Devore Nines and Daedalus Athena comparison?

Well, I have'nt heard them side by side, but considered both in a long search for highish sensitivity, tube friendly speakers. The list included Coincident, Art, Zu. and Silverline. The 2 I enjoyed the most were Devore 9's and the Daedalus DA-RMAs, I eventually bought.

The DA-RMas and Athena are essentially the same, just a floor standing version of the large, near floor standing monitors. I don't think you can go wrong with either company, I just preferred Daedalus by a reasonable margin. Very transparent and neutral with no colouration I could detect. Easy to fit into a room and good imaging. For the price, very hard to criticize. Because they are sold direct, with no dealers, distributors, uou can near double the price to get a match in quality with conventionally marketed speakers. There are a number of users around the place, happy to Demo the Daedalus, just contact Lou for details of any near you.

I don't think I made clear in my post, that of all the speakers I listened to, the Devore and Daedalus were my favourites. The former seemed that little bit more polite, less bite and dynamics, ythen the Daedalus, but very good. They were running by the way, with 20 watt Border patrol tube amps, which did'nt seem to have any problems. They seemed easy to drive.

I would not say I detect any recessed treble. The speaker is pretty neutral across the frequency range. What you don't get, as Al aludes to, is the etched harsh treble I find with many high end speakers, particularly Focal. Not my cup of tea at all. If anything it might be a tad base light, reflecting it's high efficiency, but I don't find it so. The base is tight and detailed.

The DA-RMa does have the treble adjustment toggle at the back, with 1db increase reduction or neutral positions. I am afraid I can't hear much difference.

The aim with the speaker, the design aim, as I understand it, is to make the speaker sound like live music, for me it is pretty successful at that

Dodgealum precisely, a detailed but unfatiguing, essentilly musical sound.

Did you have you're DA1's upgraded to the new AP crossover? Mine had them when I bought them. I know it's hard to do a comparison when the speakers may have been away some weeks getting upgraded, but can you comment on the difference you heard, with the new crossover?

Taylor514 I think Daedalus are available for demo wherever there are speakers made by Lou. I live in the UK and mine can be demo'd any time. There is at least one pair in Australia and a dealer in New Zealand.

If you have'nt checked with Lou, don't assume there are'nt any users near you, there may be.