Daedalus Audio’s tag line is “Elegant Reference Loudspeakers.” With that tag line, they are one of the few rooms at a show that you just know will have beautiful cabinets for the speakers, and the sound will be equally beautiful. There are few rooms that get both of the things right, but Daedalus Audio is one company you can always count on to score on both.
I had trouble with my camera at this show, and in no way does the picture above do justice to how beautiful these speakers are. It always amazes me when a speaker of this size can totally disappear. The staging and imaging were just perfect. And as always with Daedalus speakers, the tone was wonderful.
The System
In their bigger room at CAF 2019, Daedalus Audio was showing their Apollo11 speakers in a gorgeous figured baked maple cabinet ($22,800/pair). They were also using a pair of the Daedalus Audio Bow passive subwoofers ($2,290 each).
The electronics were from Linear Tube Audio. They were using the LTA microZOTL preamp ($4,450) and the incredible LTA Ultralinear power amp ($6,800), which is one of the best amps I have ever reviewed and the latest ZOTL design by David Berning. They also had an additional LTA ZOTL40 Reference EL34-based amplifier ($6,800) powering the subs.
The sources were a LampizatOr Vinyl Phono 1 phono stage ($6,600), a Golden Gate 2 DAC ($16,500) and a Super Komputer music server (from $8,500). The analog source was a VPI Prime Signature turntable with a Soundsmith Hyperion II ES cartridge. WyWires Diamond and Platinum cabling were used in the system.
