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2014 DAEDALUS AUDIO Athena v.2 Tower Speakers, Hand Made in US of Solid Hardwood Excellent Condition - Mint Really - Perfect Looking and Perfect Working Condition These are some of the most beautiful and fantastic sounding speakers that we have had, and that includes Focal, B&W, Snell, JBL, Mirage, NEAR, Klipsch and many more. We especially like the fact that they sound great and full fidelity even at very low volumes. You are probably familiar with Daedalus Audio but learn more at their DaedalusAudio website. The Serial #144 D/M 2014/2017 for the matched pair indicates that they were Delivered in 2014 and then sent back to Daedalus in 2017 for a Checkup and Crossover Upgrades Includes Original Isolation Outriggers with huge spikes and disksIncludes Original Black Cloth protective slipon coversIncludes Original Shipping Boxes and Packing Materials The speakers on the outriggers measure 40.5 tall X 14 wide X 14 Deep and weigh 75lbs each Please refer to our feedback to see our success selling and shipping valuable audio equipment. Thanks LOCAL PICKUP ONLY - See and Hear them at The DaytonIT Computer & Audio Shop in Centerville, OhioWe will at no charge pack the speakers in their original boxes and then secure them to a pallet for a shipper that you hire to pick-up but their truck must have a Pallet Jack and Liftgate. We will not allow a commercial shipper to just pickup the individual boxes. We would secure them to a pallet in their upright position. The final pallet would be 49 Tall X 42 wide X 42 deep and weigh 240lbs Other Owners Comments: You get a speaker that is exquisitely balanced, with a seamless, organic presentation. Tone is natural and dense. There is an immediacy to the presentation that brings musicians “into the room,” partly because these speakers are very efficient – 95 decibels – and easy to drive with their steady 6 to 7 ohm load. Almost any amplifier will drive them, they take everything in stride, revealing the personality of whatever amp you choose as a partner. Gorgeous craftsmanship and sound to match. I was very surprised to hear a speaker with such conventional looking drivers offer the high resolution and lack of coloration normally associated with high-tech materials, but with more body and image density. The v2 upgrade, which these have, makes a huge difference across the board. These are pure magic, and like all Daedalus v2 speakers they somehow do all the high-end audiophile things right while also sounding more like live music than most high-end speakers at any price. The following SPECS and Review from a Positive-Feedback webpage: DAEDALUS Audio Athena Loudspeakersas reviewed by John Zurek Im no stranger to Lou Hinkleys Daedalus line of loudspeakers. Back in 2004, I first heard the DA-1s, and reviewed them in the July/August 2005 issue of PFO. A few years later in May/June 2008 I listened to the flagship Ulysses speakers, to this day one of my all-time favorites. Well, its been a few years. When I recently found out about a new offering from Daedalus, the Athena, Lou and I agreed on a tentative timeframe to conduct a review. The Athenas fall in the middle of the Daedalus line, right between the awesome Ulysses and the smaller Daedalus Audio-Reference Monitor-a, or DA-RMa. The Athena is a one-piece version of the DA-RMa, and size-wise I would call it a medium floorstander at 38.5x11x14.5 with a 1-inch soft dome tweeter, a 5-inch midrange driver, and an 8-inch woofer. When I think about describing this speaker Im somewhat ambivalent. On the surface they dont seem to be much different than many others: 3 drivers in a medium-sized cabinet. That could describe scores of speakers. When you do drill down into the details however, you find much more. First the cabinet. Construction is solid hardwood with dovetail joinery and a hand-rubbed oil varnish finish. They may resemble other rectangular cabinets, but when you look closer youll find many complex angles, and a sculpted front baffle that certainly required many hours of skilled labor to produce. I cant think of any other cabinets in high-end audio that feature this type of construction and this level of detail and craftsmanship. How about the drivers? The dome tweeters are made by Eton, the midrange driver is a 5 Fostex full-range modified to Daedalus specifications. The 8 woofers are also made to Daedaluss specifications. Because the construction is paper cone/ cloth-surround, and the drivers are treated to resist moisture. Lou tells me they will perform to spec for decades. Efficiency is high, as with all Daedalus models: 96dB 1w/1m. They are designed to use 5 to 350 watts per side. Crossover networks. Designed and built by Guy Veralrud, the Athena comes standard with the All-Poly capacitor upgrade option which is the main driver of the latest upgrades to the Daedalus line. High-voltage polypropylene and Teflon capacitors, along with the highest quality resistors are used in this circuit. In addition, Lou alluded to using a yet-to-be-named high tech material to damp critical parts of the crossover. Internal cabling. Silver/Copper wire from the Bolder Cable Company. All connectors are gold-plated, crimped and secured with a touch of silver solder. The binding posts are Cardas Rhodium. Even the tweeter switch is mil-spec with platinum contacts. The aperiodic port. A port covered from the inside with fabric. Increases efficiency, and lets the speaker behave—for the most part—like a sealed enclosure. The fabric helps the cabinet function as a sealed enclosure above the tuning frequency. Any one of these features would intrigue me, but as you peel back the onion and look at them jointly, you realize that this product really is unlike any other in its so-called class. A complex hardwood cabinet, an ultra-high quality crossover and internal components, the aperiodic port, and all hand-made in the US. I dont think calling the Athena unique is out of line. The Athenas, like their predecessors, were easy to set up and place. I did not have to go through the normal stress of new speaker positioning that can sometimes take weeks. You can easily control the size of the sweet spot by moving them a few inches one way or the other. The three-position tweeter switch gives you added flexibility. Straight away I was able to construct a listening area that was not constricted. Nice. Once the right placement was locked in I listened to a few discs, then set up the isolation outriggers. The outriggers were fairly easy to attach, and once in place I made the final adjustments to the speakers position. This was perhaps a little harder that most because the spikes—which were some of the sharpest, keep-their-shape, top-quality spikes Ive ever seen - are on the ends of the outrigger and balance can be tricky if youre doing this by yourself. The effort was worth it. I was rewarded with deeper, tighter bass, and the entire presentation became more focused. After a few weeks of listening what really struck me was the near-seamless presentation that reflected an elegantly engineered integration of the drivers. Because they worked so well together, the resolution of minute detail was stunning. The mids were pure, and the upper end was incredibly revealing without the fatigue that can enter into the picture with some speakers that are too ruthless in this respect. Midbass reproduction really stood out. Solid, satisfying, not overbearing, and the transition to the lower bass—not the lowest octave, you wouldnt really expect that from these speakers—was damn-near perfect. Again, the Athena was able to work its resolution magic, this time on the low end. This balance is the one of the real strengths of this design. Daedalus speakers have never lacked for dynamic chops and the Athena is no exception. Large-scale orchestral works were treated with respect, and electric blues, jazz, and rock just, well, rocked! I love the fact that you can virtually use any amp with Daedalus speakers. I know Lou prefers to use high-power amps for maximum dynamic swings, but I achieved good results with tubes as low as 11 watts. The 50 watt Quicksilver mid-monos that were used for most of this review had no trouble driving these 96dB efficient transducers to high levels that I normally shy away from. The Athenas are chameleon-like. They reveal all that a recording has to offer, but can also channel upstream components and cables. They have an uncanny talent of accurately reflecting the qualities of different amplifiers. Overall I heard almost everything that made me love the Ulysses. The Athenas could not manage to go quite as low or loud, or provide that large floor-to-ceiling effect the Ulysses are so good at. Understandable since the Ulysses contains twice the drivers with dual array in a much larger cabinet. The biggest difference between the older version of the Ulysses I reviewed and the newest model of the Athena was the degree of resolution and refinement that Im assuming the all-poly crossover is responsible for. The air around vocals was simply palpable, and the balance of body, texture, and precision were just outstanding. Instruments benefitted as well. The reproduction of both string and electric basses was very satisfying, and I did not have to strain to pick out bass lines. I heard no hardness in the upper octave, just smooth detail and focus without any added coloration. At 10k and change the Athenas are expensive. No bones. But, what do you get for your hard-earned scratch? A very unique product that uses the best quality components, and is designed to last a long, long time. A designer/manufacturer with a musicians ear that is completely committed to the product. Limited production models. Hand-built in the US. Did I mention a sound that is superb? When was the last time you regretted paying a fair amount for a superior product that youll really love, and will make you happy for a long, long time? John Zurek Retail: $9950 (Introductory USA direct price) Isolation outriggers: $285 Daedalus Audio WebSite: DaedalusAudio.com
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