Inside Scoop: Dayton Audio's New OPAL1 Speaker Review

Рет қаралды 27,253

Күн бұрын

Dayton Audio OPAL1 written review/data can be found here:
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:54 - Subjective
9:58 - Objective
17:52 - Summary
____________________
All of my tests are conducted using KLIPPEL Hardware and Software. KLIPPEL is an innovative leader in providing unique test equipment for electro-acoustical transducers and audio systems. Founded in 1997 by Dr. Wolfgang Klippel, the novel techniques developed for control and measurement systems of loudspeakers and other transducers are the result of over 30 years of fundamental research. This provides more accurate physical models of loudspeakers, micro-speakers and headphones valid for both small and large amplitudes. The focus is on revealing the root causes of signal distortion and defects and giving practical indications for improvements in design and manufacturing of audio products. For information on KLIPPEL products, please visit their site below:
www.klippel.de/company/about-u...

Пікірлер: 231

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

An email I received from the designer of these speakers: “Hey Erin, This is Matt Phillips, the lead designer on the OPAL1 speakers. I sent you an email about measuring something quite a while ago but I ended up going a different direction. A quick background on this design: These were originally built as a proof of concept in my down time here at the office. I used literal scrap wood to build the prototypes and do initial sims. Once they sounded promising the idea was to make them a kit, but the cost of a kit would not have saved the consumer much money. As they dropped more and more jaws at the office, these were chosen as Dayton's first flagship speaker. The response you measured is about what I expected. The elevated midrange was a compromise between an even lower sensitivity and final voicing, which occurred in no less than 5 different rooms at PE and in a few employees' homes over a period of a few months. These are meant to be fairly close to a wall, or even sat on a shelf, which will help dial that midrange back a little and help reenforce the lower octaves. The dip around 3.2k is simply due to diffraction and a lack of waveguide. Knowing these pitfalls, I aimed for a smooth sound power response. The overall design goal for these was a small footprint speaker that didn't need a sub, had ample output for small to medium rooms and generally sound exceptional with any genre of music. With the diffraction dip I knew these would not be perfectly linear and the design itself meant other compromises had to be made. We recommend 1-2 feet out from the wall, measured at the back of the speaker, with the tweeter at or close to eye level (tweeter axis for measuring). I was really hoping to see you at Axpona over the weekend! I was sad to hear that your flight left so early. Feel free to quote anything here you need to on your page and if you have any follow up questions don't hesitate to ask.”

@tpn8402 3 ай бұрын

I see no email, Erin

@Audio_Simon 3 ай бұрын

He was speechless because he was so impressed with your review :)

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Fixed.

@DullBoyJack 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic response. That is how you do it right there!

@34332 3 ай бұрын

Useful honest info, much appreciated!

@JstfdbyJesus 3 ай бұрын

I had an opportunity on Friday to listen to the OPAL1 and meet the lead designer Matt. Matt was very gracious and informative when describing the OPAL1 to me. I was immediately struck with the amount of bass that speakers were able to produce. In fact, I asked where the subwoofer was at which point Matt responded and inform me there was no subwoofer. I felt that the imaging was very good and the sound stage was excellent in my opinion.. I tried several different seating arrangements in the room and the speaker continue to impress me. The funny thing was at this point in the show I had listened to several high end speakers and I could say wholeheartedly that the OPAL1 held their own. When you consider the price, performance ratio of these speakers Dayton audio has a true winner on their hands!

@frostycanada6404 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing. Brian.

@JoelHernandez-tz3vk 3 ай бұрын

I'm sure these are desirable to someone, but I personally prefer a more sensitivity rather than a wider frequency range since I'm gonna use a subwoofer regardless.

@zarboaudioprojects1430 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these in how they sounded.

@pedrocols Ай бұрын

@JstfdbyJesus Nice marketing comment. How much you get paid.

@peterphan227 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic work Erin. When I watch your reviews, I think to myself: this is how a speaker review should be done: objective measurements combined with listening and subjective impressions, working together to help us better understand what we can expect from a speaker. You need both.

@MFKitten 3 ай бұрын

It sounds like these should have a 3-way version. Beveled or rounded edges and/or a waveguide, a smoother flatter midrange woofer, and then the current woofer as the low woofer.

@reynolds8532 3 ай бұрын

I really appreciate how you talk about how specific dips and bumps impact the sound characteristics (forwardness, center image focus, etc). It helps me understand how I could tweek my own rig.

@JosephTongret 3 ай бұрын

I subscribe to approximately 300 KZfaq channels that span over many different types of content. Your uploads are always what I'm most excited to see! I have learned such an immense amount from you over the last few years. I can't thank you enough for your kindness!

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

THIS IS GREAT... Your reviews are getting even better... didn't think that was possible

@user-rc3kh4pv9u 3 ай бұрын

Very good review. Start forward and analical discription. I love how you use data to analize your listening experence. Thank you. PS what a great responce from the designer, he verified your findings and explained his design dessions, what great guy. Between, your reveiw and his email shows how valid your reveiws are!!! You seem to be a great guy keep it up.

@FOH3663 3 ай бұрын

The surround-to-cone ratio is spectacular! The long stroke carbon fiber cone is a nice look ... gotta love Dayton!

@BostonMike68 3 ай бұрын

The trade off is efficiency for x max .

@FOH3663 3 ай бұрын

@@BostonMike68 It's certainly less cone area, to accommodate that big surround. However, a smaller/lighter cone reduces moving mass, and moving mass is a primary element of sensitivity. So perhaps the two factors counteract one another somewhat.

@BostonMike68 3 ай бұрын

@@FOH3663 yes and also the x max is like 14 mm with all the other things that you mentioned it lowers the sensitivity. But it's remarkable that it can play so high in frequency. It's kinda reminds me of a budget purfi

@wadimek116 3 ай бұрын

@@BostonMike68 Budget purify if you dont mind much higher distortion. Also need a damn good amp to power them in home theater for example.

@toddmorrison7342 3 ай бұрын

I've been waiting for a review video to come out regarding the OPAL1 speakers, much thanks for the comprehensive review/analysis. There are so many speakers that have been released in the last couple of years in this price range, but this particular speaker peaked my interest after reading about them on Parts Express; as such, a pair of these are in my future. Cheers to job well done!

@willbrink 3 ай бұрын

They appear crazy well built for the $, but they don't seem to measure very well, and not very efficient.

@bobr9605 3 ай бұрын

I must say what I appreciate most from this channel is explanations simplifying the technical information to a street level understanding.

@helloelsewhere5646 3 ай бұрын

I listened to them as a prototype and I was very impressed with the bass without having a subwoofer. Space is important to me. I’m not an audio nerd but I have good ears. I would buy these in an instant if they came in a nice wood finish.

@papasmurf2k3 3 ай бұрын

Erin - thanks for all you do. I'm a big fan of PE and was excited to see their flagship speaker launch. Unfortunately my room situation isn't a great fit for these (split level house, and my speakers are 8-10 feet from a wall). Regardless, you've helped me make my decision on my next pair of speakers (Probably Elac reference) with your data and in-depth analysis. Sorry about your "litigation" threats... I just want you to know you're appreciated and I hope you keep doing what you're doing for a very long time.

@QuintEssential-sz2wn 3 ай бұрын

Erin: please never apologize or feel reticent about the subjective description portion of your reviews! They are very valuable. As I'm sure you are aware, many if not most audiophiles don't have a lot of experience with measurements or directly correlating all the different ways a speaker can measure to the sonic consequences. That's why it's so helpful to have a guide like you to correlate the measurements to their subjective consequences. Otherwise, what's the point of measurements? It would be just a bunch of graphs. I know you are aware that in describing the consequences of measurements you appeal to a far wider audience, educating people, than the small amount of engineers or geeks who read measurements 🙂 Also: it doesn't matter if you happen to have precise terminology on hand: any attempt to put sonic impressions in to words is helpful. I know engineers seem to be often squeamish about subjective language, but it's how we humans often communicate: we are putting our experiences in to language all the time, and we don't always have professional terminology, so we put together words pictures to get across an idea. You are getting better and better at this, which I think really helps fill out the information in your reviews. Cheers!

@Seiserism 3 ай бұрын

I got these yesterday and found them overall better than my GR-Research Bravos. I didnt notice the mid-bass scoop, but most likely due to them being next to my desk with some stands. Edit: For reference, the Bravos sounded better to me than: kef ls50 metas, atc scm7, triangle comete ez, b&w 707 s2 and polk audio legend l100 so I was quite surprised these daytons stood out as better than all of those bookshelf speakers.

@rhalfik 3 ай бұрын

The response will be wrinkled around that region anyway, so maybe it's not so bad..?

@Audfile 3 ай бұрын

Danny Ritchie about to have another stroke.

@crazyprayingmantis5596 3 ай бұрын

Danny just fell off his rocking chair

@fonkenful 3 ай бұрын

Danny - bless his heart - is not the only game in town.

@Audfile 3 ай бұрын

@@fonkenful yeah, Dayton Audio no less ;p

@marstedt 3 ай бұрын

You should do some short info videos that you can refer to. Such as: - Efficiency vs bandwidth in drivers. Why a 6" driver can only get so low or so loud. - Impedance curves, how to read them. Min vs Max, Peaks & Ripples, What they can tell you about Efficiency. - Directivity and Room Effects. What is "Good", and how to adjust your speakers to your room. Maybe like a FAQ series that you can put into a playlist?

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Like this playlist? Understanding the Measurements kzfaq.info/sun/PLnIxFR_ey0b37Ex4KV2mBz-kYB7QLffR1

@hom2fu 3 ай бұрын

excellent, somebody start getting into audio. it takes time. 1, 2 years or more to learn what it means i playing around with amp/speakers for almost 30 years.

@marstedt 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner Kinda like that, yeah. ;) It's been so long since I've seen it I forgot! Hopefully you can update and link to it in reviews?

@BostonMike68 3 ай бұрын

@@marstedtif you really want to learn about what you asked about, I would suggest you get a copy of loudspeaker cookbook from parts Express. You will probably want to start designing your own speakers after and save a fortune.

@marstedt 3 ай бұрын

@@BostonMike68 I'm more concerned about people who are new to speaker building / tuning / assessment. I have several editions of "The Cookbook" in my library.

@marstedt 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the review and the great work. For this speaker I'd rather have dual-opposed (force cancelling) radiators any time it's possible.

@kevinbehnke7149 3 ай бұрын

Excellent review as always. Very interesting design for the size. If these were $499-$599, I'd jump in a heartbeat but at $799 there are a lot of great choices.

@gdubyadubya8961 3 ай бұрын

You would have to be one of the the only reviewers that clearly offers up actual objectivity. The others are either trying to flog their crossover upgrades by calling everything “ cheesy “, pushing the latest “ giant killers “ ( what the hell does that mean, I’m not chasing magic beans) or glowing reports clearly due to financial gain. Great stuff.

@joentell 3 ай бұрын

There's nothing wrong with Magic Beans! 😉

@lukeselker5175 3 ай бұрын

Seems like a good solution for relatively compact full range desktop speakers, or reasonable volume HT duties without the need for a subwoofer. Just need a little power and dsp to get them up and running.

@blech71 3 ай бұрын

I definitely want to hear these. I’ve noticed over the years to make note of measurements but to ultimately see how a pair will play in my environment for sure. I have a feeling with my room and my ears these will be rather decent. I’m interested to see what Danny would say about these as well.

@buzzcrushtrendkill 3 ай бұрын

I would be very interested to hear your reviews/testing of PE kit speakers. Thanks for thorough reviews, I do enjoy them.

@CC-xu2yz 3 ай бұрын

He's done a few, hasn't he?

@buzzcrushtrendkill 3 ай бұрын

@@CC-xu2yz well, i guess I should go through his video history. Im all about DIY kit speaker builds.

@psyphonyxaudio 3 ай бұрын

Be excited if you get the Morel Audio stuff also. =) These look so great.

@peterotremba8980 3 ай бұрын

I’ve heard a lot of talk about morel.

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

The demo pair from AXPONA are en route to me. 👍

@psyphonyxaudio 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner ... Awesome! 🙏🙏... In the best hands to report/review.

@jaredhylton6591 3 ай бұрын

My Morel Biggie Bluetooth speakers arrived Thursday, and the more time I spend with them the more impressed I am. The towers were tempting also, but I have too many "regular" speakers. The battery powered Bluetooth speakers created a unique use case and justified a purchase.

@bbfoto7248 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner That's great. 👍 Hopefully at some point Morel will be willing to send you their $53k flagship ''FAT LADY'' towers as well. 🙂 But I'm actually surprised these Morel Avayra 633 towers at AXPONA are just $2k/pair given the dual midwoofers, and what appear to be quite nice build quality and finish on these towers.

@bkirbach 3 ай бұрын

Good job Erin!!! Nice to see our friends at Dayton aiming a bit higher up the food chain. Loved the note from the designer (that's how these things should be handled) and it sounds like Dayton may have a bit more work to do. Rock on Dayton Audio!!!

@justinbeamon6624 3 ай бұрын

The in room response is not too bad, unfortunately the distortion and compression make it a no go for me. Glad to see the great email from the designer.

@frostycanada6404 3 ай бұрын

To the designer (Matt) and Erin, would felt around the tweeter help tame cabinet diffraction? Brian

@alexkemmler 3 ай бұрын

The on-axis looks just okay, but honestly the power response reminds me of a KEF speaker a bit. Pretty smooth up to 15khz with a bit of a shelf down below 100hz to make room for room gain. I'd say Matt made some smart moves given the restrictions of the design. Would be really interesting to see a sister speaker with a waveguide.

@jp93309 3 ай бұрын

What can they be compared to from a cost, form factor and listed spec aspect? Would be nice to see that as a wrap-up to this video for reference.

@MattyDaddy14 3 ай бұрын

I feel like this “lack of mids” is a reoccurring theme with a lot of the 2 way speakers you’ve tested. It makes me feel like getting a 3 way speaker is almost a must have! How do you think these would do as surrounds or rear speakers in HT setup? They seem like a great option for good midbass and highs in surround sound 🎉

@Starch1b2c3d4a 3 ай бұрын

Pretty good deal for 800 bucks. How do they compare to the Emit 20's?

@ShazeemKhan 3 ай бұрын

that Axpona thing seemed cool, was it a private gathering? I've not seen any ads for it (I live far from North America). Great review as always thanks. price is good especially for the build quality

@jeremiahchamberlin4499 3 ай бұрын

Great review! I especially like that you talked and showed the effect of speaker placement, and how some frequencies are amenable to equalization and some aren’t, and why. I appreciated your plain-spoken explanation of diffraction, its origin, in this case, and its effect on perceived sound. Your description of the psycho-acoustic phenomenon generated by a nonlinear frequency response could become a classic. Your presentations are improving by leaps and bounds and serving to increase my understanding exponentially. Thank you, sir. I salute you. 🫡 🫡 🫡 🫡 🫡 🫡

@mpete42 3 ай бұрын

I wonder if fitting or pasting some absorbing/diffusing material around the driver plate and front baffle could reduce the 3 to 5kHz diffraction dip. Would this be an interesting experiment to perform, and would it be easily possible for manufacturers to reduce this? Many thanks for your work Erin.

@davep2945 3 ай бұрын

It could be mitigated but remember, the vast majority of people are concerned about price and aesthetics. Channels like this give the false impression that most actual buyers (not armchair critics who aren't going to buy the product anyway) of any audio product are terribly concerned about the frequency response and things like diffraction. They aren't. If it sounds good to them, looks good to them and the price is right for them then they'll buy it and enjoy the speaker. They will never know or care about any review ever done on the speaker from Erin or anyone else.

@marcguilbert8599 3 ай бұрын

Yes to both of you, IMHO. I'm a hobbyist, so I've done some simple mods. As an experiment, Armaflex pipe insulation could be fittes on at least 3 edges of the speaker. Since it is a cylindrical shape, any frequency it doesn't absorb should be scattered quite nicely. Easy to remove if you don't like the effect, and dirt cheap to try it.

@marcguilbert8599 3 ай бұрын

"Fitted" not "fittes". Aaaargh.

@richardowen5589 3 ай бұрын

Why did you not pair this with the Dayton HTA200 Hybrid Amp?

@kevintomb 3 ай бұрын

The 1-2 khz bump bothers me a bit, but the rest, not bad at all! I am sure this has decent bass for the driver size.

@dsnyder0cnn 3 ай бұрын

The very low efficiency is still puzzling to me. In fact, when Erin said the woofers were 5.25 inches, I went back to double-check the specifications. I thought maybe he got it wrong and they were actually 4-inch woofers. The Dayton Audio website describes the woofer as 5-1/2” in one place and 5-1/4" in another. Either way, I would expect a ~5.25 inch 2-way to have an efficiency of at least 85 dB when fed 2.83V. For example, the PSB Alpha P5 is a 5.25 inch 2-way with an anechoic sensitivity of 87 dB (89 dB claimed in-room). If accurate (and I suspect it is), the Alpha P5 only requires 32 watts to produce the same 102 dB peak output that the Opal 1 is capable of with 200 watts. The P5 manages this output with a smaller cabinet and only a single 2-inch port. Of course, the P5 does not have the bass extension of the Opal 1, but the price difference is enough to purchase a suitable subwoofer if desired. Different design goals...yes. But the 78.5 dB sensitivity is still head-scratching to me.

@Uzrnaim1 3 ай бұрын

When you're starting with 83.3db efficiency on the driver, then you lose a few db to baffle step and such, you're going to end up in that 78db range. They had to sacrifice efficiency for extension, with a natural resonant frequency of 40hz, and the xmax to actually take advantage of some of that extension, it makes for an interesting driver! Definitely requires more amplifier but allows surprising bass from a tiny package. It's all hoffman's iron law, size, extension, and efficiency.

@jaredhylton6591 3 ай бұрын

The Epique mid/bass woofer used is fairly low sensitivity at a rated 83 dB. Then it goes down from there with choices in the crossover to achieve the very high bass levels thst this speaker can produce. You can save money by skipping a Sub, but you need to make sure that you have a fairly powerful Amp. I heard it at AXPONA and was very impressed. It made me glad that I bought 4 of these woofers to serve as bass woofers in a pair of custom built 3 way compact towers with a KEF R Series Uni-Q as the tweeter and mid. Basically I am hoping for a DIY R5 pair for well under $1k. We will see....... I think these woofers can really deliver.

@Openeyesopenheart42 3 ай бұрын

@@jaredhylton6591 sounds like a great design idea, good luck, if possible post them on KZfaq when your done.

@rushgush 3 ай бұрын

@@jaredhylton6591what’s the point unless u been designing speakers for 50 years of experience. if u just throw components together and expect something good. good luck.

@jaredhylton6591 3 ай бұрын

@rushgush I would guess many high level designers at large companies haven't even been alive for over 50 years, let alone designing speakers that long. If you don't think you can compete and just want to buy whatever your equivalent of KEF R5s are that is fine, nothing wrong with that. I just don't want to spend that money, and I think I can compete. I have been customizing (mostly) Paradigm speakers for the better part of a decade and have also sold a lot of them with many very happy customers. I have also helped many people with their own projects. I may not be as knowledgeable as these designers, but when operating outside of the structure of a corporation I also have some inherent advantages. I have many happy customers (not KEF #s, but probably over 100 by now) and I literally can't think of an unhappy one. However, by far the most important factor, I believe doing these type of projects give me more audio happiness per dollar than anything I have found straight from a company in its stock form.

@HomeCinemaJunkie 3 ай бұрын

I just love speakers with well built drivers - those mid/drivers sure look sexy!

@davidhoover2446 3 ай бұрын

To add to your great review - When you add the EQ you’re also changing the phase/time around the EQ band. Phase will look like an S with a parametric EQ band. That will also change placement of the stuff in the soundstage.

@vinylcabasse 3 ай бұрын

these seem like bass monsters, surprised to hear that wasn't necessarily the case. (wonder how well a low-end boost would be handled, those woofers are epic, or should i say epique hue hue) would it be possible to negate that dip at 4k with a more progressive bullnose on the edge?

@analogkid4557 3 ай бұрын

I have used that tweeter a ton and it is not just defraction. The tweeter itself has a dip there. I have tried it with a 1 and a half inch roundover and it is still there.

@4thewinir344 3 ай бұрын

I’m about 20 minutes from the Dayton/PE factory outlet. I may have to make a trip to hear these wonders in person. But 200 watts is getting into class D territory for affordability. I wonder if my Emotiva A2 at 160w would be enough?

@clarencehoover6748 3 ай бұрын

I’m curious if some of the psychoacoustic phenomena Erin is describing here has to do with auditory processing of phase-shifted frequencies when equalization is applied. Equalization can have some unintended consequences in the time-domain. Any discussions and points of view on this topic are welcome.

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Well, it wasn’t just when EQ was applied. It was noticed when switching back-and-forth between it and the Kef speaker. And then, adding EQ to bring the mid range dip up yielded the same “full” sound. So other words, phase shifting wasn’t responsible for the difference here. Hope that helps.

@markpocock183 3 ай бұрын

Studies done on the audibility of midrange phase distortion, as published in the AES, show that the type of phase distortion caused by crossovers is essentially inaudible except with very specialized signals.

@Fix_It_Again_Tony 3 ай бұрын

What I took away was that in boosting frequencies below 1 kHz it made the sound less directional because lower frequencies are inherently less directional. So that made the vocals sound more full, but not as definitely located in the sound stage because a greater contribution of the sound energy was coming from lower frequencies. I am hardly an expert so I have little authority, but that was my impression.

@richardowen5589 3 ай бұрын

Erin, you missed a perfect opportunity when you did not pair it with the Dayton HTA200 Hybrid Amp

@erikhulshof5243 3 ай бұрын

That Dayton audio reference tweeter they use I found hard to integrate into a system. In my opinion they could have used their new AMT driver the flat impedance behaves well when passively filtered.

@seanb3303 3 ай бұрын

Does the Klippel eliminate the need for an anechoic chamber?

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Yes. And in many ways it is better because it is anechoic much lower than anechohc chambers. I believe the one the NRC uses is only anechoic down to 80 Hz. Or maybe a little bit above that. You would have to have a extremely huge anechoic chamber to get accuracy down to 20 Hz.

@rhalfik 3 ай бұрын

I don't like that tweeter but I keep seeing it everywhere. Should reevaluate my opinion? While Epique drivers seem interesting, it's hard to justify them from just the datasheet. Dayton people have a lot of confidence in it, so it' nice to see another review that features them. Quite intriguing drivers at a middle price point, although on a more extreme side, where bass is more important than the midrange. In Vance Dickason's measurements, this driver shows quite a lot of second harmonic in the mids, around where your compression graph shows gain. What may cause this? I think a younger me would appreciate this speaker way more. Nowadays I focus on mids and harmonies rather than on bass. It's quite clear where they were going with this speaker. It's a very compact pair for small rooms. It doesn't like to play too loud but it does quite well without a sub and it's not a complicated 3-way. Cheap, compromised, yet effective at checking the boxes. For the money it doesn't look bad at all and I bet people with that kind of budget will prefer them to a lot of recommended stuff like Buchardt S400. It's a territory of similar, slightly bigger DIY kits like Helios CM. I think I'd rather buy that Dayton if I had to make up my mind without hearing them.

@davep2945 3 ай бұрын

If you look at just the data sheet from any number of highly regarded drivers you'll think, who would use these. But skilled designers are looking for certain within the response not the entirety of the response. They also know how responses change when used in different baffles and with different crossovers.

@analogkid4557 3 ай бұрын

Yes, that tweeter isn't the best but for 37 dollars, it's quite good. It has it's faults but I like how clean it is when you crossover at 1400 hz. The sound of it is pretty good, especially for the price. Nothing else that I have tried touches it. Although, I just bought some SB tweeters for the same price but haven't had the chance to try them yet. They won't go as low but they have a very small faceplate with a neo magnet.

@rhalfik 3 ай бұрын

@@analogkid4557 SB are neat. SB26STAC and SB26ADC are the best things I heard so far in their budget. They're also very universal and easy to use. Here in Europe Dayton is not as competitive. RS28 costs 50eur and that puts it against SB29 tweeters, which sound different. SB29RDC for example is very relaxed, smooth. They're some of the nicest tweeters regardless of the price, if that's what you're after. For low crossovers the SB29SDAC is very good. It was used in HeliosCM at around 1400Hz too I think. I want to try some Chinese stuff like Hivi or Melodavid. They go for 30 bucks and they also have $40 2" domes.

@wadimek116 3 ай бұрын

@@analogkid4557 I used two sb tweeters, SB26STWGC-4 and BIANCO-44CD-T with h250 horn. I much prefer the second one but both are very good, the first one is more linear but I like having high sensitivity, almost no raise in distortion at higher spl and so on. Also carpet is required with h250 horn as the reflection bounces perfectly from floor. I had dayton woofers and I will recommend them for bass but epique is awful for my needs and projects, low sensitivity, high distortion at bass and price is steep, would prefer the reference series with bigger box than epique for bass and use PA for mids and highs.

@zarboaudioprojects1430 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for doing this review, and for sharing your thoughts on it. I really like your channel, and I very much appreciate the way you try extremely hard to be as honest as you can with each speaker you measure and describe. We need more of that. QUESTION: How would you compare this speaker at $800/pr to other speakers you've listened to at a similar price point? Were there any passages of particular songs that seemed especially good as you listened to them? (I've used the same driver as a subwoofer with dual 8" PR's and I really love it in that setup.)

@DG51440 3 ай бұрын

Off topic but I was thinking about getting the Mofi source point 888 in the future. For in wall surround speakers what would be a good match? Something like a KEF since they are both concentric drivers?

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

get the MoFi 8s as the Surrounds

@DG51440 3 ай бұрын

@@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah looking to keep it to inwalls for aesthetics in the room but thanks

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

@@DG51440 if In walls get this - jbl synthesis scl-6. Erin has a review on them

@impuls60 3 ай бұрын

OMG thats low efficiency, how does the transients sound like on these? This low sens I would expect them to play deep as a subwoofer^^

@dragonstone6594 3 ай бұрын

Hey Erin, Love your channel. Could you please also review Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3? Thanks!

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

If I can get my hands on them.

@dragonstone6594 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner Thanks man I would really appreciate it. Some say that it's the best speaker under $1K. Some other also say that the Monitor Audio Silver 50 7G is the best under $1K that you have on your website but not done a video on. I'm personally trying to decide what price point speaker to invest in. I really like the Kef R3 Meta but don't know if it's worth paying twice as much for it as the B&W 606 S3 that I also really like.

@bartoszp2135 3 ай бұрын

1,5 kHz is very interesting freuquency. I've tendency to amplify too much this particular region when I set the EQ. Human voice, especially females have lots of power in this band when they shout.

@Sham-84- 3 ай бұрын

Thanks Erin for the review, do you think it would an upgrade over Elac DBR62?

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Personally I’m more a fan of the ELAC you mentioned.

@Sham-84- 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner thanks for responding so quickly. I actually bought DBR62 after seeing your review and it’s doing all you said in your review fine but I don’t want to go for a subwoofer in my 11x11 small room. I guess I will have to continue searching then, but around 1000$. Any suggestions are welcome, and I am sure others can benefit from it too. Thank you again

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

@@Sham-84- Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 v2

@Sham-84- 3 ай бұрын

@@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah thanks but isn’t it smaller with even lower base response than DBR62?

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

@@Sham-84- nah their F3 is at the same frequency but the amplitude of that frequency in terms of loudness is higher on the ELAC yes... Seems I answered thinking you didn't already have the ELAC(what happens when one's sleepy and answering Internet questions😅)

@dakken74 3 ай бұрын

These measurements look very similar to the DIY Samba kit you did about a year ago. Maybe the same person designed both speakers?

@dodpr 3 ай бұрын

Like the Foreigner shirt. Just read they got inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Finally!!

@RennieAsh 3 ай бұрын

I stayed up long enough for this to come out lol

@JC.LC. 3 ай бұрын

Wow, that woofer looks like it means business!

@monrosj 3 ай бұрын

I've never seen a speaker that has a 1 watt/1 meter sensitivity of ~75 dB. That is way low by most standards. Am I misunderstanding?

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Average bookshelf sensitivity is 85dB @2.83v/1m.

@JamesWilliams-gf8gm 3 ай бұрын

It is a direct trade off for having a small speaker reach low in frequency.

@monrosj 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner so these are actually 75 dB sensitivity??

@jasonkillsformomy 3 ай бұрын

@@monrosj 76 according to the video. Manufacturer claims 78.5.

@analogkid4557 3 ай бұрын

Most companies lie or they don't add baffle step compensation. Most 5" drivers are around 85- 87 db 1w/1m. If you apply 6 db BSC, you could be in the 70s already. This driver has low effiency because it has a heavy cone,huge XMAX and some other parameters. It's the Iron Law.

@earl007 3 ай бұрын

Hey Erin just thought I would pop in a note re your wharfedale Linton review you did a while ago. After watching it I finally decided to go to hi fi shop and test. Loved them and have now had them home for ten days. Run in I love them. Coming up to 70 years old they remind me of old school speakers. Hey you hang in there mate with this review bull that you have been going through. You stick to your honest opinion that is what I like about you. Cheers

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Thank you! And I’m glad to hear about those Lintons!

@First-Last-108 3 ай бұрын

Way too expensive for what they are. $400 would be a lot more reasonable. At their current price you can get KEF LSX II LT for $200 more with DAC and Amp built in.

@SuperMcgenius 3 ай бұрын

I hope people realize with a sen of 75 db one would need in near Field Application a amp of 64 watts to reach 94 db. In room I am thinking 200-300 watts😮

@ad_fletch 3 ай бұрын

Yeah March P501s are 250W (8ohm) rated IIRC. Then again, nCore 250W would be cheaper.

@TexasCorgiGun 3 ай бұрын

These are promising

@frankknoll664 3 ай бұрын

Hm....🤔 Sehr geringer Wirkungsgrad, ein Hochtöner der sich bereits bei 14KHz verabschiedet, eine Senke im unteren Mitteltonbereich und ein Buckel im Oberbass ! Irgendwie macht dieser Lautsprecher zuvieles falsch. Sorry, aber ich denke, da gibt es bei anderen Herstellern besseres zum vergleichbaren Preis. Danke dir für deine, wie immer hervorragende Arbeit ❤

@jebrehbaker8613 Ай бұрын

Designer is gonna have to write that GR Research guy next

@craigenputtock 3 ай бұрын

Wow those are some quality parts! Did you break them in before measuring?

@JamesWilliams-gf8gm 3 ай бұрын

Erin, I love the use of using the Kef as a reference. Every speaker needs a comparison/standard. IMO a reference speaker does not have to be the best. Just a consistent point of well, reference. Doing direct in room A/B was pretty eye opening for me personally.

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Indeed. I’m still using these until I send them back. After that I’ll probably switch over to the MoFi 8” speakers as they have a lot of qualities I like such as good neutrality, sound power and radiation envelope. But yes, doing direct comparisons is a very useful tool for evaluation of speakers. I specially if one is objectively good. It makes drawing comparisons and understanding them much more easy.

@keith6872 3 ай бұрын

No speaker is perfect. Maybe one day Erin will review the perfect speaker. I bet the Mofi 888 speakers will have faults.

@noahandky3019 3 ай бұрын

Check out the recent review he did on the kef meta blades. He really liked them. Then again for 30k, they should sound good.

@alexz1232 3 ай бұрын

That price is a complete non-starter. Being good at one niche doesn't justify compromising performance in every other area.

@eddietours3728 3 ай бұрын

Sir Dovedale review please 😁

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

I wish!

@eddietours3728 3 ай бұрын

@@ErinsAudioCorner you can do it sir ✌🏼

@tonymosley6951 3 ай бұрын

Bring on the Super Dentons.... 🏁

@JamesWilliams-gf8gm 3 ай бұрын

Dovedale would be sweet. They look nice and probably sound good too.

@rushgush 3 ай бұрын

or just get the ascend acoustics lx bookshelf with the same low end but much higher sensitivity. 😁

@sudd3660 3 ай бұрын

interesting enough speaker, i guess that is the cheapest way to get bass from small speaker and no dsp. i would either make the speaker with only the one active drivers and sealed box for midrange and sound quality first and less bass. or use 2 or 3 active drivers in sealed box and recommend people use dsp to get the bass they want. for close to the same price i get more speaker for the money if i have dsp available and the speaker designer concentrate on getting drivers in a box and set up the crossover. i would not recommend anyone run hifi without dsp, so now we need the designers of speakers to do less work and focus on sound quality and looks, while we do the room correction and tune to our ears.

@bartbarelds8454 3 ай бұрын

Can it be that the loss in resolution while eq-ing is resulting in a less pin point soundstage?

@NosEL34 3 ай бұрын

Good job Dayton Audio. Not perfect (like every other speaker) but not terrible either. I like seeing these "bass shelves" in the data. Hope to see more bookshelf speakers do this. .

@einarbk885 3 ай бұрын

many people dont even know what good mids sound like, a subwoofer surround driver to 2.2khz will never work.

@L8KY 3 ай бұрын

Sounds like Tekton Troubadours are better? 😅

@C-man553 3 ай бұрын

Put a 3/4" roundover on those speakers Erin. BTW, I bet you don't make Wedding cakes for a living ... mind of an Engineer.

@HyPex808-2 3 ай бұрын

How’s the sound quality compared to the price? Good value? Not good value? I’m on the fence about buying these….

@bbfoto7248 3 ай бұрын

KALI Audio IN-8 2nd Wave in White or save up another $300 for the Ascend Acoustics SIERRA-1 V2. I'm sure there are plenty of other options as well. I can understand if a lot of people like the "looks" of these OPAL 1, but performance-wise I'd personally "look" elsewhere. 😛 (And as a DIY'er, I do like a lot of the Dayton Audio drivers, including some of the RSS line.)

@editorjuno 3 ай бұрын

I would rate these are more "interesting" than desirable. Erin had far fewer misgivings about the active 3-way Kali IN-8v2 at the same MSRP, and the Kali doesn't even require an amp, let alone a high powered one. IOW, I'm not seeing particularly impressive "bang for the buck" despite the "interesting" aspects of its design and the admirable attitude of the designer, so regretfully it's a hard pass here -- YMMV.

@bbfoto7248 3 ай бұрын

@editorjuno I would have to agree (I own the Kali IN-8v2 for a simple bedroom setup). Or the Ascend Acoustics SIERRA-1 V2 if people are willing to go with a slightly larger stand mount and wait/save a bit longer for $300 more.

@keith6872 3 ай бұрын

My Parts Express Classix 2 speakers with their Dayton Audio drivers sound really pleasant. I play lots of hard metal and these sound good with all.

@analogkid4557 3 ай бұрын

They screwed up really bad designing this speaker. I have both of these drivers and the passive radiators. It looks like the box is too small and tuned too low, no baffle step compensation and they rolled the tweeter off too early or there is some kind of cancellation there. There is a 4 db dip at 4khz with that tweeter but I was able to minimize it to 2 db in my design. Also, with my box design of .25 cubic foot and a tuning of 40 hz, it is 3 db down at 40 hz. In room response it got down to 34 hz hz at -3db. To get a 40 hz tuning, I added no weight to the passive radiators. I built these a year ago. The drop off at the high end is in the tweeter. Mine does the same. It sounds fine to me.

@bbfoto7248 3 ай бұрын

@analogkid4557 It would be interesting if you sent your DIY set of speakers to Erin to put on the Klippel. It might help Dayton Audio/Parts-Express sell a better speaker and more of them. ;-)

@analogkid4557 3 ай бұрын

@@bbfoto7248 I have another design I want to send to him. Hopefully I can finish those soon. They are in test boxes right now. The crossover is finalized.

@johnstone7697 3 ай бұрын

The elephant in the room is the seriously low sensitivity. 76dB is anywhere from 8-10dB lower than most commercially available 5" 2 ways. Take for example the ELAC Debut 2.0 B5.2 with 86dB sensitivity and f3 at 46 Hz. While I'm sure this Dayton goes somewhat deeper, the loss of 10dB sensitivity in comparison demonstrates that there's really no free lunch when it comes to bass. A 5" woofer with a large surround is simply not going to have much radiating area. So it has to be made up with excursion, and that requires power. I'm not a fan of those dual gap magnet system woofers in that all of them trade long throw for pretty low efficiency. At this price point there's a lot of choices, and I'd certainly be inclined to look for something that was more linear in the upper ranges and more efficient.

@Acoustic_Theory 3 ай бұрын

Where the diffraction dip is, it's really not much of a problem because it's taking out the 'harshness' region of the spectrum. Maybe slightly more pronounced than a true 'BBC Dip', but also I wouldn't expect it to be awful. What I heard at the show was not that bad. The only real caveat with this speaker is its very low sensitivity, which means you need a whole lot of amp power on tap to reach the max SPL of 102dB. This speaker would be a match made in heaven with a modern discrete Class-D amp.

@s.daniel9224 3 ай бұрын

The harbor freight of audio.

@wadimek116 3 ай бұрын

Distortion is high damn... I expected more from a woofers of this price

@darrenchase886 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for what you are doing but manufacturers should give you a honest spl like klispsch they need to stop that bs specs klipsch overrated there sensitivity ratings

@danielduesentriebjunior 3 ай бұрын

For this prize the Dayton's have an unusually sophisticated bass/midrange driver. However, the frequency response disappoints.

@keith6872 3 ай бұрын

The OPAL1 leads me to believe there will be OPAL2.

@wadimek116 3 ай бұрын

Probably yes as this is smaller epique woofer and they have one of bigger size. Hopefully crossover will be better next time

@joeygonzo Ай бұрын

79 db at 1 watt . ouch !

@Azzy_Mazzy 3 ай бұрын

damn those kef blades are so unique looking the measurements of these speakers looks bad

@TrueAudio 3 ай бұрын

CA$1,108.80/Pair - Sensitivity: 78.5 dB SPL

@luciferray6560 3 ай бұрын

Please help me out. I want to buy the Best bookshelf speaker under 2000 US dollars. Klipsch 9s , sonus Faber lumina 2, q acoustics 5020, kef r3 meta , warfdale linton 85 ? We don't get arindal 1723 or 1961 in my country. Any other speaker that you would recommend under or a little over 2000 dollars ?

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

well what country is it?

@luciferray6560 3 ай бұрын

@@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah india

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

@@luciferray6560 get the Wharfedale Linton from hifimart

@godminnette2 3 ай бұрын

Hey Erin! Nice review. Do you think you would ever assign ratings to the speakers you review based on their characteristics? I love Crinacle's rating systems for headphones and IEMs, and wish I had something similar to his overview of reviewed devices on your website, so I can see what devices receive good scores that are priced within my price bracket. Then I can read those reviews for a more detailed analysis. Thanks!

@elcarlissimo 3 ай бұрын

@ 10:02 Pride of ownership! Tell me you are an engineer without telling me you are an engineer...😂🤣😄

@sudd3660 3 ай бұрын

or just defensive, it is hard to be a public person.

@elcarlissimo 3 ай бұрын

Opps, I meant to make a light hearted comment. I appreciate granular detail in Erin's videos as a contrast to the superficial nature of most reviewers online. I greatly appreciate the time and effort he must put into making his videos and am a big fan of his channel.

@stephenwhite5444 3 ай бұрын

You should consider doing car audio speakers.....im trying to replace some 6.5" car speakers and theres very little info out there about which ones sound better, have nore clarity, more bottom end, etc. i just have to pick something and hope i like it.

@Darkcruzer23 3 ай бұрын

would you consider at the end of videos, either subjective, or with data, compare vs similar priced speakers? even if its just a simple "i would pick X speaker over this for this price" im a fan of dayton but these seem to be a big letdown vs other $800 speakers

@Nozferatu46 3 ай бұрын

I've never gotten diarrhea from listening to Dayton Audio products. Would recommend.

@chinmeysway 3 ай бұрын

kinda strange but my analog eq has been set like this fora while now - similar to how these speakers tested to some degree. not good not bad just an interesting coincidence

@BostonMike68 3 ай бұрын

The problem with the epique is you're trading x max for efficiency. But with that saying it's a nice speaker especially for the money. I want to try a build with these drivers but I'm going to double them up for better efficiency and maybe a make it a three way because I like the sound of a paper midrange. Also it's a big price difference putting a $800 pair of speakers up against the $35000 kef wing. I would probably would be more fair to them up against something in the $800 price range. I did the math and to build them with the PR nice paint job you almost can't even build them yourself for $800

@elisabethd1970 3 ай бұрын

"What's holding these speakers back is they lack the quarter inch threaded microports on bottom." anonymous Tekton speaker engineer.

@joecharpentier6636 3 ай бұрын

Im quite sure the only speaker hes ever liked are the blades. Maybe its just me but measurements are absolutely positively not the deciding factor for purchasing. I can say ive owned more than a couple bookshelfs that were hammered here for measurements, that sounded amazing. It has sooooooooo much more to do with matching components. Some amps with certain dacs, certain speakers, and some cabling and interconnects matched, make decidedly much more of a difference to listening enjoyment than numbers on a graph. Forget paper graphs. My advice from 25 years of audio involvement is to audition as many components as you possibly can in person. Its not easy, i know but it makes all the difference in the world. For example....my favorite, absolutely hands down best audio experience is currently a B&K Reference 125.2 s2, paired with a B&K Reference 5 s2 preamp, a Nad M51 dac, a C.E.C. tl51xr cd player and the Polk Legend L100's, all with audioquest power and interconnects. I have never experienced better analog type sound with any other setup ive owned. I now own well over 1000 cds and its my final grail experience. Are they the best measuring devices??? No. Absolutely not. But all of them put together create audio nirvana. Sorry for the rant. Use ears, not graphs.

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

Bro, what are you even talking about? The first sentence was wrong. The rest was even worse. Try again.

@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah 3 ай бұрын

lol what?

@joecharpentier6636 3 ай бұрын

@ErinsAudioCorner How can you possibly say the rest was worse when I was describing the components I have put together creating an amazing listening experience??? It's my opinion. Super fancy measuring devices in a garage, are not the do all, end all deciding factor for speakers. Most of the terms are flying over people's heads anyway. I thought you were more open to others opinions. 😔 Guess I was wrong. Are you saying that the setup I have put together is garbage? I'd really like to know your opinion. I've been an audiophile for 25 years. I speak from experience, not conjecture. Bro.

@ErinsAudioCorner 3 ай бұрын

@@joecharpentier6636 dude, you started off with a ridiculous statement. As if you’ve never seen any of my other content. Enjoy your stuff. But be realistic on what you say about me.