audio, in San Antonio, that I had the opportunity to audition some
speakers that have won my heart—the Davone Ray-S speakers. These speakers are the brainchild of Danish
engineer Paul Schenkel.
When I first saw
the Davone Ray-S speakers in the flesh (in the wood), I dismissed them as being
a gimmicky speaker with a 1960’s Danish modern appearance. The speakers were in static display and,
frankly, I had no interest in auditioning them because their diminutive size
and their Danish modern look told me all I needed to know—they were not serious
speakers worthy of an audition. Boy was
I wrong!!!
Before I share
my thoughts regarding the Davone Ray-S speakers, let me tell you a little about
my tastes in music and audio equipment.
For over twenty years, I have been a fan of ProAc speakers, stand-mount monitors
and floor standers alike. I love the way
ProAc speakers totally disappear and present the music in all its glory. They are unfussy in placement; they are easy
to drive; and they are not particular about their partnering equipment. The better the partnering equipment, the more
rewards the ProAc’s will offer; but it is tough to make them sound less than
great.
Despite my being
happy and content with my ProAc’s, I love to sample other gear and thus have
auditioned many other brands of speakers over the years. Thanks to Galen Carol at Galen Carol Audio in
San Antonio, I have had the opportunity to audition in my home countless
high-end speaker systems made by countless manufacturers. I have auditioned high end speakers
manufactured by MBL, Wilson Audio, YG, Audio Physic, Sonus Faber, Dunlavy, Aerial
Acoustics, and others. I have auditioned
more modestly priced speakers manufactured by Spendor, Golden Ear, Totem…the
list goes on and on. Until now, no
speaker has been able to woo me away from my beloved ProAc’s. When Galen Carol extended an invitation for
me to audition the Davone Ray-S speakers; I had pretty much decided that I was
going to purchase a new pair of ProAc D48R speakers. I was delaying my final decision on the ProAc’s
until I could audition the new Wilson Audio Sabrina. I was at this juncture in my search for new
speakers when I auditioned the Davone Ray-S speakers.
I decided to give the
strange-looking Ray-S a listen largely due to my respect for Galen Carol and
his ear for music. He told me I would be
surprised--and boy was that comment an understatement.
When I initially
installed the Ray-S speakers in my main system, my wife commented that they
were strange looking. She did not call
them ugly, but her initial impression suggested that they had little likelihood
of finding a place in our home--much less their occupying center stage in our
main audio system. My wife left the room
with disinterest as I connected my Shunyata Anaconda Ztron speaker cables to
the wonderful Cardas binding posts that Paul Schenkel has chosen for his Ray-S
speakers. These high-quality Cardas
binding posts are the same ones chosen by Jeff Rowland for his amplifiers. Their use on the Ray-S exemplifies the
attention to detail that Paul Schenkel devoted to the design and manufacture of
these speakers. The Ray-S’s subtly hint
that they are something special as you run your hand over their beautiful
walnut finish, a finish that belies the strength and complexity of the sixteen
layers of pressed beech wood that lies beneath the finish. The leather-covered front and rear baffles
let you know this speaker’s designer is interested in performance as well as
style. As you install the speakers on
their rock-solid stands—made from solid steel that has been precision cut using
water jet technology—you sense these are serious speakers and that Paul
Schenkel has put his heart and soul into their design. What you do not know until you start playing
music is that these babies know how to sing a siren, full-bodied song that will
win your heart.
While the
Ray-S’s are three-way speakers, they have the coherency of a single driver
speaker and they disappear like the best of the minimonitors. They have prodigious bass that makes the use
of a subwoofer superfluous. Each speaker
has an 8-inch hard paper cone woofer, a 4-inch Egyptian papyrus midrange driver
with a unique polyether foam surround, and a 1-inch silk dome tweeter. All three drivers are of the highest
quality. I am sure the oval design of
the speaker cabinet was chosen by their designer because it allowed him to
place the woofers to the left of the vertically aligned tweeter and mid-range
driver while also cancelling standing waves within the speaker’s cabinet. The integration and coherence of this
three-way speaker is superlative and unlike any speaker I have had the good
fortune to audition in my home. These diminutive
speakers sit only 2 ½ feet above the floor, but they throw an immense
soundstage in both the vertical and horizontal planes. Musical instruments and vocalists have solid
and pinpoint locations within that immense soundstage. The realism and spot-on tonality of
instruments and vocalists is amazing.
In addition to my main system’s being used for a broad range of music, it
is also the centerpiece of my two-channel home theatre system. The digital output from my U-Verse “cable box”
is connected to my Berkeley Alpha V2 DAC, which in turn is connected to my
Herron VTSP-3A pre-amp and my Herron M1A monoblock amps. You would be amazed at the sound quality one
can achieve by this setup. My Oppo BDP
-105D blue ray player also plays DVD’s through this system. Movies from U-Verse and movies on DVD are
superlative through the Ray-S speakers.
The detail and realism of movie sound tracks are unlike anything I
previously have experienced.
These speakers will spoil you. The
detail, speed, and impact of the Ray-S woofers and their coherence with the
midrange and tweeter produce a realism that allows you to lose yourself in a
movie or a piece of music. The sound of
a door’s closing or the sound of ice tinkling in a glass is so real that you
forget you are watching a movie—you are there.
It is hard to describe, but these speakers provide all of the density,
reverb, and decay that are part and parcel of real sound. Think of the sound of a car door’s
closing. Then think of the difference in
sound between the closing of the door of a Mercedes Benz and the closing of the
door on a 1998 Chevrolet with the windows rolled down. You could close your eyes and you easily
could distinguish one from the other.
The Ray-S’s provide those same aural distinctions regarding every sound,
instrument, or voice. They do so without
their being analytical. They are too
true in their reproduction of sound to ever be described as analytical. Their tonality is spot on. Their accuracy and agility in letting go of
the musical notes or sounds is spooky in its accuracy. When I hear a telephone ring in a movie
soundtrack, I find myself checking my own telephone to be sure I am not hearing
the real thing. I have been in another
room and have heard voices coming from the Ray-S’s that have caused me to
re-enter the room to be sure I was not hearing guests who had dropped in. That is how accurate these speakers are.
They are room friendly and easy to place.
In my system they are approximately 34 inches from the front wall,
approximately 8 feet apart (center of speaker to center of speaker), and they
are toed in about 15 degrees. The
Ray-S’s sounded superlative where I initially placed them and I merely moved
them a few inches for esthetic reasons. Unlike the YG Carmel, which demands
careful placement and micrometer adjustments in positioning to attain their
best sound; the Ray-S will provide superlative sound without hassle.
In case you have not already surmised the fact—I did purchase these
wonderful speakers. Toward the end of my
auditioning these speakers, I asked my wife whether their looks still bothered
her. She surprised me by stating,
“Frankly, I wouldn’t care if those speakers grew hair; I love their
sound.” We ordered a pair from Galen
Carol Audio the next day. Do yourself a
favor. Search for the Davone Ray-S
speakers and give them an audition. They
more than deserve your consideration regardless what your budget may be.
Sflazor