Welcome Acidfolk. Thats very nice equipment you bought. That being said, if you had come to us sooner, Im pretty sure that you would have been strongly advised to make speakers your first priority; not the amp and source. However, moving forward and trying to recall the impression your amp made on me, I would put Daedalus speakers on my short list. |
What Wadia do you have? Also, can you give some basic info on your amp? |
Very nice gear! The Einstein stuff is very very good! One of these days I am going get one. As for speakers, tough to say since its a personal decision but for me I would get something that is very neutral, dynamic, and airy to let the magic of the Einsten shine through. So whats your price range and what kind of speaker are you looking for (monitors or floor standers), how big is your room? |
One suggestion, try a preamp. You might like it, you might not but worth a try. |
I've heard the Einstein with Daedelis speakers and been very impressed. You'll need to consider what speakers would best suit your room. Tell us more about the amp specification. There are a number of great speakers that are easy to drive and should therefore be pretty friendly to all amps. What is your speaker budget? |
Thanks all.
Nice answers. i checked out the daedulus online.
They appear to be the kind of speakers that I would enjoy listening to
I will call them .
i guess the price is $10,000. unless they have gone up in price.
My plan was to spend closer to $8,000. For used speakers. After reading some notes here, I was very interested in the Revel salon 2.
Or the Churchill tannoy, or Aerius .
However, considering two thousand more ,if I'm correct ,for new speakers. Then the daeulus may make perfect sense, as you'll seem to recommend them for the system I will have.
i don't actually know the difference between monitors and full range.
Perhaps someone could explain that to me.
The wadia is a 381i. It looks great , but haven't played it yet
The Einstein's arriving in a few days.
I was curious why a pre amp is suggested by one responder,
As wadia advises against that. Am I missing out on something important?
If you have other advice Id be glad to hear. It.
Ive read some threads here, and found them really interesting
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Hi Acidfolk. Congratulations on your new set up! Let me share some comments other members have made about the Daedalus and Revel Salon 2 speakers. One of our respected members, Almarg (also a EE), owns Daedalus speakers. He drives the Daedalus speakers with a VAC tube amp, which I understand has a zero negative feedback option. The reason Al selected Daedalus speakers is because he thought they sounded great and the cabinet build was gorgeous. However, perhaps the most important factor is that Al said the Daedalus speakers were tube friendly.
By contrast, the Revel Salon are current hogs that sound best when driven by a high power/high current SS amp. Don't know anything about the Einstein amp, i.e., tube or SS, use of negative feedback, or output impedance, etc. But these are important electrical attributes to take into consideration when selecting speakers.
If Al catches this OP, he might weigh in with more information. If not, I would PM him. As I said, his handle is Almarg. Al is a gentleman and a real credit to our community.
Cheers,
Bruce |
Some Wadia owners like direct while others prefer going through a preamp. I'm not suggesting you buy a preamp, only suggesting trying your system with and without to see if you have a preference. |
Ok, just curious
Dies the preamp add some colouration, or increase the volume? |
Re Wadia - FWIW I ran a 302 CDP direct and thru a pre-amp (using an integrated which allows the separation of the amp/pre-amp sections and electronic switching). I was able to do A/B comparisons. The main difference I detected was tonal which was slightly warmer in the lower mid's when using the pre-amp and more preferable to my ear. Another benefit for me is the ability to change the tone by changing tubes in the pre-amp. I'm not a straight wire with gain type of guy. :-) |
Bruce (Bifwynne), thank you most kindly.
Acidfolk, as others have indicated you've certainly acquired some really nice equipment. And Daedalus speakers would certainly do well with the Einstein Light in the Dark. In fact, A'gon member Jazdoc, who is a very knowledgeable and experienced audiophile, uses that exact combination. You may want to take a look at his system description page.
As you've found though, there is a cost issue. I believe that the Ulysses model, which I and Jazdoc have, would currently cost around double your budget if purchased new. And as you appear to have found, the smaller Athena model would still be a couple of thousand or so over budget if purchased new.
A used pair of Athenas or the discontinued DA-RMa model would comfortably fit your budget, as would a used pair of some of the earlier versions of the Ulysses, which were quite good although lacking the "all poly" crossover that was introduced in 2010. And a more recent used pair of Ulysses would probably just exceed your budget slightly.
However, while used Daedalus speakers appear for sale here on occasion, those occasions are fairly rare. Chances are you would have to wait at least several months, or perhaps a year, before a suitable pair appears.
All of the Daedalus models have similar sonics, the main differences between the Athena and DA-RMa models and the larger Ulysses being a bit more deep bass extension in the Ulysses, and slightly greater efficiency. And as you may have seen, certain other models are designed to have wider dispersion characteristics, for situations where off-axis listening is a particular concern.
The comments some of the others have made about adding a preamp are in general good advice, IMO. However in this particular case, given that what you have is a very expensive CDP which apparently includes a robustly designed output stage providing a very low 15 ohm output impedance, with the output voltage range being widely adjustable, and given that you would presumably be using its balanced outputs, I suspect that the cost that a preamp would represent would be more productively applied toward the speaker purchase.
Hope that helps. Let me know if I can answer any more questions about the Daedalus models.
Regards,
-- Al |
The amp is due to arrive today, I will post the specs,
TO get some further ideas, I did reread the Wadia manual and they state quite emphatically that preamps don't go with the wadia.
I have looked into the Daedulus , and may go with it, it is a tough decision as my budget would get blown, since the Argo looks the nicest for my purposes. Plus having to wait for three months is terrifying!
I only have a bookshelf infinity to use in the meantime, I m curious as to how it is going to sound when I plug it into the einstein |
Having owned Wadias I know what they say about preamps. Their digital volume control was one of their selling features. This does not prevent many Wadia owners from using a preamp however. |
